The Deeper Meaning of “Once Upon a Time”
(why reading a fairytale is a lot like getting a haircut)
Wait, isn’t it just a simple cliché?
What more can anybody say about it?
Sure, it makes you wonder sometimes, especially about the phrasing.
But even if it sounds oddly quaint, like “Auld Lang Syne,” we all know what it means.
Right?
It just references some mythical or imaginary time in the past.
We don’t really need any more complicated an explanation than that, do we?
What about a precise definition?
Okay, if you want to be nit-picky about it, it’s defined as an idiom.
Period.
End of story (even if it marks the beginning of so many of them).
Alright, but that only tells us what the phrase is.
Not what it means.
Hey, wait a minute.
Haven’t we been through this already?
Aren’t we just going around in circles now?
What’s the point of chasing our own tails?
Enough is enough.
We already know exactly what “once upon a time” means, don’t we?
Or do we?
Itchy witchy...
Although referencing this business of the past (whether historical or mythical) is a perfectly reasonable definition, it’s one that still leaves us hanging.
And that’s because it fails to scratch a very odd, but important, itch.
One that’s not caused by Logic, Reason or those pesky hairs that sneak under your collar at the barber shop or salon.
It’s an itch that’s provoked by our own Intuition.
That is, we intuitively sense the phrase to have some deeper, more satisfying meaning.
And not just the phrase, but fairytales themselves.
Fairytale zen
As a traditional fairytale mantra, “Once upon a time” always tickles something in us that Logic and Reason can’t quite reach.
Logically, we know that fairytales have the power to stir the imagination.
But we may not realize that fairytales, like zen koans, tell some very deep and basic Truths that are accessible only to our Intuition.
There.
I said it.
Unless you bring your Intuition to bear on a fairytale, its Truth will always elude you.
You’ll always have the vague sense of missing something.
And you will, indeed, be missing out on the real magic they’re patiently (and somewhat mischievously) waiting to reward you with.
So just what is that magical reward?
Well, before I put it into words, go ahead and give your own Intuition a crack at “Once upon a time.”
You just might find that reward for yourself.