and the land of Fantasia, the land of human hopes and dreams lives on because of it.
– heads up clicking the poster will take you to amazon. Such a sweet poster. Who doesn’t want to ride a luck dragon?
My brother and I decided to take a trip back in time so we watched The NeverEnding Story, now on netflix. Running at about an hour and a half, with imagination expanding visuals, an expansive cadre of fantastical characters and a peak 80’s soundtrack, this is a wonderful ride of a movie. So wonderful that the deeper messages are gently presented and aren’t an in your face, hammer on the head kind of delivery. So gently that in re-watching I was struck, gently, with the profundity, timeliness and depth of meaning therein.
Simply put it is our hopes and dreams that keeps Fantasia, the imaginal realm all humans have access to, alive. The world is being wiped out because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. The Nothing tears through this world shredding it into, well, nothingness.
Atreyu asks G’mork, the agent of the Nothing “but what IS the Nothing?” G’mork replies “it’s the emptiness that’s left, it is like a despair, destroying this world” The scene referenced is below:
The message of this scene and the scene where Atreyu heads back to the ivory tower tie together the powerful point that this experience, this reality, is participatory, that you are powerful, special and you must know it. Know that it is your hopes and dreams that directly informs and keep this experience of existence and all of its wonderful potential, afloat. Without them we allow the Nothing to empower malicious actors, take control, sweep through and leave only despair and emptiness in its wake.
G’mork’s answer to Atreyu when he asks why he is helping the Nothing really hits home at this point in our time “because people who have no hopes are easy to control and whoever has the control has the power.”
Heavy, but in a time where there seems to be so much uncertainty swirling around us, it can be easy to feel swept away along with our hopes and dreams. To give up on ourselves and relinquish the quiet truth that each and everyone of us are powerful, unique and a part of something wonderful. The human experience with all its boundless potential must be actively engaged with or else we risk giving up control, giving up our rightful self agency, our power to those who would use it to wipe out our hopes and dreams and leave us in a barren Nothing.
The simple recognition that we are special, we are meaningful and wonderfully unique is the first and most powerful step to push the Nothing right out of our minds and hearts. To grow the boundless Fantasia anew and tap into the powerful potential our hopes and dreams have to change our living experience for ours and everyone’s benefit.
We are all great warriors in our own right. We are all Atreyu and Bastian.
Toward the end when Atreyu and the Empress are talking about why Bastian hasn’t appeared to save Fantasia yet Atreyu asks why he’s allowing their world to be torn asunder. The Empress responds “he doesn’t understand that he’s the one who has the power to stop it. He simply can’t imagine that one little boy could be that important.”
The clip referenced is below which starts around 1:18:
He simply can’t imagine…
It begins with the power of our thoughts. Imagine we have the power to change our lives for the better. Imagine we have the power to make the world around us better. Imagine our wildest hopes and dreams can come true. We have the power. We, each and everyone of us are that important.
In imagining we bring hopes and dreams into the world we all have access to. The world of the imaginal where all greatness begins. A world some may call Fantasia.
Giving up on our hopes and dreams is what allows the Nothing and it’s G’morks to further their crusade of control and power. Don’t give up. Keep imagining. Bastian flew with Falcor through the streets of his city. Perhaps if we all maintain our hopes and dreams we can bring our own pieces of Fantasia from the imaginal realm and into waking reality.
Hey who doesn’t want to ride a luck dragon?
Hangin With Mist3rdouglas yeah 