Exploring Our Desire for Escape in a Multidimensional World

by Mary LaForge

Escapism [one of my favorite words] ordinarily conjures up negative connotations in a fight and flight context.

My other favorite word of the moment is “release.” They go hand-in-hand because what I am aiming for is wanting (desire) to escape from old beliefs through releasing (action) my grasping, not necessarily escaping from people, places or things (although that can be fun too).

Are You Trying to Escape Without Realizing It?

I find it unhelpful to categorize things as good or bad. Things are. We can assign judgment, and often discernment is helpful for contemplating the value of our desires, and for taking wise actions.

One day I was making breakfast. Lately I have adopted the new habit to arrange breakfast elements on the counter before showering, rather than showering first and then cooking/eating/cleaning up all at once.

Doing things in spurts makes me feel less like a bulldozer, crushing something totally and moving on immediately to crush something else.

So, on the particular morning of this shocking self-discovery, while standing up eating at the countertop so I could hurriedly gobble down the food and get to my delicious next writing task, I noticed I had leaned against the counter ledge throughout the meal as if I needed to be propped up!

“Horrors,” I thought! Here were two unconscious habits at the same time: Wanting to be supported, and escape from one activity to access another. Where was the enjoyment?

We Can Experience an Unconscious Fear of Being Present

Simple movement is a one-dimensional escaping aspect of an old paradigm. It satisfies my feeling of being alive, of existing in a 3D world. Movement affects my senses.

I feel the air on my skin as I travel in space. I take the remnant fragrance of coffee and toast with me as I leave the kitchen.

Sadly though these are subconscious awarenesses mostly stored in my body for future reference if ever needed. But consciously, I hardly notice them. I don’t exist in the moment, only in kinetic time and space, mentally dragging my body parts with me.

The unconscious fear about being present, I imagine, is that unless my senses are operating on auto-pilot, I might notice that I don’t solidly exist. Hence, the habit of leaning on a countertop, and bulldozing through all activities so as to validate my physical existence.

Escaping in a Healthy Way: Walking, Nutrition, and Writing

…walking, nutrition and writing.

Since lockdown, I’ve been mostly walking around on my back porch. I’m lucky because my neighborhood is quite peaceful and surrounded by nature with lots of fresh air.

When I write indoors, I find it helpful to take breaks by going outside. New ideas often are easier to find with a switch in location. I don’t know why this works but must have something to do with motion being a catalyst for creative thinking. I can actually trigger new thoughts or solve a problem by simply walking into a different room, but outside is so pleasant I prefer the “vacation.”

When the burrowing bees come to greet me, sometimes they follow me around the porch walk as I make infinity-shaped rotations. I can almost tell when they are a little upset, or maybe a new bee (newbie haha) has discovered me, and is exerting his territorial warning.

After all, since I don’t grow any wings, the air must belong to bees.

Finding Answers in Life by Combining Concepts from Religion, Science, and Art

Those who speak more than one language have an advantage because they can compare, and see patterns.

Most speakers now use language only referentially. What I mean is, I often notice when another party in our conversation switches their attention to accommodate a personal wish, or to avoid something they believe I said.

It’s like living in a multidimensional world, or theatre in the round.

I much more enjoyed my one-dimensional conversations where yes meant yes and no meant no. I believe Jesus also recommended that concept. However, life is more complex than during Biblical times, and unfortunately we must adapt.

That being said, I also had many flaws which caused me to recognize some of my talents, and at the same time be easily swayed by outside influences, of which there were many. For some reason, perhaps totally biological, most forces in the present consciousness require duality to maintain homeostasis.

When we muck up the status quo there’s much fear about the unknown by ourselves and others or what we believe others are wanting, or more likely the control issues we all hate to give up.

Luckily we are entering a different level of awareness. Its like being an old person and not caring so much what anybody else says or does and stubbornly follows their own adorable but annoying way of doing things.

Writing and Art Helps Me Recognize Patterns in Life

All that to say I was so close to writing as a child I had no clue I could make writing a profession. I wrote cowboy plays like Gunsmoke and had the neighborhood children act out the parts. My sweet sister has never forgiven me for that.

I would also draw the caricatures from the Sunday papers and entered a Draw Me contest when I was 16. The school called and said I could have a scholarship but when they realized I was under 18 they had to speak with a parent.

That was the end of my art school career, but probably the catalyst that sent me exploring the art world for most of my life.

