We are in (or it certainly seems like we are in) a cultural moment when folklore holds a particularly important place in British culture – perhaps more so than at any time since the 1970s.
I like how you establish very clearly that both religion and folklore have their dark sides but also their bright sides as well. Seeing them as unilaterally good or bad will not give us any better sense of how they really are. I wonder sometimes if the reasons why they seem so attractive are also, in a certain sense, the same reasons for them being so horrifying. It's not at all a new point. Rudolf Otto made it one of his central theses with the whole mysterium fascinans and mysterium tremendum dynamic. It's almost as if you couldn't have one without the other, or rather as if you were constantly on the verge of falling into the evil side for trying to pursue the good.
That said, I think this is ultimately inevitable. Humans need something "sacred" (in Otto's wide sense), and folklore is just one instantiation of that. Try replacing it with something that promises to do away with the bad and only grant you the good, and you'll soon see that the same problem emerges. Even science has proven to be vulnerable to this in the form of scientism. At least that's my perspective on the issue. I'm not sure if you'd agree.
Anyways, great short piece. Glad to be subscribed.
A well-written piece. I'd love to see more in this vein.
Somehow, I'd never considered folklore's dark side contributions to crime - beyond the witch trials. But you're completely right, we must balance the appealing with the uncomfortable and dark side of folklore. Thanks for the reminder that there is a dark side to it all.
Drawing meaning/healing/spiritual truth from nature is maybe a related phenomenon, or at least a parallel one and, if you have a biology background it's hard not to feel similar sometimes.
I like how you establish very clearly that both religion and folklore have their dark sides but also their bright sides as well. Seeing them as unilaterally good or bad will not give us any better sense of how they really are. I wonder sometimes if the reasons why they seem so attractive are also, in a certain sense, the same reasons for them being so horrifying. It's not at all a new point. Rudolf Otto made it one of his central theses with the whole mysterium fascinans and mysterium tremendum dynamic. It's almost as if you couldn't have one without the other, or rather as if you were constantly on the verge of falling into the evil side for trying to pursue the good.
That said, I think this is ultimately inevitable. Humans need something "sacred" (in Otto's wide sense), and folklore is just one instantiation of that. Try replacing it with something that promises to do away with the bad and only grant you the good, and you'll soon see that the same problem emerges. Even science has proven to be vulnerable to this in the form of scientism. At least that's my perspective on the issue. I'm not sure if you'd agree.
Anyways, great short piece. Glad to be subscribed.
A well-written piece. I'd love to see more in this vein.
Somehow, I'd never considered folklore's dark side contributions to crime - beyond the witch trials. But you're completely right, we must balance the appealing with the uncomfortable and dark side of folklore. Thanks for the reminder that there is a dark side to it all.
Drawing meaning/healing/spiritual truth from nature is maybe a related phenomenon, or at least a parallel one and, if you have a biology background it's hard not to feel similar sometimes.