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Blog 478 – 11.27.2016

Some years before her death, my daughter Emily gifted me a dream catcher. The picture with this blog explains the Native American Legend of the Dream Catcher so I will let that suffice. You do not have to believe literally a religion, a myth, or a philosophy to benefit from the knowledge of those traditions, interpretations, or devotions. Time was when a World Religions course was a key ingredient to a liberal arts education. Education is not just learning a sales pitch, the standard doctrine of your church, or the technical training or specialized science or engineering principles of one career discipline. I believe that all knowledge leads to the Source of knowledge even the fruit of the knowledge of good and of evil in the garden story which was really “judgement” and which helped usher in Ego’s full arrival and gave us another voice to listen to instead of the one sweet loving voice of true reason. I digress, the topic is dream catcher.

I hung the dream catcher that Emily gave me over the motel bed wherever I was staying in my travels for work for a couple of years till I forgot to take it down one time when work lead me elsewhere. I hope it is now a comfort to someone else. Emily’s birth mother keeps me well stocked in dream catchers that she receives from an Native American group that works with children that is one of her favorite charities. Do I believe the dream catcher literally has magic to catch our bad and scary dreams in its web only allowing the good things to come through the center hole to us? No, I do not, but I do believe the human mind has the power not only to dream but to draw our dreams to us. Thoughts become things. Before anything materializes in this world it is first a thought, a dream in the mind of man.

This is a world where dreams come true. Sadly, for too many, it is a world of nightmares. Whose fault is that? Is in Love’s? Hardly. Is it other people’s? People do commit some horrendous acts in fear, in war, when listening to that lying voice that preaches separation, shortage, fear just a few of the lies in his or her bag of ill-begotten dreams. But back to the first question: Do I believe the dream catcher has the power to control our dreams? No, I do not but we do. It is but another lie of ego that we are puny and weak, and at the mercy of any thought or dream that comes to us. That just is not true for we are the dream catcher, only those thoughts or dreams we hold on to, focus on, give energy, emotion, and life to become real in our lives.

That is the lesson of the dream catcher and the lesson of the garden story: We are loved and safe in this dream world and are free to experience and taste it all, for our Divine Source made all there is for us to enjoy. There was a beautiful and tender country love song that I remember hearing often as a boy, “Send me the pillow that you dream on so, Darling, I can dream on it too.” I believe all real love songs are inspired by love with a capital L. One of my all time favorite song writers once wrote, “If I make my bed in hell you are there.” A few hundred years ago another song writer inspired by that same loving and infinite Source wrote, “Oh, Love that will not let me go, I rest my soul in Thee.” What more encouraging words could I add than those. Here are just a few that I quote from a friend, “Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones.” And by all means pick the sweet dreams.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White