A Revealing Snake Dream During a Time of War
The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the shadows of your experience. Look for them! – Pete
I had this dream in 2002 right after a major clash between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the dream, I live in a large undeveloped rural area with few houses, large fields and woods in every direction.
As I walk from the house to my pickup truck in the driveway, I feel loss and sadness. I’ve just been told that the plans for developing the land behind my home have been approved. It was recently bought by a developer with ambitious plans and strong political ties. His Plan calls for thousands of new homes with industry to support them. In essence, he plans to build a new town. Feeling the stone and gravel in the driveway shift and crunch under my boots, I open the door of my beat-up old truck and swing up into the seat behind the steering wheel.
The evening light is dimming as I start the truck’s engine. Pulling out of the driveway, I turn left onto the narrow country road going nowhere in particular. Thinking about the coming changes to the wild land behind my house, I imagine what the future will look like. In my mind’s eye, I see homes, city lights, streets with moving traffic and belching industrial chimneys. It’s a testament to not only man’s ingenuity but his blind ambition, greed and out-of-control reproduction.
My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a rattling sound. Leaning forward to see over the seat’s edge, I’m confronted by a large rattlesnake on the floor near my right leg. How it got there, I have no idea but it looks like it’s about to strike me. Angry and frightened at the same time, I react by raising my foot and smashing it down on the head of the snake again and again until it lies bloody and dead at my feet.
Relief washes over me and then another rattle signals an angry warning, then another, and another. Suddenly I’m fighting for my life with both legs alternately rising and falling with all my might to crush the deadly invasion. How can this be? Where are they coming from? Soon they’re on the seat beside me, some crawling into my lap. There are far too many to defeat! First one, and then another strikes me, injecting venom deep into my arms, legs and torso. I fight back even more ferociously until it dawns on me that the harder I fight, the more snakes I kill, the more there are to attack me.
Knowing I’m about die, I stop fighting and begin to think about my experience. What is it trying to tell me? What does it mean? After killing the first rattlesnake, more appeared and attacked me. The more I killed, the more there were until the inside of my truck was filled with writhing angry, writhing snakes, all wanting to sink their fangs into my flesh. Why didn’t I stop the truck and slowly get out to let the first rattlesnake go in peace? Instead I reacted with mindless fear and a sense of ownership. This truck is mine and you have no business being here!, I thought. In my fear and outrage, I simply went on the attack without considering other alternatives.
Quietly, I looked at life from the snake’s perspective. In my mind’s eye it now symbolized every other life form on Earth. We, humankind, have been invading and taking habitat away from other life forms for eons. In our pursuit of more money, power and privilege we’ve invaded the homeland of countless other species, including other humans, to claim it as our own. We don’t ask permission, we’re unwilling to share – we just take whatever we want and drive out who or whatever lives there! What right do we have to do that? Doesn’t every living thing have a right to life and being?
Overcome by the enormity of humanity’s transgressions, my heart goes out to the snakes in my truck and all the other creatures affected by man’s thoughtless, self-centered behavior. A feeling of sorrow and understanding washes over me and the snakes begin to disappear as magically as they first appeared. Finally, there is only one snake left in the truck. I know it’s the first snake I thought I killed. It’s alive and fully intact as it lies on the seat next to me, its head resting on my lap. Gently, I stroke it with the backs of my fingers. In my newfound love and understanding, I can see we are both one and separate, both healed and friends.
(After writing this piece, I couldn’t help but think about the bipolar opposite of “ Live and let live.” It’s, “kill or be killed!” Pull these two beliefs apart and you create a continuum. Life as we know it takes place between these two extremes. A few of us reside at one end of the continuum or the other most of the time while the majority of us live somewhere in between the two. We consciously and unconsciously move back and forth between the two extremes as our thoughts and experiences in the moment dictate.
What do you think will work best for you, an attitude of live and let live or, kill or be killed? What attitude do you think will work best for ALL of us?)
Pete – http://realtalkworld.com
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.
If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.
If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?
How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth
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