Isabel Parlett, the magical Soundbite Shaman with whom I’m studying, asked me this in response to what I wrote about my experience lecturing on art: “Say a bit more about what you see happens to people in the presence of beauty – and when they see beyond their usual awareness. Why is that important?”

This is such an interesting question to me.

I sometimes despair of what people fail to see, where they don’t bother looking, what they’re not curious about, that is right in front of their noses and all around. Wake up! I want to shout. (Why do I care?)

I see how we’re all captured and hypnotized by the superficial, that our culture promotes, and how this dulls the senses and the potentials of the soul for perceiving on deeper and subtler levels. I’ve also seen these potentials develop in people – including in myself. I am speaking now of the sensitivity to the subtle presence within each human being, the infinite facets and nuances of the soul itself, and the dimensions of reality these reveal. . . . (more…)