Temperamental Vision

We hardly know our own preferences in abstract matters; some of us are easily talked out of them, and end by following the fashion or taking up with the beliefs of the most impressive philosopher in our neighborhood, whoever he may be. But the one thing that has counted so far in philosophy is that man should see things, see them straight in his own peculiar way, and be dissatisfied with any opposite way of seeing them. There is no reason to suppose that this strong temperamental vision is from now onward to count no longer in the history of man’s beliefs.

William James in his 1906 lecture The Present Dilemma in Philosophy opens the door for contrast, and rationalists and empiricist come waltzing through the breezeway of our closed-ended beliefs, and make a triumphal plea about how it is in this reality. Facts and principles are catalogued and emphasized in one way or another in order to make the contrast easier to dissect. We crave facts and principles, and design reality around them even though there are other truths that surround this life we call our reality. Those truths are popping up like well-done wheat toast in a toaster, and we are constantly searching for the butter and jam that will make them palatable.

The ability to experience dreams and create in that multidimensional state is one truth that is not defined adequately by physical facts. Legions of scientists are trying to methodically make sense of this empty state of time and space. Dreams are a reality where things appear and then disappear with ease, and where we can express ourselves in the most direct fashion without physical contact. The fact that the dream reality represents our origin is still a principle that is covered by our cultural, religious, and scientific beliefs. Even our language is a barrier that creates a roadblock for this factual interstate where the language of the psyche is the primary communication tool.

Even when we remember our dream experiences, we discount them, and label them invalid. We are taught not to trust our dreams, imagination, or our innate feelings because they are not accepted as factual. But in dreams we are creators of facts. In the dream reality the tyranny of the fact world is melted down, and the psyche works its magic. While we are awake we deny several portions of the self so our intellects and our field of psychic activity are caged in a zoo of ignorance.

Our impulses come from this hidden dimension. These impulses are the foundation for our technological prowess, as well as our physical creativity. The dream world is the invisible cement that binds us to the organized physical world. Our creative impulses are the energy behind our thoughts, perceptions, and language, but we partially block them by our strong short-sided temperamental vision that forms from our limited beliefs.

We are waking up and entering another area of the dream world, which absconds psyche time and reworks it into a kaleidoscope of creative energy. Dreams are the workshops of consciousness. Dream workshops are revealing pertinent information about our transformation from ape-like ritual seekers to creative life engineers.

The book, Living Behind The Beauty Shop demonstrates the power of dreams and how they can change our waking reality.

Living Behind The Beauty Shop is about a Middle Tennessee boy who understands that greater reality where the psyche is able to communicate with the self that is experiencing other dimensions. The boy, Mase Russell, is living with Down syndrome. He is considered disabled in our normal reality, but he is far more enabled and connected than we are to that stream of consciousness that flows through all of us. He is able to communicate with other aspects of the self while dreaming, and he accepts his dream experiences as real. He is even able to remember those experiences and express them in his own way. His family begins to sense that his disability is a challenging gift not a sentence of suffering.

His family is like any other family. They experience the typical dramas that we all create in our waking reality. His grandfather, Warren Russell is a wealthy business man that lives on his family’s 2000 acre farm in Leipers Fork, Tennessee. The farm was a land grant given to his triple great-grandfather after the American Revolution. Warren and his wife Claire considered the farm their rite of passage until they both experienced a near-death experience on a trip to Florida in their Cessna. After the accident Warren decides to donate 1000 acres to a non-profit foundation he formed called Perception Farms. Perception Farms is a self-sufficient community off the grid that gives the homeless a fresh start.

His daughter Cindy realizes that she’s gay after she marries her college sweetheart. She returns home from California and finds an ex-nun, who is now called Margie, at one of Perception Farm’s fundraisers. Margie discovered her true sexuality when she was in the convent. They become partners and decide to have a child using the sperm of their friend Alan Sutton, a well educated and athletic individual who works in the shoe business. Baby Mase is born with DS and the story follows his life and the experiences of the family as he becomes an accomplished poet and artist.

Years later, Mase finds Mischa Eddington who is another Down syndrome artist, in a local college art class, and they develop a close relationship. Together they watch members of the family experience the pains of getting older. They offer the family another perspective about that aging process. The family realizes that Mase and Mischa chose to be born with Down syndrome in order to help others see that there are no boundaries or limits in physical life unless we put them there through our beliefs and perceptions. They show us that other realities are just as real as our waking reality.

When we consider that consciousness does not have a beginning or an end in the non-physical world we can better understand that the people we call disabled or homeless are actually teachers who choose to experience life in extraordinary ways. They teach us that putting limits, judgments, and sterilized beliefs in action is the art of separating one aspect of the self from other elements of the psyche.

When that happens, we find ourselves living in the beauty shop of life, which is filled with exterior self-serving nothingness.