My dad lay next to me on my single bed. He was laughing that I was laughing.

His strong voice told another story built from the timber of his childhood on a 19th century farm. I was with him in my bedroom, not on his farm.

His body pressed my child's frame against the wall causing me to say, "Scoot over, dad." We laughed again as he pretended to fall out of bed.

The incandescence of the hallway light, the breeze-born scent of honeysuckle through the screen-less windows of our Westwood Village home, his sighs as he fell asleep before I did, all of it was as real as yesterday. 

Instead, it was last night. A dream I did not want interrupted by what we name reality.

Renown Professor Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) wrote, “We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.” 

This is the sixth essay on alternative consciousnesses & how we can benefit from it. Why, for example, is the reality of dream consciousness dismissed & everyday life the only truth we trust? 

Why insist on saying, "It was just a dream" rather then, "It was a different reality."

Let go of literal thinking for a moment. Are not both true? Are not I the little boy comforted by my dad as well as the father & grandfather that offers that to his children & grandchildren? 

To honor each "reality" is too enrich our lives & others. 

A friend blasted me on Facebook for sharing too much information in my death essays. Perhaps. Or, maybe she has difficulties dealing with her awarenesses? Wittgenstein warned, “Don't for heaven's sake, be afraid of talking nonsense!…pay attention to your nonsense.”

I invite you to explore other rooms in the house of your awareness. To celebrate your more unusual thought patterns. To share, here, what you see in your "other minds."

Whether you do or not, let your soul visit other awarenesses. Travel journal what you see. Writing it deepens the experience. 

This is free, though not cheap. It begins by closing your eyes. I keep mine closed even if shadows appear. 

-Erie Chapman