Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Land Along the River


Sometime during the night I had a dream in which I was floating down a river in a very small wooden boat, the kind one might have taken into a duck blind, say about sixty years ago, not unlike the one turned upside down behind  our garage when I was growing up. Several people were in the boat with me, it was pretty crowded, but everyone was very quiet, there wasn't a sound. We just drifted down the river, which was really more of a creek. None of us had an oar or a paddle. I looked behind me and there were several more boats all floating down the river, very crowded boats, and no one had any paddles.

I was watching myself from a very short distance away, as I usually do in my dreams. Some aspect of myself was following the boat I was sitting in as it moved down the river. There was a green, grassy bank on both sides. It felt very peaceful, but yet, I knew something wasn't right. It was too quiet. Did any of us know where we were going?  It didn't seem so, but no one was talking. We were just silently drifting along.

I started looking around me, the me in the boat, and I realized that the water wasn't very deep, in fact, it was very shallow. I knew I could choose to step out of the boat whenever I wanted to. And so I did. I simply stood up and stepped out. I found myself standing in water that was just above my ankles. I stood there and watched boats go by me, no one said anything. I just watched them go down the river, boat after boat filled with people sitting quietly. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, everything appeared to be calm and peaceful. But, I still knew I didn't want to continue down that creek. Then I realized that the grassy bank along the river was just a few feet away. I could easily walk over to it and stand on the bank. And so I did. I walked over and stood on the very green grass just above the river. I stood there in the sunshine with a light warm breeze on my face as I watched the boats go by.

I thought briefly about why everyone was choosing to continue down the river without question when they, too, could get out of the boat they were in, walk over and stand on the bank.

Then, I found myself awake and at peace. The grass on my land along the river is very green.

But, I'm left wondering about the others still in the boats, still on the river, not questioning.

They're awfully quiet.  Too quiet.





Painting:  Harry Sutton Palmer (1884 - 1933).

21 comments:

  1. What a prophetic dream. I want to step out of the boat and walk to the shore, too. I will sit in meditation and use this post as the inspiration for doing exactly that.

    Thank you for being there, and for being you...

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  2. It sounds like a peaceful dream. And I think it is very symbolic. Do we choose to go with the flow and let our paths be guided by chance? Or do we have the clear mind to stand up and move. So many just drift through life and let life happen to them.
    This reminds me of the lyrics from the Eagles song "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains ,
    and we never even know we have the key".

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  3. Thank you Teresa, for telling us this dream. It is like you're looking into the future, isn't it? The quietness and all the boats disappearing are a little alarming I think, as if they are sailing into a disaster or something sinister.
    It was good that you went off the boat and on the green bank. This is an archetypic dream, a very prophetic one.
    Cheers
    Grethe

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  4. Well, whatever the symbolism, the dream you had last night was very scenic, wasn't it?

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  5. I'm glad to see that you woke up happy to be in your land along the river. What a symbolic dream!

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  6. Fascinating dream. I need to go with the flow more often, but not without an oar. How easy it was for you to get out of the boat and walk to the bank, once you figured it out.

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  7. This is awesome mom! I think this might be one of my favorites ~ very cool
    ~Coleman

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  8. Yes, all my life I've wondered why this is so.

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  9. Fascinating and thought provoking dream

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  10. A bit of gentle peace, a good recollection.

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  11. Thank you All for commenting. It's interesting, how something can appear fine on many levels, but can have these softly ominous undertones.

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  12. Wonderful remembering! I often have water in my dreams. Last year I kept a diary of my dreams, writing them down straight away. Strange I don'r remember many at all now. Maybe I'd better start keeping a record again.

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  13. I always think that dreams must be the eighth wonder of the world. You describe your dream so well it is almost like taking a wrong turning within one of my own dreams and stepping into yours.
    (By the way, I hope to follow up the handwriting experiment this week)

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  14. Joan, I rarely remember dreams. This one was much easier to remember. I knew I needed to write it down.

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  15. Alan, I've always been intrigued by the notion of people sharing dreams, or having each others dreams, which some believe actually happens. It's all very mysterious, yes the eighth wonder. I like that. Thank you.

    Your postcards, which I've enjoyed seeing, are akin to this handwriting idea.

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  16. Political allegory or spiritual vision? Who knows? Here's what I do know: "Do not go gently into that good night/rage rage rage against the dying of the light...Dylan Thomas

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  17. And I am wondering what it is you want to get away from?

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  18. Hi Friko, I've never been one to be just pulled along by the crowd, the current, especially if my inner compass is telling me something's very wrong, as was the case in my dream....

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  19. If only more would get out of the boat but it seems most just float along and later wonder why things are the way they are.

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