Strange Dreams 2 - and The Wheel of Dharma

I'm gonna be honest - this one is RIDICULOUSLY long. Today’s post is about another dream, in which I met sort of a spiritual guide. If you’re more interested in reading about The Wheel of Dharma - which I’m sure is the more interesting topic for most people who might visit this blog - then hit the jump and scroll down until you see “The Wheel of Dharma” in bold. Otherwise... well, you'll probably be bored. Just a warning.



I dreamt about a place last night that I don’t often dream about - I don’t mean that I have reoccurring dreams which take place in this location, but that I come to this place again and again in dreams, and that different dreams are connected to this location. It’s set up like this:

It’s a modern, high class hotel, with a huge first floor which is almost completely lobby, along with some convention space. There are many, many elevators, and hundreds of floors both going up and below ground. The staff are all neatly dressed, and courteous - if not a little detached. The first floor, the lobby, is sort of hedonistic. There’s usually all sorts of weird things going on, mostly sexual, but it’s like one big, crazy party. The floors above the first floor get more and more surreal, usually in a ‘positive’ way, whereas the floors below ground get darker and darker, but not in a necessarily ‘negative’ way. They can be scary, but it doesn’t mean that they're bad - in the same way, floors above ground can sometimes be dangerous or violent.

When you step into an elevator, the numbers lose their meaning and you don’t remember where you’re trying to go. Your hand will press a button, and you’ll get off on that floor and wander around until your supposed to get back on and try a different floor. The highest I’ve been so far was somewhere in the 70’s, and the lowest I’ve been was somewhere in the -30’s (I think). Almost every floor is it’s own world - you may be outside, in a completely different hotel (at ground level!) or in the wilderness, or in a city. You’ll run into people who are lost because they’ve forgotten how the elevators work, and can’t find their way back to the lobby.

I visited a number of floors, with no real goal in mind - I knew that I’d end up where I was supposed to be eventually, because despite how foggy these dreams feel after waking up, while I am dreaming them I can remember every part of every dream I’ve had about this place, and everything that happened. I knew I was here to meet someone.

I got on the elevator at one point and my hand went down to -16. When the doors opened and I stepped out, I felt nervous and sort of frightened - it was very dim, lots of dark, red velvet curtains: the walls were painted in a Chinese theme with lots of gold/black/red lacquer. There were red paper lanterns seemingly floating in the dark overhead. I followed a wide hall into what looked sort of like a banquet hall - the sort people hold their wedding receptions at. Hardwood dance floor, a carpeted area, little round tables with single candles on them. There was a long black table with people sitting on one side of it, chatting, while karaoke equipment was being set up on the other side, and I knew they were there to judge the contest. All my fear went away as I saw who I was supposed to be meeting.

Sitting about halfway between where I was and that table of judges, looking very out of place sitting on a black leather recliner, was my last Ex. Well… something that looked like him, anyway. He had the same face and body, but his smile was different, and his voice was completely different. And I knew it wasn’t my Ex, because I’d met with this exact person - in the same body - roughly a year before when I’d been dating said Ex. He gestured for me to come over to him and sit in his lap. When I did, he folded me close, and I felt deeply loved and protected. His face, neck and hands were a deep black, as though he’d been painted, but it felt like soft leather and fur. As I watched, certain areas of his face began to lighten to a dark gray or blue, and I realized he was transforming as we talked.
He held me very close so he could whisper in my ear as we talked.
“The last time I saw you,” he said, “I told you ‘I am your sister, and I watch you sever.’ Now, what do you think I meant by that?”

I thought very hard: I had the feeling that he wouldn’t ask me if I wasn’t ready, but at the same time, if I didn’t answer, I’d be lost - an maybe he would be as well.

“…Well… in tarot, I have two cards that I associate with myself like sisters - the two of swords, and the high priestess.” The second is true, but until I said the words, I didn’t realize how personal the two of swords felt.* “I think you meant that… those women… those parts of me… are watching me cut the bonds that bind me and are holding me back spiritually. Is… is that right?”

He just smiled, and his eyes turned a very bright blue - which I knew meant he was pleased. He stood, hugging me, and I burst into tears, sobbing - not because I was sad, but because as he held me, I was filled with memories of the last time I’d seen him, and with a sense of happiness and renewal. “Give me a name,” he demanded. And I gave him the name of one of my friends. He smiled.
“I’ll be in touch with her,” he told me. He kissed my forehead and told me, “It’s going to be a while before I see you again - I’m leaving now to meet with some friends in the morning, at ‘the Islands.’” ‘The Islands’ was a Caribbean themed bar and grill where I’d met with him last and he’d told me the statement that became his riddle.

