Having been into science fiction and fantasy pretty much my whole life, I’m always fairly annoyed when people start throwing around the word “escapism,” as though immersing yourself in stories and stimulating your imagination were a waste of time at best, or a dangerous flight from reality at worst. Consider this quote from a 1948 chaplain’s report at Alcatraz, explaining the great danger in allowing prisoners to read “escapist” fiction, and how it promotes

…the escape from responsibility in real life and the fleeing to the realms of day dream and fiction where boisterous and fantastic success is assured. The extreme affinity for “escape literature” at this institution is the practical flaunting of the custody precautions in a way that is psychologically disasterous for it more and more unfits a man for social and legitimate sharing as he contents himself with the private victories of fiction. The escape these men once sought in crime they now find in fiction; namely, the unrealistic conviction that satisfaction can be had without social concern. Escape is the same dangerous phenomena whether it takes place in the overt violence of a prison break or in the subtle escape of psychological irresponsibility.

This is a wonderful depiction of the prevailing Puritanical fear of escapism, and the social irresponsibility which it is said to engender. Maybe this fear is somehow tied to the idea that people having personal deep mystical experiences will break down orthodox social cohesion. I personally don’t subscribe to this view, and I never have. I’m much more inclined to see putting yourself into stories as being a kind of intellectual and emotional exercise. A really cool essay I found once said:

Your subconscious mind does not completely recognize the difference between your real experiences and those that occur only in the imagination.

So, when you become Frodo Baggins walking the road to the Crack of Doom, chased by dark riders, the subconscious mind responds to some degree as if it were really happening. When you are Robin Hood, grieving for your dead father, your mind responds as if it were really happening to you.

Indeed, the more completely you become immersed in the fiction, the more totally your body will respond.

How often have you found yourself reading a book with your heart hammering so badly that you had to stop? Have you ever found sweat on your brow and your breathing shallow? I have.

This would mean that when people read stories, and project themselves into imaginative settings and scenarios, they are extending themselves & increasing their experience. If properly connected to a story, they are really feeling and understanding new and important things. They are not hiding because the real world displeases them, rather they are exercising their abilities at the gym so they can be a more full and complete person.

I also like this quote, which is about divination systems, such as tarot or astrology, but which I think can be applied to pretty much any story that people interact with:

One way they do work for people is by giving us an alternative context in which to understand our experience. We have our own story explaining our lives; a divination system can provide a different framework into which we can place the facts, and this change in emphasis can give us insights.

Most people aren’t used to thinking about stories like that though. And mostly, that process of projection and comparison is not consciously directed. But what if it was? What if people realized that the stories they surround themselves with, things they call merely “entertainment” or “escapist” were actually powerful tools with which they could extend themselves and consciously build their lives in new directions?