(Dream Journal, working title…)

They say life here began out there. That the first single-celled organism that sparked life on this planet came embedded in one of the millions of comets that pummeled the young Gaia on a semi-daily basis back then. Or at least, they say it’s extremely unlikely that this was not the case. I say They’re wrong.

Life out here began in here; in words and dreams and pictures. Life began as a universal consciousness that thought itself into existence. Yeah, I know it sounds lunatic, but no more so than anything else I’m going to tell you. See, there’s a whole lot that goes on under the surface of things, behind the things that most people see. No one notices; either because they’ve trained themselves to ignore it and forget, or because they can’t deal with the reality. And this is about reality.

My name is Shade. That’s not my given name, what some would call my Christian name. It’s just a name. One I chose for myself. A lot of people give me funny looks at that. If I’m going to go by a nickname, it seems lame, or egotistical, to go by a nickname I came up with myself. But it’s not a nickname. It’s a name.

Ancient Qabbalistic beliefs say that to name a thing is to have power over a thing. That’s what a name is, really — a placeholder for the existence of something in time and space. To give it a name takes ownership of that thing. But we have our power over ourselves, of our bodies and minds, taken away at birth when we’re given a name by our parents. And maybe that’s what’s wrong with people — we don’t have power over ourselves, so we’re always looking outside ourselves to solve all our problems. No one truly believes they are capable of great or amazing things. No one believes the uncanny, the unlikely, the impossible.

And that will be our downfall.

There’s a war going on behind the mundane facade of the world that is known and seen, underground, in the shadows, behind the eyelids of the mad. It’s a war that will ultimately shape reality and no one will ever know. This war will get no news coverage, will never be on TV, never had an official declaration by some Head of State, and the good guys are losing. I am writing this because words have power, and by speaking them, I create the possibility that one of my readers will Awaken to the true reality under the surface of things. I am writing because I have to believe that in writing, the good guys may gain some momentum. I am writing because I intend to attempt the impossible.