Never Ending Story.....

Between Reality,Religion,Spirituality,Fantasy and 'The Never Ending Story' within Us.

   What is reality? And what is fantasy? How do we define those two words respectively? Have you ever think deep enough in your mind on the true definitions of those two words and fathom its meanings?

  Usually we always thought that real or anything that percieved by the eye is called reality. And anything that is myth or unseen by the naked eye is related to the fantasies. But that is just the 'cover' or outer layer of the meaning. There are lot of questions that crosses to our mind such as,"Reality sometimes seems to be untrue.",and "Is it true that all fantasies are myth?" and "Not even have some 'true' elements?"

   Whatever it is, we go to the definition ; that whatever is perceived is called realities and whatever that is created by the mind is called fantasies. But to say that fantasy is all mere myths is not quite proper. There are some people who regards 'some things'as reality while others reject the idea. For example, to say religion is a real, God is a real,some will say both of its is real while others surely will reject that idea (real idea). They often refer it as fantasy. Some people call what others think as real is fantasy. While others call what others think as fantasy is real.

   So I tried to comprehend the true meanings of 'reality' and 'fantasy' to feed you on the depth of its meanings and its definition. First let we start with 'reality'. First definition ; reality is what we usually call as 'being real','being true', and also 'being in touch with the outside world'. Those are terms that usually matched the term with reality. For example 'Old astrologers before 1500's, used to think that the earth is flat. But know we all know that discovery made by astronomers revealed that the earth is actually quite almost round. To be exact it is sphere shaped. The second definition; the 'true reality' is known by the scienctific facts or researches. For example; we can see the true earth image just from the satelite pictures. The first definition is not a 'true reality', though people at that time may called it a reality. But people nowadays only call it a myth.

  As for fantasy, I used to think of it as an 'out of the box thing'. Usually when we refer the word fantasy, we can say it as 'being unreal','world of imagination','sweet dreams',hopes wishes and many others. In other words when we try to fathom its meaning in a deeper sense, we can conclude that fantasy are things that is being 'created' in the human mind and not present at the real material world. Have you ever watched the movie 'The Never Ending Story'? I take this as a 'favourite childhood fantasy' and if we can recall, there are many other materials, including other movies or reading stuffs. Do you like watching 'The Never Ending Story' in your childhood days. I sure do. Those day, why do we like to watch such fantasy movies so much? Is it because of the storyline? Or it's just the childhood's fantasy elements  to escape the harsh reality of materialism.

   As today,I watched again my 'childhood movie' and still seems to enjoy every part of it. I don't even care when my friends called me a wimp or a childlike manners. Besides, I like and love kids (but dont get me wrong, im not a pedophile guy, haha). Kids are no sinners and have pure heart. So back to the "Never Ending Story" movie, I try to fathom every meanings and the message the producers are trying to show the audience. What I was saw just made me shocked and made my heart thumped and trembled at the, haha...guess what? The reality I called GOD!!! Surely you would think why was it God that was in the mind? Why was it not other elements? Want to know why? Haha, seek it yourself.Before, there are many spiritual blog circles shows the conception of religions and spirituality with Hollywood movies like "The Matrix", "Star Wars", "Lord of the Ring" and many others.

  So, what is so 'spiritually' and 'religiously' about Never Ending Story? Aren't they just a bunch of childhood fantasies? Yeah, its true, but think again. Some verses in holy scriptures or holy books for any religions sounds like fantasy? But are you sure it is a fantasy? Think deeply again. Have you ever try to think about what is the true meaning of religion? Did religions ask you to believe that 'SUPERNATURAL, MIRACLES AND MYSTICAL STUFFS' is real thing? Yes they did. So is fantasy just mere 'unreality'? No! A definitely 'no'! Fantasy actually develop our minds. From my personal point of view, reality and fantasy must be merged together. So are religions or spirituality with them regardless. Sorry for mumbling too much. Lets we go back to the Never Ending Story part.


