How to Listen to the Stars

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I have personally come to the realization that this statement holds some truth, but also some falsity. True, we can hear no screams out there… I only know this because I was one of those voices at one point in time. Though screams cannot be heard in space, what we call "space" is not quite a vacuum. It is not quite empty, but rather it is very full. It is beyond vast and it is saturated with wonderful beings, entities, forces, and the dark matter that created it all. Our very own vessel, the human being, is one of those wondrous creations. This fact of life would have never crossed my mind had I not experienced it for myself.

Before I spawned into my current human form, I was a being outside of Earth’s bubble, or what is known as the atmosphere. No, we as humans cannot hear a thing out there in outer space. Not with our physical human ears, that is. In the space outside of our bubble, we can only communicate with other beings on an energetic level. If we tune in to just the right signal, we can channel messages from outside the bubble as well as within it. There are many terms we have come up with to explain this method of communication, most commonly using the complexities of socially constructed factors such as religion, mental orientation, and taboo subcategories… but on the smallest level, it is all just energy being transferred from one being to another.

I’ve often considered myself to be just an average guy from a small town in Southwest Florida. Yet, ever since I could remember, I've felt that something was amiss in my existence. I didn't know if it was growing up as the black sheep of my family or something much greater. Either way, my lived reality told me that I fit right in… as a nobody who barely graduated high school and has been working under the hood of vehicles since then. In my hiatus from taking mind-altering substances, I've often wondered if I could have become something more… but then I get myself lifted enough to touch the stratosphere, and I again think otherwise. I’m just a man. I'm okay with being little old me: Jamison Minor, 33 years existing on this planet, painfully single, auto technician, living in a studio apartment in the worst part of town.

Imagine, in all of my years, I’ve led a typical life for someone of my gender, age, race, and socioeconomic status. As boring as ever with no reason to hope for more because I’ve been limited by my naysaying family all throughout my life. I recall one incident in particular which may appear to be small crumbs, but it’s stuck with me. I was eleven years old and my parents were giving my youngest brother a special pool party for making the A Honor Roll. He was apparently the smartest child alive according to my parents and he always got rewarded for it, too. I didn’t have an issue with that. My issue was that on this day, I had gotten in a bit of trouble at school for not turning in some assignment. When my mother saw the note from the teacher in my planner, she took it upon herself to show me I was less than… She allowed me to attend the pool party, and she even told me to put on my swim trunks… but, I couldn’t get in the pool at all. In fact, I couldn’t eat any of the cake, cookies, candy, or consume any drinks or have fun at all for that matter. Every so often, she would announce some vague message to my brothers and all of his elementary friends alluding to me being a bad boy in school and that they should not want to be like me when they get older. The whole ordeal was completely unnecessary and damaging to my spirit as a young boy…

Twenty-two years ago, on that night of the incident, I had the most vivid dream I ever had in my life. I didn’t too much dream during my sleep hours and when I did, the dreams were foggy, blurry, and easily evaporated upon waking. That night was a different night altogether… I went to sleep not wanting to be living on the planet anymore, in my house anymore, with my family anymore, or in my body at all anymore. I didn’t see the point in sticking around if this is what life had to offer me… the very people who were meant to love me the most were the ones hurting me more than anyone else. I suppose some force wanted me to – needed me to – see my purpose for living and the only way to communicate that to me was through a dream.

This dream, like many other memories from my childhood, had long faded into the background of my mind. I didn’t have a dream journal then, nor do I have one now. However, I have this notebook and I feel compelled to share it this time around. Last night, I experienced that same dream that once came to me decades ago. Up until last night, I didn’t really dream during my sleep hours and when I did, the dreams were foggy, blurry, and easily escaped my mind upon waking. But last night, not only did I dream and recall my dream, but it was the most realistic and vivid dream I would think exists in all of the dreams ever had. It was more than just a vivid dream. It was a complete journey that taught me more in those hours asleep in my full-sized bed than I had learned in any school or from any adults growing up. This isn't something to keep to oneself.

I hope to be a clear as possible as I explain this life-changing dream in question… so here goes.