Telling the tales of our souls

Masters Thesis, Uni of Western Sydney, 1995

Summary

Viewed through the practical lenses of my work with children and through the more theoretical lenses of writers like CG Jung, Joseph Campbell and James Hillman, I examine the nature and possible meaning of the difficulties my students bring to their weekly one-to-one sessions with me.

I argue that when children are encouraged to enter the world of story, through their own imagining, through the creative reconstruction of their life's events, through the single story that emerges from the relationship we form and the work we do together, and through the linking of their local and personal stories to the bigger stories of mythology and fairy story, their lives are deepened, their energies are fired, their fixations are loosened, their capacities are increased. Story links to soul, and soul transforms the leaden sense of fruitless struggle.

Further, I reflect on the reasons why so many children are struggling at school. Traditionally we have looked backwards for the answers to these questions, and have answered them in terms of environment and heredity.

But what happens if instead we look forwards? What happens if we ask ourselves instead, "For what purpose is there all of this struggling and difficulty, whether that manifests itself as specific learning difficulties or as emotional upheavals?" I argue that there is a purposive aspect to the phenomena, and suggest that by listening to and working with children's stories in the ways I outline, we are responding to underlying needs of which poor academic performance and disruptive behaviour are the symptoms.