The world is a strange and wonderful place, it is alive and always speaking with us… if only we learn how to quiet our minds and listen with our hearts. With this blog I have found the courage and love to come out of my extraversion in the service of my deeper Self, of our collective SELF.
In “Transition is Hard” I shared the disaster dream that I interpreted as our families being in peril and we being at a crossroads in our collective psyche. That dream came one day after launching this blog.
Three nights later I dreamt of a ship, filled with sailors, civilians, families, children, powerful and steady, making its way out to sea over swelling waves. Around that ship were others with the same sort of energy.
This, like the disaster dream, was a collective dream (it really wasn’t about me, I was on the ship, and seeing the ship but I was no captain and had no particularly important role—just a fellow amongst fellows).
My interpretation of the dream’s meaning is that the ship is the collective Self, the psyche of the group (i.e. all of us who want to take better care of the world and all its children, coming together in a common purpose); the ocean is the collective Unconscious (The Ocean can also be an archetypal representation of the Great Mother—and in modern consciousness, perhaps, the collective Great Parent).
The wonderful response to this blog in its infancy, and more importantly to our collective wish to awaken to community, love and fellowship, deeply encourages me that we are on the right track.
The prior disaster dream was primarily fire; this dream is primarily water (and a seaworthy vessel in which we can explore the watery part of the world). We are mostly composed of water, something like sea-water pulses in our veins; water also connotes tears, compassion and the willingness to deal with feelings, and not just try and think our way out of our current dilemmas (personal and collective). Learning to feel, see and not just “fix” everything is a big challenge to the masculine psyche (in both men and women).
In closing, I choose to dedicate this day to You, to your parenting, and to our collective endeavor of loving all our children and our world. So consider forgetting about all you think you missed, did wrong or blew with your child yesterday, and please dedicate today to just simply seeing, loving and appreciating your child, or some specific child or children. We will eventually get to every issue, but it’s our attitude of love and service that will let us get out of our own way and actually receive the gifts that we have already been given. Parenting is a gift and a privilege.
Namaste (this means “the light in me recognizes the light in you.”), Bruce
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The World is a strange and wonderful place, Bruce. Thank you for your inspiring words and thoughts, they leave me with hope and new ideas.
I teach prenatal yoga. While woman are stretching, doing yoga postures, chanting, meditating and sharing stories a lot of emotions come up. Tears are very welcomed and shared equally as laughter. (You all remember how flabbergasted you might have felt in this embrio stage of parental evolution.). Physically all the postures are geared to work on opening the pelvic area, opening the sides of the body by creating the space in between the ribs for baby to thrive and mommy to feel relieved and on opening of the heart (literally beaming it towards the sky), thus creating the space for the new to come. Clearing the old and conditioned patterns out of the heart and making the space for the new role as a parent to come into being. We do it through dance and we do it through tears and we all share it with each other. Your stong and steady ship and companionships on it reminded me of our classes: we are all in it together. ….and I just know what my theme for tomorrow’s class might be….Did you all just experience the earthquake? Wow!!!!!