Changing Paths challenge day 16 — stories.

The power of stories to change and challenge a person’s worldview is immense. My worldview was definitely informed by reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, The Writing on the Hearth by Cynthia Harnett (now sadly forgotten by most people), Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy, and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. And of course the Narnia series by CS Lewis, and many other books depicting a magical mythopoeic worldview. Ursula Le Guin’s science fiction was and remains extremely important to me.

The forming of a rich and storied imagination is one of the best gifts you can give a child.

And I got most of these books from the local lending library, so a heartfelt thanks to whichever librarian bought Cynthia Harnett and Geoffrey Treese and Mary Stewart books for that library. And I’m delighted to discover that it’s still there. Magic!

Hearing other people’s life stories and stories of changing paths is also helpful to navigate the difficult terrain of changing from one religion to another. My book Changing Paths (available from all online stores) offers my stories about changes in my path, plus the stories of other people who have changed paths, without prescribing where your path should go.