Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa are the wise sages in my stories, the equivalent of Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel.
So why are they children in my stories? And why is it told from a children's point of view?
Because the stories are there, and Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa, are there to teach a way of seeing the world. A way of seeing the world that is the whole point of not only these stories, but all my writing.
And part of that way of seeing the world is innocence.
And another part of that way of seeing the world is having a creative imagination.
And people are more willing to accept intelligence and maturity from a child than they are willing to accept innocence or imagination from an adult.
So, although there are adults in the stories who follow innocence just as much as the children, the person the reader is to learn the innocence from- and the imagination from- the wise sage- must be a child.
Hence Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa, are children.
Child geniuses, of course. Like Mozart or Mendelssohn, only as philosophers rather than musicians.
Because for many people, intelligence and maturity are more accepted coming from a child than innocence or imagination are coming from an adult.
That is why Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa, are children.
There's more.
J.R.R. Tolkien told us that materialism is a lie and a prison.
We are told that there is nothing out there but material stuff and materialism
But is there?
How do we know?
We don't. We are expected to take it on faith.
Materialism is a prison.
It imprisons us, robbing us of all beauty, robbing us of all meaning.
Tolkien told us that we are meant to escape that prison.
We are meant to believe in beauty, to look for beauty. We are meant to believe in meaning, to look for meaning.
Innocence and Imagination are essential to breaking free of the prison.
With innocence and imagination, we can't help but see beauty and meaning everywhere.
As long as we look for it.
And we get to decide if it is real!
We get to decide if it is real for us.
When we find, through our innocence and imagination, beauty, and wonder, and meaning, who are they to tell us that it is not real!
We get to decide if it is real for us!
And feel sorry for people who have decided that it isn't real!
For if we decide that the beauty we find is real, then it is real- to us. And if we decide that the meaning is meaningful, then it is meaningful- for us.
We get to decide if the beauty and wonder and meaning that we find is real.
We have no evidence either way.
What evidence do we have that beauty is not real?
And beauty itself can be the meaning- to search for, and find, and enjoy, the beauty.
We have no evidence that beauty is not real.
And we have no evidence that it is all meaningless.
And the search for beauty itself can be the meaning!
And if we have no evidence either way, you get to decide for yourself!
Since we have no evidence that beauty is not real, and we have no evidence that it is meaningless, then we get to decide for ourselves!
The evidence fits either way!
If you believe that beauty is real- and that searching for that beauty gives life meaning- the evidence fits just as effectively as if you did not believe!
And wouldn't you rather it be real?
Wouldn't you rather the world be full of beauty, and wonder, and meaning?
You get to decide!
And as J.R.R. Tolkien told us, doesn't the fact that we can imagine beauty and meaning and wonder suggest that something must be there?
But in order to find the beauty, and the wonder, and the meaning, we first have to recapture Innocence and Imagination.
And it is from Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa, that you will learn to recapture Innocence and Imagination.
And many of us are more willing to believe Innocence and Imagination from a child.
Thus Lucy, who is Jennifer, and Ann, who is Lisa, are children.
So go! Recapture Innocence and Imagination!
And with Innocence and Imagination as your guide, you will be able to find beauty and wonder!
If only you look for it!
And, with Innocence and Imagination, you will be able to make the choice to believe in it!
And all the beauty and wonder and meaning that you find will be real!
For the evidence fits just as much either way!
So go! Recapture Innocence and Imagination! Search for Beauty and Wonder! Find meaning in the Beauty and Wonder!
And choose to decide that for you, it is all real!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. Tolkien said these things that I quote him as saying to a still skeptical C.S. Lewis in 1931- it is the conversation that eventually led C.S. Lewis to believe in God and convert to Christianity! Look it up! (I put it in my own words, though.)
P.P.S. Lucy and Ann are in 'Keepers of the Inner Light', and as Jennifer and Lisa they are in 'Adventures of the Lost Children'. You can find them on my Deviantart page for download under 'Fantasy Dreams-Novels'. Enjoy!