The Role of the Great Arts and Literature in Narrative Counselling to Reveal Beauty as a Life-Giving Healing Experience and a Rediscovery of the Human Spirit as a Noetic Spirit

Abstract

Dante wrote in a letter to his patron that the meaning of the Commedia is to guide those that live in the absence of hope towards a state of cheerfulness (Latham in Dreher 2015:43). Aristotle originally explained in the Poetics that art has the ability to heal by means of balancing the two fundamental passions, namely pity and fear (Kearney 2002:137-138). The ancient Egyptians and Greeks “employed drama and music as a means to help the disturbed achieve catharsis, relieve themselves of pent-up emotions, and return to balanced lives” (Gladding 1985:2). Therefore, the purpose of the great arts is to employ the imagination which responds to both comedy and tragedy, and thereby keep a balanced and realistic perspective on life (Gladding 2016:6). In January 2017, a meaningful story unfolded in my life that became a great source of creativity, whereby the great arts and literature were utilised, resulting in the working-through of a personal narrative of imbalance into a cathartic retelling of a narrative of balance - a rediscovery of my human spirit as a noetic spirit. When reading this in Chapter 3, I invite you, the reader, to allow yourself to freely enter your imagination and become part of our ‘Creative Protagonist’ narrative. I encourage you to chronologically view the attached video clips (Part I, II & III - Prynnsberg Part I.mp4; Prynnsberg Part II.mp4; Prynnsberg Part III.mp4) that was produced as invitations to the weekend at Prynnsberg, and to watch the final mythical clip (Part IV - Prynnsberg Part IV.mp4) that was produced after the weekend at Prynnsberg. Furthermore, I invite you to join me on this odyssey in exploring my idiosyncratic journey through a narrative therapeutic lens whilst undergoing a theoretical study of the balancing act of the great arts and literature, and how it can be used to influence and facilitate the working-through of problem narratives in the therapeutic process of re-writing one’s narrative.