  I like it's storyline, where the movie focused on a character named Bastian, an average 10 to 12 years old child of an elementary school. Bastian lives with his father on a tidy and nice house in the suburbs of a city.His mother died a long time ago. Bastian was a very timid and low self confidence boy, being bullied by fellow schoolmates,thrown in the rubbish bin is to much I think. The harsh reality of the real world is so cruel and we can understands that because we know how it feels getting picked up and being bullied.So afterwards, the kid took refuge at a bookstore and met this old man who is the storekeeper of the bookstore. The storekeeper is mad at the boy rushing in his shop like a thief and scolds him. The kid explains that he was running from some other bad kids. Later they chit chat a little and the kid asks about the book he was reading.He was reading the Never Ending Story and the kid Bastian suddenly gets interested to know what was it all about. He later grabs the book and flee away leaving a note that he'll return the book after finish reading it.

   When Bastian arrived at the school, it was late and the class has already started and what makes worth its a Math Test. So the kid hide in an old storeshelf somewhere in the elementary school and start reading. There was this Fantasia, the world of living fantasies and whats weird about this book, is anyone reading it will become a part of the story. So to conclude the kid was tosave the Empress of Fantasia and its vast kingdom. There was this interesting characters and the hero of Fantasia is a boy warrior named Aitreyu.Boy, I love Aitreyu so much when i was a kid. He was sent on a quest to save Fantasia from this plague that shadows the world of Fantasia called 'The Nothing'. After many troubles and sufferings and exciting adventures, actually, Aitreyu failed the quest. But the real hero Bastian, here I like to mention him as Savior called out the new name for the Empress and 'PRESTO!' all that is being destroyed in Fantasia becomes anew and it was like all that never happened before.

   So why was the author in any common sense, try to relate whatever in this story to religions,spirituality and philosophy? Hehehehe, I think you will think that I'm out of my mind or something. To take as a refferance let us try to look at the dialogue in the movie that is full of teachings and philosophy. We begin this sad scene after Aitreyu the Warrior failed to save Fantasia from total destruction.

 
   "Aitreyu,why had u looked so sad?"-Childlike Empress
   "I've failed you, Empress."-Aitreyu.
   "No,you haven't. You brought him(Bastian)with you."-C.E
   "Who"-At, "The earthling child,'THE ONE' who can save us all."-C.E
   "You knew about this earthling child?"-At
   "Of course, I knew everything(clairvoyance,malay-kasyaf)"-C.E
   "My horse died, I was nearly drowned, I just barely get away from The Nothing,for what?
   To find out what you already knew?"-At
   "It was the only way to get in touch with an earthling."-C.E
   "But I didn't get in touch with an earthling."-At
   "Yes you did. He has suffered with you. He went through everything you went through.
   And now, he has come here, with you. He is very close,listening to every words we say."-C.E

   "What?"-Bastian (Couldn't believe the truth)
 
   "Where is he? If his so close why hasn't he arrived?"-At
   "He doesn't realised,he's already part of the Never Ending Story."-C.E
   "The Never Ending Story? What's that?"-At
   "Just as he is sharing all your andentures, others are sharing his. They were 'with' him,
   when he hid from the boys at the bookstore."-C.E

   "But that's impossible."-Btn

   "They were with him,when he took the book.With the orion symbol on its cover. In which he
   is reading, his own story.Right now."-C.E
 
   "I can't believe it, they can't be talking about me."-Btn

   "What will happen if he doesn't appear?"-At
   "Then our world will disappear.And so will I."-C.E
   "How can he let that happen?"-At
   "He doesn't understand that he's the one who has the power to stop it.He simply can't
   imagine,that one little boy could be that important."-C.E

   "Is it really me?"-Btn

   "Maybe he doesn't know what he has to do!"-At
 
   "What do I have to do?"-Btn

   "He has to give me a new name. He's already chosen it. He just has to call it loud."-C.E
 
   "But its only a story. It's not real.It's only a story."-Btn

   "Arghhhhh"-At(fell down after rocks on space crushed at Ivory Tower)

   "Aitreyu, no!"-Btn

   "Aitreyu!"-C.E, then takes a breath
   "Why dont you do what you dreamed, Bastian?"-C.E

   "But I can't get my feet on the ground."Btn
 
   "Call my name.Bastian, please.Save us!"-C.E

   "All right, I'll do it,I'll save you, I will do what I dreamed of."-Btn
   (he called out his mothers name as he's giving the C.E his mothers name, love you Bastian,
   but grrrrrrr,i forget his mothers name and it's unclear when he screamed at the window his
   mothers name.)

