Truth is always all around us. As we take it in – see, hear, smell, taste, touch – the reality of this world can be both unrelentingly harsh and overwhelmingly beautiful in the same moment. Then there is the imagination. Did you know that sometimes the imagination is the very best vehicle for truth? Or more accurately, the imagination can sometimes be the best way to really grasp a truth. One that will stick with you, maybe even change your outlook to life – because when your imagination is engaged, the gray matter is ever so much more likely to hold onto whatever concepts are going in. Take for example Frodo Baggins. A mythical furry toed figment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination, he embodied love of life, loyalty, perseverance under huge trials, and other character traits that are so good to fill the mind and heart with. To emulate even. When you read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, you get a vision of just how valuable these ways of being are. That even if being good carries a huge price, it is worth it. Because here’s the truth- there are people out there living in really difficult situations. Huge trials. And they cling to life, and they persevere. Perhaps they are encouraged in the battle by a furry toed figment that embodied goodness? – I confess I have been. So writers, and singers, and painters, and actors – please share your vision, and may it be of the stuff that encourages each of us to a better way of being.
