I have been thinking about writing a post about my avid thirst for reading fiction – especially fantasy fiction.
Fantasy isn’t a genre for everyone, yet there feels something so connected and surreal about the worlds the authors build that makes one wonder… is there really truth to all this fiction?
It is the philosophical conversation that the thoughts we experience have an origin somewhere – whether it be in this existence or in the alternating universes that co-exist in the constant fracturing and bending of time?
What I love about fantasy fiction, and more specifically science fiction fantasy, is the ideology is so akin to our mythological and religious beliefs, albeit in a slightly different telling, that if you truly surrender your imagination and constructed limiting beliefs, there is a thinning of the veil of what can surely be possible.
Fantasy and science fiction walk a fine line with spirituality. Threading the stories of tribes of our ancient past (or ancient future?), their perceptions and their experience of the world into the lessons and lore that we follow even today.
My experience of reading fantasy fiction has strongly assisted in the building of my character, always the reader and having that influence around me (thanks Dad!) always encouraged that there is always time to read a page, read a chapter, the novel or even the whole series.
It hasn’t been until recently, after trying to disconnect my over-active mind from the need to be involved with EVERYTHING – like socials – I have really thrown myself back into reading. And although I love a good standalone read, hand me an interconnected series that has me dutifully reading every single book to completion any day. I will eat that up!
It was when I was asked recently by one of my children “why do I love to read so much?”. And I told him – “It’s the stories it creates in my mind”. It sparks my imagination. So much better than any movie I could watch because I am building every small detail and feeling in my mind. Building the attachment to the character and living the rollercoaster of emotions that follows with it – but what I realised. Almost every story follows a main character that has had some type of loss, overcomes an event of adversity, finds their love, their tribe and proved all the naysayers wrong – ultimately finding their inner light and their inner courage to be all that they are – wholeheartedly, without restraint.
And I fucking admire that. It’s these stories that have opened the cracks in my soul to show me how to be patient with others, because we can never know what their circumstance has been before we entered their world. When we have allowed those around us to shine, they ignite more of the light with us and we continue to spread and share that magic.
It has shown me, that if we truly open our hearts and follow it, to trust in the unyielding loyalty of those we pull into our inner circle that we can truly be unstoppable in our conquests. That we are always worthy of being surrounded by unwavering love.
It is this concept that has brought me to the connection that is spirituality and consciousness. To see the similarities of what is shared in todays awakening world, has already been written by the minds daring to see it and put it into words, into stories. This is where the lines between spirituality, awareness, fantasy and truth begin to blur.
When we start diving into the world of spirituality, and our connection to it, we begin to see the connection to energy, to magic, to beings that are no longer of this earth. Whether they are deities, gods, goddesses, spirits – they exist in what we pen as fantasy. The other beings of our reality. Not seen by all – but felt by those willing to allow their hearts to believe. To acknowledge that there really is something beyond us that is unknown.
I have read a lot of fiction over the years and I find it challenging to believe that so many authors just stumble onto a topic that is so similar – written decades a part without ever stumbling across another – I understand that a huge amount of research goes into a telling, however there are certain fictional species that continue to have similar attributes. I cannot be continued co-incidence.
It is that on some plane, some level, these creative writers are tapped into what once was, or what happens to still exists in our alternative realities. The parallel universes. When do we begin to recognise that the science fiction – the idea of starseeds, of interconnected worlds through portals on some level is a truth?
I know there are many who may baulk at such an idea, but it’s these stories of time before it was modernly recorded – that magic was cherished, that the tribute, the connection, energy, family, tribe were everything a soul needed to thrive, that I feel kindship with.
It’s believing in the fairytales and being brave enough to be a dreamer. That our imagination is the creator of success, of our truth in our hearts.
It is all of this and more, why I believe in the truth in fiction. For it is these seeds that teach me anything is possible.
From now, amongst all the other things I share, and throughout the rediscovering of my own heart, I hope to share all the elements that draw pieces of me together, to build my light and show others the light inside of themselves.
Til then, Peace, Sharai x
P.S. Please share you Fantasy recommendations! Can never have enough titles on the TBR list.
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