Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take. (Wikipedia)
“Now I lay me down to sleep” are words I remember my parents helping me recite nightly. The meaning of these words has changed from a “faith” in an omnipresent/powerful Lord to understanding that I am a Lord! So, as I lay down to sleep, these words alert me to the importance of recording and analyzing my dreams. After recording and beginning to analyze a dream, I am up excited about how it provides a peak into what is unfolding in the World. Romanyshyn here describes this inner journey in the outer world, which questions this prayer’s logic – the soul is no longer in the individual but is a dynamically integrated World.
Inner Journeys in the Outer World
Early this morning I spent time skyping a colleague in discussing Romanyshyn’s book Wounded researcher: Research with soul in mind. We have differences in our thinking/feeling and are in the process of working these through to reach an understanding of how projects in our lives need to be researched. How does a wounded-researcher, which we all are, look backward tracking the threads in life forward into an outline, which forms the text in a project? I have been sensing how this process is unfolding in my 72 years and also how it is unfolding in my son Aaron (20) and in daughter Annah (18), both NDSU students. I cringe at the task ahead of them but I have been there, done it, and have moved on. Joseph Campbell suggesting that myth serves as mirror for the ego provides this 72 year-old with an interesting slant on the time remaining. Campbell clarifies for me that my present life is about right NOW – I have arrived and just need to get on with IT – Wow, what a liberating thought!
Joseph Campbell–Myth As the Mirror for the Ego
I continued reading and writing this morning but then started watching After Armageddon (Wikipedia) now playing on the History Channel. As I watched, I imagined that this was my family getting out of Fargo – so depressing and I started to think about buying guns! I expect to have a nightmare tonight and thought to pass this experience along to you – “misery loves company”. I now sense Adam Curtis’s Power of Nightmares is continuing into Part 4 – A Trumpian Nightmare! As Curtis reminds us, when politicians could no longer provide for our dreams, they turned to trying to protect us – they are now failing at this so what are we to do with them?
The Power of Nightmares 1/3
Now I lay me down to sleep… Oh, my dream last night was me driving a large yellow earth-moving caterpillar.
