A Simple Fable

… of a star that cannot accept herself.

‘There was a star in the sky,
a little pissed off
who felt ugly and awkward.
She wanted to be important,
an admired and elegant diva.’

If you are Italian, you might recognise the lyrics of this 1990s song sung by Caterina Rappoccio.

I was 15 years old when I first heard ‘Favola Semplice’ which means 'A Simple Fable'. The song had already been released for a year, and even though it hadn’t gained much popularity, I loved singing it in front of the mirror, using a brush as my microphone.

In the song, the star is angry because she is normal and insecure; she does not accept herself. Here, I reflect on how many stars, or potential stars, live their life without knowing who they really are. Of course, I am referring to us human beings.

I think we are all stars, not like those that light up the night sky, but just like the Sun, the biggest star in our solar system and the most important one.

It is truly amazing and magical how this ball of gas and heat governs the Earth and the various planets. By rotating on itself, along with gravity and the speed of the planets around it, the Sun maintains orbital balance. This is a perfect balance that works in harmony. And not only that! Planet Earth depends on the Sun to survive where we again see perfection manifesting itself; this divine functioning that maintains the exact distances and emanates the exact amount of heat and light so as not to burn or freeze, and thus sustain life.

Aristotle, the famous ancient Greek philosopher, suggested that the soul, the protagonist of our experience on this Earth, which lives inside our body and governs it, also has an internal ‘motility’. In fact, he defines the Soul as the first principle of movement and, thus, of the life of a living being, giving form and function to the body. In other words, it is the origin of our physical body-mind-feelings' package', livening it up and thus enabling us to breathe, perceive, think and grow.

Like the Sun, our Soul is a fire, which, by burning and moving, moves itself and moves everything that orbits around us. It's as if each person has their own solar system, where their actions influence the outside world.

Comparing the Soul to the Sun and cosmic movement, I would therefore say that the key for us as human beings is to understand what a unique light we shine with. And so, just as the heroine in the song goes in search of herself by asking the sea, the wind and the moon, we too should take a similar path. On this journey, we should also learn to keep the intensity of light just right. Too much fire, too bright - as we tend to do when we work too much, do too much, want too much - burns us out, while a flame that is not very bright - as when we move too little or do not nurture passions - keeps us unmotivated and prone to be dominated by dark inner forces. It is no coincidence that from mere physical movement, we can cure depression and various illnesses; we can even develop intelligence and manage our emotions better.

And it is perhaps on that journey that we might at some point be amazed as in the Simple Fable, where the protagonist understands her purpose ...

‘and like her the other stars in the sky,
for that they truly shine.’