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June Jubilee
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
