In kinder-garden I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream. My teacher, taught us about his speech. She said he shared a message of love and hope. Then we learned he was murdered, went to heaven and moved the wheel of time forward.
Since then, I’ve learned of other’s dreams. Buddha had dreams. Dreams are throughout the Bible. People pay money or go through great effort to interpret dreams. Some people seem to live moreso within their dreams than life itself.
Dreams are often a word we use to envision a better future. A word we use to envision a limitless realm where anything is possible. A place where we can shape and mold the world. Dr. King envisioned a world of justice and truth. Dreams seem very important. Millennialism says we should manifest our dreams–create a better world.
Why, then, does it appear we’re living in a nightmare?
Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Yemen, nuclear weapons, racial injustice, lies, deceit, pain and suffering. The list goes on and on and on.
I am a Christian. Christians, I’m taught, have a beautiful dream. This dream is called heaven on earth. It’s a place of paradise. Paradise not in a superficial or selfish manner but as a place of everlasting light where truthfulness, peace and love bind all.
Heaven on earth is a central tenant in the home of christianity.
I am taught when I die, I will go to heaven.
But I’m confused.
Christians don’t talk or seem to think much about heaven. I’ve spent time with people of many different denominations and I don’t recall heaven being a trending topic.
Often, heaven is mentioned as a contrasting pejorative of the current world. I am taught, this world is fallen. Someday we’ll go to heaven and things will be better. The end.
I don’t disagree with this. But should we at least talk and reflect more on heaven?
I felt refreshed, then, when I spoke with an old college professor. We’re both ramblers. In our rambling he posed a question:
Do we still learn in heaven?
Hmm.
Do we still gain knowledge, awareness and discovery in heaven?
I don’t know (and anyone who claims to know is probably a liar).
But I like this question.
It helps me to envision a better world.
Is it possible I can be a geologist in heaven? Could I do art in heaven? Can I discover a new tomato that taste like pineapple? This is a fun line of questioning. I have been asking many people my question.
Do we still learn in heaven?
Then there is the issue of heaven on earth. What does this mean–on earth?
Does it just happen? Are we suppose to help make heaven on earth?
I suspect we are. At least I would like to help make this heaven on earth.
But it seems like we’re doing a poor show of it.
The people who claim heaven don’t talk about it. They seem content with a fallen world. They isolate and judge. They’re often removed from the kind of work Dr. King referenced in his dream.
I think a place to start is to analyze what we do talk about? What are we talking about in the absence of heaven?
In these dark days, I hear a lot of talk of World War III.
Now, I’m not a fool. I realize my environment is not completely inclusive of the entire collective consciousness. I am a 30 year old white man janitor in Wisconsin. People outside my circle may speak at length about heaven or a better world. I suspect this is true.
But I write about my life. In my life I hear people talking about rumors of war and destruction.
More broadly, the media speaks about many dreams of the future. Rockets and reparations. Electric cars and ecological collapse. Mega cities and birth busts.
This leaves me more confused.
Our dreams of the future seem very incoherent. Scattered. Murky.
The lack of a coherent dream may result in us manifesting the lowest common denominator: nightmares.
Nightmares are dark and shadowy places. They are where we confront our fears about the world. For me, I had night-terrors as a child. These are dark dreams. Violent and malicious forces work within them. Lately though, I’ve begun to be awake within my dreams. Once awake, I fight the dream. I am Michael, the Nightmare Fighter! (this made me laugh out loud). Sometimes fighting is just observation. It is being aware. Other times I act.
I know now that these nightmares have no power over me.
Sadly, many people do not awaken within their dreams (or their lives). They don’t fight. They remain in the shadows. Their forces feed them feeble lies. They lie asleep, haunted. Saturn never awakes their soul.
I believe many people remain in the shadows because of their mistakes. At some point in their life, they hurt someone, said something wrong or went down a dark path. As consequence, they deem themselves unworthy for higher purpose. They experience shame and, as shame does, they hide. Or they settle for less, content to manage their mistakes in ignorance. They never take more than what they believe their mistakes can give them. They live their lives beneath a long and dark shadow.
I don’t believe we should sequester beneath shadows.
I think we should live openly, in light.
Some may fear the repercussions of living openly.
“If I live openly, will the light of life reveal who I truly am?”
“Will I lose everything I’ve worked for?”
“Will others judge me?”
The answer to those questions are simple: yes.
