I Had a Dream

This past Fall I was considering offering a Reading and Discussion Group through Spirit Garage (the church I attend) and also for some friends that I know through 12-Step group participation. I already had a general outline in place and pretty much knew the ground I wanted to cover. However, not knowing how my ideas would be received or whether I was up to the task, I was afraid and not quite sure how to proceed. Throughout this time, I'd also been considering how I could integrate my past professional experience in counseling and psychology with my growing interest in spiritual development. One night, I had a dream (I assure you, I'm not making this stuff up. Dreams, symbolism, and metaphors are often the means by which God's grace will dislodge me and get me moving forward.). At one point in my dream, I find myself on a university campus. I once again find myself in the role of a student and I'm sitting in a circle with other new students awaiting my turn to introduce myself. Each student is sharing what s/he will be studying and why. When my turn comes, I share that I have a gift for helping others heal emotionally in Christ. As I'm waking up that morning, drifting in and out of a light sleep, I find a word on my lips that I keep repeating to myself. The word is "scion." As I continued on in this half asleep state, I found myself putting together the dream content and the word "scion," and repeating the phrase "university of scion." After fully awakening, I was puzzled by the word "scion," and I walked over and grabbed my dictionary off the shelf to look up the definition. I learned that a scion is essentially a branch off of a central stem or stock. Reflecting on the word's meaning, my past professional experience, and my dream, I was inspired to continue forward with my idea for a Reading and Discussion Group (despite my fears), and was drawn to the conclusion that helping others in their psycho-spiritual growth was a calling which I was uniquely gifted and intended to fulfill. Furthermore, I concluded that I would continue forward with work that is similar to what I did on university campuses in the past (as a counselor), but that my work would now include a central spiritual focus and not necessarily be confined to a university campus. Rather, it would be a metaphorical university, a "University of Scion."

In the time since having my dream, I have now successfully completed one offering of a Reading and Discussion Group to a group of 12-Step friends, and am nearing completion of another group via Spirit Garage (the church I attend). Each of these groups has been immensely rewarding for me and has challenged me to grow emotionally and spiritually in ways that I couldn't have anticipated. It's been my impression that others have benefited in varying degrees as well (Increasingly, it's been my experience that deep, sustained growth happens in this way; that is, it involves both mutuality and community.). Consistent with each group's participants, the first of the groups involved a more open-ended spiritual focus, while the second group has embraced a more specifically Christian focus (albeit a rather liberal Christian focus). Regardless, both groups have moved through the same sequence of what I consider to be some universal spiritual themes; those of human limitation, attachment/addiction/idolatry, getting stuck/being wounded, surrender/letting go, grace/release, journey/growth/recovery, and being-at-home.

As with my groups, it is my purpose with this blog to help others (and myself via helping others) identify, explore, and further their ongoing spiritual growth through discussion of what seem to be universal, underlying spiritual themes and processes. And, though my dream indicated perhaps a special penchant for helping others to grow emotionally and spiritually within Christian traditions and cultures (i.e., "in Christ"), I also value other traditions and cultures and greatly appreciate the openness to an array of benevolent spiritualities practiced by the 12-Step culture. In short, my Christian faith is central to the meaning and practice of my daily spiritual exercises (as is my 12-Step participation), but I don't make it an impediment to a trans-cultural participation with others in a larger spiritual context. I'll never be all things to all people, and I'll never be able to undo the influence of the traditions and cultures in which I've come to be (and neither would I want to), but neither do I want to shut myself off from people of different cultures and traditions who have had God revealed to them in their own unique ways --and who have so much to teach me. To quote a title from an Ernest Kurtz book, I'm "Not-God." It's my hope that what I offer will be done from an ongoing awareness that I'm "Not-God." I find that my life goes a lot better when I don't forget this central fact.

I look forward to sharing and discussing. I hope you'll do the same. In so doing, perhaps we'll all move toward greater wholeness and peace.