I received an Associates Degree in Advertising Design and about a year and a half of Fine Art at Hunter College. I didn’t write again until my husband took a poetry class and got me interested. The remainder of my life I alternated between exploring genres of Writing and Fine Art.

When you have different disciplines to refer to, you begin recognizing the similarities and patterns in your creative process, and in your own unique style of doing things. It’s a marvelous way to become self-aware.

From Art I learned how to overcome rejection. From Writing I learned confidence, and the original, pure joy of creating. From Science I learned that knowledge is limited. From Religion I learned that God is my best spiritual friend.

Writing Helped Me Find My Purpose

I never kept a diary as a teenager. Later in life I was a copious researcher and note-taker. I suppose it was more of an unconscious learning tool because I would often accumulate large amounts of handwritten notes, most never looked at twice, and then toss them when I was into a new project or phase of exploration.

As time went on I reduced accumulating most notes by writing a troubling or existential thought on scraps of paper, which could be conveniently discarded. That also helped me distance myself from the questions I was asking. Then answers usually showed up on their own.

However, one day I wrote down a question and found myself searching for more scraps of paper as the writing was flowing and flowing at breakneck speed.

That “exercise” not only turned into my first non-fiction book ESC, but was the one thing I could hold onto, no matter what, until I knew for certain what I was supposed to do with it.

It wasn’t easy restricting my creative self that way, but terribly maturing and motivating. I now had a purpose, and one that could benefit others.

Diving Inward When Facing Difficulty Helps You Solve Problems

Obstacles cause friction. Without friction, or what we call problems, there is no reaching for resolution, and no growth.

During an art class I noticed that whenever the instructor would introduce a new technique my drawings would then get horrible. When I got past the unworthy me ego battle, I saw that my drawings were much better than before.

The “diving inward” is recognizing, evaluating and attempting to adjust the well-meaning, truly melodramatic, ego.

What Can Stones Tell Us?

Once I was in a NYC art gallery where, among other pieces of art, there was a smooth stone sculpture from South America carved by a woman. Evidently she was initiated by a remote tribe into sculpting in a profound way.

As I walked around the small, uninhabited gallery, I heard voices in conversation coming from the stone. They lasted only long enough to capture my attention and were faraway sounds of words I couldn’t make into sentences. I felt it was more of an essence, either within the stone itself, or somehow releasing the energy from the sculptor’s creating experience.

Stones, like all matter, have an accumulation of substances that make them appear to us as individual objects, like a chair. All matter is energy compacted, and organized. Energy becomes matter when its particles are held together with a glue that weaves itself in and around each and every particle so that every loose particle doesn’t float away.

The skin provides a waterproof surface and is a sort of “glue-like barrier” for our internal body parts. We can shower without dissolving down the drain.

I would say stones aren’t telling us things, in a conversational manner. They seem like they are simply being stones of different energies, vibrations, and frequencies.

Advice for Other Spiritual Seekers

Hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen! The place we are at that I describe within my book is about to reveal itself.

Yesterday I watched a video compilation of other dimensionality caught on film by ordinary watchers.

An airplane was stuck in mid-air for hours. People and a dog were entering a scene from out of nowhere. Inexplicable occurrences according to our understanding of reality. The veil between dimensions is dissolving. The glue holding all together is becoming transparent.

Hopefully we won’t be dissolving down the drain too.

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Mary LaForge is an award-winning non-fiction author. She writes a blog about metaphysical philosophies and has published a book about her spiritual journey currently being printed in second edition, and in Italian.

LaForge also uses her design skills to fashion word philosophies printed on t-shirts.

She lives in a small river community outside of Nashville.

For more information about Mary and her work, please see her website or connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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How I Escaped from Bloody Hell: X-ploring Freedom: ESCAPED shines a light on cosmically unanswered questions, and offers a perspective that outlines phases of reality from birth to deaths. ESCAPED is written with flowing words, without fluff, and with insights about the nature of reality that you can adopt and apply simply by journaling.

Upon the death of her paternal grandmother when Mary LaForge was 7 years old, Mary walked into a house of worship all by herself and was not recognized by anyone. That sent Mary on a lifelong journey seeking God in traditional and non-traditional disciplines. Finally, letting go of the search, Mary dove inward to find her own unique truth.

Available at Amazon and BookLocker.com. Read a free excerpt here.