A Vision Halfway Between Sleep And Wakefulness: Concluding Post

A woman had a vision at a restaurant. She and I chose to look at her vision as a dream. Scroll down to my last three posts to follow our discussion, which culminated, yesterday, in the following metaphoric restatement of her unusual experience.

There is a place inside of me where I am gathered with other parts of myself. We are all trying to find more depth and meaning to life—not just the things that happen to us on the surface. It is an effort to get there, but it’s not an impossible journey. My body is telling me that I need a rest, so I visit with food from another culture. It’s one I am drawn to. I find this food delicious. There is such a variety of offerings. While on this visit, I lose my attention and go somewhere else in my consciousness. There is more nourishment than I can consume. It’s too much to deal with all at once. I come back to myself and understand that this was an experience I had completely inside of my own consciousness.

Conversation with the dreamer

Often, a dream restated in this fashion has a clear plot line and tells a succinct, logical story. Other times, as in the case of this dream, the storyline is murkier. Nevertheless, there are definite themes stated and restated throughout. I try to point those out to the dreamer, and almost always, doing so triggers a response that leads to an understanding of the issue that the dreamer is struggling with.

In this case, I mentioned two themes:  1) There is a longing and a quest for some kind of deeper understanding of life. It has led the dreamer to pursue “food from another culture” which she is drawn to. 2) There is an acknowledgement of fatigue.

Here is what the dreamer had to say in reply: “Oh my God, that’s my autobiography! I’m the burnout queen! I love metaphysics, and I tend to go way over the top. I get pulled to something interesting—like out-of-body or near-death experiences—and I forget to pace myself. I don’t eat, I don’t sleep, I ignore my responsibilities. The only thing that finally slows me down is crashing. And then I’m wasted.”

She and I talked about ways she might bring some balance into her enthusiasm. I suggested that she pick a metaphysical topic that was somewhat less compelling to her. By doing so, it might be easier for her to create a schedule around her studying. She could develop the habit of pacing herself. Maybe doing so would make it easier for her later to take a measured approach with a topic of high interest. She said she’d try it.

This was neither a sleeping nor a waking dream; it was a vision—an experience half way between those two extremes. But the principles I try to highlight in these posts were valid nevertheless: Her vision was a metaphoric communication with a clear message.  

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