This is a dream I had last night, as I recall it…
The scene looks like a university setting, on an open grassy area between many red brick buildings. The buildings are camouflaged with ivy and ancient oaks, making them seem to fade in and out of existence in the leaf-sway on the breeze, only the lights from their myriad windows making them seem real. A large group of people is gathered around a circle of benches on this cloudless moonlit night, they are listening to someone tell them about something, it all seems very important as I walk toward them.
I want between the benches and around those who sit on the grass, dodging flip-flops and beer cans and I move in to the center, on a mission.
“Are you ready?” the speaker asks me as I approach.
“One last thing I need still,” I say, pointing up at a building in the distance.
“Well,” he says turning to look across the lawn, “be quick about it then.”
I find myself standing now in a giant library. Dusty books line dimly lit shelf after shelf. I move over them, searching for a tome that I know must be here, but I cannot find it. I grow frantic, pulling massive old books from the shelves and dropping them onto the floor in loud, dust exploding, bang and bang. I open cover after cover, reading the first few sentences of each book seeking what I need, never quite finding the right story, until finally I understand.
I realize what I need to explain to the group below on the grass, and I race toward the stairs…but there I am stopped cold. The stairs are too steep to climb down, and it is too far down below to jump safely.
Paralyzed with fear I stare out the windows at the group around the circle of benches, unable to reach them.
Intense action, lots of contrast. Beyond the curious specifics of the setting and your aspiration, the coming together of 1) a strong directionality of desire and in contrast, 2) the shifting, unstable environment of the dream state one is attempting to operate in, can, with practice, give rise to 3) a moment where one knows or suspects that one is dreaming. Acc. to the Tibetan tradition, in many cases this awareness is considered far more important than analysis of the content and/or symbolism of the dream. Here is an opening for employing the instructions on dream yoga, one of those moments when you might actually be able to do something practical in the dream state. Opportunities like these invite practice in ‘transforming the dream’ – an exercise developing insight enabling us to practice in dreams as well as strengthening the ability to see through complexes of thought and feeling which may arise and block the free flow of loving intelligence and mindfulness in the waking state.
Thank you for this Ogmin, it is very helpful!
I love dreams! I love your writing. I can see the ancient oaks. A dream journal is on my list of things to do. They say that a journal will help you remember dreams and recognize them more when you’re having them.
I can’t say I know much about interpreting or Dream Yoga. Personally, I place more emphasis on feelings. There doesn’t seem to be much sense about imagery most of the time and a libray may not be a library. I love libraries so just the mention of it gives rise to certain feelings for me. I believe that we dream to resolve and/or work with feelings.
My best guess, maybe it’s just not the right time for something, perhaps it is on the horizon though. But, you have the answer and the circle seems to suggest that everyone would be happy to hear it. Maybe even waiting for it as much as you are. Having the answer, it’s just a matter of it being the right time or not.
But, dreams are funky, who knows.
So I think it means that you are searching outside of yourself for an answer that is already inside of you but you are afraid to act on what you truly feel. =)