Demon I know what your saying, but...yeah they do exist on this plane but also they don't. Not in physical form, but in subcincious form. However your right they would be tested. But.. also they exist on this ''plane'' because some people believe that they exist on this plane, which in a way if strongly enough believed can almost make a real form. Anyways in a way they can be on thus plane, but there never real on this plane, and never will be.
Anyone interested in fairies should read up on The Cottingley Fairies. It is a fascinating story. Two young girls took some photographs at the back of the house, in the village of Cottingley,Yorkshire. These photographs have, over the years,been subjected to every known photographic process. They are not fakes!
The girls were visited, and feted, by some very famous people; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini; and many others. Thousands of people came to the village looking for the fairies. All their lives, the two ladies always insisted that the photographs were real.But, in every interview, they never actually said that the fairies were real!
After the older lady died,the younger was interviewed on British television. She was then over 80, and was asked, "Will you tell us now, after all these years, were the fairies real?"
She said,once again,"The photographs are real!" Then she laughed and said,"The fairies were paper!".
But have a look at the photographs on Google. They are stunning!
I forgot where I read it, but I seem to also recall how one of the girls (well, no longer a girl by then) or both of them said that they did see fairies, but because the fairies wouldn't photograph they drew them on paper and photographed the paper fairies instead?
Personally, I still consider it a hoax though. They were talented illustrators and photographers with a good eye for composition, but a deception is a deception.
Yes, it was a hoax,by children! But when very influential people began to believe it, the girls were somewhat afraid! They were pestered and badgered, because thousands, all over the world, believed their story. The girls became so famous that they simply could not say that it was all a hoax. So they always insisted that "the photographs are real". And the photographs are definitely real! They are on display at the photographic museum in Bradford. I have seen them. And I have seen open-mouthed children looking at them, absolutely convinced that the fairies are real.And I think that's good for children.They will learn as they get older; but the imagination of children is a wonderful thing.
Ooh, Brysing have you (or anyone/everyone on this thread, it's somewhat related to the topic) watched Hogfather ?
My favorite scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaQXJmpwM4
Although I wouldn't say that an immature fantasy such as a belief in fairies (that's my cue to take a pause as I remember what religion I have, haha) necessarily leads right away to a mature fantasy along the lines justice, duty, kindness or honor.
We'll have to agree to disagree on the imagination of a child being a wonderful thing. Young imagination is usually just egoistic, and I don't mean that as a value judgement, egoism is natural but just something that I don't believe should be encouraged out of its natural proportion, by feeding people more lies. Lies are never a wonderful thing. Younger people ought to be encouraged to appreciate reality more deeply, at least come to terms with it... not simply cover the truth up or try to force reality to fit what they want it to be. If the Cottingley Fairies are an example of children's imagination, I'd consider that a sign of something very wrong with the parenting standards. It's not about stamping out imagination, it's about honesty.
I did not mean that we should tell lies to children!But give a three year old some coloured pencils, and watch them draw. To an adult, they are just scribbles. To the child they are as realistic as any photograph.Watch a child's face when they see a new toy; that is the wonderment of a child's imagination.It can last for a lifetime. Not to be "childish", but to be "childlike". All the great inventors have that ability; to "see" like a child.
With inventors, I believe that's more recognizing a potential than outright fabrication. In an essay by Adam Gopnik about his daughter's imaginary friend, "Mr. Charles Ravioli", most children under the age of 7 know that it's a fiction, and imaginary friends and such are a way to show that they're comfortable with it (Gopnik's sister, who he consulted for the essay, worked in psychology.)
Magic practice rather blurs the lines between what is personally significant and what has empirical effects. We comfortably walk a fine line, but obviously it gets annoying when people instantly flop right on over to the "Turn me into Otherkin!" side. Even actual Otherkin have more sense than that, really.
Everyone should respect everyone. I understood what Bryson had said, while others said that he was basically stating to tell lies. No we shouldn't tell lies to children for children will not learn, however we should let a child act like a child and use his imagination.
As we grow older we loose these things, and it becomes harder to imagine. Letting a child believe in fairies is fine, kids actually grow from imagining and believung and in older times as things get harder the beliefs can help through times. We shouldn't lie, but we must let people imagine, if fairies are real to children let them believe it. There's nothing worse than having a mom or dad say to a 5 year old "no fairies or monsters aren't real honey'' it's rude, and inconvenient.
People need to understand, we don't always have to be mature. Some of these post like saying ''no jmagunbg fairies as real, is dumb because it's saying a bogey man is real'' while so belief that bottom line is that, let a person imagine and believe what they want. This post is getting kinda rude now, disposing to monitors as they are saying facts while others are commenting back at them.
