Beauty
I had a fantastic dream last night.
After much travail the boys and I came home to a new village. I stopped my worn out station wagon in a park near a stone bridge that went over a shady creek. The passenger in my car was a wonderful woman and we were talking, very deeply engaged when we saw a man standing by the creek. He waved and she stood up and went to him. I blushed because I thought he was waving to me and that maybe I loved him, but she was his wife and it was all o.k.
I turned around and there was a small sturdy woman in greasy coveralls. She had straight dark hair and brown eyes and a face that was plain and radiant
with spirit. She was tan, her nose was straight and her mouth was thin, but her eyes were wide open and really looking at me.
She seemed wise and calm. She said that she had fixed my car. There had been a red patch on the electrical system put in by some chain garage that was an inadequate even dangerous repair, but she had seen it and fixed it for me. She seemed to be saying that when we take our cars to companies that care more about making money than people we are endangering ourselves. And she was offering to return to her rightful position as the human who cares for my car and by extension my family. I was ashamed that I had ever used the chain and grateful she would make so little fuss about my return.
The boys and I went to our little house. It was a wonder. Set back from the street it had dark wooden plank floors and colorful woven rugs. A stucco fireplace in the living area, had windows to either side of it pouring in light.
This area was small, the whole house was small, and cheaply built, but beautiful and all of the outside was near to coming in. Seemed there was a whole wall of windows that opened out of the living room/dining room onto a flagstone courtyard with a short wall around it and beautiful old trees around shading and being in it.
I was glad to be home again. And we had left all of our THINGS behind. Simplified. Less Stuff. Someone started to set up a bunch of radios and tvs and things were getting crowded, but we said NO. So we got rid of the TVs and radios and it was quiet except for the breeze.
We went into the backyard and we were admiring the area set up for summer dining and entertaining. Stone tables and benches with cushions and awnings to keep off the heat, deep in a grove of trees with that shady brook down the way. I was really impressed by that. It was so polished and nice.
A wolf stepped out from the dark between the trees, and it came at us. I was so afraid, but I needed to protect the children so I went at it and it bit my hand and wouldn't let go. Someone said punch it in the ribs and I did. It whimpered. I hit a few more times and it dropped my hand. I saw it wasn't a wolf at all, but a mutt, a really sad looking scroungy mutt. I hit its nose, and it whimpered. I hit a few more times and it dropped my hand.
Then the ambulance got there and it was driven by a round friendly redheaded lady and her happy redheaded daughter. Her daughter had the moon face of a downs syndrome child, but was so radiant with spirit and joy that you had to call her beautiful. And her mother, the ambulance woman was beautiful with spirit too. She smiled and shed her love on the wolf/mutt and he became beautiful too. And then I thought of that line,
Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so
and I wept with joy to have found the place where thinking made things good. I was reminded of my complete bafflement in the face of the Tao.
Last bit and I won't bore you anymore. I was in a community of people who knew each other. These people were not superficially beautiful people, but they were deeply beautiful because of the depth of their souls. They were all the kind of people who look at you and really see you. Who aren't persuaded ahead of time by the ideals of our society. They really looked and then they truly saw. You know? They were so damn beautiful, but also they were fat, and old, and misshapen and plain and young and real. They weren't rich, they weren't fabulous, but they were so beautiful.
Do you think it was heaven?
Re-posted from 3/13/2006
After much travail the boys and I came home to a new village. I stopped my worn out station wagon in a park near a stone bridge that went over a shady creek. The passenger in my car was a wonderful woman and we were talking, very deeply engaged when we saw a man standing by the creek. He waved and she stood up and went to him. I blushed because I thought he was waving to me and that maybe I loved him, but she was his wife and it was all o.k.
I turned around and there was a small sturdy woman in greasy coveralls. She had straight dark hair and brown eyes and a face that was plain and radiant
with spirit. She was tan, her nose was straight and her mouth was thin, but her eyes were wide open and really looking at me.
She seemed wise and calm. She said that she had fixed my car. There had been a red patch on the electrical system put in by some chain garage that was an inadequate even dangerous repair, but she had seen it and fixed it for me. She seemed to be saying that when we take our cars to companies that care more about making money than people we are endangering ourselves. And she was offering to return to her rightful position as the human who cares for my car and by extension my family. I was ashamed that I had ever used the chain and grateful she would make so little fuss about my return.
The boys and I went to our little house. It was a wonder. Set back from the street it had dark wooden plank floors and colorful woven rugs. A stucco fireplace in the living area, had windows to either side of it pouring in light.
This area was small, the whole house was small, and cheaply built, but beautiful and all of the outside was near to coming in. Seemed there was a whole wall of windows that opened out of the living room/dining room onto a flagstone courtyard with a short wall around it and beautiful old trees around shading and being in it.
I was glad to be home again. And we had left all of our THINGS behind. Simplified. Less Stuff. Someone started to set up a bunch of radios and tvs and things were getting crowded, but we said NO. So we got rid of the TVs and radios and it was quiet except for the breeze.
We went into the backyard and we were admiring the area set up for summer dining and entertaining. Stone tables and benches with cushions and awnings to keep off the heat, deep in a grove of trees with that shady brook down the way. I was really impressed by that. It was so polished and nice.
A wolf stepped out from the dark between the trees, and it came at us. I was so afraid, but I needed to protect the children so I went at it and it bit my hand and wouldn't let go. Someone said punch it in the ribs and I did. It whimpered. I hit a few more times and it dropped my hand. I saw it wasn't a wolf at all, but a mutt, a really sad looking scroungy mutt. I hit its nose, and it whimpered. I hit a few more times and it dropped my hand.
Then the ambulance got there and it was driven by a round friendly redheaded lady and her happy redheaded daughter. Her daughter had the moon face of a downs syndrome child, but was so radiant with spirit and joy that you had to call her beautiful. And her mother, the ambulance woman was beautiful with spirit too. She smiled and shed her love on the wolf/mutt and he became beautiful too. And then I thought of that line,
Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so
and I wept with joy to have found the place where thinking made things good. I was reminded of my complete bafflement in the face of the Tao.
Last bit and I won't bore you anymore. I was in a community of people who knew each other. These people were not superficially beautiful people, but they were deeply beautiful because of the depth of their souls. They were all the kind of people who look at you and really see you. Who aren't persuaded ahead of time by the ideals of our society. They really looked and then they truly saw. You know? They were so damn beautiful, but also they were fat, and old, and misshapen and plain and young and real. They weren't rich, they weren't fabulous, but they were so beautiful.
Do you think it was heaven?
Re-posted from 3/13/2006
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