25th November 2013:
Well, it happened again today – I was stopped by the cops for running barefoot (see previous blog entry 11. Feb. 2013). The weather gets cold, they see me and think: ‘this guy’s crazy…’ So today, I was just walking the last few metres home, and three of them jumped out of a police van to investigate. After taking my name and D.O.B., and after ascertaining that I’m only harmlessly eccentric, we had a nice little conversation about the health benefits of barefoot running. Then we bade each other farewell, and I came inside the house, had a shower and began to write in my dream journal as usual.
It was then that I realised that actually, in essence, I’d already dreamed this incident the previous night. In my dream I was running back home along the Ulloi út here in Budapest, and I ended my run as three or four big guys wearing purple shirts started getting in my way, walking about here and there. They were loading / unloading something from a small truck. After a moment, though, I went to the right and up a few stairs which lead to a door taking me out from the dream scene.
Every element was there in the dream. The big guys wearing purple shirts were obviously the policemen. The funny thing is how the colour featured so prominently in my dream. There was no reason for it. As ‘luck’ would have it, though, the police here have just introduced a new uniform which features purple sleeves. Ok, the body of the shirt is still dark blue, but it’s the purple which really stands out. It’s true that the police van they jumped out of wasn’t a delivery van, but the way they hustled and bustled to and fro, collecting my data and the details of the case, did resemble a major logistical operation. Finally, as I left the crime scene, I turned right and entered the front door of the house, before going up the half-dozen or so stairs inside the front hall. In the dream it was backwards, with the stairs preceding the door.
Was it just coincidence that Dream seemed to prophesy Reality? Of course, we’ll never know. As with everything else, it is up to us to make our own decision what to believe, and create our life around that.
Almost every culture before our own has placed a higher importance on dreams. Dreams are fleetingly intangible, and don’t fit into a materialistic based value system. You can’t touch them with your everyday five senses. You certainly can’t buy them. And so we ignore them. Western psychology does acknowledge them to some degree, but usually only as a representation and projection of the ego – in other words, even in this context dreams are still ultimately reduced to an aspect of me-me-me.
This is, of course, a far cry from how Eastern, as well as Classical Greek and Roman cultures, not to mention innumerable aboriginal and so-called primitive traditions view dreams. Here, they are interpreted as potential gates to other worlds. Gates to higher truth. Providing perhaps the clearest classification of different dream types, Tibetan Buddhists list essentially three fundamental categories: samsaric dreams, dreams of clarity and dreams of clear light. Modern Western culture tacitly acknowledges only the first type: samsaric dreams, which are driven by personal karma or – to use today’s terminology – ego. We know these only too well! Dreams of clear light exist at the opposite end of the spectrum, in which all elements of karma have dissolved, leaving only pure presence. Not too surprisingly, these are experienced by only the most proficient meditators… Dreams of clarity lie between these two extremes, and concern primarily not personal karma (revolving around the ego) but rather universal karma. These are the visions and dreams in which we reconnect to the greater universe, gaining insight. When personal karma and the ego which drives it are dormant or absent, then there is nothing preventing us from hearing the subtler voice of the world around us.
Of course, some element of ego invariably finds its way into such dreams, and this is why no prophesy can ever be relied upon a hundred percent. All dreams are filtered through the mind, which rarely finds itself in a totally ego-free state! It is the reason why, in my dream, the ‘big guys’ had totally purple shirts, whereas in 3D reality it was only the sleeves. In other words, the noteworthy element of their shirts caught my attention, and because my ego momentarily ‘clung’ to this detail, it was then blown out of proportion in the dream.
In my experience, dreams of clarity fall into two diametrically opposed categories: those which centre around an issue which is more or less irrelevant to the ego, and those which are of the utmost importance to it. I have such ‘trivial’ dreams of clarity quite frequently, in fact. What is the point of these dreams? There is no point. The subjects are utterly banal, and do not impact on my life (and ego) in the slightest. It simply goes to show that I am picking up on the vibrations around me – as we all can, if we tune into them. It simply goes to show that time isn’t necessarily as linear as we assume it to be, based upon the model found here in 3D reality. On a deeper level, it provides another reminder that all things are connected. As far as more serious dreams of clarity are concerned – the kind we might call ‘visions’ – I connected in dream with my daughter before she was born, as well as with my grandfather as he died. These events obviously did and do mean a lot to me. I believe that, in such cases, the intense energy of birth and death is more easily able penetrate the ego’s usual barrier of perceived existential separation, potentially leaving its imprint in our dreams.
These are just my own beliefs. Go and do some dreaming yourself and come to your own conclusions! All you need to do is start taking your own dreams a little more seriously, and before long they will start talking to you as well. And maybe one day you’ll find yourself dream running as well…
Joy of Barefoot Running 