   After a while all suddenly became dark and the darkness and vast black was covering the scene when Fantasia was barely saved.After a while, thus we get a bunch more 'spiritually inspiring' dialogues between Childlike Empress(C.E) and Bastian(Btn). So here's how the dialogue went :

 "Why was it so dark?"Btn
   "In the 'beginning',it is always dark."-C.E
   (Btn seems astonished and looks at the grain of sand from kingdom of Fantasia)
   "What is that?"Btn
   "One grain of sand.All that remains of my vast empire."-C.E
   "Fantasia is totally disappeared?"-Btn
   "Yes"-C.E   "Everythings been in vain then."-Btn
   "No,it hasn't. Fantasia can arise 'in you'.In your dreams and wishes,Bastian."-C.E
   "How?"-Btn  "Open your hand.What are you going to wish for?"-C.E
   "I don't know."-Btn  "Then there will be no Fantasia,anymore."-C.E
   "How many wishes do i get?"-Btn
   "As many as you want. And the more wishes you make, the more magnificient Fantasia
   becomes."-C.E   "Really?"-Btn
   "Try it...."-C.E   "Then my first wish is............"Btn

*Legend-C.E-Childlike Empress,At-Aitreyu,Btn-Bastian..*

#Please note that the dialogue phrases of Bastian was seperated by others so that it is easy to make sense the seperateness of the locations they were.#

  Boy I like that scene very much and it rejuvenates my aching soul after the sorrow that both Aitreyu and Bastian endures within the whole journey. the death of Artryx the white horse Aitreyu rides, the sadness of the hero and shared by Bastian who's pass the test and it overall shows that Bastian is a spiritually potential child whose inner pure and strength has to be opened to reveal the light side of his pathetic,coward normal self.

   I like to point it this way. Let's imagine the Ivory Tower is like what we call in the concept of religions as 'The Empyrean' mentioned mainly in Abrahamaic religions, in the role of human reality on the spiritual side and aspects. And the vast of Fantasia would be the vast realms of Godhood and it's kingdom. The borderline of Fantasia in which being engulfed by 'The Nothing' is equivalent to hell in religions teachings. So, if we look closely enough, actually the concept of 'worlds' in the Never Ending Story is exactly a copycat of Religions concept of realms.If we can see, religions cosmology seldom is reffered to 'unreality' because we can't see it with our naked eye. Religions teaching somewhat resembles that of fantasy, but more real and the belief is a matter of faith and trust in Super Natural Powers, realms that is out of this real world we see right now. Now, I truly believe that fantasy is an offshoot of religions and that doesn't mean that religion is false. Fantasy springs from many hopes of supernatural stuff, mystical realm, and ideas that are 'not of this world'. Religions in similar requires it's followers to believe in many supernatural stuffs, God, Angels, Heaven, Hell, and many mystical and unworldly things such as miracles that happens to prophets and saints which happens sometimes in human history, also the belief in the existence of sorcery and witchcraft, satanic powers and many others. So much of religious theme is shown here in this film The Never Ending Story though inwardly and not so obvious. Elements of miracles, sorcery and 'planes' out of normal world is present.

   Now after we look at Fantasia and it's vast kingdom let us take a look a little more at the roles, the characters played in this movie and we begin with The Childlike Empress. First of all, she reminds me of some saint or sage like character that takes the role of ruling a kingdom, and in spiritual terms the astral plane. Also she is also portrayed as God(in a metaphore sense),angelic beings and some other 'Holy' beings. At the beginning scene, the Empress is not seen anywhere, except this old 'black' mage with long beard comes out of the Throne of Ivory Tower and announces on the catastrophic event on the invasion of this evil force called 'The Nothing' and the illness of the Empress herself and concludes that it is related, each other respectively. At this scene, she is portrayed as a holy saint as all Fantasians seek her help and blessings while they get shock themselves hearing the news of her illness. So, she sends on messengers to fetch on this hero of Fantasia 'Aitreyu' which is, a warrior. And remember the near ending scenes where she talks with Aitreyu and Bastian afterwards? Here she is portrayed 'strongly' as a holy saint, sage and as a 'perfect human' in which she acquires the knowledge of the secret reality behind the 'sceneplay' of the Never Ending Story when she mentions that she already knew everything about Fantasia to the dismay of Aitreyu who suffers and endure the troubles and difficulty along the quest journey. But she explains calmly to Aitreyu that 'the play' must go that way so that we can get in touch with this young earthling boy, Bastian. Similarly, God knows everything, and though He is all knowing, He still tests human with many hardships and difficulty to endure in order to send a 'deep strong' messages to human beings to always remember and worship Him in love and without regard. God similarly, tests human beings in order to make the hearts of human beings to repent and always seek their way to His mercy.God, wants human to protect 'the holy temple of God within the heart' from destroyed by evil thoughts and inspiration which comes from Satan. Of course, He the Almighty can give us all happiness and pleasures without any problems, but that will not make us draw nearer and humans will never have true faith. God send mishaps and hardships on humanity so that they can get in touch with their true identity, the 'inner self' which is the soul related to God.

