I've been thinking a lot about Dreaming (big), as opposed to small 'd' dreaming. We have a lot to learn from events at the tribal gathering at Standing Rock which serves as an example of a people Dreaming large. By stepping into our abilities to Dream large we tap into a great reserve of strength and vision that is always there, that comes with being human. I like to think that all cultures have their own way of tapping into their Dreaming as source, as grounding for engaging in a life of greater meaning and monumental action. Dreaming is Dreaming together, as one. But how do we Dream collectively without behaving like soldiers or termites or worker-bees, being ruled by a rigid programmatic closed-ended Dreaming as depicted in the film, "The Matrix"? Dreaming together consciously calls for a vision. It is sharing a vision that allows us to tap our Dreaming which sustains that vision. And I am also talking about letting in more light! Dreaming together means expanding our consciousness together. Consciousness is a form of light. Who questions where the light comes from in dreams?! It's not the sun, it's consciousness!
The young might be able to contribute to that deeper collective focus or awareness in a very meaningful way. At our last sweat lodge the younger generation was powerfully present and D. spoke, very emotionally, about his desire for our, his Elder's, teaching . . . but he also spoke of having things to teach us. That was very poignant. True Dreaming includes all the generations. In working with students I see how a big part of their vision has to do with working for sustainable community and toward a peacefully functioning planet. A war economy is clearly not sustainable. The younger generation (the so-called Millennials) might put it differently, but to my way of thinking, my generation needs to reboot our working vision . . . We need to envision a world that doesn't have to be at war to generate wealth and trade, but first we will have to Dream it. I think the young, as they begin to articulate their vision, can help us do this. Let us Dream ourselves out of this, together.
I just wrote the following to a fellow blogger: I find that when I work with people as a dream-worker or as a shamanic practitioner, a familiar firewall comes up. When people start unlocking the power of their emotions and imagination they get cold feet. They say, "but isn't it 'just' my imagination?". . . And that attitude diminishes the credibility of their experience, including their experience of poetry and art and dreams and vision and nature etc. Well, of course it is, but imagination is nothing less than our interface with "reality", with nature, with Dreaming, with archetypes, with life! If we can't trust, and depend on, our imaginations to inform us, what do we have? It narrows everything down to a life stripped of emotional engagement with the universe. I look at a fracked landscape and I feel intensely for that landscape. It makes me want to weep and cry out! A world without imagination is a padded cell, a sterile laboratory.
Imagination, like Dreaming, is no small thing once we embrace it.
(Article changed on December 17, 2016 at 20:23)
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