A Fairytale Life

Fairytales, in some fashion, have been around in virtually every culture since the beginning of time. We are fascinated with them, with the fanciful elements, the larger than life events, the extra evil villains, the super passionate romances, basically all the stuff that makes a fairytale and fairytale. Often, fairytales end with a "Happily Ever After," but not always.

For some reason (which I am going to guess at here), people are obsessed with fairytales. We love (or hate) them, but so much of what we do is based on them. They are the subject of countless movies, books, television shows, songs, etc... Disney has built a massive worldwide company, and it is largely around fairytales of some form.

While fairytales can be fun, fanciful stories, inspiring the imagination, and, especially today, leaving us feeling all warm and fuzzy, there are a lot of people who have a negative outlook on fairytales because they portray an unrealistic view of life, of love. I have heard the argument that fairytales (and that concept of idealized life, idealized relationships) are detrimental because they instill unrealistic expectations within people that leave them depressed or constantly searching because life isn't actually the way it is in the fairytale. No man is a Prince in Shining Armor. No woman is the perfect Princess. Good and Evil are not always so clear cut. Best of Intentions do not always work out. There is rarely a "Happily Ever After."

I can see this argument, and I agree, to a certain extent, but in general I fall on the other side of the line. Where as this argument seems to say that Fairytales instill a false sense of reality and a desire for the unrealistic and unattainable that we then try, detrimentally, to apply to real life, I contend that humanity creates fairytales out of a sense of longing for something that does exist. Fairytales, are our attempts to recreate, in some ways, the perfection of life and emotions that does exist, but has been lost. The fairytale life, I believe is what we are searching for; and while it may not exist in this life that humanity currently lives, it does exist, and we strive for it, not because of some false hope that fairytales have given us, but because there is something in us that knows it is real, that it is what we are meant to experience.

Now this goes along with another theory that I have. I don't believe that humanity has the ability to "create" anything. By this I mean that any idea, character, story plot that any artist, author, philosopher comes up with must be based on reality. We "create" out of our experience, and maybe that experience is conscious or instinctual, but if we have managed to come up with something, there has to be at least some bit of reality behind it. Based on that, I believe that fairytales are a reflection of the perfection that exists in God. Love, Justice, Sacrifice, even the totality of Evil, Death, and Punishment are reflections of true life, the reality beyond the veil of this world.

Life is, ultimately, a huge fairytale. There is something within us that instinctually drives us to desire certain things. I allude to this (or maybe write directly about it, I can't fully remember) in my posts "Be A Man: Part I" and "Be A Man: Part II." I break it down into 5 big things that everyone desires:

• Love
• Danger
• Adventure
• Excitement
• Passion

I see these 5 things as that which everyone strives for in some way or another, and not in some watered down, diluted form, but pure, potent, and powerful. I also see these things as that which are the making of fairytales, but not just fairytales. These 5 things are present in all epic tales, fictitious or not. They are what give us that feeling of power, ambition, and desire.

So I believe that we should embrace the fairytale, or at least the truth behind it. Not that we should all go lean to speak Elvish and believe Tinker Bell is hiding in our room, but we should live a live characterized by Pure: Love, Danger, Adventure, Excitement, and Passion. Live a life characterized by the source of these things, Christ.

The ultimate fairytale, as I see it, the prototype for all fairytales, is the Christian life. "Once Upon A Time..." (In the beginning...) God created us and we are moving toward a "Happily Ever After..." with Him in eternity.