In "The Layers Between", natural phenomena such as Matter, Water and Space are given their own voices; Philosophical concepts like Entropy, Consciousness and Information are allowed to speak for themselves; "Yin and Yan" and the biblical figure "Eve" narrate their own stories. By employing recognized scientific findings to introduce a fresh, some may call fantastical, hypothesis, the writer defamiliarises the origins of our universe, the workings of our bodies, of our minds and life itself. In this first section of the book she explains how "everything" and "nothing" are the opposite poles of one energy-frequency with a myriad scales of information layered between. She knows very well that this is a theory of mind yet to be verified; nevertheless bravely challenges existing "Theories of Everything". The second section in the book consists of poems that draw the reader back into everyday life and its many speculative questions, by taking a closer look at the transient state of nature under the influence of time; how humans nestle into the spaces that matter provides; our attraction to and curiosity about the surreal and the spiritual; the consciousness within all sensory experiences; our craving for connective relationships and how everything that has been mentioned is nothing but recycled works of art."Celia Claase's debut collection...takes one back to a moment even before the Big Bang to a present where the future is ultimately unknowable yet at the same time as close to us as our own inner layers of skin.... Claase recognizes the interrelationship of the physical and metaphysical, the seen and the unseen. ... She has the ability to cut through the illusions of material gain, security and power....The Layers Between is the recognition of 'as above, so below', and the joyous, yet calm, realization that samsara is nirvana and nirvana is samsara."-- Gary Cummiskey Johannesburg. July 2015(from his 'Advance Response' to "The Layers Between")"The Layers Between" unfolds its philosophical conceits with a kind of artfully organic movement; flowing as it does between carefully wrought, playful monologues and compact, pithy poems...an invitation to step into the world, and inhabit it with open eyes and minds."-- Viki Holmes author of "miss moon's class"
About the Author: Celia Claase grew up and studied in South Africa where she taught young minds for many years. In 2008, her family relocated to Hong Kong where she has been working as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher ever since. In her free time she writes and works on her latest series of oil paintings. Her art has been exhibited and sold in South Africa as well as Hong Kong. As a member of the Women in Publishing Society Hong Kong, she acts as coordinator of their annual short story competition for young writers. "Sarie", a South African magazine, featured her memoirs for a period of several months and she has had poetry published in literary journals such as "Imprint" and "Writers Abroad". Winner of a LitNet flash fiction prize, she also received an award from the HongKong Drama Association for writing an outstanding stage script. Celia, like the poet R.M. Rilke, chooses to be with those who know secret things. The intention behind her writing is to defamiliarize the world as we think we know it. In 2010 Celia Claase started to write as a means of trying to define human existence and the reality in which we live. The resulting collection of narratives and poetry makes use of the evidence that physical science provides, in order to explain the metaphysical realm. This became possible through creative mind experiments. During the writing process she drew on years of self study and keen interest in the arts, philosophy, science, cosmology, spirituality and psychology.