What applies to novels will, of course, apply to poetry, novellas, and short stories as well. Indeed, this quote from the nineteenth-century German philosopher clarifies the value of all creative works of art, including painting, dance, music, comic and tragic drama, stage nd film, animations, and even comic books. The real subject of all the arts is Man, and particularly the inner life and awareness of Man.

 

The most valuable art is the art that opens our awareness to the hidden source of our motives, thoughts, and feelings. Certainly, actions speak louder than words, but "loud" does not mean "clear," "deep," "accurate," or "truthful."  Words also fall short in the quest for a clear revelation, for words cannot match the revelation found in the stillness and silence that lies in the deeper depths of our own consciousness. These deeper regions of awareness, I refer to as The Realms of The Spirit. They extend far beyond our bodily sensations, thoughts or emotions, though it must be admitted that this realm of consciousness that I call 'Spirit' is all-inclusive and even the silliest thoughts and most childish emotions belong to It.

The subtitle of this book is Seven Tales from Seven Realms of the Spirit, 'realms,' not 'realm,' because the vastness of consciousness finds itself spinning like a whirlpool and accelerating in the consciousness of each individual. It is within the individual that consciousness finds its most tangible, and perhaps meaningful, expression amidst an otherwise unbounded ocean of consciousness. It is this whirlpool that we call 'myself.'

 

Though external circumstances may seem important, it is how we react to those circumstances that creates our personal story. The text of that story is written in the unique language and script of our conscious and unconscious awareness. Let us say some danger arises. One runs away, another stands and faces it. Aside from any judgement about whether one should run or stand, the danger is not the story; it is only the circumstance, the backdrop, against which the story unfolds.

 

The story is entirely in our response to the danger. The text and plot of it will have been written long before the danger arose, written in committee, by the chorus of inner voices that inhabit our personal consciousness. In other words, by the spirits that make up the inner life of our character. Seen from this literary perspective, there are countless Realms of The Spirit, for each spirit is the spirit of its own realm. Indeed, there are as many Realms of The Spirit as there are voices within individuals and individuals within this universe.  

 

So many, one suspects all these inner voices and outer beings cannot be self-extant, disconnected individuals. Just as a whirlpool of water requires a body of water in which to whirl, the movements of the individual consciousness imply a larger consciousness from which it derives its spin. This rather begs the question as to whether there is any such thing as an individual, much less an 'intellectual property right.' Thoughts and feelings are unique to no individual. They are derived from the ocean of thoughts and feelings in which we hourly swim. That ocean was here before we arrived, and it will be here after we are gone. What part of it can we own? 

 

In so far as storytelling is concerned, let's be honest. However the bits and pieces are arranged, every story has already been told, and more than once. Every plotline and character is present, at this moment, within each and every one of us. All questions are really just the One Question: are we going to discover and live the life of the person we truly are, or are we going to settle on someone else? That is the whole story of humanity in a single sentence. The rest is noise.

If we are to be authentic, we must navigate through the echo of many false voices. Some of these voices are shouting at us from outside. Some from inside. Some never stop shouting. Some, the most persistent, softly whisper. Some have followed us into this life and would like to follow us out of it. Learning which voices to listen to and which to ignore is the 'seamanship' needed to sail on this great adventure of self-discovery. The best boat for that journey is silence, your own deep inner silence. If we can sail in the silence-boat, we will discover our true voice.  

 

When you discover your own true voice, all the others can be listened to, appreciated, and employed for the expression of not only yourself but all selves. The sages of all times and all places have insisted that self-knowledge at its deepest level is Universal Knowledge. This could only be true if we were never really independent, disconnected beings, but have always been just little whirlpools of spirit within a vast Ocean of Spirit, constantly spinning and pulling into ourselves that which is part and parcel of all selves and All Being. 

- Astika

* This foreword has been updated and differs from the one in the printed book.