Rumpelstiltskin: Sharing our Inner World

Rumplestiltskin by Anne Anderson (1935)

Recently, a student shared a beautiful interpretation 

of the story of Rumpelstiltskin in a global meeting. 

The realization was this: 

Rumpelstiltskin possessed knowledge that he did not want to share. 

Yet, when that knowledge was finally brought to light, 

it helped the miller's daughter convert ordinary straw into gold. 

In the language of the Work, by sharing the realizations 

of our inner world, we provide the 'shock' others need to help 

them transform the coarse straw of their daily impressions 

into the gold of higher consciousness.

The story also serves as a stark warning about hoarding knowledge. 

Rumpelstiltskin represents the danger of not 'eliminating' 

or sharing our inner work. When his secret is finally named, 

his resistance causes him to violently split in two. 

This is what happens to a machine that refuses to share its light: 

we become divided. One half attempts to serve the Work, 

while the isolated, mechanical half tears the inner world apart.

~T