What If?

"What If?"

"What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep you dreamed?
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

For years I have researched, written, and quietly published a variety of articles in this section of my website. I placed no obvious links to these pages on the main sections of my site and people just "googled" their way in. Since I questioned the wisdom of being open about my personal philosophies and experiences, the relative privacy of this section seemed appropriate.

Things changed in May 2011 when British author and binary mind theorist Anthony Peake found his way to an article in this section. He contacted me, we discussed an unusual phenomenon I'd written about (and that he had experienced) and the next thing I knew I was hearing my name mentioned on the BBC during his radio interviews....

Since early childhood, my desire to know (not just "believe") and to understand--combined with my intensity and curiosity--have led me down many diverse roads. My writings have primarily focused on spirituality, human consciousness and what many might consider "paranormal" experiences, but my growing concern about the science and technologies that are impacting our fragile environment means that these topics are now reflected in some of the most recent articles. It is all interconnected.

I'm an "INFP" personality and an eclectically spiritual "traveler." If you click on the link below, you can read about some of the experiences that have shaped--and that continue to direct--my life.

The following poem may help to explain why I've always sought sparks of truth in many, many different belief systems, philosophies, and scientific disciplines. As it is referenced in many of the writings, take a moment to read it before clicking through to the other pages.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan to learning much inclined
Who went to see the elephant (though all of them were blind),
That each by observation might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the elephant, and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side at once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant is nothing but a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk cried: "Ho! What have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp! To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal, and, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right and all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars the disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance of what each other mean,
And prate about an elephant not one of them has seen!

John Godfrey Saxe

EXPERIENCES