Dream: 'Under Construction' Reflection Continued...

*REFLECTION(continued) I'll give my impression of some meaning to each of the symbolic images I underlined in previous blog. If this is taken as the dream's comment on my essay ** 'America And Abraham' it says something similar about these two seemingly disconnected topics.

The final image of a ' super highway' over the construction site suggests that my take on America and on the Abraham/Isaac story( that contains supposedly God approved domestic abuse and violence images) are ones for me to be confident in. They represent an appropriate and newer 'way' for these things to be navigated in the future. It is saying that my rational efforts to 'construct' meaning for these areas with our time honored approaches and orthodox interpretations must be transcended by a 'new way' and perception.

America's Multi-Cultural-Ethnicity Is Its Uniqueness And Strength

Regarding America I said I need to take the 'whole' of America the way it is and not just the parts that I like or the way it used to be. (this may speak to the attitude about working immigrants or even to the debt problem and other pressing  issues of our day). And that, for example, instead of being sad that Jefferson was not the 'orthodox' believer that many would wish that I seriously accept his religious views and questioning as being an important and needed kind of voice today. I said that there is a need for me to better understand the 'ancient wisdom' (something larger than our Judeo-Christian tradition) that the founders were in touch with in order to have a truer view of the roots of our nation. Each of these is a view that can represent a 'new super highway' to navigate compared to many of the more typical views of our day.

The dream is indicating this same applies to the kind of emphasis I gave to the Abraham story. That in our time I do need to learn to question the many and often contradictory images of God in the Bible and to ask questions of them. This is how we I most honor its spiritual stories. That the images of abuse and violence that I so easily used to accept from this story and others are now hurting our souls and creating values that our most sane considerations would surely say 'No' to. The dream is saying that approaches as this to the Bible are the needed 'New High Way' to navigate this important territory( There are presently abundant scholarly and heart solid resources from writers in various disciplines to help us navigate such a new highway in both of the areas of the essay. This is not just something coming from me and my dream.)

First "Hibbett" Store

The other images basically support this 'new highway' theme. The reference to my youth and 'family store' assure me that such conclusions and emphasis are consistent with where I come from, that I have come to these new perceptions by legitimately growing from my personal roots, not by cutting myself off from them as one  might think. The 'earth' and the very 'dirt' is a universal symbol for 'groundedness' of the soul. The dream says to me that views expressed in that essay are grounded and solid, not whimsical, silly or unbelieving. Bathrooms as symbol carry the idea of our 'basic and common human instincts.' This too is about being grounded on who and what I actually am. The basic bodily functions with their fluids and wastes along with ones most basic feelings and needs to eliminate, to touch, to feel anger, and resentment as well as joy and generosity. I easily get cut off from my basic instincts, from my body, from my life source. Christianity has tended to cut its followers off from our connection to the earth and to our very basic and common aspects that remind us of who we are as human beings; and how much alike we all are. I need to walk with my feet on the ground, not with my head in the sky. Christian symbols have become so spiritualized that they are no longer rooted for modern people in the earth but only point us to the spiritual , to the symbolic skies. This has happened I think with such central  symbols as the cross, the Eucharist and baptism. The Sacred dozier digs 'deeper into the earth' than our plans.  The Spirit is essential but so is the flesh. They need to be seen as united not torn asunder. These Christian symbols have lost much of their original grounding in the earth, in 'flesh and blood', in broken heartedness and in our deepest being. The dream would say that I meet God where and when I am most human. The way we often think of Jesus has undergone this similar decline in richness of symbolic meaning. In the dream the old bathroom pipes have been dozed over but the fact that I and my peers were more than glad to work with such things speaks of their important meaning. The 'new highway' does not lead to the sky, it is very focused on being 'near the earth' and thus available to all. Only after the dream was I made aware by a blog reader that there is an old Celtic Christian saying 'heaven is only three feet above the earth.' I then looked it up on Google. (This is another example of a symbol coming to my personal consciousness via the dream that I had absolutely no knowledge of beforehand. This kind of thing happening over and over gives credence to the idea of the Collective Unconscious.)

The seemingly 'evil monster dozier' refers to that experience that humans have, especially the past 100 years, of seeing what we believed to be 'truth and tradition forever' being undermined, often by our own new knowledge. This applies to both parts of the essay...'America And Abraham'--nation and Bible. This creates great anxiety for  humans who want to be 'certain' that 'essential' things stay the same. The dream tells what we all know but often fail to live from, that we must adapt to 'new paths' when they are coming from sources that are far greater than any of us. Such forces from the unknown are ones that are 'Sacred.' They can be destructive of that which should not be permanent or has become  idolatrous as well as  be creative of 'new worlds and new roads.' The Biblical flood is a similar image though I would stand against the archetype of the ultimate God deciding to drown most of his living creation. The story itself does that for me by having the God image change and promise via the rainbow to not be that 'kind of God' again. The personal driveway being destroyed similarly says that a 'new driveway' is to be built in my(and others) individual lives, one that takes us to the new 'super highway' not down the worn out roads or ruts that have captured and stifled our Soul's energy and creativity. The once good must give way to the present better.

A final image is of a 'supervisor' who does not respond with answers to our questions. Our ultimate supervisor is the 'image of God' we are carrying. It is human to want to 'do God's will' but it requires training to discern what God's will for me is. Dreams help. This dream says the ultimate God wishes me( and I believe others) to come to trust our own judgments in the challenges that life brings to us. That I am  not made to be constantly 'looking over our shoulder' for the voice of an 'outer  Sacred voice' to guide me. Rather that Sacred voice is a part of me. Jesus spoke of the 'the Kingdom being in you' and Paul’s metaphor is 'your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.' That sacred voice can likely come to be primarily experienced by what we call intuition. Yes I should value our Sacred religious texts but  use them to strengthen and build humble confidence in myself and in  others. Jesus near life's end told his closest followers that he wanted to be 'mutual, friends' with them , not their master. This image of God as 'supervisor who asks us to trust our selves'. To trust our 'god in us' capacity to love and to heal so 'earth is like heaven'. And heaven can be thought of not as in the sky but right here, maybe three feet above the earth. Such an image of God and the respect it shows for each human must surely be a part of this 'new super highway'

I know this is such a looong Reflection.  It's a lot longer written than when simply felt and embodied  as a part of me. This is the nature of working with symbols. There is no end. We never fully comprehend a living symbol. But whatever effort we make to touch a living symbol changes us to some degree. I've used 'me and I' a lot here for I must keep in mind this dream is mine and applicable to me, not necessarily others. It also  helps the reflection not sound so much like a sermon. Finally, sometimes dreams are supportive of a person's conscious attitude when that person  is not fully confident. That is the case of this dream toward me. The dream source is equally capable of letting me know when I am on the wrong course or need an attitude adjustment. I generally find a dream's sermon is more credible, tailor-made and more natural to accept than the human version. Jim
* http://jhibbett.blogspot.com/2011/07/america-and-abraham.html
**Part One of this  'Under Construction' dream reflection:http://jhibbett.blogspot.com/2011/07/dream-under-construction-reflection.html