The Priest and the Flood

I recently dreamt that I was passing through the lobby of a building when a priest took me aside and asked me to look at a young couple that was outside on the other side of a glass wall. I recognized the couple, who appeared to be arguing about a sports car. I went outside—presumably to get a closer look—and once in the street I saw a tidal flood of water coming towards me so I ran away from the advancing waters.

As I ran I came upon a building that had an outside staircase, like a motel. I could see other people climbing the stairs and entering a door to a hallway on an upper floor. I had a strong desire to do the same. When I entered the hallway the inside seemed very familiar. It felt like a place of learning and I had the sense that I had been here before.

I have this type of dream often: A series of seemingly unrelated events occur that lead me to a classroom-like setting, at which point the dream ends or I simply forget what it was I was meant to learn. Each time I'm surprised that it ends that way, but upon waking it makes sense because I remember the previous dreams of the same nature. This one features a priest, a young couple, a sports car, a glass wall and a flood. What would Freud make of that odd mix of disparate elements? Perhaps I was meant to learn something relating to the articles I've been reading about the new Pope and his unusual, yet welcomed, focus on serving the needs of the poorest among us. Maybe the couple represents humanity in the form of a man and a woman, the sports car serves a symbol of the struggle between our material and spiritual impulses, the glass wall is the imagined separation I place between myself the needs of others and the flood represents the force of love and compassion that is ever-ready to sweep me away at any moment, should I be willing to allow my worldly desires be carried away by the overwhelming and all-encompassing love and compassion of Christ's love for us. 

Or maybe on a more basic level it's simply a reminder that everything about this human existence is a lesson and we should approach every situation, no matter how seemingly odd or mundane, as an opportunity to both teach and learn something important about ourselves and those with which we interact. The Course has an inspiring way of putting it. 

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(M-3.2) "The simplest level of teaching appears to be quite superficial. It consists of what seem to be very casual encounters; a “chance” meeting of two apparent strangers in an elevator, a child who is not looking where he is going running into an adult “by chance,” two students “happening” to walk home together. These are not chance encounters. Each of them has the potential for becoming a teaching-learning situation. Perhaps the seeming strangers in the elevator will smile to one another; perhaps the adult will not scold the child for bumping into him; perhaps the students will become friends. Even at the level of the most casual encounter, it is possible for two people to lose sight of separate interests, if only for a moment. That moment will be enough. Salvation has come." (M-3.2)

So whatever my sleeping dream was meant to convey, it's important to remember that the waking dream that we're currently experiencing is filled with daily opportunities to experience the love of God through the most seemingly mundane encounters with our fellow children of God, regardless of their age, race, religion, or any other identifying characteristic because One is One no matter how you slice it. Sweet dreams.