Why I Believe in Fairies

My father used to say, ‘every discussion about belief ends with I believe…’ It seems to be true, as how can anyone challenge such fundamental orientation of anyone else? Belief is a funny thing, basically the suspension of fact and fiction and an assertion of an orientation based on simply ‘belief’, usually from a measured amount of reference, such as ‘I read a book about this, and now I believe in this’. And one can believe in anything for any reason, gods or goddesses, past or afterlifes, magic, ghosts, heavens, hells, the moon, the soul, angels, mermaids and so on – anything really. Or one can believe in nothing, or science. Or, as Tertullian (an early Christian writer 155ad – 220ad) originated in the expression ‘Credo quia absurdum (est) (I believe because it is absurd)’, which just means he couldn’t figure it out.

It seems to me there are three primary avenues for beliefs, god, science and magic. Belief in gods is common and widespread, and based on cultural and community reinforcement. Belief in science is base on facts, but eventually arrives at more or less the same place as religious beliefs, an attempt to explain the unexplainable. For instance, consider the primary explanation about the origin of the universe according to science, the big bang, translated to something like ‘there was nothing, and then there was something’. Not really that much different from ‘God made it’. And then there is magic, which doesn’t event try to justify itself. In magical terms, the world just was, and is, and has been and good enough, no real explanation needed beyond that. It’s just magic, bang, poof.

The thing about belief is that there is no right or wrong, as the very position of belief is based on things that are fundamentally unexplainable unless ones accepts belief to be enough of an explanation. And then there is the social agreement to consider, how we live in a consensus reality, that meaning that if enough people believe something, share a similar view and reinforce it with others around them, then that vision of reality becomes real by social consensus. Carlos Castañeda in his books about shamanism with his mentor Don Juan, discusses the aspect of social reality versus individual reality at length and how they affect our perceptions and beliefs, and also the limitations and freedoms of each. The curious thing is how many social descriptions of reality are basically shared belief systems. In other words, if enough people believe it, then it must be real. This is why conversion is such a hot topic, certain groups of people need other groups of people to believe the same thing as they do to reinforce their reality.

One the other side of all this, is the one who believes in things regardless of the social constructs around them, an individual belief and individual reality. They are not interested in if anybody believes in the same and actually find it diluting or distracting if someone tries to join their belief system. They don’t need it and don’t want it; it is an individual belief system, not dependent on any consensus, ‘a separate reality’ as Carlos Castañeda described it in one of his books.

That all said, I believe in fairies because they are beautiful. I believe in fairies because I live in an unbelievable world and ‘know nothing’ as Ygritte constantly tells Jon Snow in the Game of Thrones series. I believe in fairies because they represent a peak of aethetics in terms of beauty, longevity, skills, song, values and so forth. I believe in fairies because they offer uplift from a heavy world of wars of men and other unconscious actions in the world, that what Thích Nhất Hạnh referred to as ‘mistaken mind’. I believe in fairies as a response to a much poorer world in which would fairies not exist if they were not believed in. I believe in fairies as an aspiration to reach towards, a direction to follow, a mystery to wonder on. I believe in fairies in response to what I feel, perceive, experience. I believe in fairies because I am better, richer, happier in my belief than without. I believe in fairies as spiritual beings of nature, and that connect me to nature and her wonders. I believe in fairies because they are absurd, and unbelievable, and temperamental and unpredictable and wild and old and all the things that is life itself. And I believe in fairies because I believe they can help balance the colorlessness of much of the world, help heal the wounds from ordinary life by offering a higher vision, a deeper compassion, a warmth of heart and clarity of spirit. I believe in fairies because they are magic. And I believe in fairies just because, that faced with the needs of so many other beliefs wanting or needing my belief, I believe in fairies because they are the best, just based on the practicality of how I want to spend my days, immersed in this beautiful belief rather than so many others.

I could perhaps go on… but want to say, I do not believe in fairies because they are real, but rather they are real because I believe in them. They are magic, there if I believe in them, and not there if I don’t. I just wonder some days, it is all such a wonder, and after that, I just hope they believe in me.