Dreams
13 May 2001, 12:52:48 PM
Felicitous troops:
In my many years association with spiritual aspirants of many
flavors, I have observed that nearly all are "working towards
something," some consciously but mostly unconsciously. As the Path of
Return is said to make conscious that which is unconscious, I aid that
evolutionary drive by asking "What are you working towards-- What, Why and
How??" What state or expression has the Inner Teacher made attractive to
you that makes you pursue it? What was Its effective lure? Did your inspiration
come from reading or a living example? Kindly fill in the blanks in this
questionnaire and send it in. Guess what your reward will be. Joseph
____________________
>In my many years association with spiritual aspirants of many flavors,
I have observed that nearly all are "working towards something," some
consciously but mostly unconsciously. As the Path of Return is said to make
conscious that which is unconscious,
==
I had a dream last night which made conscious what was previously unconscious:
The Night of the Living Dead:
I had returned to a town where I had been a rather profligate man in my
youth. This was a town where in the past I had "had my way" with many
women. This night all their ghosts had arisen up to assault me. They came at me
one by one. I had a sword, and each one I would slay as she came at me. After
dismembering them, I would do my best to ensure that they remained dead.
Finally, the last ghost woman approached me. I would swing and swing, but I
could not touch her. Finally she swung her weapon and slew me, cutting off my
nose and right hand.
Meaning: Long buried emotions rising up out of their graves to assault the
ego.
==
>I aid that evolutionary drive by asking "What are you working
towards-- What, Why and How??" What state or expression has the Inner
Teacher made attractive to you that makes you pursue it?
==
Unconsciously working towards my ego's defeat by acting from ego.
==
>What was Its effective lure?
==
Doing what I want to do.
==
>Did your inspiration come from reading or a living example?
==
Inspiration comes from all the images and desires which I encounter and which my
ego thinks it can possess. The fish (ego) lunges at the bait, but it the
fisherman (Self) who enjoys the meal.
==
>Kindly fill in the blanks in this questionnaire and send it in. Guess
what your reward will be. Joseph
==
Knowledge of who my ego's master truly is. The eventual conclusion that
every assault upon my ego, every deflation, every lightning bolt, every trial,
is in fact a blessing. An act of Grace. The One Fisherman, reeling in his
Son.
==
Red Lion
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The ultimate paradox: As you lose, You gain.
Joseph
____________________
Another dream last night:
I was in an underwater complex of buildings and something had gone terribly
wrong. The water was coming in from all directions. Walls were buckling, and I
(and others) were desperately trying to shore up the leaks and escape.
Finally, we were cornered in one last enclave deep within the complex. The
walls all around were buckling in under the pressure, and the whole thing was
about to give way. The only way out was to go down a small drain pipe to escape
to another deeper level of the complex.
Possible meaning:
ego finds itself surrounded by the vast ocean of subconsciousness pressing
in.
ego is made aware of its puny-ness in comparison.
ego struggles to survive. (doing what we "want" to do)
ego makes a desperate bid for escape.
ego gets itself into an even deeper fix than before!
Sort of like:
Tom Hanks in the movie "Cast Away"
The movie "Journey to the center of the earth"
The process of compression. While consciousness is being compressed, ego
seeks the path of least resistance since it abhors limitation. In our
desire to escape we are lead deeper and deeper into the unknown, seeking
liberation.
Thus, ignorance (black head band on the magician), desire for protection (red
roses, red robe, & arbor above) and intellect (white lillies) all prompt us
to excavate and make conscious what was previously unconscious, making this
material now available for transmutation as well. And the magician being
the transparent intelligence is but a tool for the One.
Red Lion, Dreaming the Impossible Dream . . .
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear the unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest, to follow that star!
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far!
To fight for a right, without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know, if I only be true, to this glorious quest
Then my heart will lay peaceful and calm when I lay to my rest...
And the world, will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To dream the impossible dream!
To reach the unreachable star!
(from the Movie "Man of La'Mancha")
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I feel impelled to tell you this. 30 or so years ago I used to
take dreams very seriously in that i analyzed and reanalyzed them several times.
I really took a great Hodian whack at all of them, thinking my correct analysis
was essential to realizing their message. I bugged Ann about my dreams until she
told me that Paul had said that our dream messages got to us without any
analysis and our usual self conscious interpretations were nearly always
erroneous. Excessive mercurial probing usually diluted or distorted the
influence of our dreams. I have noticed that sometimes in the middle of an
experience i will have a flash back of a dream and suddenly see its
significance. Happen to you? I think age and living through so many terrifying
dreams enables one to be more indifferent to them. Joseph
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Are dreams merely the random remains of the day? Maybe.
As Freud was once quoted as saying "Sometimes a cigar is just a
cigar."
Why should we try to interpret our experiences?
If they are COMPLETELY subjective, then there is no reason to seek meaning,
for there is nothing universal in them.
Dreams and the Tarot itself can contain symbolic imagery. Is it
pointless to try and deepen our understanding of them? Perhaps.
Neither Dreams nor the Tarot should be taken "very seriously", for
straining ourselves to mentally grasp them dilutes and distorts their
influence. Agreed.
What is curious to me, is that no matter how terrifying my dreams, I don't
get upset from them. I just wake up 3:30AM and think, "well, that was an
interesting dream." Only 2 dreams have ever "upset" me. In
one, I dreamt that my mother had died, and it turned out that my next door neighbor
had died that very night, and in the other I dreamt that my father had a
terminal disease, and found out the next day that my girlfriend had a brain
tumor. So as one might imagine, my experience with dreams is that if they
"seem significant" to me, they usually are.
No choice I guess - the One has made these particular dreams
"interesting" to me, so I am compelled to "do what I want to
do."
And yet another paradox.
Red Lion
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Joseph is mistaken in his dismissal of dreams, although quite correct in
rejecting that Hodian analytical approach. The classical method of dream
analysis, to which I adhere, is to let the subconscious of the dreamer, as
expressed in the dream, speak to my subconscious, which then speaks to my
consciousness (as in Key 6.) I rarely attempt to comprehend my own dreams -- if
my unconsciousness were willing to talk to my consciousness directly, it would
not clothe itself in symbols. Many people founder on this rock, as your
consciousness will interpret your own dreams in terms of what you are already
consciously aware of. What else do you expect of it? It's operating within its
design parameters, right?
Turiyananda
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I can't let this one go by. I don't dismiss any event
that occurs in my life. All have some degree of importance. Some dreams seem to
have instant significance which captures my attention. I consider that directed
attention an inner signal and I do not try to force all events or dreams to have
the same immediate importance. I trust the process for myself and for others and
that includes others trying to Hodianize every dream to rags. How else to
realize its futility. Out of confusion comes certainty. Joseph
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