Parallel Worlds
Can life exist in other forms besides the one we live in? Can we access such realms? Can anyone see them? The art world, especially the surreal, visionary and fantasy genres, explore these possibilities that exist beyond normal human perception.
The ongoing desire to discover an alternate fantastic reality, which is perfect and free of the limitations of time-space, begins is many people’s childhood. As children, we are often curious about who we are, and what this life is all about. In many cases, the death of a person we know, raises questions about the after-life. In the second half of the 20th century, modern science has developed new tools to explain the existence of life in more than one dimension. For example, the “String Theory” postulates that the universe comprises ten dimensions consisting of different energy vibrations, and that the universal energy field is composed of “membranes” and other esoteric shapes.
According to the mystical Kabbalah, which investigates universal secrets and the essence of life, we can learn that the reality we are aware of represents a tiny section of the whole. The Kabbalah indicates that the larger part of existence, the dimensions that we cannot perceive with our human limitations, is indeed the reality itself and our physical life is just an illusion.
Different worlds have been conceptualized and expressed through varying forms of art throughout history. Surreal art is an example of this, being characterized by images that come directly from the subconscious mind. As conveyed in metaphysics, the subconscious mind is the medium through which our souls are connected to universal wisdom which is an infinite pool that contains endless possibilities.
The art world, especially the surreal, visionary and fantasy genres, provide a glimpse into the vast range of possibilities that exist beyond normal human perception. Some surrealist artists are, in fact, a sort of clairvoyant, absorbing images from alternate forms of being. According to social perception, they “capture” visuals through channeling.
Look at Salvador Dali’s paintings The Dream and The Temptation of St. Anthony. What if his vivid surreal imagination describes an alternate reality where such scenes take place? Rene Magritte’s painting The Human Condition is another clear illustration of one plane (the image on the canvas) merging with another (the actual landscape in the back). Magritte’s famous Chateau des Pyrenees depicts a huge rock floating over the ocean, with a castle built on its top. Well – everybody knows that a huge boulder cannot float in the air – but can this scene be possible in a dimension that has a different set of physical laws?
Remedios Varo, a Mexican surrealist, is a terrific example of a clairvoyant artist. Her paintings depict a series of fantasy scenes that seem to be taken from alternate worlds: Look at her painting The Alchemist and see reality extending from one dimension to another.
Another member of this group of artists is Orna Ben-Shoshan, a fascinating self-taught visionary artist. Her paintings originate from a mysterious, far-out world and reveal colorful esoteric occurrences, in which creatures and objects interact in unpredictable ways. The metaphysical atmosphere in her creations draw the viewer into a journey through alternative realities. As a life-long student of Kabbalah and mysticism, Orna has always been fascinated with the gateway points – the borders between different dimensions. Her artwork reflects a wide range of potentials, as she explores the different aspects of transformation from one form of existence to another.
In her painting Shedding Heavy Traces, two figures are carrying a person whose upper body emerges from an open carrier. The person is on his way “out” of this world – he is on the verge of leaving this realm of existence (death) to progress into another dimension. His lower body has already disappeared into what can be interpreted as “nothingness”. On his departure he drops away heavy packages that symbolize the material load he has had to carry throughout his life in the physical realm.
The painting Departure shows a woman carrying a pod, approaching a staircase through which she will embark on her travel into another dimension. The angel at the top of the staircase unveils the passage to her.
In her painting The Elevator, two figures are carried in a wooden box over a hallucinated plane. Their faces are covered so that they can’t see the journey’s track. A winged figure carries the cargo through air. This is a scene that deals with metaphysical transformation – as the passengers in the box are being moved from one level of consciousness to the other.
Travelling through air, diffusing from one plane into another, riding a floating structure, opening a door to the void, climbing a staircase, or dissolving landscapes – there are many possible ways shown by art as a means to pass into alternate dimensions.
As the human memories of parallel life forms fade when a soul is reincarnated into a new physical body, glimpses of memory may appear in our minds time and again, for a fraction of a second. Capture these visions! These moments of enlightenment come to remind us that our earthly life is just one of infinite possibilities in the mighty universe that created us.
Artist Orna Ben-Shoshan conceives the images she paints through channeling. All of her paintings are completed in her mind before she transfers them onto the canvas.Her metaphysical work infuses deep spiritual experience with subtle humor. Orna Ben-Shoshan has been an auto deduct artist for the past 30 years. Her artwork has beem exhibited in numerous locations in the USA, Europe and Israel. Her major motivation as a visual artist is to share her visions with others to expand their consciousness and inspire new ways of thinking.
To see more of her artwork, you can visit: www.ben-shoshan.com
Read the full article in the Artist Profile in Vol 3 Issue 28
