Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
Carl Jung
Iron John and a Dreamer’s Dream
Three decades ago, Iron John A Book About Men, by Robert Bly, created somewhat of a cultural movement amongst men. I have always imagined myself part of the shadow cast by Iron John’s lineage. While I had nothing to do with the book, its effect on me was paramount. Through personal conversations I had with the author over libations in the Mountains of Sippapou, New Mexico, I feel connected to Mr. Bly’s work on the Grimm Brothers tale.
Before marriage, children, a home, and a private psychotherapy practice, I envisioned a nascent dream of being a psychotherapist. This dream was inspired by the works of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and other analysts, who worked with people to engage their dreams as willing healers who also tended the garden space present within their own dreams.
When Robert Bly asked “why,” I wanted to engage this path of paths, I could not answer. Even though I knew Iron John’s story, I had yet to work on the symbols present within the context of my life. Two decades later, the dream of analyzing this tale calls upon me. Please take as much from my work here and other segments of this blog series as I did from the wonderful bard who taught me two decades earlier.
Iron John and A Dreamer’s Reflection
All journeys start with a dream. My dream began as a 25-year-old boy who yearned to understand what it meant to be a man. While this plight was internal, reading Iron John helped open my soul to its mythical underpinnings.
Like many, my journey saw its fair share of peril, despair, twists, and turns, feelings of love and longing, moments of victory, and the transcendent nature of spiritual passion possible for each of us to create within. Yet the storyline of my life has also shown me a great deal about human nature, ranging from the darkest recesses of the soul to the lofty and enlightened capacity the psyche has to engage the spirit as an agent to create beauty from the depths of its dreams.
To engage the inner calling of a dream, we move steadily towards those pivotal moments where the nature of our storyline, the calling of our life’s losses and victories, become tattooed upon the tapestry of the soul. Iron John builds upon the essence of the symbols, which drive our well-being through the communion of the opposites, the inherent nature of the symbol itself. The dream is the nature of the fairy story.
The flow of the fairy tale Iron John creates a roadmap for the soul. That is the nature of the elements present in Robert Bly’s analysis of the Grimm Brothers’ work Iron John, and it stands as the reason this, or any fairy story, can call upon the foundational nature of the soul to create personal development.
As a child, my mother often said that for every closed door, another one opens. Even in my spiritual education, I realized God created light and harmony from a void of chaos and darkness. Even at a spiritual level, I can see how doors open, which allow the inner light to negate the void and darkness the psyche can fully develop if only we let that light shine within.
Iron John: The Guiding Light of the Shadow
When I read the fairy story Iron John, I see the beautiful intertwined nature of the Brothers Grimms’ work with other parables common to the Christian faith. You see, Iron John is a book on development, and as such, many of the lessons present are also those taught by our great spiritual traditions. Jesus said,
A Lamp under a Bushel Basket
21 He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23 Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25 For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”
Mark 4: 21-23
There are great lessons here for the psyche to glean. The symbols of religion, like those of fairy stories like Iron John, give us direction. Jesus shows us in the parable of A Lamp under a Bushel Basket that we must allow our light to shine. This is no different from the prince, the main protagonist of the story Iron John. Both religion and the fairy stories understand that at a foundational level, the psyche’s capacity to grow occurs only by making conscious light out of dark unconscious recesses present; this happens through an active, not passive, process of learning the lessons associated with the many slammed doors we will face in life.
Honoring Iron John Forward through the Dark
Now, well into my middle age, I see that we are all dreamers who journey to realize the heights of our aspirations. Like plants, we move towards our life-giving and sustaining force. We, too, will face trials in our journey to move towards the life-giving force of those dreams; tests will strain the very nature of our soul’s capacity to realize its aim, and this process moves us towards a realized state where those dreams can become a reality.
We return to a more simplistic mindset to honor a fairy story like Iron John. This mindset allows us a space for possibility; possibility is the foundation from which psychic growth begins its journey toward the heights it yearns to realize. This growth starts with a dream. But dreams are not easily attained, for they operate around the split nature of the symbols they represent.
You don’t get the life-giving force of light without braving the obstacles or unknown fears associated with the dark chasm of the unconscious. Tests of the soul that promote that kind of freedom are not free. Like wisdom, they must be earned, not learned. By acquiring these skill sets, we can implement and act upon them to realize the voice of our inner calling, much as the prince did in facing the Wild Man in Iron John.
Final Blessings
I am grateful you joined me here today. Stay tuned for more segments to come. As always, my friends, may your inner light find and bless you on your journey to envision, chart a course, believe, and advance confidently in the direction of your dreams.
References
Bly, R. (1990). Iron John: A book about men. Addison-Wesley.
Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (n.d.). Iron Hans | Grimm’s Fairy Tales | Grimm Brothers | Lit2Go ETC. Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Retrieved January 20, 2024, from https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/175/grimms-fairy-tales/3177/iron-hans/
More from Dr. Tom
Shop Unique Aromatherapy Candles
It is our choice to believe in the beauty of dreams unfolding. When we direct our mind’s eye to belief, faith guides us in the direction necessary to realize our Self as it unfolds into its most optimal being.
Are you being your best possible Self? Dr. Thomas Maples explores our personal and collective journey to realize our ultimate potential through the lens of psychology, personal development, and the myths that drive our journey forward.
Fill Your Glass: The Disciplined Practice of Loving-Kindness – A Sacred Journey: Where Myths Unfold and Potential Awakens
- Fill Your Glass: The Disciplined Practice of Loving-Kindness
- The Architecture of Joy: Navigating Darkness to Find Your Light
- How to Find Spiritual Grounding: Healing a Fractured Soul through Integrity
- The Unshakable Anchor: Building Hope in a Fractured World
- Finding Grace in the Messy: Catholic Wisdom and the Psychology of Intentional Parenting
