Rest In Peace?

 

Was the dream actually a visit from the dead?

Did my friend talk to someone from “the other side”?

In the dream…

She meets with “PJ” (a mutual friend) in a wooded park and they talk for a short while.

All during their conversation, PJ radiates a feeling of total peace.

When my friend related this dream, I nearly fell off my chair…

The PJ I knew was anything but peaceful…

In fact, he was one of the angriest people I’ve ever known.

Had death transformed PJ into a wise man?

Well, PJ did give us flashes of that other self, from time to time.  Beneath the anger, there was that man of peace.

So perhaps the peaceful PJ of the dream symbolized a hidden potential.

Nonetheless, I won’t rule out the possibility that my friend did meet PJ.  I refuse to put limits on dreams, when we still know so little.

Besides, it’s her dream not mine.  She gets to decide what the dream means—no one else.

As for my own dreams…

…on rare occasion, I’ve also met deceased friends.  I consider these dreams from all angles—I want the maximum benefit from any dream…

Maybe I have encountered the spirit of a lost friend.  In any case, I experienced that spirit.  In the moment, the encounter was real—as real as any waking experience…

So in that sense, at least, there’s a reality to such meetings.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
picturing metaphor

 

Slap Unhappy

My dreams usually seem so obscure, at first glance.

However, sometimes I can get the message immediately…

…if I’m willing to accept its truth.

In a recent dream…

I slap at some beagle pups.  I want them to simmer down.  They’re distracting me with all their hijinks.

First, let me state: this dream should not be taken literally.  I do not have any dogs and if I did, I promise you, I would not slap them…

…even if they were distracting me from my work.

Yes, my work is important to me.  But play is important for puppies.  It’s not just fun; it’s how they develop.

If you try to stop them, try to contain them, they may likely grow up to be depressed mean dogs.

And mean dogs bite.

So I’d better heed this obvious message.

I have met the puppies and the puppies are me.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
searching for the new mythology

 

Strong Stomach

 

I’m in better shape than I realize…

So says this recent dream:

I wake up.  The morning’s still dark.

This is my first day on a new college campus.

As I step into the dorm shower room, I catch my reflection in a full-length mirror.

To my surprise, I see the ripples of some finely-toned stomach muscles.  I have a lean, fit body.  Muscled, but not muscle-bound—flexible.

Plenty of good news in that dream: I’ve started a new life, a new course of learning.

Yes, it’s dark and I can barely see, but not to worry: I’m waking up.

Anyway, I can see enough to see that I’m in good shape.

In my waking life, I’m in decent physical shape (considering my age).  But the body in that dream mirror more closely resembles the physique of my college days.  Ironic.  And there’s another irony…

If I’d dreamt such a dream during my college days, I probably wouldn’t have seen such a fit body…

…because this dream is not about physical strength.  It refers to mental/emotional strength—a strength I didn’t realize I had…

But of course, if I had realized…

…I wouldn’t have needed to see it in a dream.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
sky rope poetry

 

Of Feet & Buses

 

Again, my dreams seem to give me conflicting information…

Two weeks ago, in a dream, I missed a city bus and had to find my way alone (see previous post)…

But then this week…

I’ve walked all the way through downtown, but haven’t been able to find a bus.  I’m feeling disappointed…

There’s nowhere left to go.  I’ve reached a concrete barrier.  The ocean lies beyond.

So I double-back.  To my surprise, I soon stumble upon a long, modern bus parked at the curb.

The friendly driver tells me that it’s a postal bus.  But I’m welcome to come along if I want…

I think “why not?” and step on-board.

Perhaps I was too eager to hop-on…too eager to take a free ride…

But I didn’t have anything else to do…the driver was helpful… the bus was comfortable…So why not?

This dream reflects a particular pattern in my life…

When I go hunting for something, what I want often eludes me—no matter how hard I try.

Then, when I back off, it lands in my lap.

So then, should I just be receptive?  Should I just hang around and wait?

No, I don’t think so.  After all, if I hadn’t gone a-hunting, I wouldn’t have happened upon the postal bus.

However, I made myself miserable by being so focused on finding a bus.  Perhaps that’s the key message here…

It’s good to be focused, to be determined in my pursuits…

…but not so much that I drain all enjoyment from life.

So, I’ve learned something important from the dream.  The problem is: this dream seems to contradict the earlier one.

