An Actual Dream that I Had
/The other night I had a dream that I actually managed to somewhat remember. To recall a dream even a few moments after I wake is an oddity for me, but given the appearance of a copyrighted character among the cast, along with some of my recent sermon notes finding their way in there, I suspect some combination of the work and TV I watched directly before bed may have had something to do with it. But I want to share it with you now, both because it has been stuck in my mind on repeat but also, I think, there is something in there that is strangely poignant.
In my dream, there was a land where there were many who were poor, hungry and alone. In this land general misery did abound.
There was of course rulers over these unfortunate souls, but they didn’t think of the plight of those suffering beneath them as their problem to deal with. It was not that they were necessarily bad people, or at least that wasn’t a feeling I got from them. Instead, they didn’t really live near those they ruled over, which made it a lot easier to choose to deal with their own problems than to help those who needed it more.
Then one day a wizard showed up who looked suspiciously like Ian Mckellan’s Gandalf [Shannon and I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy recently]. Although he was powerful and charismatic, he mostly spent his time with those who were suffering, using magics that eradicated the plight of the poor, the hungry and the lonely. Making their lives for the first time in this land, better. And as he worked he taught others how to live in such a way so that they could in turn do the same. All who met him were amazed, except the rulers who thought of him as a threat, as “against their rights and way of life”, although they couldn’t easily explain why.
Then in my dream time flew forward. The once miserable land was now bountiful and glaad. A golden age. The distant descendants of those taught by not-Gandalf had even come to rule, hoisted to this position of responsibility by those they had helped to rise up from the muck and the mire. And while things were going well, I remember it struck me as odd, that their political discourse (Is my subconscious boring?), while referring to the teachings of not-Gandalf often, focused surprisingly little on what he did to help the poor, hungry and alone, but instead focused a lot on how to properly live according to not-Gandalf’s teachings. There was a lot of disagreement on how this was to be done rightly, but the magic was there, and the people were cared for.
Then time skipped once more. And I looked to see that the golden age had passed, and things were, in a word, disenchanted. The magic had seemingly gone, but no one seemed to notice but me. Again, the number of people poor, hungry and alone ran rampant. And again the people who ruled over them did not seem to care about this in the slightest. Instead, living distanced from those in need, talking only among themselves, speaking in strangely formulaic ways as if they were requoting someone else’s words as their own.
As the rulers spoke, it became clear that they had come to interpret the teachings of not-Gandalf in a very different way than I had heard before, although they were aggressively insistent that their understanding was as ancient as not-Gandalf himself. According to them, the poor who needed help were actually themselves, for it was they who struggled greatest with spiritual poverty. The hungry who needed food were again themselves, for it was they who hungered the most for not-Gandalf’s teachings. And as for those who needed companionship, somehow this too only referred to themselves, for they assumed, ‘who knew what it truly meant to be alone more than those trying to live correctly according to not-Gandalf’s teachings.’
Then one day, a new knowledge began to spread through the land. A knowledge of machines. The people learning to build contraptions that could meet the needs of the poor, the hungry and those who were alone. These machines did not fulfill them in the way that the old magics once could, but it was something for those who had nothing. And so it was thought to be good by all. All, that is, except for those in charge, who took these machines to be a threat, as “against their rights and way of life”, although they could never quite explain why.
And then, before I woke, time once again began to fly. Another golden age passed me by, that looked nearly identical to the last only with machines built to fill the roles that the magics once served. Then another fall came upon the land. The poor, hungry and lonely again suffering while the rulers with their machines lived apart from them, again speaking only about how they could live as rightly as they possibly could.
So ya, that was a dream I had. Or at least an abbreviated version of it. The full one had two civil wars (the second particularly epic), and I believe the people all lived in a big tree, Avatar style. Also, I am 75% certain that I could fly for a bit. I can also see some clear influences from a number of recent TV shows and movies I have watched, so I think I really need to make sure I have a longer unwinding period before I go to bed. As you can guess, it was not a good night sleep at all, which is really too bad given it was a Saturday before I was set to preach. Strange thing is, day-to-day, I don’t even really think of myself as someone really into the fantasy genre, but I will admit that I do have a soft spot for Tolkien.
I do think my subconscious may be on to something here, though. I don’t think focusing on our personal faith is a bad thing to do. I also think Jesus did teach quite a bit on the importance of righteous living. But I at the same time think that an over-emphasis on these parts of our faith has a long history of alienating those people who need the magic (or the medicine) of Jesus’ teachings the most. I also think that it is this kind of inward-focused over-emphasis that has played a major role in why many have come to see the church as irrelevant in recent years. Without the magic (outward focus) then you can work on your personal righteousness until the cows come home and you will never have anything to point to that is universally understood to be a good thing to say ‘this is why I choose to live like this.’ There needs to be a balance there.
But the more I look at what I just wrote, the more it seems is going on there, so I’ll leave it up to you. What do you think my dream is about?
