What Children Learn From Punishment Is That

The Delight We Experience When We Allow Ourselves To Respond To A Fairy Tale, The Enchantment We Feel, Comes Not From The Psychological Meaning Of The Tale (although This Contributes To It) But From Its Literary Qualities-the Tale Itself As A Work Of Art.

If We Hope To Live Not Just From Moment To Moment, But In True Consciousness Of Our Existence, Then Our Greatest Need And Most Difficult Achievement Is To Find Meaning In Our Lives.

Fairy Tales Are Loved By The Child Not Because The Imagery He Finds In Them Conforms To What Goes On Within Him, But Because--despite All The Angry, Anxious Thoughts In His Mind To Which The Fairy Tale Gives Body And Specific Content--these Stories Always Result In A Happy Outcome, Which The Child Cannot Imagine On His Own.

No Longer Can We Be Satisfied With A Life Where The Heart Has Its Reasons Which Reason Cannot Know. Our Hearts Must Know The World Of Reason, And Reason Must Be Guided By An Informed Heart.

The Unrealistic Nature Of These Tales (which Narrowminded Rationalists Object To) Is An Important Device, Because It Makes Obvious That The Fairy Tales’ Concern Is Not Useful Information About The External World, But The Inner Process Taking Place In An Individual.