  Aitreyu is portrayed as a warrior, and thus I make it as a comparison to real world legendary heroes such as Hang Tuah, Sir Lancelot, Shri Ram and others. These warriors are not only known for their heroic characters but also as mystics and granted 'spiritual warfare' powers.Aitreyu wears an amulet, the 'Aryn', and in some spiritual paths, amulets and talisman is one of the important characteristic, and are present in all religions, from Hinduism, Christianity, and even to the extend of several Islamic and Sufism spiritual paths. The exception is in Islam, the amulet that is allowed is that written phrases of Holy Quran and other permissible phrases. As a warrior, Aitreyu was send on a quest to save Fantasia from destruction and also the Empress who is ill just like we mentioned before. Aitreyu is presented as an example of heroic personality. He fights for truth and goodness over evil. In the character Aitreyu we can make example of good qualities on human beings, being heroic, brave, enthusiast, and other good and noble characters. As Aitreyu journeys throughout Fantasia on his quest, he endures all the hardships and pains and at times, he almost gave up hope especially when his beloved horse Artyx died.

   Artyx is none other than Aitreyu's beloved horse and is also Aitreyu's friend who accompanies him on every journey in Fantasia until the horse died at The Swamp Of Sadness after failed to overcome its sadness. I think, the horse is a character which is simply a horse. Hehehe.

   And don't forget, Falcor the white furry 'luck dragon' which manages to save Aitreyu from the evil fangs of Gmork somewhere in The Swamp of Sadness after Aitreyu seeks clues from the Wise Morlock, a giant tortoise like creature which his large shell itself is 'The Shell Mountain.' I like to portray Morlock here also as an oracle or a wise sage. Never Ending Story has plenty of sages knowing clues and secrets of certain aspects of Fantasia and it's reality and 'secret knowledge', i call it as the 'Gnosis of Fantasy and Reality World portal'. The 'Southern Oracle' which is represented with two blue statues with wings is seen as 'Holy' or 'Sacred'places where Aitreyu seeks 'insight wisdom' and 'gnosis' of the outer world mainly on the earthling child Bastian. Actually, The Southern Oracle is best described as a 'place', rather than a character, but since it talks, it can be included as one of the characters. Well, back to Falcor, I'd rather look on him similar to the Angel of Mercy. As angelof Mercy brings mercy and good luck and wards off evil spirits.

  Before Aitreyu enters the first gate of two gates of Southern Oracle, he is brought by Falcor the luck dragon at an observatory where two dwarf pairs live. One of the dwarf is a man an is the 'scientist' of Fantasia while his wife is the 'doctor'. Similarly, human instead of the need to embrace the more mystical and spiritual aspects of themselves, must also have the knowledge of science and medicine on their 'mystical' conquest in the spiritual realms. For example, nowadays many scientist agree that 'spirituality' is a part of science that is unexplained in material terms and doctors also agree that spiritual is a part of human being. Aitreyu passed the first gate also with the help of the scientist's observatory, where Aitreyu observes the statue at the first gate and it's way of 'attacking' bypassers. The scientist's wife, the doctor also gives some medicine to help Aitreyu regain his strength to continue on his journey.

  The Nothing in The Never Ending Story represents the darkness realm of humanity and its relations. It can be portrayed as Lucifer,Satan,Iblis,Angra Maiyu, and other devil characters. In here, we can see the filth and destructive character that is also present in us human beings. Satan is a cursed being in all religions regardless of their names. In the Fantasia world, The Nothing swepts over Fantasia and begin to devour every little sections of the vast kingdom until it becomes larger and larger, time after time. He sends for his servant the 'Gmork', which can be portrayed as lesser devils,demons and other demonic beings. Just as darkness being portrayed to 'devour' Fantasia, the same reality occurs in this very real world, and today we can see everywhere, the world is 'enveloped' in darkness and chaos.

