Dispatches from Beyond the Dream
I remember a time when sitting down to write was a chore. It didn’t matter that writing is my profession of choice, and that I’d spent years eagerly refining compelling lead sentences at newspapers and magazines. Or that I had several unpublished labors of love-hate, full-length book manuscripts that had at one time swept me […]
Read More…I was nine years old when my first miracle happened. It was June, and a school field trip to the zoo was about to be cancelled in light of a monsoon-like morning. The torrential rain was forecast to continue well into the next day. I’d been looking forward to this outing for weeks and, like […]
Read More…I have a pet theory, no pun intended, that God is really a dog. Forget a bearded fellow on a throne, a crafty one-eyed Odin, or any number of fierce sword or skull wielding goddesses. Even forget softies like compassionate Kwan Yin or hearth-tending Hestia. God has four legs—meaning any anthropomorphic diety clearly is two […]
Read More…Do you ever stop to listen to your thoughts? If you do, you’ll notice that other than occasional functional, creative or investigative thought, the thinking mind has three full time jobs: It reflects on the past, it projects the future or it comments on the present. Waking up, at least for me, was the instant […]
Read More…For years I joked that when I found the perfect purse, I’d know I’d attained enlightenment. This would be a handbag with an easy-access outer pouch for my cell phone, not too many internal compartments for losing stuff, and a kind of all-season quality that would make it fashionable in summer or winter. In search […]
Read More…With the dissolution of the dream self four months ago, I woke up to the shocking realization I’d spent a lifetime with an undiagnosed case of mistaken identity. Like someone with amnesia, in place of true nature, there was a construct called Lori-Ann, a fabrication that suffered from the push away and pull toward pleasures […]
Read More…Four months ago I fell off the edge of an identity called Lori Ann, into a sweet free-fall where each unfolding moment reveals itself as my lover. Sometimes this lover is rough, riding me hard, bitch slapping me with chaos and change. Other times my beloved kisses me tenderly with the beauty of what is […]
Read More…Two days after enlightenment obliterated the me I thought I was, my partner Fergus had a relationship upset. Something I had done or not done was impacting his well being. I listened with an empty mind to his concerns, then went to bed early. When he finally joined me at midnight I’d been soundly sleeping […]
Read More…Before I woke up, I was sexually identified. By that I mean I saw myself as loveable depending on my sex life–namely did I have one and was it pleasing to my partner? And in addition to those basic psychological hooks for well-being was a sexual rebel persona determined to anti-script my frigid family system. […]
Read More…From the front lines of enlightenment, this reporter is experiencing artillery fire in the form of naysayers and skeptics, along with curious questions and well wishes. Telling my story so far is a bit like being a stand-up comedy act, where half the crowd is laughing with me and the other half, laughing at me. […]
Read More…
The Awakened Dreamer 