Now that my personal reflection is published, I am starting to think about a live performance of stories from the work. There are over thirty stories to consider for my performance. As I have said before on this page, the overall theme of the work is Jung’s concept of individuation; that is, how we become the individual we are meant to be, not who others want us to be. And, in the process of discovering this unique sense of self, we battle with others and with ourselves. Sometimes we win the battle, sometimes we lose the battle, and sometimes, the battle is never ending.
One of the never ending battles for me has been dyslexia—when I read my brain jumbles the letters of certain words. I see a word with a slightly different meaning from the actual word on the page. I become confused and have to go back to find the word I have misunderstood—hence the meaning for the book title: “for a slow reader”. For me, although I do a lot of reading, it is never a pleasure. I never get lost in reading a good book!
This disability would have been a minor annoyance if I had decided to be a machinist like my father who worked in a steel mill. Instead, I went to college. I studied theology and became a writer and performer of stories. I chose to fight this battle with words on a page throughout my life. This battle is touched upon in a story called The Cripple in my book. This story speaks of my struggle as a child with learning to read.
The grain of sand that becomes a pearl is an apt metaphor for my struggle with dyslexia. I have understood my problem with reading since I was around thirty years old, but I did not consciously focus on it in my early storytelling. I say consciously because I did unconsciously think about children who have difficulty with reading. When I designed my first storytelling program for school children, I created a performance where I stood in front of two rear-projection screens. The children learned by listening to spoken word stories accented with visuals, sound effects and music. This was five years before Howard Gardner published his book on multiple intelligences: Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Creating this book has produced many stories that reflect on the process of individuation. If you would like to read more stories, listen to more stories, see more stories, they will be offered free on my Kindle Books page from October 1-5. All I ask is that you share your reflections on the book to help others who might be considering the purchase at a later date. You can find the book at: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dkindle-accessories&field-keywords=grandpa+jung%27s+lessons+for+a+slow+reader
