I have learned to listen to dreams. It took me a lot of work to learn this, both the how and the why. The summary of my experience is this: Jung believed that dreams are our subconscious way of working through life’s challenges. If you really listen to what your dreams are telling you, there are valuable lessons to be carried into waking life.
Lately, I have been struggling with the state of the world. There seems to be a new story daily of violence, police brutality, race, religion and sexual orientation/identity -based crimes, and more. Then there is the US presidential race, which not only is difficult for me for many reasons but seems to have turned many people I know into 2-year-olds: red-faced, feet planted as they scream what is wrong with a candidate other than the one they have chosen to support. I’ve seen a lot of beauty in the world lately, but I have also seen a lot of ugliness.
Last night, after having a little melt-down of my own, I was sitting at home and decided to run out to catch a Pokemon (yup, I am one of those millions of Pokemon Go players). I was followed by 4 shoeless boys, ages 10, 11, 14, & 16. It was close to 10, so there was a lot of shushing on my part. We found the monster I was looking for, and one of the boys asked if we could walk to the park to catch more, so off we went.
We were in a grass field when I noticed something in the sky. I had a split second of thinking “UFO? Guided missile?” when I realized that this was either a VERY large meteor or a piece of space debris shooting overhead. There was a primary front object, with about a dozen other pieces, and the whole thing had a huge tail. If you put your arm out straight and look at the night sky, the thing was probably three feet across in our vision. Low to the horizon, shooting straight across the southern view.
We watched, then two of us started recording while watching. My 10-year-old wanted to know if we need to run (I assured him this was not moving towards us), there was speculation as to WHAT this was, and we all wondered if the impact would hurt anyone if this hit the ground. Our walk home included talk of aliens, galaxies, my son’s desire to be an astronaut, and more.
All of that is contextual to the dream that I want to share with you. It is very personal on many levels, and yet I think it is worth sharing with others. My geekiness will come out here for sure. As you read, I urge you to ask yourself what you can take away as a lesson for making your way through this thing called life.
I am standing with my 3 & 10 -year -old boys when I see a light heading towards the ground. I keep hoping it is an airplane, as it is in the right direction for a landing, but I know it is not. When it hits the ground I know that it was a bomb, and I yell to the boys that we have to get inside. We see a large smoke/dust cloud forming, and we run indoors. I realize that it is far enough away that it will not harm us directly, but I worry about others and the potential long-term effects.
“inside” is a small space ship – we are on the deck of a family-sized space pod. I look out the windows and noticed “planes” dropping smaller bombs on other locations around us. I worry that being up in this pod makes us a target, and I start to work to beam us back down to our house. I get my 10 year old out (he is beamed directly to the meditation room), but the buttons aren’t working on the second transporter chair.
I also realize that I am having trouble breathing, so I put a mask on my younger son and begin sucking air out of a portable canister. I think that there is no way for me to survive this, so I start to play with my son. I want to enjoy my last minutes of life, and for him to enjoy his as well. We laugh, I tickle him and we dance. Just as I am about to figure out how to get us back down to the house, I realize we have been boarded by 2 beings.
One takes over the helm of my ship, while the other starts talking to me. She explains to me that we are safe, that no harm will come to us. The bombs being dropped are just an illusion, she explains. No beings or things are being hurt. It was a test to see who will fight, and who will answer without violence. Those who chose to attack will be put in education centers to be taught how to love. I have passed this test, so they are simply here to help me get back to my home. They explain that while coming here is a violation of the prime directive, they could no longer sit back and allow the citizens of this planet to harm ourselves and each other. She smiles, and I am transported to my house.
So that’s my dream. It was obviously influenced by my current state of mind, and the events of the evening. This morning I feel a sense of peace that I haven’t for a very long time. Reflecting on this dream this morning (a practice I adopted when first learning about dreams 30 years ago), I hear three things:
- With all that is going on, the most important things are still love and connection.
- Some of the things I am fearful of are not real, while others are, and still others deserve attention but do not need to be feared.
- In the end, I am capable of taking the right path and making choices based on love, not fear or anger. In the dream that path was from a world of violence to the meditation room. I can guide my children in those directions as well.
As I finish writing this, I realize that it does not follow my usual path of writing on this blog. I don’t have a particular piece of advice for you, the reader, nor am I hoping to open a particular dialogue. Instead, I will just leave this here as a message for anyone to see – because if you have read this, I know that you needed to hear it. I know I needed to dream it.
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