A Dream of Love

I awoke this morning following a very strange and wondrous dream and I did not feel like I occupied a body. Looking at my hands, they seemed to belong to someone else. Reaching to touch my face, there seemed no face to touch. But looking in a mirror, I saw the reflection of a somewhat familiar apparition and wondered who it was. What was it for? Was it having a moment of dementia? I was quite aware of being aware but did not identify with thoughts that appeared in my mind.

I think about thoughts and how they define my experience. What happens to those thoughts when there is no one thinking? Awareness remains, but it is no longer limited by thoughts floating about in the field of awareness. Thoughts have a moment, a millisecond, and disappear. How is it we do not simply enjoy the play of thoughts without grasping them? This is the practice of our tradition; to notice the movements of our mind as a kind of dream—and wake up.

Awakening in the dream, we realize we are dreaming and can make infinite choices, unlimited by our perception of the dream’s contents. We eventually realize our self image is also a dream, a temporary ungraspable event. I reflect on the Dharma Center and the role I appear to play. Is that a dream in which this disembodied entity occupies a seat? Of course! 

So it all comes down to the choices we make in our living dream. If we make the aspiration that all our thoughts and dreams are of benefit to others, then we begin to create a world based on that aspiration. What do we want to dream up? Bodhicitta could be defined as our capacity for unimpeded compassion seeking to dream us into a form that benefits all beings. We are inseparable from one another in the vast interconnected display of awareness and loving kindness will eventually have its way with us.