While everyone dreams at night, some dreams are definitely more
meaningful than others. I have had a number of dreams that were
significant in some way, whether as dreams of comfort or even glimpses
into future events. While everyone’s dreams are different, I do believe that they are real in a way that perhaps we do not understand in our current reality. Sometimes dreams represent potential possibilities and sometimes they represent our fears and desires. Dreams are wonderful. They can reveal things about ourselves that perhaps we do not know. I’ll be sharing some dreams here in this blog and feel free to post your comments about what you think!
Archives for August 2007
The Meaning of Dreams
Overcoming Fear (Part 2 – The Ants)
As I mentioned before, I believe that fearlimits our spiritual progress. In the early part of July, I had gone to
Mt. Shasta (in Northern California) for a conference that was being
held there. I’ll post more info about Mt. Shasta later, but let me just
say that it is a very special place. Many people believe that this is
one of the most sacred mountains of the world. There are people that
visit this place from all over and there are many people who have had
encounters there with people from other dimensions and places from
within the earth. There is a city, called Telos, which exists about a
mile below the mountain and this city is inhabited by people who
originally came from the continent of Lemuria (thousands of years ago),
which existed in the Pacific ocean before it sank. According to the
stories, there were about 25,000 at the time who were able to escape
and many of them were able to relocate to below Mt Shasta and establish
the city, known as Telos. (Ok, I guess I’m getting off topic a bit, but
it’s really fascinating stuff).
Anyway, I was with a group of people (perhaps 50-60) and we were
doing a group meditation off one of the trails (Bunny Flats, I think)
and during that meditation, we were told to go within and connect with
our heart, etc. One of the other things that is important to learn is
to listen to the promptings, intuition, feelings, etc that come to us
from within. Too many times, we think that our answers have to come
from external sources (and many times they do), but we should also
confirm those with what we feel inside.
So, after the group meditation, everyone was told that the next
experience was a more personal one. Everyone was to separate and go to
wherever they were told to go. So, it was quite interesting to see 50+
people just spread out going off the paths to wherever they were told
to go. Many people had some neat experiences and I was one of those who
did, although I was not anticipating the kind of experience I was to
have. I really wanted to have a special experience there and I kept
asking, “Where should I go now?” and I would get answers to go this
rock, or to that tree or over that hill. I finally came to a place
where I felt I should stop and meditate and pray.
As I was sitting there praying, I noticed that there were some large
black ants crawling on me, and it was kind of bugging me because they
were interrupting my train of thought. It was at that moment that the
thought came to me, “Let the ants crawl on you”… I was shocked to get
an impression like that. Never, in my wildest dreams would I just let
ants crawl on me, if I could help it. But, I thought I should go with
that and follow that prompting. So, I just sat there and the ants
started to crawl on my legs, arms and hands. I thought that I would get
bit for sure, but they weren’t biting me. It was still hard to just let
them crawl on me. I had some ants crawl into my shirt sleeve and each
new area of unexplored territory they found seemed to get my heart
racing a little more. Then, I would relax and as the minutes passed, I
became more used to it. I’m not saying that I enjoyed it, just that the
fear would subside for a while and the fear would be replaced with
peace. For about 20-30 minutes, I allowed these ants to crawl all over
my body, simply trusting in God that I would not get bit. My fear
turned to peace and tears started to flow from my eyes as I gained a
greater appreciation and love for these little creatures. There were
probably 25 of them crawling all over my skin for that time period, and
yet, I did not get bit once. It is hard to describe, but the experience
was a transforming one for me and perhaps in some small way, reduced my
dependency on fear, replacing it with love.
Overcoming Fear
I recently read about an initiation
ceremony that was used anciently in Egypt to help people
reduce/eliminate fear. These Egyptians understood that Fear was a
barrier that prevented people from ascending into a higher
consciousness. So they spent many years training their students until
finally they came to one particular challenge to assess where there
students were at. This is what they did:
There was a small hole, just large enough to fit one person. Within
that hole was water and it was pitch black. The student was instructed
to swim down into the hole that was filled with water and find another
way out. That was all they were told. As the student swam straight
down, there were ledges that jutted into the column of water, so the
student had to carefully navigate himself/herself downwards. At about
20 feet, the wall on one side opened up and the student was able to
swim underneath it to a section that was lighted. So, as the student
enters this area, he/she starts to swim upward and that is when it
becomes apparent that there are many alligators within the pool of
water. However, because the student is about to run out of air at this
point, he/she has to go up in between the alligators in order to get
air. What the student doesn’t know is that all of the alligators were
already fed, so it is unlikely that the alligators would attack the
student. Regardless, it would be quite the “Fear Factor” adventure.
Then to top it off, the student is told that he/she failed because
there was a different exit point than the one they used. So, after more
training, the student enters the dark abyss again (knowing that there
are alligators) and find the opening at the bottom of the wall on the
other side, which is also pitch black and go up through that.
Although I doubt I’ll ever go through that kind of “overcoming fear”
adventure, I think the topic of overcoming fear is interesting and
important in our spiritual development. There are so many fears that we
have that can stifle our growth. They say the #1 fear of all people is
speaking in public, followed by death. But there are so many other
fears, such as fear of germs/diseases, fear of failure, fear of
rejection, fear of opening yourself up to someone and communicating
your true feelings, etc.
