There is no peace in dreams
only the drama of nightly wandering.
Fractured images, salvaged glimpses
of what might have been….
By KM Huber
Some twenty years ago–maybe even longer than that–these lines opened an untitled poem I never completed. The lines have stayed around for it is the nature of the unfinished to reappear from time to time. These many years later, my mostly Buddhist self believes peace is accessible in every moment so why confine it to a dream?
If I have a dream of peace, it is for a day like today, full of the daily drama of the story we live, each moment rife with possibility. After all, the state of world peace is the reflection of our own inner revelations.
As Mooji said, “You don’t awaken to Truth by analyzing the dream. Find out who the dreamer is.” Our truth is our inner state of peace, an ongoing awakening from one dream after another.
Dreams allow us to test our truth in single scenarios, salvaging glimpses of what might have been for no peace, no truth ever stays forever. It is not the nature of being.
The reason everything looks beautiful is
because it is out of balance,
but its background is always in perfect harmony.
This is how everything exists
in the realm of Buddha nature, losing its balance
against a background of perfect balance….
~Shunryu Suzuki~
Dreams pass into memory where they pop up like lines of a lost poem, an opportunity to reexamine what once was, a momentary imbalance. Such is the undulating weave of existence—the web without a weaver—the constant that holds the chaos of everyday drama.
Listen closely… the eternal hush of silence goes on and on throughout all this,
and has been going on, and will go on and on.
This is because the world is nothing but a dream and is just thought of
and the everlasting eternity pays no attention to it.
~ Jack Kerouac~
It is the nature of peace and dreams to wander in and out of every moment of existence. The challenge is to remember we are part and parcel of that everlasting eternity, offered one experience after another, day and night.
If we try to hold a dream, to confine it as we wish it to be, it splinters; all we salvage is a glimpse of what might have been. We find it unsettling to view peace and dreams as elusive—it is like trying to touch the wind—but we can breathe the air that is available, seek the peace that is accessible.
A good traveler has no fixed plans
and has no intent of arriving.
~Lao Tzu~
*******************************
KM Huber is a writer who learned Zen from a beagle. She believes the moment is all we ever have, and it is enough. In her early life as a hippie, she practiced poetry, and although her middle years were a bit of a muddle, she remains an overtly optimistic sexagenerian, writing prose. She blogs at kmhubersblog.com, may be followed on Twitter or contacted by email at writetotheranch[at]gmail[dot]com.
© 2013 KM Huber. All content on this page is protected by copyright. If you would like to use any part of this, please contact me at the above links to request permission.
