It takes courage to explore to the unknown, as it does to publicly tell others about personal experiences that are contrary to prevailing conventional ideas. Another Brave Soul is a periodic column that highlights the efforts of individuals who are exploring spirituality and the boundaries of human potential?and helping others to do the same. If you or someone you know are having such experiences, let us know and we?ll consider profiling them in this column. Click here to submit your suggestion.

I’m walking across the imaginal bridge?it curves gently upwards, hiding the other side from view. All I see is the grey pavement and the low guard rails on either side?There are no vehicles on the bridge and I hear no sound apart from my own footsteps?I keep walking until I reach the end of the bridge, and I?m standing in the light. Looking back I see the bridge disappear into darkness?I think of a book and a book appears in my hands?it is heavy, leather bound, with thick yellowing pages. I can smell the age of the book when I open it? It?s Braille. I run my fingers over the raised bumps. And though I do not know Braille I hear these words as my fingers run over the page??Welcome traveler, we are pleased to see you.?

So begins one of first entries in the blog of W. Paul Blakey, who writes under the nom de plume of World-Bridger. I could tell you that he?s a highly intelligent, well read, and articulate retired osteopath living in western Canada, but as you may have garnered from the paragraph above, he?s also an accomplished traveler in nonphysical reality and a disciplined reporter of his experiences.

Since October of 2005 World-Bridger has been blogging about his repeated explorations into an area of nonphysical reality that he calls the Park. I call it Focus 27. Both are names adopted from training at the Monroe Institute. The Park isn?t like Central Park in New York City, although some parts of it can appear to be an expansive garden in an idyllic urban setting. Nor is it like a national park, although it does have a visitor?s center and guides who serve to help people find their way. Rather the Park is a realm where souls have the awareness and free will to co-create and commingle during the intervals between various incarnations in physical reality.

One of the best known examples of existence in Focus 27 came from the 1998 movie What Dreams May Come. But World-Bridger?s descriptions go beyond Hollywood plot twists and special effects to touch on themes of universal consciousness, the nature of the time-space continuum, the meaning of love, as well as a specific behind the scenes looks at the interface between the physical and nonphysical worlds.

One such example is when from nonphysical reality World-Bridger observes a carload of U.S. Marines get killed by a bomb in Iraq. He then sees what happens to them in nonphysical reality. The event happened live and he corroborated it with a newspaper clipping the following day. Such corroborating details, which tie together events in nonphysical reality with those in physical reality, mark the purpose of World-Bridger?s blogging.

As his pen name suggests, World-Bridger?s mission is to bring validity to the dream and imaginal realms. ?I?m building a bridge to the imaginal world to help others connect there,? he says. ?It?s as real as the physical world and you can learn to visit it. Once you learn to discriminate between worlds you can step back and forth at will. If you do this successfully your life is greatly enriched.?

The imagination is one of the bridges between the physical and the non-physical, he explains. ?The imagination is not something which should be considered only an artifact of brain metabolism or what is considered to be your personal mind,? he says. ?The creative imagination is inevitably a collaboration between the physical and the non-physical. Whether the person is aware of this process or not, all of the best creative endeavors are collaborations between the physical and non-physical worlds.?

?We have a cultural bias toward physical reality taught by the amnesiacs who live here,? he says. ?Since they don?t remember their connection to the imaginal realm, they say you?re only awake when your awareness is here in the phenomenal world rather than there in the imaginal.? But actually you?ll find that you can be quite awake in both worlds if you apply yourself to it.

World-Bridger maintains that our awareness of our connection to the imaginal world is fluid, so if we don?t use it to reinforce it often enough it can evaporate over time. Most kids have a strong sense of imagination, but as we grow older many adults set it aside. Musicians, writers, inventors and other artistic types maintain their imaginal connections, but many people, particularly those who are analytically minded, set those ?imaginary? connections aside in favor of more pragmatic ways of operating in the phenomenal world.

Failing to make the distinction between imagination and fantasy can be crucial to one?s ability to explore realms beyond the physical. Imaginary means existing in the realm of the mind, but that doesn?t necessarily mean that it is fantasy. Every invention ever created first began in someone?s mind before they made it physically ?real.?

?In the past people considered the imaginal realms to be separate domains that people visited in the privacy of their own thoughts or sleep,? he says. ?Now they?re gradually coming to see them as real places with recognizable landmarks, different types of citizens and creatures, and even rules or laws that are comparable?if not similar?to those of the phenomenal world of physical reality.?

Visiting imaginal realms is a skill that can be developed, but relatively few people explore those connections. ?Of those that do, most flit from idea to idea or place like place like shoppers dropping into a super Wal-Mart. They look at an item here and there, but they don?t visit any one place long enough to get to know it? says World-Bridger. ?Those who repeatedly visit a particular area establish a strong connection that makes it not only easier for them to return, but for others as well.? And this is precisely what he is doing with his blog.

If you?re interested in reading more about World-Bridger?s journeys into nonphysical reality, you?ll find his blog at http://theparktmithere.blogspot.com. You can start reading at any point, but I found it helpful to start at the beginning since his episodic entries build on each other like a book. For instance, early on he introduces key characters in his explorations, such as his spirit guide, who often appears as a guide book. He also explains his process for connecting and traveling to the Park, which he uses as an entry point for more far flung explorations.You

Check it out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Blaze