But rather than list all of the various kinds of fear, I would like
to point out an example that I like to think about. Remember when
Christ walked on the water? He wasn’t the only one who did. Peter also
walked on the water (at least for a little while) and then he sunk in
the water. And then Jesus asked Peter the question, “Why do you
fear?”…. So, it is apparent that it was the fear within Peter that
caused an abrupt halt to Peter’s miraculous feat. Although we would
expect Jesus, to be able to perform a miracles such as that, the fact
that Peter was able to do it is amazing because it helps me to
understand that I, too, have the capacity to perform miracles and fear
is the number one enemy that gets in the way of our spiritual
advancement. The Egyptians understood this and that is why I believe
they were so focused on helping people face their fears and then
overcome them. Christ was not fearful, even in the face of death… and
if we can even come a little closer to overcoming more of our own
fears, we will become more like Christ and only accelerate our
spiritual growth. In the next blog post, I’m going to share an
experience I had that deal with facing my own fears.
Knowing Truth
I often wonder about how people come to a
knowledge as to what is true and what isn’t. It seems like much of what
is considered true is simply based on the general (or perceived)
consensus as to what is true. For example, if the majority of any group
of people believe a certain way, it becomes an accepted belief held by
the majority of people. But, history has proven, time and time again,
that an accepted belief system held by the majority of people does not
guarantee truth. In Christopher Columbus’ time, the accepted theory was
that the Earth was flat. We look back and think, “yeah, that obviously
wasn’t true”, but the fact was at the time, the majority of the people
did believe that. So, here you have someone who comes and challenges an
accepted belief, and says, “No, the Earth really is round”… and to me I
am in awe of people who seek and find truth, despite the fact that the
majority are holding onto a different (and incorrect) belief system.
It takes guts to stand up for truth when you are in the minority.
Oftentimes, that one person is ridiculed as a fanatic, whacko,
conspiracy theorist, nut job, etc. There are many names given to people
who question the accepted belief systems of society. But it seems to me
that you would also have to apply those names to any inventor, any
person who instituted positive change, in other words, people who have
made a real difference in this world. Are they all lunatics too because
they didn’t “jump on the bandwagon”? These kinds of people say… “Hey,
there is a better way to how things are being done, and I am going to
find the way”… Then they search and with their searching, they discover
a better way than how things were being done before. These are true
seekers of truth.
But the question that I find myself asking is whether people are
accepting a certain belief system based on what the majority of people
believe to be true or do they accept truth based on what they know to
be true from within. I believe that we can all know the truth, if we
ask and we have a strong desire to find out. However, I think it is
important to not let our ability to “know truth” be dictated by the
likes of mainstream media or other people who may not be inspired. In
the Bible, it says, “Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be
opened unto you”. Is that really true? Do you really believe that you
can know truth simply by asking a question.
Perhaps you are a hard core “left brain” person who has to have
proof in order to believe. What I have found is that many times the
proof that you think you are seeking is actually a barrier to being
able to accept a truth that is not supported by the majority of the
people. The issue isn’t the proof because you can always find something
that seems to support the incorrect belief that you are holding on to.
The issue is the openness of your heart because if you open your heart
to God, then you allow truth to flow to you from within… You get to a
point where you just know. And that is the greatest proof you can have.
Try letting go of your left brain focus and allow your heart to open
up to what is really true. I believe that within the last 10-15 years,
people all over the world are “waking up” to the truth around them. The
lies that have been told to us for decades & even centuries are
starting to become unraveled. Truth is shining forth in a major way.
Accept and believe it because you have asked and you have that
“knowingness” from within.
Being vs. Doing
Perhaps its just me, but it seems like
modern society places an emphasis on doing too many things ….. and by
doing all these things, we are somehow better because we were able to
accomplish more. We are bombarded with things we need to do. But no
matter how much stuff we do, we always have some stuff that doesn’t get
done. So, we give ourselves a guilt treatment and then we start the
next day, doing the same things over and over again. Some days we get a
lot done, so we give ourselves a pat on the back. But despite having
all the latest gadgets, such as palmpilots, Franklin planners, Priority
lists, etc., we somehow end up feeling stressed, overwhelmed,
overworked and unhappy. Is that what our life has become? I, for one,
believe that the emphasis on doing so many things is overrated. We’ve
got to have balance in our lives and we can’t get caught up in the
misconception that “doing” a large number of tasks is equal to success
or happiness. What I would like to propose is that in all of our doing
that we consider what we are becoming… Of course, I am not suggesting
that we stop doing things. We have to do things, but based on my
experience, I have found myself many times trying to do “too many”
things and thereby creating imbalance in my life. There is a time and
place for everything… But one thing that helped me to realize this is
what is commonly referred to as the “BeAttitudes” in the Bible…. Notice
here that they are not referred to as the “DoAttitudes”… The “Be” is
there for a reason. I will say it again, “In all of our doing, we must
consider what we are becoming”… Is it possible to do good things but
not become a better person from it?… Of course, it is…. for example,
how many times do we go help someone, but we do it out of obligation
and inside our heads, we are really wishing we weren’t there… as
opposed to having a sincere desire to help that person.
If our focus is on becoming a person who would help someone out of
pure Christ-like love, then the “doing” is automatic… and how much you
“got done” is irrelevant because your actions stemmed from the
Christ-like person you have become… So, when Christ talks about
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the
merciful,” He is talking about the type of people we can become, if we
choose. Perhaps this can help to ease our minds as we go through the
struggles of trying to get our long list of tasks completed.
