The following dream visited me a few weeks back…
An elderly white woman, well~coiffed and impeccably dressed, is forced by some unknown event to forsake her usual mode of transportation and take the subway. She sits across from a middle-aged Latino man, rather disheveled in well-worn and unwashed workingman’s clothing. His face, neck and hands are covered with open sores.
Assuming these lesions stem from illicit behavior, disapproval pinches her features as her eyes bore into him. Finally, unable to remain silent any longer, she asks, “How CAN you go out in public looking like that?!!”
The man answers in ragged phrases that clearly cost energy he does not have, sharing that he has advanced cancer and that his sores come from the treatment he is undergoing. He further explains that he works two hourly jobs, neither of which offers sick leave. He takes off without pay for the worst of the side effects, but must ‘go out in public’ as soon as possible in order to support his family.
The woman is shaken by his story. The man, who has been hunched and looking down, suddenly transforms. A new presence fills him. His back straightens, his head raises, and he turns to look directly into the woman’s eyes. His voice rings out clear and strong now as he exclaims, “May your heart break open!”
And I awoke. What a richly textured dream! Here are some of its layers…
A woman is drawn, by forces outside her control, to go deep beneath the comfortable surface of the world she usually inhabits. In that aboveground world, she is wealthy. Here, she confronts the impoverishment of her spirit.
She is shown another’s wounds, and learns that they come, not from misbehavior on his part or even from illness, but from the antidote for what ails him. She is then instructed to allow another’s oozing sores to crack open a heart grown rigid. Thus she is led to a vital truth: our reactions to our companions on this Earth-walk offer opportunities to discover~~and to heal~~wounds of our own.
While this dream heralds a time of breaking open in my own life, I share it here because its message is universal. This magnificent, chaotic and painful world of ours, in which we repeatedly bump up against one another in all our unperfected beauty, is the treatment for the wounds we carry. Or it can be, if we let it.
We are each being called to look at what has grown rigid in our psyches, that which causes us to be less kind than we might or creates a harshness of spirit that make it hard to be gracious with the wounds of others…or with our own.
So let us heed that call. May our hearts break open. And may they do so again…and again…and always yet again.
Blessings on your own breaking~open times,
💖
💖
Leia
And here's a link to some activities that might appeal to the women out there...
6 comments:
What a powerful dream, Leia; would it be that our President would have it too. It has a gospel quality to it.... I've been reading (most uncharacteristically) the New testament lately - I found an old copy when I was cleaning out his house - with Jesus's words in red, and I'm only reading those.... such a different message than what most churches preach and want us to believe.
Thank you for sharing. Here in Seattle there are homeless at many corners, with their sad signs. Rumors are that they are organized by drug rings to get cash but I'm sure many aren't.... it is a huge problem and so every day we are challenged to respond. Normally I don't, giving to programs that supposedly help the homeless instead, but I will need to rethink that, on a less "practical" level. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, that segment of the dream did have a Gospel quality to it, and the way the man's entire countenance changed before those words rang out was stunning. I knew it was a dream I had to share. And while it's true there are political applications, what came through the strongest to me is the ways in which we ALL could allow our hearts to break open, in whatever way we're called to in our individual lives.
And oh, what a beautiful idea, to read only Jesus's words from the New Testament! Thank you especially for that!
Judge not, lest you be judged. Condemn not, lest you be condemned.
Old as man himself.
Yes, those words have been around for a long time...and still it seems we humans are predisposed to judge. Didn't we judge that rigid old lady for her judgment? Not that we should condone it, of course. More like RECOGNIZE it in ourselves, to see ourselves as kin, both of the man with the sores and the woman with hers. And recognizing ourselves as kin doesn't preclude intervening should we witness something harsh occurring. But if we intervene without Love and a sense of kinship, then we have done nothing other than continue the cycle of slap~downs and unconsciousness. Best, I think, to concentrate on allowing our own hearts to break open. 💖
What a dream! I was with you visually every step of the way--and what an ending. Break open your heart. Oh to learn to do that more, especially for the poor and ragged who scare me so much from a distance. But my heart did break, thanks to you, for that man who is carrying on carrying on. If only we knew. I try to give several handouts when in the city and to look the recipients in the eye, but I never allow myself to really imagine what their lives are like. Or, as you said, to have heart too for the uptight woman in the fur coat (she did have a fur coat, si?). The whole thing was just a wonderful thought provoker.
And Trish may already know this but she is in good company. Thomas Jefferson laboriously razored and pasted every word Jesus is claimed to have personally said into his own Jefferson Bible-twice. I've always wanted to get a copy but haven't yet. Maybe one day.
What a beautiful and honest piece of writing, Sam. Indeed, all our hearts would do well to break open a bit more every day, and not just those of us wearing fur coats. Thanks, too, for reminding us about the Jefferson Bible. And of course, thanks for reading and for writing!
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