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Chrysalis Reader original essays, poetry, and short stories illuminating the world of spirit volume 14 the swedenborg foundation publisher carol s. lawson & robert f. lawson series editors alice b. skinner art editor susanna van rensselaer managing editor ⁄ design director robert tucker The Chrysalis Reader is published annually fiction editor in the fall. In addition to selling current and robert f. lawson back issues, the Swedenborg Foundation poetry editor accepts pre-orders and standing orders perry s. martin ⁄ patte levan (mailed to customers automatically each year contributing editors with an invoice). To place orders or to carol urbanc become a standing-order customer, contact: marketing assistant Swedenborg Foundation, constance j. eldridge 320 North Church Street assistant editor West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380 karen connor 800-355-3222 ext. 10 cover design www.swedenborg.com/chrysalis. cover art and part pages j. tully watson Embedded in the sidewalks of New York City are brass plaques at the front doors of magnificent buildings along 41st Street in close proximity to Grand Central Station and The New York Public Library. Using thin rice-based rubbing paper, drafting tape, and everlasting patience for human traffic, J. Tully Watson painstakingly made large, 24x36-inch rubbings of the building plaques: five of the rubbings are reproduced on the cover and part pages. These buildings are General Electric (1930), Fred F. French (1927), Chrysler (1929), Lincoln (1930), and Citicorp Center (1978). According to the artist, “After spending countless hours crouching on a busy sidewalk, I experienced a sensory overload from seeing thousands of people rushing by, sounds of cars, subways, and pedestrians, the smells of exhaust, garbage, food, and smoke, feeling the dirty grime of the sidewalk sometimes accompanied by scalding heat, and the taste of my own sweat mixed with the thick, stale New York City air.” The rubbings in this issue represent other worlds, other times, and countless footsteps. publisher’s statement The Chrysalis Reader is a journal of spiritual discovery published in honor of Emanuel Swedenborg, eighteenth-century scientist, civil engineer, and mystic, who used his scientific orientation to explore the world of spirit. Respectful of all lives lived according to faith in the divine, Swedenborg described the ever- present reality of the spiritual world. Individuals who have responded to Swedenborg’s ideas with great energy can be found in the arts, especially in literature and painting, as well as in psychology and the social sciences. The Swedenborg Foundation celebrates and furthers this Swedenborgian connection with the arts with the Chrysalis Reader and the annual Bailey Prize for literature. _______________ Publication of the Chrysalis Reader is partially funded by a bequest from Esther Blackwood Freeman (Mrs. Forster Freeman Jr.). ImagineImagine That!That! breaking through to other worlds CHRYSALIS BOOKS / Swedenborg Foundation Publishers ImagineImagine That!That! breaking through to other worlds Edited by Carol S. Lawson & Robert F. Lawson the chrysalis reader is a book series that examines themes related to the universal quest for wisdom. Inspired by the concepts of Emanuel Swedenborg, each volume presents original short stories, essays, poetry, and art exploring the spiritual dimensions of a chosen theme. Works are selected by the series editors. For information on future themes or submission of original writings, contact Editor Carol S. Lawson, 1745 Gravel Hill Road, Dillwyn, Virginia 23936. ©2007 by the Swedenborg Foundation Publishers All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any infor- mation storage or retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Imagine that!: breaking through to other worlds / [edited by] Carol S. Lawson and Robert F. Lawson. p. cm. — (Chrysalis reader; v. 14) ISBN 978-0-87785-238-4 1. Conduct of life—Literary collections. 2. Change (Psychology—Literary collections. 3. American literature—21st century. I. Lawson, Carol S. II. Lawson, Robert F., 1948– III. Title. IV. Series. PS536.3.I43 2007 810.8’353—dc22 2007029466 CHRYSALIS BOOKS Swedenborg Foundation Publishers 320 North Church Street West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380 J. TULLY WATSON Contents editor’s note Portal to Abyssinia . ix Robert F. Lawson preface Awake in Oxford (poem) . xi Thom Satterlee Ahmed . xii Steve Whitaker part i: porters and portals Teaching a Class on Meditation (poem) . 3 Fredrick Zydek And Not as a Stranger . 4 Linda McCullough Moore Long Black Train . 11 Derek Tabor vi Receptionists at the Ultimate Doorway . 16 Donald L. Rose Contents Seeing Angels . 20 W. E. Reinka Proper Words for Birds (poem) . 23 Margaret B. Ingraham William James and the Infinite Inner World . 