"I hold my breath and count to ten
I smile a little and hold it in
But I can't stop breathing
My heart keeps beating on
As it will for a long time now..."
- Said the Whale
I smile a little and hold it in
But I can't stop breathing
My heart keeps beating on
As it will for a long time now..."
- Said the Whale
"Nevertheless let it never be said of us, that we are dreaming about the future and forgetting the present, let the future sanctify the present to highest uses. Through the Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the most potent force for the product of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort, it is the corner stone of cheerful holiness. The man who has this hope in him goes about his work with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength." - Spurgeon
Sometimes I forget that I can dream.
An aberrant statement?
Dreams are a curious juxtaposition. Certainly for me, anyway. You know, when I was younger, I not only dreamt often, but for the most part, retained both the memories from said dreams and the themes associated with them. To this this day, I can recall lucid recollections and vivid details of many of them. Most were shrouded in some abstruse theme that permeated my thoughts at that particular moment, or correlated to some watershed moment in my adolescent trajectory.
Suffice it to say, I don't dream as much now as I used to. Dreaming not so much in a socio-political "I have a dream" sense, but the unreal, imaginative sense. One of the symptoms the emerging pragmatism, is perhaps i've become less and less conditioned to dream. I can attribute partially due to sleep deprivation, part to do with a lack of imagination, partially because well... Sometimes our dreams aren't things we particularly want to see, or worse, things that will shake our firmly entrenched rationality. A rationality that, innately and implausibly, we cling to like an umbrella in a hurricane.
We are enamored with a value oriented and comparative nature that society has conditioned us to. We stagger trying to answer questions like, "What is the the value of doing this? Is this worth more than that? How much time do I have to sleep? Can I still get 4 hours of R.E.M if I go to bed at 2 and wake up at 6:30? Evaluate everything as a value-aided proposition, so we say. The idea of dreams offers nothing of tangibility-obsessed world. Some of a more clinical persuasion may argue if dreams, of their own volition, have any value? Are dreams even something that can be tangibly valued in a growth sense?
If your entire operation is strictly tied to speed and effectiveness, then dreams means nothing to you. But caution yourself, believer.
The curious reality about dreams is... the ones we recall rarely take the value of the palpable and ordinary, rather, they tend to be magnified events in the larger scope of our lives. Such events take on somewhat of a pedestrian meaning, in so much that we can understand them in a conventional sense. We see cliffs as decisions, lions as battles, caverns as adventure, horizons as eternity, and though, I certifiably don't claim to comprehensively project the element and candor of others dreams, my own cognizance of them leans starkly metaphorical. To understand, and perhaps to some extent interpret, dreams allow for us to tell what has been, what is, and what is to come.
In his old testament visions, Daniel, was constantly locked in this conflict between the things he was hearing and what he could understand. The enormity of the vision often exceeded his rational capacity to comprehend meaning. Engaged in such a quandry, Daniel, instead of attempting to deconstruct a meaning that superseded his lucid abilities, condensed all to one simple thought.... to what end? What happens... When this is over? He did not toil in perpetuity trying to determine the machinations of the vision set before him. In Daniel 12, in the midst of what must have been a thousand unique thoughts.... He set forth one simple question.
The wisdom that we need doesn't always come from complete understanding. Sometimes it lies in understanding the beginning, or our grasp of what comes at the end. Spurgeon implores for us to "let the future sanctify the present to highest uses". Our own doubt, despair often is bourne not because we cannot be conversant of what our future beholds, but rather, our ability to reconcile what the present has granted us. Perhaps we hear, but our conscious self rejects the message.
Hearing alone does not lead to understanding. Just as our dreams become interspersed with the tangible, the same is true in what is spiritual. Our sinful nature intersperses with our eternity. So the message, that we meditate and question, will not tolerate to simply be heard. It must be understood. For the only thing that makes the word part of who we are, is our ability to understand.
