I believe that we need to be more aware of their differences. I get the impression that these distinctions are being blurred, to the great harm to many of us. In this homogenizing trend, fantasy and fiction get elevated beyond their limits, while mystery and reality get dangerously diluted.
Fantasies and fiction work are products of a person's imagination. They are fruits of one's creativity and artistic juices. They contain bits of truths, but heavily peppered by exaggerations, tall tales, even lies, allowed by literary license.
Mysteries, strictly speaking, are truths, supernatural in character, that exceed our capacity to understand. They are products of divine revelation, not of one's talents and efforts. They are to be believed, more than to be understood.
Fantasies and fiction cater to our need for rest and entertainment. They have to be taken with a grain of salt. They require some suspension of the normal working of our faculties, to allow ourselves to be entertained.
As such, they have a legitimate purpose. But just like anything else in this life, they have to be used with certain rules to be followed. Otherwise, some abuses can take place.
For example, they cannot completely ignore the question of God, to ground them to what is truly good for us. Thus fantasy and fiction need to be properly inspired.
Unfortunately, there are literary works that show otherwise. They appear inspired by some rotten idea, if not by a malevolent spirit. Their authors are not contented with playing God. They tend to replace God!
Mysteries, on the other hand, are to be taken seriously. They cater to our need for faith and for spiritual growth. They cater to our need to constantly be in touch with our god. They require our all-out attention and collaboration.
As such, mysteries are always to be considered one way or another, directly or indirectly. They are a permanent necessity to us. Of course, certain rules also have to be followed, otherwise we enter into dangerous territory.
The problem I am seeing now is that more and more people are hooked to fantasies and fiction at the expense of the attention they need to give to the mysteries.
The worse scenario of the anomaly seems to be that people are losing the sense of divine, supernatural mysteries. All mysteries are reduced to man-made fantasies and fiction work.
This problem usually affects the so-called intellectual and artistic crowd, those who like to read a lot and are more fascinated with bestsellers. The more fantastic these books are the better for these people.
Sad to say, many fail to make the distinction between fantasy and mystery, fiction and supernatural reality. As a result their lives and behavior create a division between their activities and interest on the one hand, and their faith and religion on the other.
Thus, we see them immersing themselves in the world of fiction while distancing themselves from the world of religion. The unity and consistency in one's life is broken.
Of course, if not corrected, they can develop some split personality, alternating between what they consider to be humanly 'normal' and 'abnormal' or 'special' behavior, until they succeed in resolving this matter properly.
If no miracle takes place, they can end up completely alienated from God, averse to prayer, to developing one's faith, to the need for sacrifice which is an indispensable ingredient in Christian life.
We need to recognize and respect the distinction between fiction and reality, between fantasy and mystery. * * * Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com