Transformed existence (ICA)

This is the experience of being in the same mundane world as before but that it is strangely transformed; as if one's perspective has been radically transposed without any participation on one's part. Two songs in the musical "My Fair Lady" are sung by characters experiencing such occasions – "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "On the Street Where You Live". It may compared to standing in a European cathedral and suddenly seeing the people who worked for hundreds of years to create it as if they were still working and were all around one as one stands there. Many people have described waking up on a beautiful summer morning and experiencing all their surroundings strangely made new.

A dimension of this experience is a sense of awe, that is fear and fascination. The fear is that this will not last and of what will come after it; a sense of the fragility of the moment and of one's own ineffectiveness in the midst of it. At the same time one is fascinated with the wonder, almost enchantment, of the transposed world, the sense that it was here all the time but has only just been revealed. The decision is to believe in this transformed reality and to start on an exploration of it. This is followed by a new sense of urgency, almost of being driven, and by seeking someone with whom one can share the experience.

This state is number 10 in the ICA Other World in the midst of this World.