A Phenomenology of Inspiration as Witness to Universal Truths, Goodness and Beauty

This paper examines how artistic inspiration can disclose objective truths about human nature, goodness, and beauty. Drawing on a phenomenological response to Mary Poppins: The Musical, it argues that emotional engagement with fiction need not be merely subjective. Using Aristotle’s correspondence theory of truth, C. S. Lewis’s account of the Natural Law, and P. L. Travers’s understanding of myth, the paper identifies themes of beneficence, justice, mercy, good faith, magnanimity, and familial duty in the musical. It concludes that imaginative art can orient audiences toward universal moral realities, foster virtue, and contribute to authentic human progress through the joyful recognition of truth and goodness.