Rated 5 out of 5
In Sheila Heti’s <i>Pure Colour</i>, we reimagine the before and after life, explore states of being and multiple drafts of reality through delicate characters and folktale-like storytelling. I was most moved by the later half of the book, and particularly when she talks about the inescapability of God. <br/><br/><i>A person might blame this feeling on the choices they made, or grow certain that they could create a better life than the one they’re living now. They might blame the person who the gods have inhabited for all of their discomforts, so they try to flee their literal home. Some people move to a smaller town, or seek out someone they loved before, and try to be with them again. Bachelors wish to get married, and married people wish to get a divorce; to make one last bid for the excellent life they feel that they deserve.<br/><br/>But the gods who are watching you from inside another one don’t disappear if you flee your life. They will leave the body of your child, your neighbor, or your friend – whoever they have inhabited to watch you – and find a body in your new life to inhibit, and continue to watch you from there.</i><br/><br/>This section reminded me of a book I checked out at the library. It was written by a faculty member named William Baldwin at Teachers College, Columbia University. It fascinated me to read research on the spiritual. It satisfied both my soul and mind. I returned to it many times, and especially found this concept of soul transfer incredibly interesting. In Pure Colour the spirits of the characters inhabit leaves, maybe tree trunks too.<br/><br/>Stream of consciousness prose between two characters feels so seamless and so complete. It felt like reading ballet. Baldwin writes <i>The material presented here suggests a greater, nonphysical reality, a spiritual reality. This may validate an ancient mystical teaching: each of us is a conscious being, an eternal point of consciousness, a spark of Light extended from Creator Source, and for this little time journeying in a physical body.</i> I feel this description easily extends to <i>Pure Colour</i>.