I recall that book; though I never read it. From the way you (and others I have read) describe it, it sounds like Bettelheim treats transcendence in a rather relativistic way -- i.e., as a convenient fiction. I may have misapprehended.
I think he treats transcendence in a relativistic way in the sense that he is in favor of an individual(istic) understanding and realization of it.
He contrasts fairytales and the realizations that an individual comes to through them with religion and pedagogy. Namely, in religion and pedagogy, it is prescribed what and how a person is supposed to learn about transcendence from the texts provided. But with fairytales, this is not the case; instead, the realizations are individual, according to the child's current abilities and inclinations, but nonetheless reliable and creating a good foundation for the child.
Well, remember our popular lullaby:
Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
Indeed. Although I myself am not American, and the culture I was raised in, children's literature was mostly very tame.
I first read that lullaby in a Kurt Vonnegut novel - and thought that it was his literary fiction!
a show Loti said was so filthy and obscene, even the toughest most uncouth sailors from Liverpool would have blushed; and among the audience were families with children!
Yes. Some cultures are quite open about all kinds of things that happen in human life.
Note that an objection often made is that traditional religions are not acceptable for modern times because of all the cruelty, obscenity and the like in their stories.
For the most part, I agree; though on the other hand, as the philosopher Eric Voegelin noted, the tendency to deny or avoid the tension is as much a perennial constant as the tension itself (in fact, it -- the psychological and cultural denial of the tension -- becomes part of the structure of the tension itself!).
Yes, absolutely!
It's as if we are stuck in self-reflexive mode, like two mirrors facing eachother.
On a level of culture and society, one doesn't want to lapse into an absolutely relativistic Dickensianism ("These are the best of times, these are the worst of times"), nor does one want to indulge in utopianistic projects to reform society.
I am not sure how much that is really a relativism - and how much it is an example of being elloquent and socially adept.
Reading those texts from the 1800's, it seemes to me that they had a much more intense awareness of the variety of discourses and were better equipped to navigate through them than we are.
Nowadays, we seem to suffer from a simplistic "be the same, be yourself, 24/7/365 everywhere, at all times." A consistency that some people of those earlier times would probably call "the hobgoblins of little minds."
And Voegelin spoke of the tension as a "tension towards" -- i.e., it's not merely a perfectly equi-valent equilibrium; but rather does have directionality away from "evil" and toward "good". This directionality has to be kept in perspective, however, and again not translated into a utopianism that, with good intentions, paves the way to hell on Earth (pace the Puritans of the 17th century; the Enlightenment Revolutionaries of the 18th century; the Communists of the 20th century -- and Islam of the last 14 centuries).
This really speaks to me.
I have so far had the tendency to feel uncomfortable about some theists who, although they certainly look (meaning dress in particular religion-specific clothes and wear certain accessoires), talk and generally behave like theists of that particular religion, still struck me as deeply unhappy or even said so themselves - but who nonetheless keep to their religious faith and practices. I couldn't understand why they are like that, and I certainly wasn't the only one less or more openly suggesting that if they are so unhappy, then why don't they just give up their religion - since it is apparently all just a sham.
But your explanations here about the tension shed a new light on that for me; especially the idea of the tension-toward.
I can think of several theists that I have known, personally or through their writings, whom I would now describe as having this tension-toward.
