The Psychology Of And Mythological Gift of Harry Potter

The Psychology Of And Mythological Gift of Harry Potter

A new mythology is growing of the character of Harry Potter http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/ in the beloved Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling http://www.jkrowling.com/ . Harry is the first major, modern, fictional character to come from a dysfunctional home and become a hero. It is said, “our mythos precedes our logos” meaning the mythological figures that come forth in our time guide the consciousness of the people. In Harry’s case a symbol that dysfunctional or wounded people can break free and find their own wholeness.

From a mythological perspective, this is a marker signaling the consciousness of the majority of people, of the world, that a transition to a new awareness has occurred or is ready to occur. In the case of Harry Potter, the symbolic message is in the area of personal growth; those who have had a damaging childhood can grow from their past into wholeness.

Movies and stories can be signals to the planet’s populous that significant changes in our beliefs and collective consciousness are ready to occur. According to Joseph Campbell, the movie Star Wars broke open the belief that there is such a thing as UFOs. The movie X-Men presents the possibility that normal, everyday people have extra-ordinary talents within them, and we as a species are evolving.

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Harry Potter explores the possibilities for personal growth in that Harry symbolizes that we can be free of our past emotional injuries experienced in childhood. In the area of personal development, we have evolved to a place that people are ready to receive the freedom of a life of joy. People are ready to shed the chains that past pains have created for so many in ways of addiction, depression, neurosis, and other psychological disorders. Currently these dysfunctional patterns remain a strong presence in all societies despite the effort by many to become free of them.

It has been a common theme in fictional stories that the flawed personality inhibits the weaker character. The personal defects generally come from the loss of love in childhood and/or the inner shame developed as an infant or child that the character is challenged to resolve in self. It is a pain that the character cannot overcome; the inner anger that the shame stimulates leads them to destructive choices. It is the lead stone, in the make-up of the character, the source of their dysfunctions, that leads to darker choices and eventually their demise.

Classic examples of these early childhood wounds are Darth Vadar and Harry’s arc-enemy Voldemort. The traumas and repressed anger were the weaknesses that allowed them to be seduced to a darker life. A cold-hearted person can believe the rationales that others should suffer for a greater accomplishment, for themselves or a cause.

Young Harry had some of those classic childhood struggles of losing his parents in a traumatic incident and living under the stairway in the home of the abusive Dursleys. Then upon his arrival in the magical community, Harry was exalted and adored. Harry made a choice in these situations to remain humble, to be Harry. He chose to help others by unraveling mysteries presented to him (staying with his own inner journey) instead of being popular.

Throughout the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix, Harry was angry. He is expected to persevere aggressions and injustices from a wide variety of people from the Durselys to the Ministry Of Magic. Yet Harry finds a proactive solution to the attacks by creating “Dumbledore’s Army”. He maintains his journey to find the truth. Harry was challenged to choose darker avenues through the anger he held at Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. He came to the edge with his anger but did not cross over by using the killing curse on Bellatrix at the end of the fifth book.

At the end of the fifth book, Harry lashed his fury at Dumbledore, although the movie did not explore this aspect. It was a great expression Harry had to do to his most trusted father figure. It was a demonstration of the horrors of the present year at Horwarts had put upon him. Just like any person from a pained past those fear based memories weighed upon him to influence his decision making. In addition to these misfortunes Harry was angry due to his parents and godfather for dying. Part of his healing process was to express his anger at Dumbledore. Harry expresses this anger to the person most appropriate to hear it: to the man he felt the safest with, Albus Dumbledore. Rowling gives us wonderful example of how we should go to our parental figures for a more complete resolution of our conflict.

The anger builds within Harry throughout the last three books and Harry teaches the reader some good techniques on how to use anger as a constructive tool. He reacted to his enemies with courage and fierceness (although there were times with Draco Malfoy that Harry was almost too overcome with anger). In general, Harry used his anger to take action, a tool to move him. One of Harry’s greatest teachings is that he maintains the focus of his emotion on the person or situation that distresses him.

In addition, Harry was very true in grieving the loss of Sirius Black and his parents — he feels the loss deeply. Harry’s anger at the ministry and such characters as Delores Umbridge was expressed directly in some cases. It showed us that we can be honest in conveying our feelings about the wrongness in the world.

Harry showed us how to be honest with ourselves, not to hide behind rationales or logic. He was connected to his feelings and acted on them; sometimes impulsively but with strong caring in other situations. The one thing he never did was avoid his feelings. Harry always sought and found his truth.

If most of us were in Harry’s shoes, and were deemed “the boy who lived” or “the chosen one” we would probably be seduced into the grandiosity of the admiration. It would be enough to live with that recognition. Harry chooses different perspectives in that he is humble, curious and has a strong sense of integrity with the world. Harry’s sense of justness was created from the abuse he received from the Dursleys. When entering into the magical world, he acknowledged his power yet he never forgot his own sense of fairness. When reading books, I always get an idea of the person who is seeking justice in relation to resolving his emotions towards his own unfair upbringing. In this case, it was Harry’s upbringing by the surrogate ‘muggle’ family.

Growing up in a closet under the stairs or other non-nurturing environments gives a strong message of victim hood and deserving less. Harry lived the pain of a victim and was humbled but was ready for new adventures. There have been other woeful characters that authors have explored that have gone from the depths-of-despair to be led on a magical adventure. What is special about Harry is he completes a saga where it was demanded of him to go beyond his father figures, teachers, and friends. To find the deepest secrets and finally to stand alone against an evil no one else can face.

Symbolically speaking, it is the hero’s completion of his own inner journey. Voldemort represented the child that chose the opposite of Harry. It is two aspects of Harry. As the book said of the relationship of the two, “Neither can live while the other survives”. One cannot live in the fears of the past and while in the joy of the present. To shed ones self of the past dysfunctional home requires resolution before one can live a happy every-day life.

In the process of Harry discovering the horcruxes and confronting Voldemort, Harry confronted aspects of himself. The seventh book was his own inner journey with Hermione representing the higher aspects and Ron the more primitive aspects of Harry. (Rowling has a strange sense of humor putting those two together as a couple, it is a melding of Harry’s aspects). Harry unraveled the mystery of Voldemort, the horcruxes, and finally confronted the wizard (or himself).

The story parallels the inner journey of recovery. The conflict between Harry and Voldemort represent the choices that we can make with our own emotional pains: to look within fearlessly or to project our pain and anger onto others. The choice to work of breaking out of the matrix of lies that held the limitations learned in a dysfunctional home. For some, it is believed that it takes a lifetime of work or the cycles of abuse cannot be completely released.

J.K. Rowling’s mythological and symbolic message to the world is freedom from our past is possible. We can discover ourselves and be our own hero; to be courageous, find your own demons, and vanquish them. Harry repeatedly walked into the fire to discover the secrets that awaited him and found a life of happiness at the end of the rainbow.

A book so widely read creates a mass conscious and unconscious belief that recovery from the pains of neglect and abuse are possible. Is now the day and age that we as a people heal ourselves and break those cycles? The mythology of Harry Potter invites that possibility of healing. Invite the possibility into your life and start your courageous journey.