Children turn to fantasy in search of truths that adult society denies them—principally and foremost, the recognition that it is acceptable to be a child. This is the meaning of magic, after all: that we do not yet know every truth of ourselves, or every capacity in our hearts to arrange the world in the order of our minds. In every case we studied, however, we found that fantasy leads children astray—that it proposes to them the idea that magic symbolizes the adult moralities of the street-corner preachers and snake oil politicians. It teaches that the mysteries of the world are those that flow from gods and rituals and wands and titles and being the heir to an empire of blood. We believe that a mystery is never more or less than the unknown, and that wands and rituals and gods are very much the known. Magic is simply a question mark, and it is our own spirit and insight that in every case provides the answer. For this reason, then, it has become necessary that we should draw upon an objective philosophy with which to tell our tale.
— Mrs. Schiff, in the introduction to “Aslan Shrugged”
Category: Aslan Shrugged