Seashell Guitar Stories

In Seashell Guitar Stories, the author recalls luminous moments that suddenly seemed to transcend day-to-day reality. Although the protagonist here is called ("Jay"), he is in reality the author, Christopher Arthur Andrews. ("In childhood, we are naturally more receptive to mystical experience,") he says.

In some of the memories that inspired these stories, he experienced an uncanny foresight of events that would soon be confirmed: ("Suddenly, halfway down the street, Jay saw what looked like a television screen floating in the air, but it was his imagination. For a few moments he saw a clear picture. . . ")

In others, he simply felt a deep sense of awe and wonder, as at the sight of an elderly neighbor's display cases filled with arrowheads and other prehistoric Native American artifacts. ("The light seemed to float over the cases like a mist, as if a magic radiance was at play in the room.")

Another time, he felt awe, fascination and dread at the sight of a rattlesnake sinuously gliding into the family living room.

The ability to ("go past the veil of everyday perception") is not necessarily limited to childhood, Andrews says. ("As adults, through meditation and practice we can again cultivate and participate in the wonders of other realms.")