When I woke up this morning, I immediately realized that I had achieved a milestone.
The same dreams had been plaguing me for the last ten years. They were basically me failing in an educational setting every time.
Sometimes I was taking some impossible exam and making a fool out of myself. Other times the school didn’t give me my grades or diploma.
I was always involved in some bureaucratic Kafkaesque scheme and I never achieved anything in those dreams.
I always woke up frustrated because I couldn’t find a way to beat these dreams.
Until this night.
Being Singled Out
The dream I had started familiar.
It was set in a classroom at my old high-school and some old teacher was blabbering on about some obscure topic. It all sounded Chinese to me.
So far so good.
But then the teacher asked me a question about the meaning of life or something.
And when I looked at him, he appeared to be one of my former mentors.
The gist of my answer was this:
‘The meaning of life is being the best you can be.’
In my dream, I gave a very detailed answer that magically made a lot of sense but I can’t remember for the life of my what it exactly was.
Believe me, it was amazing and my mentor seemed quite impressed.
He clearly wanted more details.
A Monologue On Dharma
So he asked me:
‘Why does suffering exist?’
I remember giving a very detailed and amazing answer which included the word ‘dharma’.
That is strange in itself because I didn’t know what that term means. I still don’t know really.
My answer boiled down to:
‘Suffering is a way for the universe to keep us honest. Without suffering, being the best you can be would be too easy. Everybody could do it. It’s much harder to be truly good in the presence of suffering.’
Again that was the gist of my answer.
In my dream it made perfect sense and I remember feeling like I just unlocked the secrets of the universe.
My mentor looked very pleased.
You Don’t Belong Here
He walked to the door, opened it and said:
‘You don’t belong here. There’s nothing I can teach you. You have to go out on your own and lead by example.
Step into the real world and be the best you can be.’
I remember walking through the door and the next moment I woke up.
For a few moments, I felt extremely at peace and even a bit enlightened. The feeling has since subsided but it’s still there.
I closed a chapter in my life.
My dreams about suffering in school and worrying about not finishing university are finally over.
I’m on my own now.
I haven’t had a mentor in quit some time.
They did amazing things for me in the past, but these days I try to be my own best mentor.
It’s difficult being on your own sometimes.
But it’s much more rewarding.
Click here for the audio version:
