When my father was away at war, his absence for months at a time had a profound effect on me. There were no phone calls, no internet, no visits. He was just "gone" ~ all but for the images in my memory. The only thing I could depend on was the feeling of connectedness I had with "everywhere" when I was out in nature. I knew my father might not physically come back but, in my mind, I held a magical mystical connection to him wherever he was. Because of the deep need I had to feel that he wasn't really gone even though I couldn't "see" him ~ I created him to be right with me and therefore I could never lose him. A child's imagination is a wonderful thing and can create protection against some pretty harsh realities.
That experience with my mind's imagination still serves me again and again in my life. It comes through in singing and dancing, in being with nature, it comes through in drawing and painting, and in creating art with things from nature, and it comes through being a "dreamer" and having hope, no matter what. The arts and nature have been a way for me to have "no doubt" about the interconnectedness of all things. ~ PAS