The story of Pinocchio has been translated into 240 languages and is one of the most famous fairy tales in the world. Among all the insights that author Carlo Collodi tells us, there is one that most people seem to miss: Pinocchio’s Father Geppetto, is a craftsman who works with his own hands and tools. He is not satisfied with making just chairs and tables, like his colleagues: he wants to create “a marvelous puppet that can dance, fence and do flips.” Something never has done before. No other fable or story does a better job of narrating the extraordinary creativity of a person. Though Collodi probably did not imagine him as much, Geppetto is the forerunner of those who work with love, imagination, inventive verve and above all, passion.

Fairy tales were once called “fated tales.” Many fairy tales deal with conditions caused by fate, the restrictions of birth, spells cast and curses that must be faced and defeated or life won’t progress and love won’t prosper. Folk and fairy tales contain images that relate to issues that each of us are fated to struggle within our lives. They represent aspects of passion that are necessary for true transformations to occur.

We can’t become who we are at the core of ourselves unless the passion in us becomes recognized and released. If we accept our inner passion and learn to work with it, everything changes. Spells are broken, gifts are found, and talents serve their true purpose.

Following the lead of one’s inner spirit leads us to the aspects of the divine most in tune with our individual soul. Without being tuned into a genuine calling we are simply blind wanderers on the roads of life. Once we receive a calling that resonates with the pattern woven within us, we find a path and enter a pilgrimage that suits our soul. Such life-path requires that we risk ourselves in order to find ourselves.

The soul carries the original agreement that moves us to live in the first place. And, the divine companion and inner passion try repeatedly to remind us of the purpose set within. Each soul arrives with a natural passion intended to fashion something meaningful and beautiful from the raw materials of life.

Soul and sole are related words that have shared roots. The soul carries the meaning of “being the only one of its kind” an exceptional, unique and extraordinary person. And sole can also mean the bottom of one’s feet. In order to become a unique and extraordinary person, we must “walk our walk” and move the way our soul would have us move. We must find the original speech of the soul and become the vehicle of its true expression.

For those who live in the way that their soul intended and keep the original agreement that continually brought them to the dance of life, become uniquely shaped and solely made. They become a one-of-a-kind, the person that everyone can learn something from, the kind of passionate soul that no one can ever replace.

The original book version of Pinocchio is different from the Disney adaptation. Instead of a puppet turning into a boy as in the movie, the book tells of a boy turning into a real man by earning his own keep, taking care of his father, rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. In the book, there is no waving of magic wands Pinocchio has a dream and wakes up a real person. Geppetto passionately creates Pinocchio and author Collodi passionately creates a work of art that jumps from the page, freeing itself from just a physical book and becomes a transcendental myth, regardless of how it is told or in what language. In the end, we too have a choice as to whether we will wake up. Because there will be many things that catch your eye but only a few that catch the passion in your soul.