25 John L. Hitchcock Vital Signs (poem) . 36 Catherine Munch The Last Days of Harry Chester Buck . 38 Ernest O. Martin Night Walking (poem) . 42 Shawn Pittard part ii: voyages Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard (poem) . 45 Laura Freedgood Afterward . 46 Cathy Strasser Frozen Foods . 54 Wayne Carhart Colliding Worlds . 57 Jean L. Arnold Drop-off in Nairobi . 61 Jane E. Buckingham Iguazu Falls, Paraguay, 1973 (poem) . 66 Martina Nicholson A View from Below . 68 Ralph E. Pray Voices in the Wind . 74 Dorothy Johnson Garcia Fog (poem) . 77 Helen Haskell Remien Passage through Palau . 78 Jeffrey S. Rasley part iii: breaching walls Silas (poem) . 87 Suzanne Freeman The Hospital and the River . 88 Walter R. Christie Intrusion . 94 Charlene Wakefield Long Primaries (poem) . 102 Rosemary Adam Andy’s World . 103 Diana M. Amadeo The Bliss of Dreams . 108 vii James Ward Entryway (poem) . 112 Contents Gary Every Redrawing the Lines . 114 Rick Kempa Name (poem) . 119 William Kloefkorn Empty Nest . 120 M. Garrett Bauman Bridging Time (poem) . 124 Tim Harkins part iv: reaching beyond The Necessary Fiction (poem) . 127 Craig Challender Renewal . 128 Marlea Moore Buddha and Benedict:Encounter of Two Worlds . 131 Brother John The Bright Side . 139 George F. Dole All These Things (poem) . 145 Liza Porter Things Seen and Unseen . 147 Norma McHenry Beyond the Perimeter Fence . 151 Andrew Morris The Perseids (poem) . 159 Thomas R. Smith First Lady of the Grays . 160 Tom Lombardo What Lies Below (poem) . 167 Stuart Arotsky Are We Alone in the Universe? . 169 Raymond Moody Permission (poem) . 176 Molly MacLeod editor’ s note: robert f. lawson Portal to Abyssinia we seldom have chances to sample foreign worlds. When we step out of our everyday worlds,do we discover possibilities we would never have expected? Imagine, for instance, a young boy exploring a spacious house in Belfast, Maine, where he finds the treasures of a great-uncle who returned to America after years abroad. Near the top of a grand staircase, mounted on wood-paneled walls, are two oblong African shields and a pair of crossed spears. Guarding the landing is the tawny, black-striped fur of a tiger skin. Its head rises from the par- quet floor in a perpetual snarl. Other mementos from a long career in the diplomatic service cover walls, tables, and desks. A young prince with a dark beard and moustache and curly black hair stares regally from a framed picture. There are signed photographs of U.S. presidents from McKinley to FDR; a group picture taken at the American Club of Paris, 1924, the men dressed in formal tail coats and white vests; a picture of Greek Opposite: soldiers marching in regulation pleated skirts, white stockings, and As emperor of Ethiopia tasseled shoes in front of the American embassy in Athens; and the from 1930 to 1974 and during his long life, boy’s favorite: an architectural chart showing some of the world’s Haile Selassie most noted buildings as of 1927, placed side by side—including the (1892–1975) must have Eiffel Tower, Karnak, the Pyramid of Cheops, and the Woolworth experienced many worlds. Building. The boy, this editor, is called downstairs for dinner and is seated at one end of a very long dining table. A crystal goblet of milk awaits on his right. Then an unusual meal ensues on beautiful plates with gold edging. One item is served at a time—green beans cut in half and on the diagonal, mashed potatoes baked in their skins, meat cut in slivers with a white sauce. Afterward, lemon tarts. Exotic dishes in- ix x deed. His great, great-uncle Rob, retired diplomat, first American ambassador to Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia) in 1903, sits at the Robert F. Lawson other end of the table, barely visible in the dim light, his bald head bowed as he eats. There are so many questions I want to ask: Tell me about the spears. Were you on safari? Did you shoot the tiger? Who is the dark- haired prince? Did you meet Tarzan? Years later I will understand the importance of Uncle Rob’s mis- sion to Ethiopia to establish trade relations for the U.S. I will be fas- cinated by his friendship with the prince Ras Tafari, heir to the throne. But most of all I will admire my uncle’s model of wise diplo- macy, allowing a young boy from the Midwest to visit him, allowing me to move between different worlds, honoring the cultures of each. Yet at a primal level, I was transported to the heartbeat of Africa as I knelt before the gleaming yellow eyes of the tiger, as I traced with my finger the blood-red pattern on one of the shields, as I met the gaze of the future king,who would change his name to Emperor Haile Selassie. I did not need to know his name. His imperial look said everything, and the allure of Africa has stayed with me ever since.

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