The Magic of a Book

    As we read Phantastes by George MacDonald I must admit that the most wonderful part to me was the library at the Faerie Palace. I have been an avid reader ever since I have learned to discern the symbols in writing or in type, printed on a page for my delight.  Being among a great group of people I have learned that many of us, when fully immersed in a book, begin to see that world in which our mind travels to via black ink.

   When I first read that he was transported into the books he was reading I was thrilled and could relate.  The experience was undoubtedly one that could not be fully relayed, as Anodos himself said: "I must make a vain attempt to describe".  I have found in talking to others that do not have the same proclivity to reading as I do, that they do not delve into another land when they read.  This, of course, is rather depressing to me. 

   That point aside I question how is it that we could teach the future generations to activate their imaginations in such a way that they too can lose themselves into a story and become the main character, learning what the character learns, not just intellectually but spiritually and emotionally as well?  Would a steady training in fantasy stories be the best solution for this as they would have to learn to form pictures in their mind and associate sounds, smells, sights, tastes, and touch to what can be found in this world (we are surely able to find trees if only we peer out of a window) but also will challenge them to conjure things that they are not of our natural world (alas I have yet to meet a dragon or, more importantly, a handsome elf)?

   The Faerie palace's library may be fiction, but the ability to picture other worlds is possible with most avid readers.  As society battles with illiteracy I think it would be wonderful to make popular this library of adventure and learning.  Perhaps we could impart that same love for reading that MacDonald had to our new generations.