The White Queen sends me a True Dream from the Gates of Horn

                          "Why, sometimes before breakfast, 
                I've believed as many as six impossible things."
                            - the White Queen, Through the Looking Glass, (Lewis Carroll)

From the time I was a young man encountering the mysteries of the world for the first time I have known about a certain portal into the dream world that never failed to yield exotic adventures that went far beyond anything in my normal awareness.  Upon laying down to sleep I merely have to mentally ask "Send me a True Dream from the Gates of Horn" and let the universe do the rest as I dream.

The origin of this request I have long since misplaced, but it likely derives from the Mystery Schools of antiquity in Egypt which I have always held a certain affinity for. So once again I made my request last night as I sought my repose, and once again I came away with an exotic dream loaded with meaning, always worth recording for subsequent examination.

I've had strange dreams over the years that seem to take me to some other world environment where nothing is familiar, but last night's dream was at least grounded somewhat in this reality.  It took place in a barrio, perhaps in interior Mexico, a simple community of single story adobe structures spread out as far as one could see, every building painted with murals or provincial (not gang) graffiti.  Very striking.  Very warm.

A young boy, perhaps thirteen, collected me from my casita in town and took me to his home, which appeared more like a community center, where he lived with his father and two brothers, a younger one who was rather fat and reticent and the older one who was obviously mentally disabled, requiring much of his father's attention.  No names were exchanged other than that I learned the father was a Don of some sort, at least the Don of this community center.  The thirteen-year-old was hungry for my attention in a longing sort of way, so much of my interaction with the family was centered on him, but his disabled brother captured my imagination with the glow of love around him and his expression of joy.  It was a dream, so I mostly recall my feelings and not as much of the minutiae.

It was the birthday of the disabled boy and the townspeople flowed in with simple gifts for the boy.  There must have been hundreds of people coming and going with contagious joyous energy.  Nobody had much, but they shared what meager offerings they had.  The boy who befriended me gave me two little candy suckers which he was selling for one peso apiece.  I told him I would give him some money when I saw him next.  The dream ended as I walked back to my casita admiring the wonderful art that decorated every building along the way.

Short and sweet, the dream came and went between 0400 and 0700 during obvious REM sleep.  While the dream appears to have been brief it seemed like I was immersed in it for two to three hours, corresponding to the time of my REM sleep. I awoke with ready recall as most of these dreams from the Gates of Horn allow.  Hours later it is still on my mind when I now have a moment to reflect on what it meant.

The dream was very real.  It seems to reflect a real part of my life that is not front and center during normal awareness. Do we have an expanded life when our brains dip into alpha and theta frequencies?  Is this other world of dreams out of time or in an alternative dream time?  What is reality, after all, other than a culturally agreed upon construct.  Take away the cultural influence and the rules that govern our assumptions and you are left with a world of freedom to go and do as you please in another world beyond the imagination.

So what do I take from the dream?  I believe there is a certain longing in my life to give more love to those in need.  The world I live in now is too often stacked in favor of rewarding service to self.  The sincerest pathway of integrity and sobriety lies in giving service to others.  Therein lies true freedom and happiness.  

Something far more vast exists from what we have culturally agreed is real and from what our everyday senses perceive.  Consensual reality is but a subset of the broader scope of things, the product of a long, cooperative, highly selective, highly developed, and last but not least, highly coercive process that culminates in an agreement that shields us from other possibilities. I want to unmask that which has been dictated to me.  I am interested in perceiving the full extent of the world in ways outside of what is culturally dictated.  I seek to break the frail blanket of human assumptions and increasingly leap into the unknown world that may otherwise be abstract.

 A dream of impossible things before breakfast?  Perhaps.  Instructive?  Absolutely. Certainly worthy of another trip back to the Gates of Horn!!!