Dream two nights ago...a modern female voice said as a matter of fact, 'We never know the future unless someone should happen to know part of it."
REFLECTION: The first statement is a 'common sense', culturally agreed upon statement. The second is a reminder that all general rules of culture and morality have exceptions. Eventually 'common sense' drifts into 'common ignorance.' 'Common sense' is never eternal. We need to question the 'wisdom' of our forebears. We should be just as interested in the 'unlesses' as we are the general rule. For that is where life becomes interesting and challenging. We should always be cautious of generally accepted platitudes and what becomes conventional wisdom. Jesus' teaching is essentially a questioning and challenging of what was conventional wisdom in his day.
Dream last night: I was young. I was driving an expensive car. I came across a hill and below there was a beautiful white southern mansion/church- like building in the bright sun. It was immaculate, striking, surreal. Several people were out front dressed in white preparing for a wedding. I did not intend to stop at this time but to keep going to a brother's house elsewhere. But the road forced me into this place's driveway and then I was suddenly inside the glamorous building. It was an environment way out of my league. Then it began to seem like I was the one getting married. My step mother, Mama Gene, appeared like a queen figure. I went on my knees dressed in white tucks before her. She begins to pick at the 'crown' of my head. She says there are tiny scabs there. She then rubs my head with an 'ointment' which she says is from my 'father.'
Dream last night: I was young. I was driving an expensive car. I came across a hill and below there was a beautiful white southern mansion/church- like building in the bright sun. It was immaculate, striking, surreal. Several people were out front dressed in white preparing for a wedding. I did not intend to stop at this time but to keep going to a brother's house elsewhere. But the road forced me into this place's driveway and then I was suddenly inside the glamorous building. It was an environment way out of my league. Then it began to seem like I was the one getting married. My step mother, Mama Gene, appeared like a queen figure. I went on my knees dressed in white tucks before her. She begins to pick at the 'crown' of my head. She says there are tiny scabs there. She then rubs my head with an 'ointment' which she says is from my 'father.'
 |
| Marriage of Heaven and Earth |
REFLECTION: . This dream seems to be more collective and a spin of ancient archetypes than it is personal. The images of queen, kneeling, 'guided by an unseen hand' and 'ointment' in the context of a wedding are strongly archetypal. Does this depict the 'royal wedding' symbol of scripture and alchemy? There is reference to a king and queen and crown prince? The scene of the immaculate white mansion/church as it came into view was stunning and surreal... beautiful and perfect as were the scenes inside it.
Dreams frequently compensate for errors in conscious attitudes. I struggled with liking my step mother during the early years she was in our home. I hardly thought of her as a 'queen.' The dream elevates her to that status and has me kneeling before her as she anoints me. 'Mama Gene' was more 'worldly' than my family claimed to approve. For example she had been a smoker before marrying my father. "Scabs' are generally wounds that have somewhat healed. "Ointment" is used for its healing ability and as a sign of 'being called' and of 'Sacred approval.' The dreams says I underestimated the importance of my experience of Mama Gene. I am grateful that I came to highly appreciate her after those first rough years.
There are times in life, probably the most important times, looking back we see we were strongly guided into situations that were life changing. Life overall is not a very much consciously planned activity. We probably make ourselves unnecessarily anxious by trying to make it so. We can have the feeling we are definitely on a path we are especially made able to follow but we have only a vague, if any, idea of 'who' chose this path for us. I truly wonder if we did not choose it our self but have forgotten that. There is an ancient story that after the angel agreed to our chosen plan before our birth she put her finger on our upper lip( thus the little dent) to silence our memory of it and make us unable to speak of it. We can only then rediscover it during our human life. If we are fortunate we gradually come to see that our life did follow a very unique and meaningful path from start to finish, and we were likely in on the planning of it. Nothing major is an accident, even the parents we chose. Believe it or not these are not new thoughts at all. No less than Plato, as well as countless other inspired types, lays out the meaningful life in very similar terms. The Bible makes many references that the human life is pretty much designed ahead of time. I think much more happens to us than we make happen through our conscious life choices and decisions.
The first half of my life I was always in my mind 'headed to my brothers' house.' I so highly admired them and our family expectations, aspirations and values. Without abandoning my love for them I was 'taken off the path' of respecting them too much, of keeping all our 'family values' without question. And some of those values have changed rather significantly for me. They needed to change for my specific life's path and tasks. In the dream I am 'taken off' my initially intended path to my 'brothers house' for something that was less expected in the life plan.
I don’t see the 'wedding' here as a literal marriage but a symbolic uniting of the 'opposites', thus the archetypal ' Sacred Wedding.' This Wedding is about uniting the troubling and challenging issues/opposites of my life experience and maybe of the culture I'm a part of. These opposites include: Conscious and Unconscious, body and soul, matter and Spirit, power and form, sexuality and spirituality, Agape and Eros, Flesh and Spirit, male and female, Good and Evil, God and Human, freedom and destiny, love and will, Logos and Eros, time and eternity, joy and sorrow, Individual and Community, heaven and earth.
Perhaps the dream suggests life's meaning finally(for all of us) comes together in a meaningful and whole way. And this is celebrated as the 'Royal Wedding.' From antiquity the symbolism of 'Hieros Gamos' or royal wedding is found across all major cultures and religions. In the New Testament we see this symbolism in 'the church as bride of Christ', and the 'wedding parables' of Jesus. Also central in the Christian story is the 'Hieros Gamos' encounter between the angel Gabriel and Mary, mother of Jesus. This example of the 'Royal Wedding' resulted in the pregnancy of the human Mary by the Sacred represented by the Holy Ghost. Thus a 'Holy Marriage' is clearly pictured as allegory.
Christians can appreciatively see in such images how the Christian story is similar to much older religious beginnings. Often overlooked and not celebrated is that Matthew lists the sexual union of Judah and Tamar as essential in the lineage of Jesus. Judah and Tamar are described in intriguing story (Genesis 38) as having an illegal but yet what proved to be in practicality a 'Hieros Gamos' in the symbol's timeless living dynamic. From this shadowy union Jacob's son Judah was able to reestablish his barren and threatened lineage by the birth of twins Zerah and Perez. This became a pivotal part of the lineage of Jesus Christ as listed in Matthew chapter 1. Jim
 |
| Alchemical Representation of Hieros Gamos Meaning "Holy Marriage" |
Perhaps the dream suggests life's meaning finally(for all of us) comes together in a meaningful and whole way. And this is celebrated as the 'Royal Wedding.' From antiquity the symbolism of 'Hieros Gamos' or royal wedding is found across all major cultures and religions. In the New Testament we see this symbolism in 'the church as bride of Christ', and the 'wedding parables' of Jesus. Also central in the Christian story is the 'Hieros Gamos' encounter between the angel Gabriel and Mary, mother of Jesus. This example of the 'Royal Wedding' resulted in the pregnancy of the human Mary by the Sacred represented by the Holy Ghost. Thus a 'Holy Marriage' is clearly pictured as allegory.
 |
| Mary And Angel Gabriel |
 |
| Tamar And Judah |
No comments:
Post a Comment