Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Lucid Dreams

Seals dream on the rocks right outside my window. I have moved to Spring Street for three weeks to take care of Quincy and Noah, two feline friends. The house is only about 50 yards from the ocean. When I lay down at night it feels like I'm on a ship, and since the house is old, it feels like a seaworthy vessel that has weathered many storms. The seals on the rocks are a delight to behold as the sun dries their fur. I wish I could swim with them, but they have learned to be afraid of humans. For humans, seals help us in lucid dreaming. Do seals dream the same way we do? I have been thinking a lot lately about what animal consciousness is like? It is obvious that animals have ways of communicating that are different from ours. Anyone see March of the Penguins? When the father penguins come back and cry out to their chick--and the chick calls back--and they find each other out of hundreds of others who look the same. The narrator says the chicks and fathers identify each other by their particular call, but they all sounded the same to me. It is not the call that links them, but some other way of communicating that we can't recognize because we either have not developed it in ourselves or we have forgotten how to use it. My teacher had an interesting take on the penguins. She interpreted their role on earth as demonstrating to us how little we value the desire to love and have a family. We value these qualities so little that we have created a creature with our thought forms that has to go through so much just to do just that. I really recommend this film if you haven't seen it. It is not anthropomorphized at all. The feelings of love between the penguins are real--please see it if you haven't and remember to ask the animals you come in contact what they have to teach you. I read recently that when some animals dream, they go visit their home planet, reconnecting with their source. Do we dream the same way and just dont' recognize what we are seeing? It is all so fascinating. The more I let go the more I feel myself floating through space--the more funny things are, the more beautiful, and I feel gratitude to have reached this point where I am aware of being able to witness what's going on. What do the seals dream of?

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