DREAM: EGGS AND WISDOM... July 15, 2010

The image of four eggs standing on end on a secured pedestal. An attractive Asian person whose sex is not determinable is present. I was saying aloud, “I know what I have learned that is certain to me.”

'The church woman'(also in other dreams) appeared with a glowing smile of confidence and approval. She seemed full of peace and joy. I was attracted to her and to her spirit. Her humanity was dominant and her divinity was evident to me. All seemed very well.

REFLECTION:

This is a dream of wholeness. Four is the fundamental number of wholeness, a qarternity. Jung said it takes a four sided perception to make a full judgment of things spiritual and psychological. Eggs are images of new life, of hopeful expectation. But there is an anxiety presented here. The eggs are in such delicate balance, standing on end. They could easily fall over and break. They are on a secure flat surface but still the balance is so delicate. But this is the nature of wholeness and peace. They are not permanent. Life as it is, and as best we can tell has always been,can never outrun the opposites. Without the tension of opposites life would come to an end for it is that tension that makes life alive. I think this is why the typical descriptions of heaven are so mundane, boring and actually lifeless. It has become a place to get away from life. A place every tension has been removed and all is continuously perfect does not fit the meaning of wholeness but of sterility.. It may be that as humans become more conscious of the opposites and accept the Sacred goal of them uniting that life will move to some totally different and new dimension where the dynamic is no longer the 'tension of opposites and their becoming united' but for now this is all we can know. The eggs may be carrying life in ways that have never yet been experienced. Such goes beyond the realm of all present possible human knowledge.

The figure whose sex is not determinable is the eternal symbol of the androgynous, the combined in one male and female. Surely the Sacred must be considered androgynous. The androgynous being is a very ancient symbol reflecting this central unity of the human opposites. We know that all embryos are at first female and some become male in their natural development. Plato depicted the first humans as androgynous. Adam is pictured as having also the 'feminine' within him. It is meaningful that the androgynous human is presented to a Westerner as Eastern so that I might be impressed that the 'other' human is fully like me and I like them. The male-female union is symbolic that the tension of opposites is what drives human, and even Sacred, life. Opposites seeking our cooperation in uniting in our day include: Human-Sacred, mind-material, energy-matter, inner-outer, East-West, all traditional areas of knowledge including theology, philosophy, religion, psychology,sociology and other sciences, body-soul, flesh-spirit, sexuality-spirituality, individual-community, heaven-earth, Eros- Agape, power-form, essence-existence,freedom-destiny, justice-mercy, faith-works.... and many others.

Hindu Androgynous Deity

This dream in a sense is a repetition, sort of an encore or Amen to the last dream I had. It is a reminder of what I was to learn from my rather long time under the close guidance and influence of what Jung calls the 'Self' or expanded personality that includes awareness of some aspects of the Unconscious. What is it that, “I know I have learned that is certain to me?” I can give a similar statement  I gave for some previous dreams: It concerns an ancient wisdom that may be stated as: “ To seek to follow 'the third'(something more than ego self and the external world) out of the 'Self' and awareness of the incomparable centrality of human/divine love are a solid foundation for human living.” I am not trying to be obscure in this statement. It is just the best way I can think of to say it at this moment. Such living can be viewed as the style of life humans are now called to and capable of endorsing and living. Although this truth and its human practice is found in ancient wisdom and in numerous individuals over the course of history, it has yet to ever become the common view point and practice of humans in general. This wisdom has always been present as the ground of the healthy aspect of religion and has also been confirmed by depth psychology. It is also in harmony with all healthy maturing science.

I'm absolutely certain I personally do not fit the description of sage, mystic or one in whom there has been extraordinary spiritual development such as we think of in Saint or Holy person. I think I have in some ways experienced some uncommon states of consciousness. The purpose of that, as best I can judge, is to assist myself and maybe some others to become more aware of the wisdom in italics above. Such wisdom is ancient, is described better by many others than by me and of course has many implications and potential applications. I have very little anticipation as to what those might be. I suspect , having completed my task in this respect, that I will fully return to life and states of mind like the very ordinary and unexceptional person I was before this more conscious connection to the Collective Unconscious began 25 years ago. To most people, and for this I'm grateful, that is the person I've remained all along. Mid August 2010 will mark 25 years since I had the 'breakthrough' of visions in N.W. Houston at Park Point. Even now as I read my little essays and dream reports they seem to be coming from someone other than my ordinary self, my ego consciousness. I do not think I can easily and spontaneously repeat the things that I have written, although they strike me as generally true and authentic expressions on the topics they address. In a strong sense they come from a place and source that is not always directly available to me. Jim