Dear Baba,

Our friend Clarissa writes that Bluebeard is a depiction of the natural predator in each of us, that Bluebeard is the desire to be superior or have power over others, the inflated psychological entity that wants to be equal to "The Ineffable."  When she writes

"If we can understand the Bluebeard as being the internal representative of the entire myth of such an outcast, we then may also be able to comprehend the deep and inexplicable loneliness which sometimes washes over him (us) because he experiences a continuous exile from redemption."

I wonder if this "inexplicable loneliness" is always so inexplicable, and is it always from experiencing "continuous exile"?  I experience a deep loneliness that I identify as my yearning for deeper communion w/ God.  The difference is that I can feel this yearning w/out feeling exiled, I can want this communion w/out desire for superiority.  In fact, it is in my happily-knowing-I-am-a-beloved-creature-of-God that I can communion and yearn for more communing!

But maybe I experience this difference because my internal Bluebeard has been redeemed?  I'm not sure how "experts" would talk about this, or if they might dismiss my interpretation altogether.  But I think it's a significant question: does Bluebeard always have to die?  Or could he be redeemed by his wife? or the brothers? or the family?  Can we use this myth to look at how all things could be integrated?  Or is the whole point of the story that some things can't belong (continue to exist) if other things are to be developed?

What if Bluebeard's wife had not promised to not open the one room?  What if the story told of the wife leaving at some point?  What if the wife's family had investigated Bluebeard before the wedding?  What if the wife had negotiated differently w/ Bluebeard?  How many elements in the story are essential to the meaning of the story?  And how much of this is truly natural, (and not indicative of pathology)?  And how much is universal, experienced by all humans?

Also, could we interpret all the wives in the story as being the same "youngest" (undeveloped) one that at earlier stages didn't have any "sisters" and "brothers", i.e. consciousness of the predatory and ability to conquer it.

Also, when the "youngest" seeks an elevated status by marrying Bluebeard, is she being the same as what Bluebeard first was, when he wanted equality w/ "The Ineffable"?  What exactly are these entities in our psyche that are not "marry-able", that are mutually exclusive?  And can "one" win?  Or must both change? (One die and one be transformed.)  If they are depictions of two aspects of the same entity, what actually happens to the destructive aspect? and what actually happens to the undeveloped; the undeveloped can't stay as it was either.

It's interesting that "Bluebeard" is seen as dark (or a keeper of the hidden) and the "young wife" as light (or from the world of the open).  Because, really, it's Bluebeard that sees the present nature of things, and it's the young wife who is blind to the truth.

Hmmmm....  I've asked many questions and have answered none of them!  Well, more to come...
Baba, do you have anything to add?

~Lucy

Dear Baba,

You asked, in a recent letter, how I would describe our relationship.  I asked you about Bluebeard and I recounted for you about my "orb" and about my waking dream which involved a lion because I'm trying to sort out what is "wild" in me, and if what some call The Wild is the same thing as what others call The Shadow side of the Self.

Right now I think of you, dear Baba, as my very great, (multiple greats) grandmother from an ancient line from an old world.  I am a young bud on your rooted-to-the-ancient tree.  I don't know if you are utterly Wild, or if you are like my Shadow or if you are otherwise.  Partly, I'm writing you these letters because I want to learn from you, and partly because I want to learn about you!

The story of Bluebeard seems to be largely about a predator, or about the lethal dance between the predatory and the naive.  The story seems to show the naive to be reformable, but the predatory must be annihilated.  Whereas when we talk about the Shadow side of the Self, we're not suggesting the characteristics of the Shadow can't be reconciled w/ the acknowledged Self, rather that the whole Self must be integrated through acknowledging all facets of the Self.  Is that part right?

When people refer to "The Wild Woman" I think it's primarily a recognition of the instinctual, and maybe what some might call the "base" or "animal" nature.  If I'm understanding correctly how others use these terms, I am coming to believe that I might view these categorizations of facets of the Self as circles that in my view over-lap.  And I would wonder: how universal or unique are these portraits of the Self and it's facets?

Mostly I want to learn more about my Wild Self and my Shadow Self and how I can become more and more Whole.

Hoping to hear from you soon!
~Lucy

Dear Baba,

What a horrible story!  Bluebeard sounds like a monster!  It's also troublesome that the story seems to discourage curiosity!  And why did it have to be the youngest daughter who acquiesced to his false charms?  And what are we to make of the key to the forbidden room being "the smallest"?  And why was it golden?  And why did the blood on it remain?

Also, are there stories similar to this one except w/ the genders reversed?  And are there stories where-in the endangered-one saves herself?  Or by one like her?  What would these contrasts convey?