Now sad to see him go, I cried out and called to him that I loved him - not in a romantic way, but the love someone has for a close family member or a trusted mentor. He smiled, but he seemed sad as well - though before I could see that he was turning slowly into some sort of animal - a wolf perhaps, coincidentally the totem animal of my Ex - he was now completely human to look at again. As he departed, I wasn’t even allowed to see which direction he went in - I was blinded for a few moments, trapped in blackness.

When I could see again, he was gone. I found my way back to the elevator, and wound up back in the lobby, where my current boyfriend was waiting for me. We enjoyed each others' company, walking around and laughing, and I woke up shortly after.

Like I said, I’ve dreamt of this place a number of times. Often I’ll have a dream where I have the sense I’m in a world that’s on one of the floors. While the elevators move up and down, that is not how the worlds are connected - the closest I can come to describing it is like the spokes on a wheel. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I learned about the Wheel of Dharma from Buddhist tradition.

The Wheel of Dharma

There are many interpretations of what the wheel represents. I liked the symbolism of it representing different worlds into which people are reborn - though I’m not sure how I stand on the idea of reincarnation.

The lobby, I guess, is like the Kamaloka realm. Full of animal violence and pleasure and drama. I’ve met my ‘guide’ on levels both further up, or like in this most recent encounter, below that level. I learned in this dream that I am succeeding in slowly uncovering what my beliefs are, but also that these things don’t happen quickly. The idea that the dark doesn’t always mean evil was reinforced, as was the idea that light doesn’t always translate to safety.

Each realm is like a spoke on the wheel - the idea if referenced in countless ways - everything from Tarot, to Stephen King's 'Ka' of the Dark Tower.
Each realm has many subdivisions, which you ascend or descend into according to your karma (actions of body, speech, and mind) - good karma takes you into a happier existence, bad takes you to less happy existences. Incarnations in different planes may be different genders, even animals. According to wikipedia:

“There are a total of seven realms of existence. The middle realm of existence is the humanoid realm. Above the humanoid realm, there are three god realms or the fortunate realms: The lowest classes of gods, (1) the desire realm gods, or the demi-gods, devote their time to enjoyment and satisfying their desires. Higher up is the (2) form and (3) formless gods. Having passed beyond sensual desires, the form gods experience the refined bliss of meditative absorption and possess bodies made of light. Transcending their forms, the gods of the formless realm resides in subtle consciousness that resembles infinite space.

Although these demi-gods and gods live a long life of luxury and ease in paradise, they are not immortal and will eventually die and fall to a lower state of existence because their lives are filled with either distractions (because it is difficult for them to find the motivation to practice the dharma that creates good karma), or as the purest god consciousness within samsara, they still have not overcome the ignorance of self-grasping, hence some of them consumed their merits, or good fortune, that they have created in their past lives without much spiritual progress and therefore could potentially take rebirth in the lower realms.
Then there are the three lowers realms, or unfortunate realms below the humanoid realm: The least painful is (1) the animal realm (e.g., birds, fish, insects, etc). Their lives are characterized by instinct and emotions having to do with survival. Then there is (2) the hungry spirit realm, which is characterized by long periods of hunger and thirst that is difficult to bear. Finally, the lowest realm is (3) the hell realm, where beings are relentlessly tormented by the fears arising from their delusional mind. The suffering continues for what seems like eternity but eventually the karma that caused the beings to be born in hell is exhausted and the hell beings die and are reborn elsewhere in samsara.

Doing good or evil (bodily or verbally) as influenced by an entity's mental attachments ( sans. Raga ) and aversions ( sans. Dvvesh ), an ordinary entity is born in higher or lower states of being (heavens or hells) according to their actions in the births preceding.

As these entities have little control over their minds and behaviors, their destinies are haphazard and subject to great suffering. Worries, "tension", adversaries & adversity are their daily grindstone - all projections of their own mind, instigated by the driving force of past karma, subsisting as samskaras, or tendencies, in the thought-stuff, and manifested as vasanas, or predilections, in immediate consciousness & behavior.
The ordinary entity has never seen and experienced the ultimate truth of Dharma, and therefore has no way of finding an end to his/her predicament. It is only by this suffering becoming acute, or seemingly unending, that the entity looks for a "solution" to his/her predicament - and finds the dharma.”

All in all, not exact - but close to the place in my dream. My ‘guide’ seems to travel the levels independent of me, but we meet when we need to. Though he said it would be a long time before I saw him again, I hope to see him soon - and I look forward to it.