Oracle

Animating Our Divine Connection

belief trumps fact

In this age of misinformation, alternative facts, and anti-scientific beliefs, I struggle—like many others—to stay connected to family, friends, and neighbors whose worldviews are inflamed, for better or worse, by recent events and whose opinions may be starkly at odds with my own.

This I have learned: one cannot argue with another person’s belief.

Unlike scientific fact that can be proven and repeated by many, belief is a passionate conviction beyond logic, reason, or discussion, forged in the heart’s fire. Belief is what people are willing to die for—perhaps kill for—because it resides closer to the human soul than the contents of a cool, rational mind.

Like each of us, I have my own beliefs. The greatest of those is my belief in the power of love. I believe each person—in fact each thing in the living universe—was created by a Divine energy of love. Cut off the air, and none can breathe. Contaminate the water, and we all die. Set off a nuclear bomb, and all are extinguished. By extension of the power of love, I believe that our inseparable connection is a force stronger than hatred, “othering,” and tit-for-tat schadenfreude retaliation.

Am I willing to stake my life on this belief?

Yes. Because my motive in creating visionary art—my raison d’etre—is to explore consciousness from the perspective of human experience, casting light on “the unseen” and revealing that which is hidden in mysteries not yet unpacked by science, not yet understood by followers of divisionist religions.

For my whole life, I have felt—and worked on opening to feel—love, compassion, and care for everyone I encounter. Even—and especially—those I could call, for good reason, my “enemies.” The haters, the hurters, the perpetrators. Only hurt people hurt people.

Curiosity and fascination with human differences compelled me to choose a Julia Barbie the year she came out (I was ten) over the original. In my early twenties, I did a series of self-portraits imagining what I might have looked like had my parents been of five different races. Following this path, I have tried and tasted various flavors of Christianity, Jewish Renewal, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Native American Ceremony, Taoism, and Confucianism.

I continue to be fascinated with space exploration through the heart-stopping images from Hubble and Webb, from medical imaging, and the conversion of audio, mathematics, and code into visuals.

In the early 2000s, I wanted to help people send virtual greetings across the continents, languages, and diverse world views. The goal was to create an eCard connecting us together in ways more powerful than we believe our divisive, separate “realities” to be.

Here is Oracle.

As long as I am alive, I will continue to ask the big questions:

What force underlies Creation?

Is human life a spontaneous occurrence, which we co-create with some intelligent force—named or unnamed—that underlies religion and scientific enquiry?

Or is all experience pre-ordained, written and planned by the Divine, retrievable through Akashic records, Seers and those who can speak with the dead?

Most important of all, I will continue to the best of my human ability, to care for and extend from my deepest core the compassion and love I believe is at the heart of all hearts.

Thank you, Dear Humans, for reading.