If you come out of the shadows your life will change. You may be criticized. You may be told you don’t belong. You may change careers and lose everything you’ve worked for. You may be physically harmed or persecuted for your being and beliefs. At the very least, you might be uncomfortable. (being uncomfortable is the greatest fear of the Western zeitgeist)
These shadows and nightmares only have power over you if you let them. They are monsters cut in cardboard. Trauma ghouls and ghosts. They aim to frighten you into an unbending austerity. To turn you into a statue of granite, never to be moved.
I believe you have three options. You can stay and hide. Or you can leave. Or you can fight.
I think leaving or fighting are the best options. Leaving means walking towards the light. Leaving your fears and insecurities. There is no shame in walking away.
Fighting means doing battle with your fears and insecurities. It may feel difficult. This is the road of gaining mastery over what masters you.
Leaving and fighting both require surrender. This is hard for me to explain. For me, it’s like a kernel in my heart. A kernel of fear. This kernel makes my chest tight when I am confronted by my shadows. But, if I take a breath and think (think), I have an opportunity to flick away the kernel. If I listen to the kernel, my mind runs amuck with negative scenarios. Flicking the kernel, I’m still aware of the scenarios but I don’t care. I do not care. This is surrender.
When you know but you do not care.
Surrender is true power. (letting go)
Living this is true freedom.
Being this is true love.
We should not base our decisions on fear and shame or we risk creating a world grounded in such.
I am not perfect. I am not special. I have made mistakes. I’ve hurt people. I have fumbled apologizes, missed important meetings, said the wrong thing (many times).
I am not perfect but I am precious. I am not special but I am gifted. I am defined by more than my mistakes. I have the same potential to heal others as I do to hurt. True resolution is not a one-off apology. If you miss a meeting, set an alarm next time. If you say the wrong thing, learn but don’t ruminate.
This is called reframing. Reframing is when you express a concept differently for the purpose of gaining a new perspective.
I think we need to reframe our reality.
I think left-leaning fames are skilled at identifying issues, but struggle to create results or sustain. Right angles, especially capitalism are solutions in search of a problem–a problem it will likely exploit.
I see many groups standing in a courtyard. Each group has a mega-phone. Each group is speaking over each other. Whether they see it or not, they all use the same tactics and tools to win. This “winning” is a desire for dominance. Fear is the fuel. Shame is the momentum. Velocity is downward.
I believe we need a new way.
I see a group of people gathering in a courtyard. One person speaks at a time. Everyone has the opportunity to speak should they feel. Everyone actively listens. Truth is valued above all. The tactics and tools used for solutions are based in compassion. This group thinks and seeks wisdom over dominance. Winning is based in trust and surrender.
Love is the fuel.
Hope is the momentum.
Velocity is upward.
You decide which world is ours.
I have one last thought (thank God).
I think, or I am wrestling with a concept:
We cannot know the light unless we touch the darkness.
This branches in two limbs.
First, shadows are not to be avoided. We should actively work on our shadows. We should understand them for the purpose of growing. This is called shadow work. Shadow work is simply a psychological term for exploring our fears and insecurities.
Religious types might confuse this for evil. In truth, I believe many religious people actively avoid their shadows. These types are rigid. Their shadows are obvious to everyone but themselves. Jesus (I use Jesus because I am a Christian) seemed to encourage shadow work.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
This was during the murder of Jesus. Ask yourself, were the pharisees driven by a repression of the truth? By fear? Were they capable of viewing their shadows?
I think they were blinded by their shadows. I believe they lived in repression.
On that day they created a large shadow in the shape of a cross.
Second, this concept reminds me of a cliche apologetic I’ve heard. Something along the lines of “darkness is just the absence of light.” I just wonder if a person can distinguish true light if they have never encountered darkness?
In true truth, I’ve quite enjoyed the Rings of Power.
I believe this concept is a quote from the TV series that has lodged itself in my mind.
The full quote is this:
Finrod: ” Do you know why a ship floats and a stone cannot? Because the stone sees only downward. The darkness of the water is vast and irresistible.
The ship feels the darkness as well, striving moment by moment to master her and pull her under. But the ship has a secret. For unlike the stone, her gaze is not downward but up. Fixed upon the light that guides her, whispering of grander things than darkness ever knew.”
Galadriel: “But sometimes the lights shines just as brightly reflected in the water as they do in the sky. It’s hard to say which way is up and which way is down. How am I to know which lights to follow?”
Finrod: “Sometimes we cannot know until we’ve touched the darkness”
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