Courtesy of JewishSacredAging.com

I have the honor of teaching in the doctor of ministry program at Hebrew Union College in New York. The other day, I asked the class to watch The Wizard of Oz. Perhaps that is a strange assignment for a dozen clerics from different faiths who are engaged in serious postgraduate study. Yes . . . BUT!

You see, The Wizard, and others like it (for example, my personal all-time favorite, Peter Pan), are part of the mythology of our culture. They are great fun when we are kids. Yet, as we grow older, we can revisit them with a more seasoned eye and recognize messages that go far beyond the escapism of youth.

Every culture has its set of myths, legends, tales, and folklore that forms basic aspects of who we are and places values on who we wish to be. It was good fun to engage in a dialogue with the class to discuss their own cultural myths (many of the students are from outside the United States) and to explore what really was going on in the trek down the yellow brick road.

Dorothy's three friends seek meaning from the Wizard: a heart, a brain, and courage (a soul?). Dorothy is determined to find her way back home, to that place of security. Everyone seeks the “answer” from an outside source. They set off in search of meaning, help, answers.

In a way, the story is a real metaphor for what so many of us at our stage of life are doing as well. We lack something. Life seems to be missing just that "one" thing, so we go off and seek that answer. It is out there somewhere, if we can only get to the right club, or buy the right toy, or find a new relationship, or whatever. The beauty of the Oz legend is that it reminds us that all too often these searches for truth and meaning are in vain. The Wizard is unmasked as just another human being. Dorothy, like the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion, must find a way to harness her own inner strength.

Estelle Frenkel, in her book Sacred Therapy, has a brief but moving interpretation of the story. "Dorothy," writes Frankel, "needs to find her own inner source of power. . . . It is only when she faces her deepest fears and takes back the power she has been projecting onto others, like the Wizard of Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West, that Dorothy is able to reclaim her own inner strength and find her way home. And as Dorothy and her companions courageously overcome the many obstacles in their path, they discover that, in fact, they already have within them the very power or trait that they thought they lacked."

This is a very religion- or faith-based message common to many religious traditions. We have the power within us to achieve our dreams and goals. To totally focus on outside validation, outside affirmation, and the like may be to ignore the sacred aspect of our own souls. The power to change, to grow, to achieve, to evolve starts within each of us, and we all possess this ability. It is the spark of the Divine that rests within each of us by virtue of our being alive. In other words, it is okay to like yourself and find validation in yourself, for from such a sense of security (home) are you better able to handle the world with intelligence (your brain), compassion (your heart), and vision (your brain).

So, next time you sit down to read a story to your grandchildren, try to see and hear it not only through their eyes and ears but also through your experience. I think you will find many of those stories more meaningful. I invite your interpretations of your favorite "story." It would be fun to compare how we see them now.

Shalom.