A Fantastical Tale

When I was growing up, I read the Harry Potter series again and again and again. I think I probably read half of the books 25 times a piece, and the other half at least ten. Once, when I was 13, I left my copy of the fifth Harry Potter book outside on the glass table we had out there and our dog, a beautiful border collie, chewed it to pieces. I was devastated, because I didn’t get books very often and I treasured my Harry Potter books: plus, I hadn’t even got to finish it!

It’s hard to say what exactly it was that enchanted me about Harry Potter, but I know that I have always been fascinated by magic, the capacity to say certain words of power and bring about a set of changes in the world in accordance with your will. I also identified quite strongly with the character of Harry, an outsider, and someone who had special gifts - though perhaps I flatter myself by thinking that of myself. Nonetheless, I certainly felt that in many ways Harry and myself were similar in personality and choices, and I have always strongly resonated with the notion of a seeker, as I am by far the most curious person you will ever come across.

Part of what enchanted me about the Harry Potter series was certainly the archetypal perfection in the stories, a quality which is explicated quite clearly in Jordan Peterson’s summary of the second chapter in the series, The Chamber of Secrets, in a video called Harry Potter and the Jungian Shadow. It is interesting to wonder whether or not J. K. Rowling could possibly have been consciously aware of the mastery of the symbolic web she weaved, or whether it was rather a work of the same genius of the unconscious mind which is responsible for one’s dreams. I felt that the world of Harry Potter was a portal into the destiny of our race, a certain kind of prophetic insight into the capacity of mankind, as he wields his ‘words of power’. Certainly, scientific language has granted us unparalleled technological progression over the last few hundred years, and more and more we approximate something our ancestors would have readily recognised as gods.

I remember hoping beyond hope that my Hogwarts letter would arrive, and then convincing myself that maybe mine would just come later than most people, maybe they’d forgotten. It was painful to realise that it was just a fantasy, and that I would never live out my dream of being a mage. Of course, I couldn’t know then that this was somewhat premature - but I digress! It was a wonderful fantasy world to live in during a youth in which I was far from happy with the world in which I found myself. As I aged, however, I started to outgrow the Harry Potter stories and a new love affair began, with another series that had a critical commonality - magic words. The series in question was Eragon, which is far and away one of the best series I have ever read. Paolini is a far greater writer than Rowling imo.

In Eragon, the magic words are The Ancient Language, wherein using the True Names of any objects of phenomenon grants you control over it. So, Eragon is able to (in his role as a dragon rider, with a psychic bond with his dragon) tap into his energetic potential and bind these phenomena to his will, wielding them at whim through his invocation of the True Name. And so he is able to call out ‘Brisingr’ as he pulls the string of his bow to full draw, and the end of his arrow comes alive with a bright blue flame.

I found this notion of a true name incredibly intellectually stimulating, and it went on to guide my own conception of True Names for individuals later in my philosophical career. In fact, this is something which Eragon includes as well - if you can guess the True Name of an individual you can essentially bend them to your will, making them do your bidding with no choice of their own in the matter. In my conception, on the other hand, there is no mystical bending of the other to one’s will, but there is certainly a subtle truth to the notion that names have power.

This is something I wrote about in the essay that I submitted to the Medium Writers Challenge, Labour of Love, where I talk about my work. In my philosophical work, I have elaborated upon this fantasy idea of a True Name and transformed it into a workable conceptual structure with a coherent conception underlying it, and that is from whence my own name - Insinq - comes. It is an abbreviation, of Insightful Inquiry, which is what I believe my own True Name to be. I know that a lot of my philosophical work is subtly inspired by certain works of fantasy and science fiction that I have read in the course of my studies, and I am reminded of a quote by Terry Prachett about the nature of fantasy: “Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”

I think this quote is magical, and it expresses exactly what I value about both Harry Potter and Eragon, not to mention the countless other fictional series that I have read which have been part of my enculturation, and which have played a part in my intellectual development. Certainly, however, these two are iconic in my mind, defining crucial elements of my personal development in terms that were beyond my capacity to articulate at that moment in time.

I think more than anything what is so compelling about these two stories is that I think they speak to an underlying reality to mankind, one that I explore in my lecture series on the topic of stalking synchronicity. One of my top ten tips for stalking synchronicity is “Language is Magic is Transformation: Transcend your LiMiTations”, which is my attempt to express the exact same idea of magical words which pervades the fantastical narratives of Harry Potter, Eragon, Lord of the Rings, and so many other stories! Plus, even if my reader is not willing to grant me the profundity that I myself would grant to the notion that language is magic, surely they would agree with me that the stories we tell have a certain enchanting quality which is beyond our articulate comprehension. It reminds me of a quote from the first verse in my favourite translation of the Tao Te Ching, “Existence is beyond the power of words to describe.” And yet, words grant us such unimaginable power over the world.

In conclusion, the fantasy worlds that most resonate with our souls say something about us as individuals, and for my own part my identification with these specific stories foreshadows my destiny as a magician, even though the modern age doesn’t understand or recognise this idea as possible. Even as I write this storied little essay about my favourite fantastical stories, I am putting you under my spell. You tell me: has it worked? Did you enjoy what I wrote, and do you think I am living too much in a fantasy world? :P