So, our prayer should be in the revelation of the truth, and one of the greatest truth bestowed upon us is that we know of the coming eternity. Lord, I ask that our exercises, both of wisdom and the word, be grounded in your truth, directed by the machinations of your spirit, and enlivened by your work in the present.
An aberrant statement?
Dreams are a curious juxtaposition. Certainly for me, anyway. You know, when I was younger, I not only dreamt often, but for the most part, retained both the memories from said dreams and the themes associated with them. To this this day, I can recall lucid recollections and vivid details of many of them. Most were shrouded in some abstruse theme that permeated my thoughts at that particular moment, or correlated to some watershed moment in my adolescent trajectory.
Suffice it to say, I don't dream as much now as I used to. Dreaming not so much in a socio-political "I have a dream" sense, but the unreal, imaginative sense. One of the symptoms the emerging pragmatism, is perhaps i've become less and less conditioned to dream. I can attribute partially due to sleep deprivation, part to do with a lack of imagination, partially because well... Sometimes our dreams aren't things we particularly want to see, or worse, things that will shake our firmly entrenched rationality. A rationality that, innately and implausibly, we cling to like an umbrella in a hurricane.
We are enamored with a value oriented and comparative nature that society has conditioned us to. We stagger trying to answer questions like, "What is the the value of doing this? Is this worth more than that? How much time do I have to sleep? Can I still get 4 hours of R.E.M if I go to bed at 2 and wake up at 6:30? Evaluate everything as a value-aided proposition, so we say. The idea of dreams offers nothing of tangibility-obsessed world. Some of a more clinical persuasion may argue if dreams, of their own volition, have any value? Are dreams even something that can be tangibly valued in a growth sense?
If your entire operation is strictly tied to speed and effectiveness, then dreams means nothing to you. But caution yourself, believer.
The curious reality about dreams is... the ones we recall rarely take the value of the palpable and ordinary, rather, they tend to be magnified events in the larger scope of our lives. Such events take on somewhat of a pedestrian meaning, in so much that we can understand them in a conventional sense. We see cliffs as decisions, lions as battles, caverns as adventure, horizons as eternity, and though, I certifiably don't claim to comprehensively project the element and candor of others dreams, my own cognizance of them leans starkly metaphorical. To understand, and perhaps to some extent interpret, dreams allow for us to tell what has been, what is, and what is to come.
In his old testament visions, Daniel, was constantly locked in this conflict between the things he was hearing and what he could understand. The enormity of the vision often exceeded his rational capacity to comprehend meaning. Engaged in such a quandry, Daniel, instead of attempting to deconstruct a meaning that superseded his lucid abilities, condensed all to one simple thought.... to what end? What happens... When this is over? He did not toil in perpetuity trying to determine the machinations of the vision set before him. In Daniel 12, in the midst of what must have been a thousand unique thoughts.... He set forth one simple question.
"The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took a solemn oath by the One who lives forever, saying, “It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened.”
I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?”
But he said, “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means." - Daniel 12:5-10
The wisdom that we need doesn't always come from complete understanding. Sometimes it lies in understanding the beginning, or our grasp of what comes at the end. Spurgeon implores for us to "let the future sanctify the present to highest uses". Our own doubt, despair often is bourne not because we cannot be conversant of what our future beholds, but rather, our ability to reconcile what the present has granted us. Perhaps we hear, but our conscious self rejects the message.
Hearing alone does not lead to understanding. Just as our dreams become interspersed with the tangible, the same is true in what is spiritual. Our sinful nature intersperses with our eternity. So the message, that we meditate and question, will not tolerate to simply be heard. It must be understood. For the only thing that makes the word part of who we are, is our ability to understand.
So, our prayer should be in the revelation of the truth, and one of the greatest truth bestowed upon us is that we know of the coming eternity. Lord, I ask that our exercises, both of wisdom and the word, be grounded in your truth, directed by the machinations of your spirit, and enlivened by your work in the present.
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