I have just embarked on a new psychology course with Birkbeck University. This is actually my third in a series of courses. My first one back in September 2011 was called the psychology of learning and learning styles and my second in January was the psychology of problem solving and decision making skills. Both quite heavy subjects as you can imagine, so I decided that my third module was going to be one whereby I could relax and read books that I actually enjoy reading.
Well, I loved my first class. The tutor was literally 'away with the fairies' and with it she gave one of the best tutorials I have experienced in, well, for ever. We were all treated to 'Story Time', whereby she banged her gong to take us into the realms of fantasy then read us the Grimm tale called the White Snake. At the end of the story she banged her gong again to bring us back into the normal world of consciousness. We then spent an hour dissecting this story.
I found out that there is a major difference between fairy tales and myths. Every culture has both, but fairy tales are cross cultural and follow a universal framework irrespective of where the story originated from. Myths, on the other hand, are very cultural based and are generally about the gods interfering with humans.
We are also throwing in a bit of Jung as well, discussing symbolic meanings of the characters, their archetypes and language.
The sad thing about the whole experience was the number of people in the tutorial who had never had a story read to them as a child, or who had read stories to children. It may be that they cant remember, or it may just be that their parents were not interested in developing their imaginations, leaving it up to their school friends. Whatever the reason, we need to understand the importance of allowing the imagination to grow and to be creative. Hopefully, this class will feed these individuals and fill a space that they had in their development as children.
All in all a wonderful learning experience. I cant wait to see what we discuss this week and what story we will be delighted with, only to dissect it into its symbolic representation.
Keep watching.
Well, I loved my first class. The tutor was literally 'away with the fairies' and with it she gave one of the best tutorials I have experienced in, well, for ever. We were all treated to 'Story Time', whereby she banged her gong to take us into the realms of fantasy then read us the Grimm tale called the White Snake. At the end of the story she banged her gong again to bring us back into the normal world of consciousness. We then spent an hour dissecting this story.
I found out that there is a major difference between fairy tales and myths. Every culture has both, but fairy tales are cross cultural and follow a universal framework irrespective of where the story originated from. Myths, on the other hand, are very cultural based and are generally about the gods interfering with humans.
We are also throwing in a bit of Jung as well, discussing symbolic meanings of the characters, their archetypes and language.
The sad thing about the whole experience was the number of people in the tutorial who had never had a story read to them as a child, or who had read stories to children. It may be that they cant remember, or it may just be that their parents were not interested in developing their imaginations, leaving it up to their school friends. Whatever the reason, we need to understand the importance of allowing the imagination to grow and to be creative. Hopefully, this class will feed these individuals and fill a space that they had in their development as children.
All in all a wonderful learning experience. I cant wait to see what we discuss this week and what story we will be delighted with, only to dissect it into its symbolic representation.
Keep watching.
