Early 1999 (exact date unknown)
If you hear about someone and you have never met them, do they not exist? What is the difference between that person and a “character” you read about in a story? I contend that if that character is truthfully written, then there is no difference. What makes one thing that you experience more real, substantial, or important than another? Because you can touch it? Or see it? Can we see how limited and narrow-minded it is to think that way? To think that our “waking world” is the only one—and is the only one that matters and is “real”—is close-minded and limiting.
What makes something “real?” There are characters in books that are more real to me than members of my own family. Worlds and characters that we read about in books do exist. They might not exist in a realm and dimension that we easily understand and accept, but that doesn’t mean that they do not exist. Good art—whether it be a painting, a dance, a song, a movie, or a novel—is a world, or a bubble of reality. We should ask ourselves what “real” means to us. I think that if we try to limit our definition to our general concept of “reality” then we will see its shortcomings.
A good book creates a world. The paper and ink and words are a gateway to that world. To create a world, or a person (a “character”), or a bubble of truth/reality is a powerful thing. They exist in a dimension which is not generally accepted and respected. But do we not, on some level, accept that things exist which we cannot necessarily feel, hear or see?
Notes on a Path is an ongoing series of excerpts from my Notes (1999 – 2003).
