I was in a conference room working on things until a colleague interrupted me. When I stepped out I realized how late it already was. Shoot! I missed my deadline for checking out of the hotel and would be missing my flight to Europe as well. But then something strange happened; I realized that I must still be in bed sleeping as I remembered vividly that I set two alarms this morning and that there is simply no way that I didn't hear either of them.
Realizing that I must still be sleeping, I tried waking up by shaking my body and screaming. However, it didn't work. Actually, I didn't mind given that I apparently had some time to sleep before the alarm goes off. So I tried exploiting the fact that I was dreaming lucidly (that is, gaining consciousness of the fact that one is dreaming). I jumped into the air and wanted to check whether I could fly. Indeed, after some initial trials I took off with the force of a fighter jet, nearly colliding with some incoming helicopters and planes. I kept flying until I reached a beach in a tropical land. Some natives welcomed me and greeted me like a GOD, even though at the same time, they may wanted to hold me captive. One guy in particular walked behind me and just didn't let go. We struggled, we fell down some stairs together, but he just wouldn't let go. Eventually I took off flying again, but he didn't let go of me even then. So there was nothing I could do but to accept the fact that I had this aboriginal on my back. We landed somewhere and sat in a room together and I found myself roaming around looking for my mobile phone. At that moment I realized that I was free and woke up.
This dream describes the process of spiritual awakening pretty well, using many elements and symbols I have been exposed to in the past. I experienced lucid dreaming when I was a teenager but I haven't done so in ages. The awareness that despite all the dream action one is in fact lying in bed, dreaming, and waiting for the alarm to go off, is the observer that kicks in as life unfolds and who somehow stands outside of the experienced thoughts and emotions. Flying with such a power and skill was a new dream experience for me, but again, it is yet another symbol for breaking free. But then, the awakening was short, and soon I realized that there is a "nature man" who I just couldn't shake off even though I knew, and even felt, that we are separate. This is in fact an interesting upgrade from a dream I had many years ago in which the alien force took the form of a monster that wanted to rape me.
Then too, I realized that me and the monster have equal strength, but today I am much more accepting of this raw power that slumbers in me. Instead of calling it a monster, I today perceive this "alien" force as nature. Also, it is no longer threatening but merely annoying. If anything, in the recent dream, when we both fell down the stairs, "I", the observer, felt more like the aggressor given that I was rooting that he would be hurt when I landed on him. The end of the dream is pretty straight-forward and consistent with many notes I have recently written. When your strive to be enlightened, that is, when you try to shake nature man off, you will not succeed. For the drive that wants to be "there" is the same force that refuses to acknowledge that being "here" is all we really need. Awakening happens when we finally let all the striving be and suddenly recognize who we truly are.
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