You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘psychic change’ tag.
At 6 A. M., I awoke with this uplifting dream:
It is evening. I stop by the recovery center and discover it vacated, in disorder: ashtrays filled with cigarette and cigar butts, food remnants spoiling on plates and bowls, magazines and silverware strewn on the floor, armchairs pulled from tables stained with water and carved initials, rain splatting window sills, damp carpet beginning to smell. On my own, I decide to clean up the place and locate a bucket, mops, rags, and cleaning agents near the kitchen. Not sure where everything goes, I’ll have to guess. Later, everything is in order. I’m proud of my work and return home.
Again, in the dream, energetic and strong, I find myself in the foyer of the recovery center; its depths prod me to the disorder therein, shadow material, of which I’m unaware: pride, anger, greed, and envy, in all its expressions; shadow material triggered by others. On my own, I remain largely content. Since no one is around to help with this Herculean task, it’s up to me to remedy this deplorable situation.
But my discovery of tools: a bucket, mops, rags, and cleaning agents, near the kitchen, evidence an invisible helper—Perhaps the kitchen’s fire that animates my labor. Strange that I seem to know what to tackle next and do so.
The resulting shine within the recovery center, a sacred place of healing,will greet its guests in the morrow. I’m proud of my work.
This blog’s contrast with “The Unsettling Dream” of a few days ago suggests my fickleness in fully embracing the gentle discipline of the arduous path opening before of me—More correction for which I’m grateful.
At 7:05 A.M., I awoke with this unsettling dream, unusual because of a long period of no recall:
It is Sunday. Night darkens the conference complex where a large number of mixed adolescents have been spending the weekend. Because they’ve had no exposure to sexuality in textbooks or experience, teachers inform them. As days pass, the adolescents have become unruly: seamy jokes, scurrilous laughter, and throwing food. Any display of authority is met with snickers. I’m concerned if there will be sufficient time to clean up the complex before the scheduled arrival of another group.
In the dream, I work in maintenance, strong and healthy in my uniform. Both night and Sunday suggest endings: of the day and of the weekend; their implications, though, speak to my end-time of eighty-six years, a long time to live.
The conference complex suggests the setting in my psyche, designated for learning that poses daily challenges. In the dream, though, it’s besmirched by the adolescents up-ended by the presentations. Many want to experiment, in full view of all. Such displays the inner turmoil in my unconscious, roused, perhaps, by yesterday’s felt terror of my death. Even that moment was too much.
The dream concludes with stress roused by the Herculean task of restoring the conference complex in a few days for another group. I feel similarly with the task still lurking in my psyche. On the surface, all appears in order, but this is not so.
This is where Precious God comes in …
An encounter with radiance suggests astonishing energy at work, known or unknown, at times, often tinged with a pinkish glow. In that split second, the psyche shimmers, stretches beyond the familiar, and gapes in wonder—Even longs for permanence. We’ve been touched and we know it. With its diminishment, its dark mantle plunges us into darkness. The void aches. We shiver and continue waiting for what we know not.
Many equate such experiences with the revelation of God, the dynamic firing of His creation from its beginning as recorded in the bible. Seventeen times, the word radiance is used for God: His felt presence experienced in the Old and New Testaments’ accounts of the Jerusalem Temple and the Temple in the book of Revelation.
Another reference to the word radiance appears in the book of Baruch, this time, superimposed upon the Mosaic Law from which Israel had strayed: the source of their holiness. Preferring idolatry to observance of the law, Babylonians had destroyed their Temple and enslaved them in 582 BCE.
Turn back…in her radiance, make your way to the light. (4:12)
The imperative is just as critical as then—which ever spiritual path embraced, in or outside of religion or scripture study: Humility and service of God, self, and others keep us moving toward the light. Within the light, expect experiences of radiance. In silence and lowliness of heart, they do come until embraced by Eternal Light.
Heart Whisperings 