  All other characters in Fantasia, including the Man with the "Racing Snail", the "Rockbiter", the ugly ogre with the "Stupid bat", the old dark skin man with long beard and all that presents in Fantasia, and also in the normal world such as Bastian's father and the three kids that bullied Bastian represents normal human on the outer material aspects. Except for the old bookstorekeeper, he's being portrayed as some 'wise man' or sage, since he knows many 'deepest secrets' of the Gnosis of The Never Ending Story. They hold less important part in the characters of The Never Ending Story than the three main characters, Bastian, Aitreyu and The Childlike Empress and The Nothing and it's servant the 'Gmork'.

  So that is all about the characters we've had here in The Never Ending Story and their characters in spirituality, religious and human reality terms. Some has mixed characters such as The Childlike Empress, who is portrayed as God in Fantasia, and also a saint. Also Bastian who holds the characters of normal human and human soul itself.  Others simply hold one character and still others just hold simple characters with not much importance and relevence.

  In some scenes in The Never Ending Story, we can see a 'connection' of soul between Bastian and Aitreyu. Bastian feels as if he was experiencing what Aitreyu experienced, the hardships, suffer, pain, joy and happiness that he felt as he journeyed throughtout Fantasia seeking for ways to stop Fantasia being 'devoured' by The Nothing and to save the Childlike Empress. And remember when Aitreyu escapes the first gate of Southern Oracle trial? When he saw the second gate? The second gate is like a mirror, reflecting the "other self" of one's self. Just like what the old dwarf scientist had explained to Falcor back outside the Southern Oracle area about the second gate which looks like a huge mirror, and that those who passed the first gate, failed to cross the second gate. The second gate 'reveals' the other side of 'self', like if a brave warrior, in the mirror he sees himself as a coward and a virtuos man sees himself as evil, things like that. So, when Aitreyu first arrived at the gate which is also a mirror, he sees deep within his reality. What an astonishment he sees Bastian in the mirror! And that sure freaks the hell out of Bastian! Actually, now I understand that Never Ending Story try to tell us that Bastian is really Aitreyu in a sense. His 'other self'. So, Bastian gets mad and throws the book in rage. Think, he just can't accept that a wimp and timid boy like himself, low self confidence, being bullied around, as being brave. And he thinks that mocks him too much and went too far. So, the mirror reflects the hero character as the the one reading the book and who shares his experience in the story. So, my conclusion is, this film tries to show that humans that are coward, have his brave side somewhere deep inside and brave humans are sometimes coward.

   In this manner, we can also make statement that Aitreyu is represented this way as human self, the "lower self", and Bastian is represented as the soul, "Higher self. in a way. But, Bastian also can be presented as simply a normal human who does not yet 'know himself' at other side. When he first read the book, he didn't know the secret in the book until he discover it himself as he reads the story with Aitreyu.If we can look into the depth of meanings of this children fantasy movie, I understands that the normal world of Bastian and the Fantasia is shown as the same reality in different dimensions. Bastian is portrayed as a timid and weak pathetic young boy, being bullied but at the same time, he has inner being in which 'waiting' to be developed to his true potentials. Like in the real world, usually the successful leaders, scientists, businessmen, religious or spiritual teachers or any other successful peoples, many of them starts from 'nothing' or 'zero' and becomes 'somebody' after the 'opening' of 'inner self' which can be called 'enlightenment',dreams, fantasies and hopes. So, Bastian is being portrayed as a normal human being, seeks the 'eternal peace' within and makes his fantasies a reality.

   In relation with The Never Ending Story let us simply 'look back' at the character Bastian. Bastian is seen here in the normal world as a timid and low self confidence young boy just as mentioned before. When he reads the Never Ending Story, he didn't realise that he has a very important part in the Never Ending Story. He is portrayed as the 'Chosen One', by the Childlike Empress. He is like an Avatar that is being chosen for this very purpose and was destined to 'revive' Fantasia and bring light into the 'darkness devoured' realm of unseen fantasies. In some aspects, the producers try to portray Bastian as a "savior","the enlightened One"," or "the Awakened One", while being also portrayed as "seeker of the light",wanderer of spiritual path", or simply a frustrated spiritualist or seeker who is being frustrated at the harsh reality of normal world. He tries to escape by making his own fantasies and isolated himself from others.In the Avatar or Savior portrayed side of Bastian, we can see that it is similarly developed within 'high ranking'-religious and spiritualist saints, prophets, sages and other holy figures. Prophets and Saints always have 'a third eye' capable of listening to God's voice and the contact the unseen part of world realm. On the other side, while Bastian is in normal world, he is portrayed as "simply human","a wanderer" or "seeker" who seeks refuge in 'inner fantasies' rather than blend in the harsh real world.

