Invisible Friends - Are They Real?
’Tis not so long ago, nor so far away, but indeed a time and place quite near, if only we would see. Some call it the elemental dimension, others say it is an enchanted realm, and still others simply call it faeryland. Long written about by scholars, long overlooked by all but those with innate perception, this world is no less real, and its reality is of no less consequence. – Kandide: The Secret of the Mists
Do elemental beings exist? Are they merely fragments of an over active imagination? Or do some children (and adults) actually have invisible friends from another dimension?
According to the NY Child Study Center, 65% of children between the ages of 3 and 5 have invisible friends. Research has shown that these “friends” often appear at a time when the child is beginning to form his or her own identity, and is testing the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Invisible friends have, however, been reported by children as young as 18 months—far too young to initiate this type of cognitive thinking.
In the past, it was assumed that kids outgrow their invisible friends by the time they enter school. We now know that fully one-third continue to interact with them through the age of 7—and some well into their teens and even adulthood.
While it’s true that, for many children, invisible friends are the product of a wondrous imagination. For others, however, they are as real as the human beings around them.
Could it be that a percentage of these imaginary friends are not imaginary at all? Could it be that children, with their non-jaded insights, actually see Fée or elementals from a different dimension—and that some of them never lose this ability? Could it be that they are real? Million of people have claimed to see angels and ghosts since recorded time. Why not other types of ethereal beings?
Though western culture tends to scoff at this idea, other cultures readily embrace it. In many parts of Europe faery habitats are considered sacred. In Ireland, roads are re-aligned to circumvent Faery trees. Throughout time, barely a culture has existed that doesn't have its Faery legends.
Report after report tells of children, who have invisible friends, and are able to explain things to their parents that go way beyond their own age and education. Other reports tell of children knowing about an event in advance of it happening. One young child told her mother that their pet bird was going to go to heaven with her “friend” the next day. Though the bird did not appear to be ill, it died the following afternoon. The child explained that her invisible friend told her that the bird was sick.
Other children are frantic if a parent sits on a chair where their invisible friend is seated. And still others carry on heated debates with their invisible friends.
Modern day psychologists are quick to point out that the concept of invisible friends is the domain of unbalanced, lonely, or low-esteem children. But this just isn’t true. The NY Child Study Center found that there are very few differences in social or emotional understanding, or in personality between children who have invisible friends and those who do not.
They did find, however, that, “Those with imaginary friends tend to be better at seeing things from other people's perspective.” They are also frequently smarter and more intuitive.
According to Karen Majors, an educational psychologist who is carrying out research on this subject at the Institute of Education: “Invisible pals offer companionship and emotional support, aid creativity, boost self esteem and create a ‘sense of self.’ Parents should not worry even if their children have multiple companions. Children often have imaginary friends.”
It is common for science to discount what it cannot see, touch, or prove. But what if these children really are seeing “friends” from another dimension? Are we then not doing them a disservice by squelching their perceptive abilities?
Many advanced thinkers are re-examining the idea of elementals being real. They not only believe that faeries exist, but some claim to have actually seen them. Five hundred years ago, a person could be burned at the stake for believing in a force called electricity.
In the more conservative sociological environments you can be burned at the psychological stake if you mention that some children’s invisible friends might actually be real. The existence of faeries, however, seems like a much more logical explanation than what contemporary researchers say: “65% percent of children are simply making up the same story—all over the world, since the beginning of our existence.”
A report from the Oxford University in New Scientist Magazine suggests that quantum physicists have confirmed that other dimensions actually do exist. Most of the world’s religions proclaim the existence of angels and even ghosts.
Why, then, is our culture so quick to doubt that other beings exist in alternative dimensions?
It is not at all uncommon for people to report seeing strange orbs of light zipping around, both in and outside of buildings. James M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, first described Tinkerbell as a glowing light. Perhaps, if we looked closer at these mysterious orbs that seem to defy normal trajectory, we would see, not just light, but an inter-dimensional being. Perhaps invisible friends are real.
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