About this episode

The episode explores the themes of power without wisdom through the tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and its various adaptations.

The tale of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a gripping story about loss of control and the timeless warning to be careful what you wish for. It sets out the archetypal theme of a magical shortcut that promises to bypass the difficult labor life asks of us. Such tempting shortcuts inevitably land us in trouble. The Sorcerer's Apprentice story goes back nearly two thousand years. In the tale of Eucrates and Pancrates, the Greek satirist Lucian recounts how the Egyptian magician Pancrates' apprentice stole his master’s spell, animated a pestle to carry water for him, and then lost control, resulting in watery chaos. In 1797, Goethe drew on the tale to write his poem, ‘Der Zauberlehrling’, and then in 1940 it reached a global audience in the Disney film, Fantasia. Similar tales include Sweet Porridge by the Brothers Grimm, the Strega Nona story, and the Jewish legend of the Golem. We can find related themes in the myth of Prometheus, and in stories in which a human creation challenges its maker, such as Frankenstein or the Terminator movie. Each of these tales shows the dangers faced when a person arrogates divine power to him or herself. Psychological inflation takes hold of the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano

Topics covered

• archetypes
• loss of control
• power and wisdom
• mythology
• technology
• psychological inflation

Keywords

• Sorcerer's Apprentice
• power
• wisdom
• myth
• technology
• psychological inflation
• archetypes

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Der Zauberlehrling, Fantasia, Sweet Porridge, Frankenstein, Terminator

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