Dream Sequence -- Part II

There are two other aspects to my dream that I'd like to share. In retrospect, this dream seems to have reflected a turning point that I have been negotiating in my life. The transition had already begun by the time that I had my dream, and my dream helped to make the way more conscious and clear. God and my soul seem to have been moving me along this path for quite some time, and my dream challenged my ego and my fully conscious self to begin working in unison with the deeper course that had been charted.

Within the dream sequence of Scion University, I also found myself participating in a new sport. During my actual college days, I played on the tennis team and participated in intramural basketball and hockey. I would also get to the gym whenever possible and take part in pick-up basketball games. Now, however, at Scion University, I find myself practicing to play on the golf team. Over the years in my conscious life, I've occasionally gone out to play a round of eighteen, but I've always found it quite frustrating, tedious, and a test to my patience. I just haven't liked it very much. However, in my dream, though I at first find myself balking at the prospect of playing golf and doubting whether I could ever be any good, as I practice swinging the clubs I realize that my skills will improve gradually with time, and I even notice myself getting better in the moment. I then become aware that I am now at a point in my life that requires that I take up a different type of sport -- one that requires longer-term development, one that requires patience, one that requires ongoing diligence and consistency, one that is more solitary and less competitive, one that is better suited to the second half of my life, one that is more attuned to pacing, and one that requires a broader perspective and greater wisdom.

After having fully awakened, the golf metaphor of my dream pretty much interpreted itself. Just as my work would no longer be confined to a conventional university campus, but rather would extend to a metaphorical university campus (where opportunities abound but are not always easy to see), it also would no longer be so focused on the ego-based needs of my youth, but rather on the soul-based needs of my growing spiritual maturity. Jung theorized that as we reach middle age, a polarity develops between the ego and the Self (I interpret Jung's concept of Self as the point of intersection between the human soul and God) that results in a clearer awareness of the needs of the Self in relation to the needs of the ego. We are then in a position where we can begin to choose in favor of the deeper and more lasting movements of the Self -- in comparison with the shallow and more short-sighted desires of the ego. For the first time, we are able to begin using the ego to consciously choose and follow the strivings of the Self (the God-soul composite). It is no longer necessary for the ego to serve itself. It is this differentiation of God-soul from ego that the golf metaphor had brought further into the conscious light. It was instructing me that I was to begin working and living my overall life in a manner that is increasingly consistent with the course being charted by God and my soul. It was showing me that it is now time (the second half of my life) to begin making a conscious effort to live a spiritually significant life with a focus on the eternal.

In review, my dream has now revealed to me the type and scope of my future work, and the focus and manner of living for the second half of my life. In my next post I'll share the content of my dream that points to the new way in which I'm to begin relating to others; and women in particular.