by Roger Peterson (Pete)
What are we trying to teach ourselves? What do we want to learn?
I call this My Recurring Superman Nightmare because it was… until I finally developed the courage to confront it instead of running away from it. I was about eleven when I first experienced it. Terrifying me beyond belief, it continued to reoccur every year or two after that until I was in my mid forties. Twenty five years is a long time to relive the same nightmare over and over again, don’t you think?
It was always the same – darkness was approaching and the street lights were coming on. Even though I was a super man in this dream – I couldn’t fly because of a thick, marine rope (2-3 inches thick) tied around my waist. As I write about this now, I see a comparison between the rope tied around my waist and the idea of a “silver cord,” meant to keep wandering souls attached to their human bodies. It stretched out far behind me and seemed to be attached to something heavy. Whatever it was, it kept me from doing all the things I could do if I was free of it.
The weight I dragged behind me not only prevented me from flying, it slowed me down as I ran out of the park and across a city street toward a tall office building. Why was I running? I was being chased by a large Frankenstein monster right behind me. It was larger, more powerful, and more aggressive than the Mary Shelley version of the “Frankenstein” she described in her book of the same name.
About a third of the way up the side of the building, my fear spiked and I looked back just in time to see the monster reach up to grab my right ankle. Out of utter fear and desperation, I woke up in bed here to avoid being caught there. I had no idea of what would happen if I was captured by this monster, so I fled.
Finally, in my mid-forties, I decided that running away from the Frankenstein monster in my nightmare was not going to happen again. So, the next time it reached up to grab my ankle, instead of waking up in bed here to avoid my unknown fate there, I turned around and beat him until he could no longer hold onto the building and fell to the ground below. Don’t ask me how I kept from falling off the building during all of this but I did.
Having overcome my fear, new strength and resolve surged throughout my body and I floated out from the building, rope and all. Much to my surprise, a large number of people were gathered below. Were they always there observing this event every time it happened? Soon, my eyes were drawn to the center of the crowd where a tall man stood on a grassy knoll at the edge of the park. He was wearing a stylish gray Fedora, a priest’s white collar and a dark gray business suit with a black velvet cape wrapped around his shoulders. As he moved, one edge flapped open revealing a red velvet lining inside. How elegant and rich he looked! In addition, both of his hands rested on the handle of a beautiful black and gold cane as he watched me with a wry smile on his face. Uneasily, the crowd looked from the priest to me to see what would happen next.
As the priest and I studied each other, he reminded me of the actor, Christopher Plummer. After a moment, he reached up and touched the brim of his hat with the first two fingers of his right hand in a salute. Then he clicked his heals together, turned, and left.
*****
What was the intention of this drama? Was the priest more determined than ever to get me under the church’s control the next time he had the opportunity, was he happy that I got away, or was he satisfied that I had learned what was necessary for me to fulfill a greater potential in life? All three storylines came from a different mindset or worldview with different outcomes in mind.
- In the first storyline, the priest was looking at me as a resource to be harnessed for use in someone else’s idea of reality. What I wanted as an individual didn’t matter.
- In storyline two, the priest was happy I finally found the strength to overcome the fear and limitation instilled by past traumas I’ve experienced in this lifetime and others. For example, read What I Learned in Catholic School.
- In the third storyline, it seemed like everyone in the dream was there to help me overcome a crippling fear of authority and feelings of low self esteem that kept me from fulfilling a greater potential in life. Without clarity and a sense of power how can anyone fulfill their greater potential?
Is each one of us responsible for deciding what to believe or accept as truth about ourselves and All That Is? Who is helped or hurt most as a result of what we choose to believe, whether it’s the result of conscious intent or passive acceptance? If the outer self or consciousness is the intermediary between the soul, the body, and the world, who is in a better position to determine what works best and makes us happiest?
Is it time to recognize that there is no right or wrong, good or bad; there just IS! As Beings of Aware Energy, or Consciousness, there is the difference between what we like and don’t like, what works for us and what doesn’t, what makes us happy and what doesn’t, in our oneness with and separation from All That Is, as both products of creation and creation itself. Whatever we choose to believe not only has an impact on our own lives, it has an impact on the lives of everyone and everything around us because the energy of any idea is powerful just as we are.
Every thought is a suggestion, a blueprint for action, and every action is a choice with consequences we like or don’t like. Knowing the difference between what we like and don’t like, what works for us and what doesn’t, what makes us happy and what doesn’t, provides us with the information we need to change ourselves and our collective reality for better or worse.
*****
Questions and Afterthoughts
Outside of this moment, in what form do we exist other than living and changing memories of past selves and future probable and possible selves seeking the right moment for actualization? What is the difference between our inner and outer experiences? Don’t we learn from both, even though we may not remember our inner thoughts and experiences as well as our outer thoughts and experiences?
The waking world demands much from us in order to survive in human form but, with practice, we can teach ourselves to wake up in dreams and not only consciously participate in them, we can direct them. Once we experience our inner selves operating in inner worlds then our field of awareness and understanding expands. Instead of defining ourselves as just human beings with one life to live, we get to think of ourselves as citizens in the universe of All That Is living many lives all at once. Can you see it? Can you feel it?
Random Thought: Are people with superpowers portrayed in books, movies, and on TV reflections of the inner self with its far wider range of expressions? For examples of our inner, enhanced powers read The Ball of Light – A Lucid Dream about the Nature of Being and Creation.
© Copyright 2007, Roger A. “Pete” Peterson
Pete – https://realtalkworld.com
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having (creating) a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
What we think and feel about ourselves and All That Is, forms our intent, which, in turn, forms our reality.
In other words, we create reality from what we believe about ourselves and All That Is.
If we don’t consciously choose our beliefs, we unconsciously absorb them from our surroundings.
If our beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations create reality, can we afford not to question them?
The more we love, understand, and appreciate ourselves the better we treat ourselves, each other, and the world.
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