I have been reading many myths, legends, and folktales. I’ve noticed many stories with twins. It took me a long time to figure out the allegory meaning, but I think I realized that these stories are about human beings struggle with the duality of life. I can imagine an angel sitting on one shoulder leading me towards a good path and a demon sitting on the other tempting me to go on a evil path. I feel torn not knowing which one to listen to. I believe every human being feels this conflict whenever we need to make choices in our lives. The stories illustrating twins are an allegory of this very struggle.
In other stories, there are often three brothers or three sisters. They usually follow the hero’s journey. However, the oldest sibling and the middle sibling usually fail in their quest. The youngest sibling usually has patience, cleverness, and wit on their side. They are able to succeed where their siblings failed, and they are able to save their siblings as well.
I tried to figure out what the allegory meant. Some scholars think that it is just easier to remember three in stories. Others believe that three is a perfect number and related to God. I believe that it must go deeper than that. Then, I remembered that there are three aspects to human beings personality. Freud described them as the Id, Ego, and Superego. Other people have used other names. Some people says the Adult, Child, and Parent. I don’t think the names really matter. Inside each of us there is an aspect of us that is very free and impulsive. That part of us does whatever feels good and doesn’t think about the consequences. That part of us represents total freedom without responsibility. Then there’s another aspect of us that knows everything about social contracts and laws. That part of us wants to follow the rules and be responsible. It represents total responsibility without freedom. Then, there’s a part of us that exists in between. That part is the most evolved part of our personality because it develops last. As children, we experience total freedom, as we grow, we learn about rules, and then the last part of our personality learns how to balance freedom with responsibility.
The two older siblings are sometimes described as evil, but often times they aren’t evil. Instead those two older siblings just don’t know how to be flexible and innovative. They don’t know how to “think outside the box”. The third sibling does. That’s where this part of our personality comes in. The Ego, the adult, or whatever else you want to call it, is the part of us that learns to take two extremes and balance them.
That’s really what God wants for us. Life isn’t about the extremes. It’s about finding the balance between the extremes. It’s about understanding the Yin/Yang symbol and realizing that the dualities can be one. So, all these stories with the three siblings over and over again are actually telling the same story and giving us the same lesson about life.
God wants us to experience life to its fullest, but at the same time, we need to be responsible and understand that our actions have consequences. I don’t just exist on an island, I am part of a huge lifeforce. And so, I have to be like that third sibling and find a way to navigate through life and bring my other siblings along. I must understand that the key to life isn’t about heaven and hell or good and evil, but about balance and love.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