How long ago were such stories first told?  And what is the most modern version of it today?

I have so many questions about this story.  Is this really about a predator and the naive?  Is this about the dangers of not paying attention to all that one knows?  (Presumably the young wife was afraid of the beard like all the others, but she ignored her fears.)  Is it also about not keeping one's promises?  Or the danger of making promises that are not in one's interest?  And what does it say about curiosity?  Is it essential that someone from outside the castle came to the rescue?  And why weren't others interested before?  This story does not speak well of the community!  (But is it meant to be a commentary on the community?)  (How does the concept of community factor into the identity/formation of the self?)

If these old stories are depictions of human nature, and all the characters are facets of the normal human mind, are there really polar opposites (in the normal/ordinary mind, i.e. the non-pathological mind) that are not reconcilable?  Bluebeard represents the suppressor of the curious, the imaginative.  He remains married only as long as the naive/ deceived remains naive/ deceived.  The story seems to say that the naive initially agreed to remain naive.  But once curiosity is generated, which seems to happen spontaneously, one or the other character (i.e. faculty of mind) must die.  In this story, the curious lives, but only because another force saves her, just in the nick of time.  Who/what is that other force?

Baba, this merits more thought and another letter!!!
~Lucy

Dear Baba,

Here's another background bit about me and my bias.  When I was becoming Catholic, after a personal 2-year process of searching, reading, inquiry w/ others, and a more formal 6-month study/community experience, I was invited to be received into the Catholic Church.  But I had been in the formal process for only 6 months and the others in my micro-community had been in it for a year.  I wanted to say yes, but I didn't feel I was "ready"; I wanted to have more of the total experience before I celebrated my reception!  

I asked my spiritual advisor for guidance.  She gave me some Ignatian prayer "exercises."  The way the exercise was to begin was for me to imagine climbing up a staircase and anything that came to mind I could think about all I wanted but then to pray in regards to that concern and then lay it on the stair before I moved on to the next step.  The staircase was however long I needed it to be.  When I got to the top (when I ran out of things on my mind), I was to imagine 3 doors, and I was supposed to choose one, open it, and see what lay beyond.  

Well, when I began my imaginative prayer exercise, my imagination really took over!  My stairs went down, down, down, in a spiral.  And when I got to the bottom, there was no bottom!!!  There was a big opening and it was dark, and I had to jump!  And I jumped!  And as I fell, I looked around and the channel had all kinds of nooks and shelves and things I wanted to look at, but I was flying past fast.  (It was a bit like when Alice jumped into the rabbit hole!)  As the channel went down, it expanded.  At the bottom I landed in a grotto on a soft grassy plain.  The back of the grotto was on my left and to my right was a big opening that spread out to a wonderfully luscious and sunny meadow.  I went out and looked around at the beautiful open expanse.  I thought "where are the doors?" (lol).  I sat down and waited.  

Then several figures began to approach me and each sat in a particular position forming a circle.  First M arrived and sat on my left.  Then L who sat on M's left.  Then came J who sat opposite M, and Mk who sat to J's left, my right.  There was an opening opposite me.  I looked and wondered "who is coming?"  And then Jesus came and sat opposite me, between L and J.  3 animals came with Him: a Dove, a Lamb, and a Lion.  The Lamb came into the circle and frolicked for a bit and then sat on Jesus' lap.  The dove flew over and around all of us.  But the lion remained outside the circle, up and off to my left.  

So I got up from my spot and I invited the lion to come in.  When the lion came into the circle, I gave it my left arm and he took it into his mouth.  He put his teeth onto my arm but didn't bite.  And then he opened his mouth and gave me my arm back.  Then the lion and I layed down in the circle w/ our feet sticking out, in the direction where I had been sitting.  All the while, none of the other figures had said anything to me, but each had gestured a greeting in some way.  Each was clothed in a different color (each of which has meanings for me), and I knew each to represent an aspect of myself.  But the figure that most surprised me was Mk (J Mk was the name I had chosen for my saint's name).  Mk's gown was entirely of dancing light!  There's more I could tell about that waking dream, but it was Mk's gown of dancing light that was the beginning of my conceiving of my Self as a light-emanating, pulsating orb.

As for how I would describe who you are in relation to me?  I need to give that some more thought before I write about it!

