IN THE FIRST DREAM I am walking along a very rough terrain, on the way to climb a high and rather forbidding mountain, the top of which is concealed by mist and clouds. It is clear that the ascent of this mountain symbolizes my whole life. Clambering over the rubble in front of me is not too daunting, but as I look ahead I see that my way is blocked by several cliffs that appear to be around ten feet high. Beyond those are some still higher cliffs, the farthest being perhaps hundreds of feet high. I have no idea how I will deal with those when I get to them, but meanwhile there seems nothing to do but forge ahead. However, although I didn’t know notice it at first, I am growing in stature as I go along, so that by the time I finally reach the ten-foot cliffs I am tall enough that I can simply step up over them. The same with the hundred-foot cliffs.
IN THE SECOND DREAM I am in a cafeteria. I take a tray, place it on the rails, and proceed to move down the food line. At the end of the line is a door. Somehow I realize that this also symbolizes my life, and the door at the end is what we call death. Behind the food line is a gigantic figure who is ladling out the food; I can’t see his head, he towers so far above me. I notice that the persons in the line on either side of me have trays with large round holes in the middle, so that the food simply falls through the holes onto the floor. This seems to me a strange way to run a cafeteria, and I ask the food handler about it. He replies that the food is available to everyone, and the choice of tray is optional; some people just choose the trays with holes.
IN THE THIRD DREAM I am in a solo spaceship which has somehow become a derelict, destined to travel around the Earth for centuries. There is no way to deflect its orbit and manage a return to Earth. It is clear that I have only two choices. I can stay alive as long as possible, eventually run out of air, food, and water, and die a slow death. Or I can open the hatch and let the remaining air rush out, the cold come in, and have it all over within seconds. It is an agonizing decision, but I finally decide on the latter. I open the hatch and feel the air rushing past, and immediately find myself in a space which is not cold and black, but wonderfully illuminated and somehow “loving.” I seem to be everywhere in this space, and nowhere in particular. I had never given the idea of heaven much thought, but this seems to fit. I feel intensely alive, supported in every sense, and totally content to stay here forever.
Reprinted from the Institute of Noetic Sciences Review, Spring 1997.