I enjoy fantasy, and for me, that’s reason enough to write and read it. However, I think it is still worth considering whether fantasy has any real worth. After all, most of us only have so much time in our lives, and there are constant pressures to use that time for practical purposes. Fantasy, by its nature, is far from practical.

That’s actually what makes it so valuable, in my opinion.

I think the true value of fantasy is in its escapist nature. And I mean “escapist” in a particular way. Fans of Tolkien may see where I’m going here. As for the rest of you, pay close attention, because I’m about to split some hairs here.

The Wrong Kind of Escapism

Often we use the term “escapism” to refer to dissociating ourselves with the reality of our lives. We escape by taking a break and pretending our problems don’t exist for a while. That doesn’t strike me as being particularly valuable, though. While it’s good to take breaks, that type of escapism can quickly become a liability. Challenges must be faced, not ignored.

I’m not denying that it is important to rest, of course. Fantasy can be that rest. However, so can many other things. It’s not unique to fantasy in the slightest, and I’d argue there are other things that are much more restful than consuming fantastical content. I would also argue that there are much healthier ways to deal with difficulty than to pretend it doesn’t exist for a while, but that’s a discussion for another day.

My point is that there is a much better form of escapism, and that fantasy facilitates that.

True Escapism

I’m much more fond of JRR Tolkien’s concept of escapism, which he described “as a man getting out of prison” (just that bit of the video, you don’t need to watch the whole thing). I’m going to expand on that concept here.

Consider for a moment something impossible. Something you believe is completely out of reach. Maybe it’s literally untenable. Maybe it’s just so supremely risky that pursuing it would be unwise. Or it could be something completely ludicrous, like sheep with laser eyes, or nuclear dinosaur mechs, or people walking on the moon.

Wait a minute…

Therein is the value of fantasy, and therein is the type of escapism I’m getting at here. Fantasy is the contemplation of the impossible and the breaking of limitations. It is tossing aside the plausible and practical to allow the mind to consider the fantastic in an unobstructed manner. It is play. Your mind is set free from the bounds of what experience, life, and the world at large tell you is not practical, and you in turn treat all possibility as a plaything.

The ability to do this is not only liberating to the mind, but vital for creative thinking.

The Mind At Play

By playing around with the impossible, the mind can come up with new things. This is the root of creativity. This is the soul of innovation.

Studies have shown that people who are regarded as creative all share the ability to play, and particularly to play for its own sake. They set their minds loose to mess around with ideas unhindered. For more on that topic, here’s a bit from John Cleese, another famous English person.

You don’t get new ideas by thinking within a box. What is the box? The walls of the box are the definitions of what is possible. If you want to innovate, you must be willing to abandon the notion of the impossible. You must escape the bounds of possibility.

It’s for this reason that I do my daily freewriting. It’s a space where I can just mess around with words for a while without any expectation that my effort will produce something. That’s where most of the ideas for the book I’m now editing came from, so ironically, by not setting expectations for the results of my playtime, I have produced far more than I would have otherwise.

Conclusion

Set out to be productive, and you will likely end up dragging yourself through the same muck as you always do.

Set out to play for its own sake, and you may ascend beyond what you previously thought possible.

Fantasy is a form of play, and that’s why it’s so valubable.

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