Why We Need Mary Poppins Now

Thank goodness she's returned! In a world with few adults left in the room (see link below) & an even smaller segment of the population untainted by cynicism & divisiveness, there couldn't be a better time for Mary Poppins to rescue us again & work her special brand of magic.

In her latest incarnation, Emily Blunt as the inimitable Ms. Poppins angles to save Mr.Banks son. Adrift from the loss of his wife & the artistic bearings that give his life purpose & vitality, Banks must find a way to hold on to his family estate, his children's love, & his own equanimity. Struggling to juggle it all, he has been late on his house payments, & must find a way to hold on not only to his job but more importantly, the bridge that holds together the world of his imagination & his reality. No small task!

But Mary Poppins is always up for a good challenge. With the just the right proportion of whimsy & know-how--anything can spring out of her bag or take flight from her umbrella-- she's a model of the integrated & still enchanted adult--the one who has the practical savvy to keep grounded, disciplined, & organized, & yet also holds on to the reverie that witnesses & instigates magic all around us.

In a world where so many are mistrustful and cynical about the healthy use of power and authority & so disconnected from the innocence that brings life joy & fulfillment, Miss Poppins brings something essential and powerful to our culture right now. She doesn't give up on either side of the equation, succumbing to the cynicism and minutiae of adult life or of the charm & delight of childish wonder. She is quite capable and proud of stitching both together, and pulling them out of her bag of tricks whenever they are truly needed.

Miss Poppins can learn from dreams, and enters into them, as she does with the children into a plate of china to illuminate something more. She is the knowing one--the wise elder-and yet the youthful sprite, the shape-shifting trickster.

Unlike some of our leaders today, she doesn't question children's beliefs in the magical. Potential space doesn't need to smooth over contradictions, it is not threatened by ambiguity, complexity, or magic--it is the space where new possibilities are found and made together--and it requires a humble grandeur. Miss Poppins has this in spades--she possess a knowing self-assurance tempered by her role as a vehicle, serving something higher than her own personal purpose.

As in the Mary of yesteryear, it doesn't matter what order things go in as long as they are serving this larger objective. If a spoonful of sugar is needed,well that is what will do! As a culture for far too long we have idolized the capacity to delay gratification (remember the Marshmallow studies?) at the cost of following our own bliss. And yet, of course, if we only follow our childlike desires, we can also fly away way too far.

Take Mr. Pan for instance. Though I do love him so, poor Peter finds his greatest limitations in his boundlessness. He has married neither a woman nor reality (both have their limits!), but rather a capricious fantasy of Never Never Land. The problem with is this place only exists in antagonism--Never Never shirks the possibility for the Real and with it the creation of a true and limited work of art.

While it is liberating to fly & jettison one's shadow, we mustn't forget the substance that makes the shadow possible itself. Peter tries to seduce us into the fantasy of escapism, of timelessness that only exists when it fights the big bad evil of unenlightened adults. Unfortunately, this is the idealist's way of chasing its own tail, and is truly a Pyrrhic victory.

If we go to the other side of the continuum and attempt only to see the perils and corruptions of reality, we also make a devil's bargain, selling out vitality for a sterile defensiveness. In only thinking about money and the bills, the potential for others to hurt us, or an obsession with our own personal needs, we operate from a place where this is little room for creative possibility. There is little room for soul here, and with it goes the possibility for true growth and connection.

Mary bridges these by contending with love and loss. Her aim is to reclaim one's balance and relationship to the real and imaginary, to make wild again and yet also to domesticate. She is not so much escaping as deepening, lightening as she grounds. She saves men who have been lost to the cynicism and heartache, who have resigned themselves to the exercise of brute power to control the vicissitudes of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or in the case of the new Banks, a quickness to resign and surrender to life's inevitable cruelties.

She can smooth over the contradictions as some might say between the idealist's cultural relativism on the left and the moral absolutism on the right--the yin and yang (mother and father principles) needed to be in proper balance for a thriving home to be had.

Finally, she invests a livelihood and magic in things themselves, so that the inanimate environment around us become not just a place but a new possible relationship to be inhabited. Out inner world can only be truly enjoyed if the outer world is also seen as having its own heart and soul.

We can only truly feel grounded if we are domesticated and take responsibility for ourselves and our things, and in the process bridge the large gap between the heavenly imagination and earthly reality. It is a tall order, but such is the beauty and wonder of integrated and enchanted adulthood that Miss Poppins brings us. We need it now more than ever!

Article on the erosion of parental authority: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/healthandlife/parents-must-reclaim-the-central-role-if-growing-crisis-among-children-is-to-end-suggests-new-book-894556.html