An Interesting Dream©
By Dennis Dossett
A couple of weeks ago I had a (rare for me) “lucid dream,” one in which I was very aware that I was dreaming and that I actually had some degree of control over the events in the dream. The context was a family gathering—an outdoor afternoon picnic—which was taking place somewhere that I was not. I kept trying to get away to join the others, but I was so involved in what I was doing that I simply could not go. And what was I doing? I, too, was outside at a large gathering of people, some of whom looked vaguely familiar, but I really didn’t know any of them.
I had several large plastic bags of paper clips of various sizes, materials, and colors. There were even ½” and 1” steel binder clips that one uses to hold a large number of loose sheets of paper together. But the really odd thing was that I was putting them in my mouth and chewing on them one at a time. Periodically one of my “distant cousins” (whom I’ve never seen before) from the group would approach me, take a paper clip from one of the plastic bags, and ask me to “chew” on it for a few moments in order to get the full “taste” of it. It was really important to each “cousin” that I share with them what the paper clip they chose tasted like.
Somehow, it seemed that the “taste” I described to each “cousin” held a special message for them that only they could interpret. Each of them seemed fascinated by the process and quite pleased with the information that I gave them, but I could only describe the taste with no additional interpretation of what that taste meant. They, however, were intently focused on whether I felt the paper clip tasted “good” or “bad.” Frankly, a number of the paper clips were either quite bland or had no taste at all, but a number of them definitely provoked a “like” or “dislike” response in my taste buds.
After receiving the “taste” message, each “cousin” then left to join the rest of the family at the picnic, and I continued trying to gather up my bags of paper clips in order to do the same. But then another distant “cousin” would approach me with the same request. This went on for some time until one “cousin” asked me to pick out a large, steel binder clip for myself.
I thought the request was a little odd (not that chewing on paper clips seemed out of the ordinary), but I acquiesced and began rummaging through the binder clip bags. As soon as I touched one particular binder clip, I felt instantly that this was the one for me. I put it in my mouth and began to chew (try that with a 1” steel binder clip!). Within moments the sweet taste had my saliva flowing like Niagara Falls. I don’t remember anything like it in this life, but the flavor was definitely familiar—and exquisitely wonderful! I reached for another, but there weren’t any in my bags that came even close to it. My “cousin” left, chiding me for being so late in going to the family picnic, so I hurried to pack up my bags of paper clips and left. The dream was over, and I awoke, the taste of that one binder clip still on my tongue. It was a beautiful memory, but a memory nonetheless. Slowly the taste faded as I drifted out of my alpha state and back into the mundane world of another day.
I puzzled over that dream off and on for several days with no success. Finally, I made a point of focusing on it during my daily meditation. Without the frustration of searching for an answer—just allowing whatever came to mind to simply “be” without judgment—slowly the meaning of the dream began to unfold piece-by-piece. I am reminded of a quote from Abraham:
• “When you continue to ask the question, you continue to practice the vibration of the question, which is different than the vibration of the answer. But when you quiet your mind, so that you are no longer keeping the question active, then the answer can come to you because you are not holding yourself in the tension of the unanswered question.”
~ Abraham (Channeled by Esther Hicks, Orlando, FL, January 11, 2014)
It seems that the “distant cousins” were actually different aspects of the “me” other than that the majority of us tend to think about most of the time—the body, the mind, the emotions, etc. The cousins were barely recognizable because I thought of them as separate from the “real me” (as we all tend to do). But they were the “real me.” The extended family was actually the “real me” with all of its various and different parts finally re-integrated into the whole (sounds very similar to some of the material I’ll be teaching next month in two classes on “Soul Retrieval”). The extended family was having a great time catching up with the latest news contributed by each new arrival and celebrating their role and importance to the family as a whole.
The paper and binder clips were for the purpose of collecting the relevant pages of goals, actions, accomplishments, failures, and just plain “stuckness” that occasionally occurs in daily life. Each cousin was collecting these records for review at the year’s end with the help of the rest of the family. It was done as a means of celebrating progress and as a “launching pad” for next year’s goals and action plans for each cousin. Some cousins needed only small clips to hold their documentation while others really required something more substantial to “hold all of it together” for subsequent review and action.
But the most important point had to do with the “taste” of each paper clip, the flavor associated with all the documentation held together by that particular clip. And while I did the chewing and tasting, each cousin accepted my “like” or “dislike” description of the flavor of their paper clip as a marvelous and valuable insight into the work they intended to do when reunited with the entire family. No matter the nature of the flavor, they accepted my evaluation with acceptance and gratitude.
During the actual lucid dream their reactions puzzled me. But when I had to select my own binder clip, I finally got it. The cousins were asking me to do the tasting for them, but I had to do the tasting of my binder clip for myself. There is a very strong connection here with our individual relationship with Spirit. So many people ask God (Source Energy, Jehovah, Allah, All-That-Is—whatever term resonates with you) to “do something for me”, but I was asked to do it for myself. The cousins were quite happy to accept the work of judgment (maybe I should say “evaluation” instead) from me rather than having to do it for themselves. I however, could not get away with that anymore. That is because I believe that a major part of our work in this lifetime is that of “self-realization”—recognizing that God is us, and accepting our individual roles and responsibilities that go with that honor.
Don’t worry, I’m not God (and neither are you), but all of my most important teachers—Maitreya, Abraham, Yogananda, and others (even Jesus!)—give us essentially the same message. We are the “leading edge of consciousness,” we are the leading edge of creation every moment of our lives. And as “God is us,” we have to do the collection and evaluation of our own soul progress—with gratitude, but without judgement. Progress is desired, but perfection is not required (see my recent blogs “Perfection” and “Perfect”). Everything is perfect as it is, and each of us is perfect just as we are right here and right now given our own individual state of soul evolution. I know that many people will not agree with this perspective, but it is my truth.
• “We all get the God we believe in.” ~ Julianna McCarthy (1929–; American actress)
That big fat binder clip that tasted so sweet had to do with finishing the first complete draft of the three books in the Dancing with the Energy series that I have been writing for the past four years. The progress is indeed sweet, but now the work of making it available to assist anyone who is interested is the next major step. But that topic is for another binder clip at the end of next year.
December is a busy month with the myriad of holidays, decorations, shopping, cooking, family gatherings, and general celebrations, but it is also a time of opportunity for each of us to reflect on the pages in the 2018 chapter of our lives. What kind of paper (or binder) clips you are going to put them in? How will they “taste” to you as you reflect on them? Only you, yourself, can do the tasting. At some point you must then decide how you wish to approach the next steps in your soul evolution for 2019. I invite you to celebrate your new year with me next month. Let’s make it a New Year’s party!
Have a great month!
Dennis