We have TVs where I work and it was slow tonight and myself and the lady I work with do not really care for “Cars” so we decided to put in a movie we both enjoy which would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is just one movie I never tire of, particularly the Veruca Salt video. There are times I have watched that video on YouTube and just hit the button to watch it again over and over.
<> This story is just so magical. Willy Wonka is just this amazing character who seems to be stuff that is said to be impossible “But Willy Wonka did it!” As you watch, you are amazed at what wonders he has in his factory, but at the same time, it is almost as if they were expected. Part of the children leaving the tour seems contrived, but at the same time, it seems like a natural progression to their actions.
<> Imagination is such a wonderful thing. It is like having a transcendent experience every time. I wonder how many of us are like Neo and living in a dream world. Do we live in a world where adventure awaits just around the corner? Do we live in a world where the knights win the damsels and where warriors show up to slay the dragons?
This is one reason I am such a fantasy buff. I find it easy to imagine something greater beyond this world. How many of us look at our day to day lives and just watch and think “No. There has to be more to it than this.”? How many of us are reaching out and grasping for something greater than ourselves?
In this, the odd view out would be atheism. If this view is true, all that is is what is detectable by your senses. If that which you seek is not in this world, then it simply is not. There is truly no place for magic. There is also no place for wonder as why should one hold wonder at what chaos has wrought? (Odd that the skeptical worldview says that chaos can produce good in physics yet they don’t want that in morality.)
What kind of world are fantasy stories more at home in? In a theistic one. This is one reason we all love these stories so much. These stories are either our story or we want them to be our story. What little boy did not watch Superman growing up and dream of flying through the air and beating up bad guys? How many girls heard the stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and thought “Someday my prince will come.”?
Yes. This is why these stories are still so popular and why so many of us become children again upon seeing these stories. We do believe there is something out there greater than us and we long for it. Our hearts thirst for it endlessly. We don’t know what it is, but we know that it is.
I believe this is the afterlife in Heaven we are seeking. This desire is described by C.S. Lewis in his autobiography “Surprised By Joy.” The world of the imagination points to that as imagination belongs to the kingdom of Heaven and not to the kingdom of this world.
Yes. Wonka casts a spell on me every time that makes me believe the good will be rewarded and that there are places where your wildest dreams come true. It is a spell I willingly submit to and have no desire to ever see dispelled.
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