Dialogue for Lasting Change

        I experienced a stroke this morning  . . .  luckily, it was only in my dreams. Dream or not, the experience of helplessness, of not having control over reflexes and feeling an unusual constraint on awareness was a powerful experience of powerlessness. In it, I knew something was wrong with me, but the realization of the what and why took awhile. It took a couple of scene shifts in the dream for the realization to dawn in awareness.

Paraphrasing what Charles Fillmore said about illusion, it was only a dream – but it seemed so real! So real that I awoke with the remembrance, so real that it caused me to write … I am not writing of the details, the settings, my sense of the people involved or the seeming reality of the scene by scene unfolding of the experience. That has no particular relevance here, in this writing. It was “only” a dream and I awoke from it possessing all of my faculties, I think.

In the moments after that dream, before I opened my eyes to the new day, I had brief flashbacks to other dreams, dreams of other realities. The power of dreams to create a sense of reality and having an experience of another reality is amazing. Even more amazing is the carry-over into my “awake time.” I have in conscious mind the feelings, the pictures, the experiences of many other non-real realities. For example, the memories of a looping road and small community out in the country not far from Troutdale, Oregon. Several times I’ve driven and even walked the roadway, visited the community and drank deep of the peacefulness of the country setting. It is a real place, a real experience – in my memory – but there is no such place on our present version of planet earth. (Vivid dreams can perhaps temp one to ponder the existence of parallel universes.)

Before there was a Harry Potter I experienced something that I’ve only read about in books; and later seen in the Harry Potter movies — pictures that move. No, I’m not talking about movies, TV, videos and the like. I’m talking about looking at a flat photographic print and seeing a figure in it move. I’ve opened up a photo album and looked at old black and white photos and seen movement, every so slight, in them. A person turns, blinks, nods …. in my awake moments I have clear memories of such experiences with photographs, so real that I have to stop and think … no, those were only dreams.

Have you ever levitated? I have, many times, it is a wonderful experience! I have also experienced the great joy of sitting down at a piano and playing the classics, jazz and popular music with ease. There is a part of me that possesses a talent and skill not present in my wakeful state. It causes me to wonder  . . .

      There are dream books that explore and explain the symbolism, the meaning, of dreams. I have glanced at a few of them, more out of idle curiosity than anything else. The symbolism and meanings presented are perceptions based on the experiences of dreamers over thousands of years. That dreams have (or can have) meaning is widely recognized and even has deep roots in scripture. Remember David interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams? Remember Jacob’s dream of the ladder and the angels? It is said that Daniel understood all kinds of visions and dreams. (It’s not that I have dreams of biblical proportions …)

I have had recurring dreams, dreams which build one upon another over weeks and months and even years. (I had a teacher who said the individual dreams are often like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, you must carefully piece them together in order to see the whole picture.) I am, for the most part, a lucid dreamer – I remember many of my dreams; at times I seem to be compelled to remember. Some dreams, as I mentioned before, are so vivid as to have place in conscious memory along with a sense (the illusion) of physical reality. As I have explored them, I’ve found that many such dreams do have meaning bearing on what is going on in my life. Don’t misunderstand, I not talking about spending a day at the races and then dreaming that night of gambling and horses. My recurring dreams have often reflected a sense of the stresses, of the challenges and problems I was experiencing.

For example, if I was up against some problem at work for which I had not yet been unable to find the solution, I would have problem solving dreams. The dream scenarios would take various forms in a variety of settings. In some I was being pursued through a seeming labyrinth of familiar or nearly familiar places – never being caught and never truly escaping. My experience has been that variations of these dreams continue until the outer problem is resolved. My ongoing dreams were a persistent call for action – I had to decide and act upon a solution or, resolve the issue by simply letting go of it. When the problem ceased to exist, the dreams ceased. There have been other dreams, some in the form of unsolved mysteries, dream scenarios that cast their own shadowy light on the stuff of life. These are never crystal clear reflections of life – they are little more than seeing through a glass darkly.

       Dream books explain dream symbolism for the purpose of providing insight into what is going on in one’s life as revealed in one’s dreams. There is some validity in these books. Sometimes they seem to be dead on, at other times they seem wholly irrelevant. But like so much of life, filtered through the human mind, there are a variety of interpretations and various schools of thought. No one book or school of thought is right; all are perceptions of an illusory reality. The stuff of dreams is the stuff of illusion. They are sometimes inspired and sometimes not. Dream meanings, if they are to have any importance, can be no more than that which they have for the dreamer. The value, if any, in analysis by dream book is that it may point in a direction that may lead one to develop your their understanding of their dream. Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was meaningless until it struck a chord of realization within Phararoh’s own mind. The meanings of Jacob’s Ladder have been widely contemplated and have been explained in a variety of ways. The real meaning, of course, can only be that which had personal relevance for the dreamer himself, Jacob. It was his dream, not ours. The only relevance it can have for us is that which we choose to give it. The stuff of the dream books is much the same …

       For me it makes sense to set aside the dream books and to explore my own dreams and their possible meanings. My dreams have led to changing the course of my life, have impacted my decisions and prompted new avenues of thought and expression; all to the good. Being a lucid dreamer helps in this process; of more importance however, is the exploration of the dream. As a dream explorer I am sometimes so moved by a dream that I endeavor to write about it using pen and paper. Even if I don’t remember much, I begin writing and the process of words flowing onto paper opens the pathways to the memory and message of the dream. I write without thought or deliberate evaluation or contemplation – I let the words flow and the thoughts revealed become my teacher. I am constantly amazed by the process.

I think, I know, that the Grace of God has provided us with a powerful set of tools for understanding what’s going on in our lives and for finding life’s purposes and direction. It’s sad, I think, that we have not yet learned how to dream and how to understand and employ the stuff of our dreams. Our dreams do have purpose, no matter how deeply the meaning and purpose lies hidden within our veiled perception of self.