~Lucy

Dear Baba,

I conceive of my core Self as like a breathing muscle, like a beautiful pulsating orb w/ layers and layers of permeable muscle.  And my core Self is both the space inside and the breathing and pulsating of the muscle and all that comes into and out of the orb, and the light that emanates from it all is integrated Self; none of it is static, but it's sure.  And I think of that orb as my soul and the Life-Giving-Energy as the eternal Holy-Spirit, and my Self (my "I Am") is the Self that is conceived by God w/ the Holy-Spirit mating w/ my soul.  Just like Mary said yes to the Holy Spirit and conceived Jesus, when I let the Holy-Spirit live in me, my Self is born!

While I recognize I am biased as a westernized Christian, and while I am completely open to be being formed by the Catholic community, I am "also" very open to other paradigms.  I have great confidence in God!  I have great confidence in Truth!  I have great confidence in Love!  And I have great confidence in my Self!  BTW, I put "also" in quotation marks because I believe it's the orthodoxy of my Christian faith that helps me be open to the biggest picture, it's the universality of my Catholic faith that helps me be open to finding at least a kernel of truth in everyone.

Back to my orb!:  I don't believe God is male or female, but both male-ness and female-ness reflect aspects of God's God-ness!  Christian Scriptures recognize being male or female is not the end-all.  (Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11 is similar.)  I conceive of myself as both female and male, although predominantly or most-manifestly female, but also more than what either of those aspects could ever convey.  I use the word Self to talk about my entire interior Being, and I use the word Person to convey my entire Being (interior+exterior, all that I am, have been and ever will be).  The image of the pulsating orb is for me a lovely portrait of who I am right now which also contains all I have been and is open to who I will become.  I like the symbol of a pulsating orb because it's describable (knowable) yet conveying something that breathes, grows, processes its context and is in process (not entirely definable).  I also like the image of this orb because in my mind's eye S/he is Beautiful and Playful!  (LOL!  Am I the epitome of the Youngest-Child, or what???)

~Lucy

Dear Lucy,

That is quite the picture for your Self!

How would you describe who I am to you?

~Baba

Bluebeard

Dear Baba,
Who was Bluebeard?  I've heard some stories about him, and I'm not sure I really understand what they are meant to tell me.  Can you enlighten me?
~Lucy

Dearest Lucy,
My brothers Grimm, Perrault, Pourrat, and many of my sisters, especially from France, tell many tales about Bluebeard.  There are also stories told about him by my American, Magyar, and Asian cousins.  I will try to put it all together for you, but you will have to make your own understanding.

This is not the compete story, and many of the details in the various versions differ, but the gist of the story is this:

Bluebeard was a wealthy man who was very appealing in many ways, but he had a beard that was so black it glinted blue which gave him a frightening appearance.  This beard was so ugly, all the young women were terrified of him.  Besides wealth, Bluebeard had great power.  He however was not successful in marriage.  He married many times, but each time, a few months after the wedding, his wife died.  No-one really knew the cause of each young woman's death, but it was thought to be of various kinds of common illnesses.

One day Bluebeard courted three sisters.  It was the youngest who fell for his charms and agreed to marry him.  A few months after the wedding Bluebeard went on a trip.  He asked his young wife to take care of the estate while he was away and gave her a large set of keys which provided access to all the rooms in the castle.  She could invite friends and family to stay with her.  She could do anything she liked, except to enter one room.  She promised she would not enter that room.

The key to the forbidden room was gold and was the smallest one on the ring of keys.  She was greatly intrigued by it.  After the young wife had explored all the estate, she thought why should I not look inside this one room?  She was very curious.

One evening when her sisters were with her, she took the golden key and unlocked the door to the forbidden room.  To her horror, she discovered the corpses and skeletons of Bluebeard's former wives.  Although Bluebeard's wife and her sisters quickly fled the room, and shut and locked the door, the young wife discovered the little golden key was now stained w/ blood.  No matter how many times she wiped it, the blood remained.

When Bluebeard returned to the castle, he asked his wife about the estate, questioning her about each room.  When she replied that all was well, he asked her to return the keys.  She did so, minus the smallest key.  Immediately Bluebeard noticed it was missing and asked her for it.  After making various excuses, she went to her room to retrieve it where she had hidden it.  Bluebeard went w/ her and saw the bloodstains on the key.  He realized she had been in the forbidden room and went into a rage, saying "Now it is your turn!

But Bluebeard's wife begged him for a brief amount of time to pray and prepare for her death.  She and her sisters went to her chambers and locked the door where they peered through the windows hoping to see the arrival of their brothers who had promised to come for a visit that day.  Just as they were losing hope, and Bluebeard was beating down the door to kill his wife, the brothers arrived and killed Bluebeard.

This, dear Lucy, is the horrific story of Bluebeard.
What do you make of it?

~Baba