Monday, March 05, 2007

Dreamtime


I saw this exact place in my dream several weeks ago...

Not everything I see while I sleep comes to pass, but sometimes the watery edge of my dreamtime seeps into my waking life.

A few weeks ago, I had an odd little dream about "hell." I saw a spiral staircase leading up into the sky, and deep into the earth. The stairs seemed nearly endless in each direction, either up or down. I've seen those stairs before, in other dreams, and usually I reach the top to a whole new dimension. But this time, I walked downward, and with each step, I recited a litany of insight into human suffering and misery. "What causes suffering?" I asked rhetorically, "What creates this place we call hell, and how can we uncreate it?"

As I descended deeper into the pit, the way of suffering became clear. We create misery every time we hold guilt, shame, vengeance, fear, jealousy, arrogance, or ingratitude. Even our churches and those who seek to "help" us, sometimes contribute to our suffering.

What is the answer? How do we uncreate hell?

My dream offered a simple answer: release your fear. Relinquish your death grip on the causes of misery, and joy will replace unhappiness.

After discovering the secret of freedom, I left the mythical stairwell and found myself on a college campus. I saw a street rising to a slight hill, and a tall building on the left side. I saw farm buildings in the distance. I found myself teaching college students about everything I learned on my journey about how to uncreate hell.

NOW...return to the present; back to "real" time.

Rhonda and I visited the University of Idaho this morning to follow up on a job application I submitted. We had hoped to meet with members of the hiring committee, but did not have much success. We were about to leave the campus when I saw the street from my dream, just as plainly as I had seen it in my mind several weeks ago. "Rhonda," I said to my wife, "I saw this street in my dream." I walked several yards closer to that exact spot.

For a brief moment I felt myself slipping into an almost other-worldly state of mind, but then Rhonda interrupted my reverie. "Look!" she said, pointing to our right, and there we found ourselves standing directly in front of the Native American Student Center! We went inside and introduced ourselves to the staff and learned these very people would be my co-workers, if in fact I'm hired. It was the strangest experience! It was like we had known each other before. One of the women at the center even remembered meeting me several years ago. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed a fast connection and rapport.

I cannot tell the future, but I indeed SAW that place in my dream before visiting the campus. I followed the vision and met some wonderful people. Somehow the hand of the Creator is in all this.

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