I am wandering through an immense and beautiful art museum. In one of the rooms, the ceilings are beyond cathedral height, and as far up as I can see there are enormous paintings in softly glowing pastel hues. I know these images are sacred and they have something to do with ascension towards successive levels of a Higher Self.
I am carrying an open can of red paint in one hand and a paint brush in the other. The paint is bright crimson, fire engine red. The brush is large enough for a house painter but I think it is the kind an artist would use to cover a wide area very quickly.
Through an open doorway, I look at a small group of people clustered around a professor who is talking to them about the large framed painting in front of them. This is a special invited group. The picture shows a stone tub, possibly limestone, that looks like it could be filled with water. Hooded figures in white and light-colored robes are around it, evidently waiting for some event.
In mid-sky, in the picture, there is an arc of light. Figures are moving along this arc in the sky. Some are mounted, some on foot. They appear to be in many sizes. They are golden, and glowing.
There is something of the quality of the Journey of the Magi about this painting, but the images are not explicitly Christian.
I am fascinated by the stone "tub". I can't find the right word for it. It could be a sarcophagus, but the feeling is of coming birth or baptism rather than of death.
My high excitement and curiosity are with me as I become fully lucid inside the scene.
I hear these words streaming through my mind:
From life to life, from day to day, I bring essence from the world of soul into the world of time.
I rise into the California morning charged with energy and excitement.
I want to know what my dream self means to do with that red paint. I think of it now as life blood, blood of spirit. I feel I want to fill that hollow tub with this blood of spirit and see whether this will provide a medium of manifestation for those glowing spirits in the sky.
I am reminded of a big dream from many years ago in which I led a special group of invited guests along a spiral path, past a great stone lion with a huge carnelian on his back, into a gallery space with an immensely high ceiling. We studied an unfinished painting of incalculable size. Within it, a life size human figure was as small as a candle flame in proportion to the shapes that rose around and above him. I understood that this was an unfinished portrait of the Higher Self. I was the professor in that dream. In the new one, I am watching my second self - I am almost certain - play professor while I get ready to lay on the red paint.
- Berkeley journal, January 17, 2015. Drawing (c) Robert Moss
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteI know it's better not to interpret a dream of somebody else, because a dream has it’s own personal language and message that is meant for the dreamer. But I had a thought about your dream that I would like to share.
The image of the open can of red paint and brush, immediately made me think of the expression: painting the town red. This well known expression probably originates from 1837 when the Marquis of Waterford and his drinking buddies literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint (besides other acts of vandalism) after a night of heavy drinking ( I googled it ;) )
My following thought was; what if your dream could contain the message that you will experience a very powerful spiritual moment that is so overwhelming and uplifting, that the moment you experience this you’re thinking; wow up to now I have just been fooling around with my live. (up to now I have only been busy painting the town red)
Not that I think there is anything wrong with how you lead your live. But you know that there are those special moments in our life, that everything we have done before (that moment) can seem so little and meaningless. Because we’re so overwhelmed by that moment.
And because the whole scene you are looking at (with your can and brush in your hands) is loaded with spiritual elements,
- very high ceilings
- sacred images that have something to do with ascension towards successive levels of a Higher Self
- a picture with an arc of light in mid sky. Golden and glowing figure.
- a spiritual sentence: from life to life, from day to day, I bring essence from the world of soul into the world of time
- and an empty stone tub, which maybe will be filled with; “the essence from the world of soul”?
that scene could represent that spiritual and uplifting moment. Which could be anything. Another dream that brings you closer to your higher self, a book you read or an encounter with someone that changes your worldview … etc.
Just a question, the can of paint is open, is the brush already used (red) ?
Dear James
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts and your checking up on the Marquis of Waterford. However, I would really like you to learn our way of offering feedback on dreams (and any life experiences shared by others) which is to begin by saying "If it were my dream (or my life)..." and then owning our own projections and associations rather than laying them down as interpretation. You will find our Lightning Dreamwork process, including this key protocol, explained in my books "The Three 'Only' Things" and "Active Dreaming." It really is the key to opening helpful conversation, leading to effective action, on these matters.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteyou're absolutely right of course. My apologies, I know I should have started with: "If it were my dream",but I simply forgot to do it.
I have read your books and joined one of your workshop, and loved doing it. Will remember it next time when I write some feedback.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteIf it were my dream...the so-called "sarcophagus" made of granite in the King's chamber came to mind. Many think it was used for initiations. (I have a photo of myself laying in it.)
Thanks for sharing your brilliant vision!
Peggy