In the earlier dream, because I missed the bus, I had to find my own way.  I had to be self-reliant.  I had to be my own guide.

In the second dream, I’m going to rely on the bus, on the driver.

Maybe that’s a mistake.

On the other hand, not every life situation is the same…

Sometimes, I need to go it alone—to be my own guide…

Other times, I need to sit back, accept what is given, and see where it takes me.

Besides, if I keep walking along that country road, I may likely come upon a bus, and if I’m tired, I may likely hop on…

Furthermore, sooner or later, I’ll have to get off that postal bus and continue walking.

These two dreams tell me: sometimes, I need to use my feet…and sometimes, I need to use a bus.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
picturing metaphor

 

Lost and Found

 

I keep missing the bus…

The dreams vary…

Sometimes, I don’t know which bus to catch.  In other dreams, I get on wrong bus.  Or buses keep passing me by, as I wait at a bus stop.

In a dream last week…

…I’m in downtown Chicago, looking for a city bus…

But I don’t know which bus to take.  In fact, I don’t even know where I’m going.

I see one of those big green buses stopped on a side street and start to hurry to catch it.

But the bus does a quick left turn.  I don’t have a chance…

Next, I’m walking through a pleasant rural area of small farms.

So, my difficulties with buses continue.  I seem to be stuck in an old problem.

However, as I considered this dream, I realized: I may not be able to find outside help…

…I may not even know where I’m going…

…but I’m not stymied.

Though I felt lost, I was able to guide myself to a very good place…

…and under my own power.

True, I’m not in the mainstream.  I’m not in the big action…

But I am surrounded by fertile land.

I thought I needed a bus.  But according to the dream, I have within me that which I need.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
sky rope poetry

 

My Dilemma Is Ours

 

“I’m part of them…yet apart from them…”

When I’m writing down a dream, I’m often find myself using this description…

In so many of my dream scenarios, I’m part of a group, a crowd, and yet, I feel separate from them…

Maybe they’re strangers.  Maybe acquaintances.  Sometimes, a few friends are included…

But even so, I still feel isolated.  A solitary individual.

Of course, those dream strangers could represent unknown aspects of myself…

However, my dreams will mirror my waking life experience, and in my waking life, I’ve often felt the way I feel in those dreams…

…even when I like the people in the group…

Even when I open myself to them, even when I want to know their stories, even when I have a deep appreciation for them…

…I still feel apart.

It’s a dilemma.

By my definition, a dilemma (unlike a problem) defies solution.  A dilemma is one of those painful paradoxes of human life.

But though we can’t change a dilemma situation, we can still find better ways to adapt.  Perhaps, through these “apart” dreams, I can learn how to make peace with the paradox.  A relative peace, anyway.

So this dilemma has a blessing: in searching for that peace, I will rise to a higher level of understanding…

I will arrive at better understanding of my life, and a better understanding of all human life, as well.

After all, doesn’t my dilemma mirror the dilemma of the whole human race?  Though we’re all in this together…

…no matter how closely we bond, we remain separate individuals, confined within the boundaries of our own skin.

A part of the human race, yet always somewhat apart from all our brothers and sisters.

© 2013, Michael R. Patton
searching for the new mythology

 

Thumbs Up to Ebert

 
In memory of film critic Roger Ebert, I’m revisiting this post from May 2012:

Because dreams usually aren’t part of our cultural conversation…

…it seems like a gift when a public figure shares a dream…

…a dream such as this one from Roger Ebert’s autobiography Life Itself*…

…a dream that came to Ebert upon the death of his friend, Robert Zonka:

“I had a vivid dream in which I had awakened, walked over to his side of the house, and found Bob seated at the head of the table, dead.

“In my dream I wrote a memorial column for the New Buffalo Times, word by word, very specific.

“I didn’t like that dream, and it awakened me.

“I got out of bed, went next door, and called through the screen: ‘Bob?’…I walked inside, and Bob was seated at the head of the table, dead, a cigarette having fallen from his hand.”

As soon as the body was taken away, Ebert sat down and wrote the obituary, just as he had in the dream, using the exact same words.

It appeared in the next issue of the New Buffalo Times.

(* Ironically, I listened to this book-on-tape while falling asleep—which means, I probably only retained 5% of what I heard.  But retention is not my main purpose for listening to recorded books: my goal is to coax myself back to sleep in the middle of the night.)

© 2012, Michael R. Patton
sky rope poetry