These few pages are the result of one of last night’s dreams – I know that there is much more to explore and to say, but that’s it for now.

Yesterday I came upon my favorite little book, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. It is a powerful book and I am in awe of its simplicity and practicality. And, I fear that much of my writing demonstrates my lack of a solid grasp of its rules and principles. I am therefore engaged in re-reading and re-studying; making an effort to grok more of its counsel and wisdom.

Throughout my adult life I have fallen into the traps laid by ill-used words. To my dismay and chagrin I have offended and misinformed without intent because of a carelessly chosen word or sloppily constructed phrase. I have too often seen a carefully conceived positive thought turn into emotion-charged negativity in the mind of the reader. A single word or chain of words carelessly linked can cause havoc that is not easily undone; sometimes irreparable damage is done. I know this because I have been the author of such words. Aside from breaking the little book’s rules and principles, there are many reasons for such occurrences, including:

• Haste
• Failure to carefully choose words that best express my thoughts
• Limited vocabulary
• Not understanding that words may have different meanings or connotations in the reader’s mind
• Failure to put myself in the “reader’s shoes”
• Failure to edit, rewrite, re-edit and rewrite – again and again.

All of the above impact the craft of writing. They suggest a recipe for successfully transforming thought into written words. The last, editing and rewriting, are absolutely critical in order to facilitate the degree of reader comprehension hoped for by the writer.

Once written words have been sent forth, they cannot be effectively recalled. If your thoughts are important enough to be put into written words and if those written words are important enough to be distributed, it is important that they be the best possible reflection of the thoughts that generated them. This is the work of a craftsperson; it calls for a high degree of skill in the art of written communication. Like producing a piece of fine furniture, your material must be chosen, prepared, assembled and finished with great care and deliberation. The finish is perhaps the hardest part – sanding, re-sanding, coating, re-sanding and recoating until the desired, the intended degree of perfection is attained. Anything less is cheap and shabby. The craftsmanship of the writer is more exacting in its demands because of its potential impact on the heart and mind of the reader.

I have been guilty of shabby or sloppy workmanship; fortunately much of it is unpublished. There is a place, however, for sloppiness in writing. It is called an outline or a rough-draft. The value of such writing lies in its yet unexpressed potential. It is often a necessary beginning …

Thoughts have potential … great thoughts have great potential.

Realized potential calls for careful, well executed craftsmanship.

A note about inspired writing – we’ve undoubtedly all read the powerful moving words of inspired writers. It is not the writing that is inspired; inspiration resides in the realm of thoughts. The transformation of inspired thought into “inspired” words takes great skill. The beauty and wonder of inspired thoughts are easily diluted, distorted or destroyed by sloppy word-craft.

Sometimes what I write is not what I wrote. Sometimes this is simply the result of pen on paper or fingers on keyboard not keeping up with my racing thoughts. I sometimes find thoughts coursing so rapidly through consciousness that I can do little more than jot down brief notes. Thoughts can be so fleeting that they are lost before they can find expression in the written word. In the instant of this writing, this thought enters my mind … I do not have to capture the details of every horse and rider in order to capture the wonder and excitement of a horse race.

I have a vivid memory from some forty years ago; of sitting in a cubicle typing a business letter. I was carefully choosing words and phrases; carefully copying specifications and numbers from hand-written notes and making a determined effort to be accurate, clear and concise. I reread and checked what I had written at least three times before handing it to someone to proof-read. At the start of one sentence she found that I had typed the word “the” three times. Therein lies another hindrance to well crafted writing – the mind’s persistent ability to transform what the eye sees into what we want it to see. When I wrote “The The The”… what I wrote was not what I thought I had written. Worse yet, when I read and reread what I had written, I read only what I thought I had written, not what was actually on the paper. In a similar manner I’ve also had the experience of my mind filling in missing words or mentally correcting typos without conscious awareness of what was being done… I was correctly reading the textual thought, but misreading the actual words on the paper.

One of the deadliest minefields for writers is Email. Seemingly inherent in email are self-imposed needs for brevity and a perceived need for speed. One of the most troublesome aspects of email communication is the ostensible need to compose live – online. The simplest, most productive and profitable solution is to compose off line using the word processor. This provides some necessary breathing room and makes it easier to re-think what’s been said, to check grammar and spelling, to re-read, edit and rewrite before hitting the send button. After the work is appropriately edited it can easily be cut and pasted it into an email.

Well, I’ve about run out of steam … time to wrap this up, I guess. Having nearly finished, I’m left wondering why? What’s this all about, really? Perhaps it is little more than a subconscious-driven attempt to document my on-going need to grok the rules and principles of the little book. It is, perhaps, only necessary practice.

What I do know is that, for me, quick and dirty -off the top of my head- writing is also an important learning process. It helps me to explore and organize my thoughts and to learn and clarify that which I think I may be learning – and, it is just plain fun. Hopefully, some of what I write is worthy of greater efforts, of being taken a few steps further …

I often sign writings with the word Namaste’.  Why? Because I like it and the thoughts behind it. In is an ancient Sanskrit word which has been variously translated in the west by non-Christians and by some Christians. The meaning it has for me is simply this, the Divine (the Christ, the Spirit) in me recognizes, acknowledges and honors the Divine in you.  

This is an attempt to express, to share some of my thoughts, ideas and observations about our world, about life and about our God-given potential for change.

We are, you and I, designed to change – to grow, to evolve mentally and spiritually. God did not create us to flounder and fail … we were created to become more than we now are or ever have been, individually and collectively. This blog personal step towards my, and hopefully our, becoming.

Namaste’