Dive 1.0 ~ The Soul of Imaginative Fiction and Clean Fantasy continued …

This is a joint venture. The seventy-seven authors and their inspiring adventures we explore are beacons of extraordinary story. Most of them are lights by contrast, guiding us to enchanting lands of danger in the ocean of fantasy. With them, we learn how to identify true gems and sell them not. How to know enemies, friends, and endless possibilities with our inner eye: to touch and to taste the truths of life in realms near and far.

Never underestimate the power of anything we invite inside our mind and heart, in our world or elsewhere. False or true, foolish or wise, corrupt or clean, it transforms our inner world and our ideas and colors all that we become. We must take heed, for our journey, though fantastic, is full of danger.

From birth we carry a journal of knowledge, waiting for us to fill its pages. But knowledge can cut both ways. It can protect or destroy. For our book of knowledge to be a blade of truth that rightly divides, we must temper it with understanding gained from experience, experience written in our hearts with the living, willing ink of our blood. The experience, the wisdom, our blood and book—all begins in our Creator.

Before we embark upon the perilous realm, read what the wise who have gone before us scribed in our book in bold, glimmering hue of opalescent green, pink, and blue.

The Hidden Gems:

A Treasure to sail for:

We will open many books of fantasy to find the elusive gems. The journey is dangerous, hunting by land and sea, but such jewels leave us with a greater grasp of truth, hopeful of life, with deep empathy and a sense of wonder over treasures heaped on endless shores.

A Diamond to steer by:

The best fantasies are about change by conflict, where powerful truth transforms the familiar. As we walk among jewels of clean fantasy we find ourselves beckoned “higher up and further in” as C.S. Lewis so aptly says, to another world. A liberating world of transcendent beauty, mysterious wonder, and adventure beyond compare.

A Zircon to know:

The secret of purely great—not utterly boring fantasy—is contrast. How evil is portrayed and for what purpose creates soul-destroying or soul-inspiring adventure.

An Emerald to watch for:

Our definition of “clean fantasy” is that evil is not glorified, is not subtly admired by the story as a whole, is not wallowed in for shock value. Good and evil, beauty and ugliness are drawn into battle in great fantasy, and there they show their differences in a way that make us want to stand up and cheer or knuckle down and fight with all we are.

A Topaz to see by:

Morally base fantasies that glorify deception, ugliness, and futility leave us wanting to cry. The beauty of truth, the conflict of good versus evil, and the sword of justice weave through the best imaginative fiction, calling us to leave desolation behind. Though these bright threads may wind through strongholds of deepest evil, it is never a journey of deception, muddling through injustice to exalt despairing fate. Rather, they call us to fight it in the light of a sure hope. Great fantasy on a spiritual level helps remove the cloud of hopelessness from one lens we see life through—our imagination. Goodness shines the clearer as it beats back darkness.

A Thought of Gold:

Fantasy is a weaving of power that transforms a tapestry into a tale, a mirror into a portal, a string of runes on a page into a living, breathing world. Where do we gather great fantasies so we don’t waste time on fool’s gold and fatally flawed stories? How do we sort adventurous, inspiring fantasy from the insipid, the bad, and the destructive? We dive into the waves of the sea and explore the mountains of fantasy, but read a page or few of our prospective wealth before we bring it home or on deck.

Silver to seek:

Every clean fantasy holds vast secrets for brave hearts. Listen to those who sail the waves, to experienced salts who search the epic depths and chart the islands. They will be the first to tell there are undiscovered ocean vaults beneath the surface. Entire islands of mystery and danger await every adventurer seeking riches, who yearns for jewels of strong and precious story. When the dive is done and the fight is fought, what precious things will we bring to light?

A Pearl to hold:  

The alluring glamour of the forbidden, which promises life-giving water but offers a goblet of hemlock, will not draw seekers to their deaths on this Fantastic Journey. The fantasies we depict do not paint scenes of immorality, where the sweetness of stolen water conceals death. There are battles, perils, and conflicts of every description, but true intimacy stops at the chamber door, where we leave it with a nod, a knowing smile, and respect for a precious thing.

A Ruby to remember:

Epic fantasy adventure benefits us on three levels: the spiritual arena, the wide world of ideas, and the sphere we breathe in. The realm of fantasy touches all three. It conveys life deeper than sand and sea, breathes into being lands nearer than we know, shows us the adventure of love in all its facets, and transfers truth from thought and experience to our heart’s grasp.

The ocean of fantasy adventure broadens our horizons and enthralls our hearts with crystal joys and enchanting beauties on a voyage across a perilous realm. Each subchapter dives for jewels of its own. Will we discover that which is the wealth of souls?

Note: This Blog 2 Book title is coming 2020 – Fantastic Journey – The Soul of Imaginative Fiction and Clean Fantasy Adventure