A strong dream

I had a great conversation this weekend with a co-worker about dreams. We both agreed that some dreams are just like mental static, as in maybe the brain doing its filing or routine paperwork. Other dreams, however, knock us on our butts and speak from a very deep level.

My friend, a real lover of peace, had a dream that told her that working for justice where we live really is like being in a war, even though we don't hurt anybody. I totally agree.

My dream went in a different direction. It went something like this: as a practical joke, I and several other people convinced someone as that they needed to go through an elaborate ritual that we just made up. The person agreed in good faith and those of us in on the joke pretended to carry it out, even though we laughed so hard that we fell down at times.

At some point, though, I realized that however absurd the ritual we concocted was, the person in question took it seriously and really needed it and derived some real benefit from it. So I knew we had to stop laughing and carry out the ritual (the nature of which escapes me) as if it was real with all the dignity we could.

I guess the take home message from that one is that even though some things people believe seem like nuts to me, I need to realize that they need them and derive some benefit from them.