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Reviewed by Karen Pirnot for Readers' Favorite
If you're looking for a new life direction or some personal inspiration while dealing with the daily grind of life, try picking up a copy of Lloyd Burlingame's memoir, A Blessing Well Disguised: A Blinded Artist's Inner Journey Out of the Dark. Burlingame was born into a family with a highly rejecting, alcoholic and mentally disturbed father who committed suicide while the author was yet a child. In addition, the author experienced an episode of sexual abuse which further heightened his sense of "differentness" and lack of acceptability to himself. He early on rejected the realization of being gay and tried to deal with the issue in adulthood without really dealing with it. With an established career in stage design art, Burlingame found his eyesight becoming poor and he then had to accept the fact that he would eventually become a blind artist. Like his father, he felt alone, misunderstood and angry, and he contemplated ending his own life. Fortunately for readers, he instead got a seeing-eye dog named Hickory and he entered Jungian therapy. He began to pay attention to both his "Grind" and his "Muse." And he realized that both inner voices were equally potent and equally valid.
The choices made by the author are not for everyone, but his message of continuing through life while ridding oneself of personal demons is a universal message. Most of us would not choose blindness to find our way out of our troubles and most of us do not choose an alternative lifestyle to find peace. What is wonderful about A Blessing Well Disguised is that Burlingame challenges us all to locate our innermost fears, acknowledge them, and then get on with the life we were dealt rather than the dream life we wished for ourselves as children. And, in doing so, we all have the promise of meeting our inner child, filled with wonder for the life given to us, a life we accepted and made meaningful.
