Unhooking From Your Goblin King Mind
If you have seen the adventure fantasy film, The Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson (who also created The Muppets), you know that Jim understood the journey of awakening. It is a wonderful movie that is full of symbolism about Life.
The movie begins with 15 year old Sarah in a long flowing white dress. She is in a park reciting a monologue from the film’s eponymous book, “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!” As the clock strikes, she runs home to babysit for her brother, Toby. Her stepmother shames her for being late. When Toby won’t stop crying, she feels deep anger and wishes that the Goblin King would take her baby brother away. As she leaves the room, slamming the door, she hears loud noises coming from the room, and when she goes back in, Toby is gone. In order to get the child back, the Goblin King tells her that she must go through the labyrinth in order to rescue Toby in the castle.
This story represents all of our lives. The stepmother represents shame and the Goblin King represents the mind. The baby boy, Toby, represents innocence, the very innocence that is the core of who we really are. Our innocence was shut down by our minds through shame and fear, and we began to believe all of the stories in our heads that covered our innocence with clouds of struggle. Sarah makes the journey through the labyrinth and when she gets to the castle, she asks the Goblin King to tell her where her baby brother is. He tries to entice her with a crystal ball that will reveal her deepest dreams (rather than rescuing her brother) and this is exactly what we do with our minds. If we just think happy thoughts, everything will be okay. We have bought into the mind that makes us think that it has been our safe place, and it convinces us to believe everything it tells us because it is in control of life. But, it has not really and truly been our safe place. It just makes us think it is.
At the end of the film, Sarah is waking up to life when she again recites the last line of the monologue, and she says to the Goblin King, “You no longer have any power over me”. Sarah has found a moment of awakening when she realizes that her mind is not in control. We, too, are waking up to life by unhooking from our minds and getting to know a truly safe place, the place of our hearts. It can be scary to unhook from the mind because we have to get to know our shame and fear, rather than numbing it or burying it deep inside of us. But, it is the safest thing we will ever do.
Think about your own journey. We have all gone through challenges and have walked through the labyrinth of fear, shame and despair, which is glued together with judgment. Our minds like to cast spells over us, waking us up in the middle of the night to tell us “You didn’t do it right” or “You should have done it this way.” Like Sarah, we are learning how to get through the labyrinth by getting to know our fear rather than being run by it; by being with our shame rather than believing the stories; by seeing our despair without falling into it. The mind begins to lose its power over us when we can see the stories and we can bring curiosity and compassion to all of these states. Like Sarah, the more we awaken into life, the easier it is to say to our Goblin King mind (in a kind and loving way) “You no longer have any power over me.”
Think of a time when you were able to unhook from your mind’s stories and were able to fall into your heart. How did it make you feel in that moment?
Image – The Labyrinth, an acrylic painting by Norine Kevolic www.norinekevolic.com