INTRODUCTION

by Lois E. Wilkins, PhD, APRN

As Hartman has already given us two forwards to his translations of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, I will begin with an introduction.  I first met Gary Hartman as I was concluding my dissertation research on the Holographic Mind Model for my PhD in Clinical Psychology.  As I have been a psychiatric nurse practitioner in both military and private practice, I was aware of the hybrid status of my holistic, holographic approach to clinical practice.  Gary was intrigued by my approach, and throughout our years of friendship and collaborative teaching, we each grew more acquainted with the other’s clinical approaches.  Gary had three major clinical passions related to Depth Psychology: pursuing the foundational and chronological teaching of C.G. Jung, resulting in a course of study for Inter-Regional Analyst training; not surprisingly, his love for translating and teaching courses on the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales; and supporting writers involved in academic pursuits, as well as other scholars, interested both in Fairy Tales and Jungian psychology.  He grew in understanding my holistic, holographic approach toward the end of his life, in part, because of the holographic nature of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales.

It was his request that I take his extensive Fairy Tale research library and continue to bring his translations to life.  This series, beginning with The Frog King, is my way of honoring his desire to move the work forward. Paradoxically, the strength of my Holographic Mind Model (Wilkins, 1998) is that it is completely all inclusive, and yet this is also its weakness.  Not surprisingly, we will be exposed to similar paradoxes throughout our exploration of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. 

A most concise definition of the Holographic Mind Model (HMM):  a mind model of recognizing wholeness through quaternary structures found in all disciplines.  Metaphorical language, fractals, intuition and tachyons from the disciplines of nursing, math, psychology and physics promote the knowledge of invisible realities and encourage the pursuit of lived multidimensionality. The HMM was created (see Figure 2) as a visual model for the theory of transcendence.  It resulted from merging the geodesic sphere with two other models.  Kyder’s (1990) model uses geometry and the archetypal images of form, number, sound, and color.  Her influence on the mind model can be seen in the multicolored geodesic sphere located in the center.  Small’s (1982) model uses a combination of words and geometric images, and both models use color to emphasize movement.  As the HMM supports the concepts of geometry, number, time and space as well as non-time and non-space, Kryder’s sacred geometry seems a perfect fit for the center column of my adaptation of Small’s model.

This recognition of the multifaceted realities of both individuals and nature, in the mundane world and beyond, supports inclusivity which is so necessary for the development of artificial intelligence and peaceful co-existence. 

Fairy Tales by definition are multidimensional stories based on archetypal realities that transcend the often simplistic nature of their stories.  They bring the potential awareness of linear and non-linear, concrete and expansive, earthly and other worldly, as well as spiritual and physical relevance to the listener.  

Using the Hartman translations of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales found here the lived experience of the Holographic Mind Model will be demonstrated in my critique and analysis, which will focus on identification of some archetypal influences, evidence of paradox, psychological meanings, and some of the influence of time-bound cultural norms, not to mention the foundational quaternary structures to look for in each of the Fairy Tales.

In his classes, Gary Hartman, would provide only the most sparse, even skeletal structure for bringing forth the psychological interpretation to these Fairy Tales.  I, on the other hand, am more comfortable with the fleshing out of the psychological motifs, not that the meanings found here represent all to be found in each story.  Much like a dream, we can never fully understand the multitude of meanings found within the telling of a single story or dream.   So, whether in a dream or a Fairy Tale, the brain using the mind is constantly seeking wholeness or creating order out of chaos.  When the human can find wholeness, anxiety decreases.  This wholeness can be seen in situations as simple as cleaning up a messy room or as expansive as the the world religions professing to find the answers to the universal questions of where did we come from and where are we headed.  Ideally, this knowledge of the multi-dimensionality of Fairy Tales will be of benefit to you, the reader.