The Hidden Wisdom of Fairytales, Parables and Myths: Reflections on Self-Cultivation

In Hidden Wisdom, Professor Anderson introduces the activity of self-transformation or self-cultivation through meditative reflections on so-called nonsense poetry and myth. Central to his thesis is the claim that, "without a willing change in attitude from fear to radical trust, and from reactive bewilderment to active attention no person can leave anxious worry behind and 'cross over' to tranquility." In the spirit of Don Quixote, Anderson contends, "that the road is better than the inn if for no other reason than that the sublime always looks ridiculous in the world of small talk and domestic ease. And yet it is precisely on the ground of the commonplace that every ideal must pitch and strike its tent or fail to own a habitation and a name."