CLARE STEWART

Floating in the grey mist in another dimension, is something I really enjoy. The feeling is hard to describe, and the only thing to which I can compare it, is a sensation of total peace and calm. There’s absolutely no sound. Everything is still. I’m suspended in mid air, and there is no up, down, left or right. You still feel like yourself though, but it’s so quiet. There’s something which holds me up, so that I have no sense of falling or moving. I’m just there, floating, and the only thing I’m aware of is grey, nothing but grey all around.

The journey lasts for only a few seconds. It’s like you go into the mist, float for several seconds, and then all of a sudden, a small light appears. That light gets bigger and bigger, until you’re standing up at your destination and watching the grey mist disappear. As you look around, everything gets clearer and brighter, and presto! - There you are.

So that pretty much fills you in, as to the major events which have taken place in my life so far. After our Sydney excursion last summer, I met with Miriam two more times, and we talked about the grey mist and the reason it was possible to do such things as transporting ourselves. I had asked about seeing that girl fast asleep before we jumped, and she surprised me once again.

1. You!" she stated.

1. But how could I be in two places at once?" I asked, becoming more befuddled.

1. Your conscious mind went to Sydney. Your physical body stayed right here."

1. How is that possible?" I thought that she was teasing me.

1. When you sleep, and when you dream, you’re as free as a bird," she replied.

1. Was I asleep?"

1. Of course! Who do you think was sitting there, leaning against that tree? Miriam challenged.

"And don’t you remember what happened on your return?"

It became clearer and clearer. On the return journey, when I had opened my eyes back at the farm, I was sitting under the same tree, exactly where I had sat down before we left for Sydney. The last thing that I remembered before standing up to approach the mirror was my eyes beginning to close. Miriam had caused me to fall asleep, but then I questioned if the whole trip had been a dream.

"In one way yes, in another way no," she said. "Do you remember what you had for dinner last night?"

"Yes, and I had a double helping of dessert too," I remembered, fondly savouring the memory of Mum’s apple pie.

1. Doesn’t that seem like a dream too?" Miriam countered. "You have the memory of going to Sydney, and the memory of eating your dinner. Which one was the dream?"

"Going to Sydney, of course!" I replied.

"How can you be so sure? Prove it!" she demanded.

1. I can’t. You know that I can’t."

1. So who is to say what is a dream and what isn’t," Miriam concluded.

She had me there. I had no response. All I had left were my memories of the events. Whether they happened in my waking life or occurred in my dreams, even though it seemed important for me to know the difference, it really didn’t matter; they were still memories, and both had affected me in different ways.

How did I fall asleep then?"

1. I put you into that state, but the explanation is too long to go into now," she said. "We’ll explore all of it later. When I called you to come with me, it roused your conscious mind, and you stepped away from your body which was still sleeping. All during your short trip to Sydney and back, not once did you question if you were physical."