Read with eyes of wonder

Disciplines > Storytelling > Telling stories > Campbell's Commandments > Read with eyes of wonder

Commandment | Discussion | See also

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Commandment

Read myths with the eyes of wonder: the myths transparent to their universal meaning, their meaning transparent to its mysterious source.

Discussion

To transport listeners to the suspended disbelief of childhood, then the reader must start and stay in that state of wonder and openness to amazement that children have.

Great myths have universal meaning that is transportable across cultures. When read with a sense of wonder, this is encouraged further. Reading with wonder also makes the mysterious source of the stories more accessible and apparent.

Take yourself back to the great stories you heard as a child. Put yourself into that wonder and awe at the new and the impossible happening. Then bring it back to the storytelling and spread the magic.

'Read with eyes of wonder' is one of the 'Ten Commandments for Reading Myth' as defined by Joseph Campbell.