   So just to relate, the storyboard of The Never Ending Story itself represents the 'Circle of Life' of human beings. Mixed circle of real world, unseen world and fantasies. It is a story 'written' in the 'Book of Life'- the 'Lauh ul Mafuz'- also called 'The Preserved Tablet'. This is explained to Aitreyu by the Childlike Empress,"Just as he is sharing all your andentures, others are sharing his. They were 'with' him,when he hid from the boys at the bookstore." And further she explained,"They were with him,when he took the book.With the 'aryn' symbol on its cover. In which he is reading, his own story.Right now." What the Empress was trying to say about the thing which were 'with Bastian' was the whole story itself. The 'Light upon Light' or the 'truth within'. The 'thing' that she mentions was with Bastian all the way from the beginning to the end is actually the concept of 'God'. What humans call God. In other terms, it is the 'circle of life itself', destiny, and fate. At last, I got the conclusion on this dialogue, that is Never Ending Story is actually a story about himself. It's so creepy when the Childlike Empress says the word like it's some kind of 'mantra' of 'invocations' and definitely is quite Divine in its meaning and has a very deep meaning. Anyway, do you actually see anyone with Bastian at that mentioned time? No, I don't, so I conclude that it refers to some 'Higher Being or Reality' and makes me 'shiver' to the bone.(After 20 long years only I discover the hidden meanings....)

   And do you remember when Bastian asks the Childlike Empress, why suddenly all became dark all of a sudden?(the scene after Bastian screams loud his mother's name as a new name for the Empress). And the Empress simply tells that in the beginning everything is in darkness. I understand it as 'the world' before there are beings. In the concept of spirituality and religions, in the beginning of everything materialised materialistic and spirituality, there is this 'void' or complete darkness and The Self simple commands, "Let there be Light". And so there is light. And there is life and being. There is stories and everything. Before the known universe ever existed. Seek the deep meaning within it.

 I would like to conclude that, the characters in The Never Ending Story reflects on the 'Divine', the 'devil-liked' and simply the 'humanity' aspects in human beings itselves. It revolves around human traits such as miracles, clairvoyance, beyond the invisible, the battle of good over evil, the elements of the darkside and some aspects of intelligence, feelings and emotions.The scenario is a blend of layers of world within human realm itselves which is the normal world and the 'unseen' part and dimension of world which is unseen by naked eye, which many normal people call as fantasy world. For a film that is released in 1984(i was 4 years old then....), this film is quite high quality and the effects are quite well done.(opss...this is not a film review...hehehe).

   The film actually emphasizes deeply on the metaphores actually.What it try to relates is the relation between Microcosmos and Macrocosmos. Just as human beings created stories and fantasies, God also created a story about us. And I can now easily fathom the deep meaning of the storyboard of this childhood memories of mine. Whats more in a religious and spiritual terms.So what's with this story? You readers must be thinking of,'this is some kind of a joke?','No way, this is crazy.'or maybe others but believe me, i ain't joking around. You must think this is all a joke.

  As conclusion on this,I try to make it easy for your my humble readers :

-Bastian's father. Not mentioned often. Just plain simple human who seeks no more and was satisfied with the real world life.
-Bastian's mother.Died a long time ago. Bastian missed her so much.Somehow I think that she shares certain characteristic of the Empress(thinking that Bastian give Empress her mom's name)
-The 3 bad kids represents humans that is 'blind' and not 'enlightened'.They act tough only on people they think they can take on.
-old bookstorekeeper. A wise old man and I take him as a sage or wise men. After all he knows so much about his book.(Never Ending Story)
-The Childlike Empress is the symbol of God for the FANTASIANS.God as the manifestation of humans are his saints. All of FANTASIA comes and seek her bless and help.
-Aitreyu is a heroic character and is a mythical warrior who's on a sacred quest. He endures all hardships and labour of pain and is the hope of Fantasians.
-Bastian is the symbol of human realm.He is just like everyone of us seeking deep within for something missing. He finally realises that he is 'The One'.
-Morlock acts as a wise men, sage or an oracle revealing little bits of seeked knowledge.
-The 'Southern Oracle' also takes same role as Morlock except the knowledge level is a bit higher.
-Dwarves pair, husband and wives acts as scientists and doctors, give a helping hand on Aitreyu and it's quest.
-The Nothing takes the role of Satan, infested the world with evil and darkness.
-Gmork takes the role of demons, doing the works of Satan.
-Falcor the luck dragon acts as some kind of mercy and luck Deity, for example, Goddess of Mercy and Good Luck Quan Yin or Angel of Mercy- Malak al Rahmah.
-Other Fantasians like 'Rockbiter', man with 'racing snail' and others acts as ordinary human or djinns. Ordinary creatures and animals with just basic roles in the story.

To simplify more:

1.Bastian- Avatar,human, seeker of spiritual path
2.The Childlike Empress- God, Saint, Holy figures
3.Aitreyu- spiritual warriors, Hang Tuah, Shri Ram, Sir Lancelot, Saidina Ali RA etc
4.Morlock-Wise men, sage, oracle
5.Other Fantasia Civillians- humans and djinns
6.Old bookstorekeeper- sage
7.Gmock-Demons
8.The Nothing-Satan
9.Falcor-Angel of Mercy
10.Dwarves husband and wives-Scientist and doctor
11.The 'Southern Oracle'- Oracle, priests, sages, holy places
12.Bastian's dad- normal human
13.Bastian's mom- normal human-departed.
14.The 3 bad kids-uncivilized and 'blind' human machines.

  So after all this long summary, what 'really' did I learn from this story of Never Ending Story. I learn the true concepts of the reality of being,story,destiny,fate and everything related to realities, fantasies, religions, isms, ideas, and anything that comes from a human being.

 
   When we come into this conclusion, the writer is forced to seek the true answer wether or not the entity which all races call as God, regardless in what He is called, 'Allah','Jehovah','Brahma','Tao'or other names, is a 'true reality' or just a 'force to believe' reality, that is to say a fantasy. When we mention and relate reality to Metaphysics, there are many kinds of conception regarding it, since there are about hundreds thousands even millions possibly, kinds of sets of belief. When we say that God is a true reality, then there must be a proof that is concrete to support the statements.

  And as to what the author has discovered on God The Ultimate is this. He can't be seen as directly as we can see other objects. But that doesn't reject the reality that God does exists. There are many proofs that God does exists around us. We breathe air from the oxygen,that God gave. And all those natural and supernatural phenomenons that happens all around us. Didn't all that shows that there must've exist a Higher Being of some sort? Let alone the circle of life of this earth itself manifests the living Creator and Sustainer of it all.

   So now we got here the exact terms on realities,fantasy,religions,spirituality and others related to any of these.We can now tell that, the four of these, and anything related are inseperatable and is a 'must' on the lives of every single human beings. When we got the 'correct' and 'direct' answers on phenomenons and happenings, we call it reality. When things are even odds on the truthfulness and falseness, some true and some made by human inspiration and imaginations, it is called fantasy. Note that, fantasy is a mind phenomenon and is not fully false or fully true. The false myth, I rather call it myth itself. Religions means the faith and belief sets on God,gods,angels,demons,hell,heaven,reincarnation and many others related to various sects. Religion teaches human to live on a set of laws in which usually it is send by God or any other deity. Lastly, Spirituality means any term on human souls and the study of human spirit.It usually springs around sets of religions while some others have nothing to do with any religions. In fact, there are some spiritualist who are atheist.

   According to my ideas, these four are very closely related and quite non seperatable. Reality is the ultimate truth and things 'proven' to be true. Fantasy is a set of imagination and inspirational ideas which springs from human minds and sometimes true while sometimes false. Religion is belief and Spirituality is anything connected with the unseen aspect of human. Thus, human beings live on a rotation of circles which is a 'Never Ending Story.' It continues for an eternity until The Most High makes any decisions. It is up to Him, but, we choose our own paths.

Author : Sidi Rijjal a.k.a Rizal
(ilham penulis 100%, Insha Allah saya akan translate untuk yang tidak faham : ))