School dreams

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noise

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This is part of a second dream that I had recently. I recently have had 3 seperate dreams over a 5-6 day period that all seem to be tied into a school I recently applied to on the other side of the ocean. I don't mean it to be overly humorous but I think it might be.
My mother of all people and I went to a foreign country (she helped me afford going and wanted to go) to join a class/group of like minded people. During our initial introduction to the rest of the folks who were shuffling along and getting aquainted with the other folks there, my mom took a liking to one of the main writers/teachers of the group/school (similar age bracket I suppose(?)) and the next thing I knew I was alone among strangers. Class was begginning shortly so I got prepped with notebook and writing implement.
The theme of this series of classes for this particular trip was on focus, attention and perception. The 15-18 students were sitting along one wall on a series of couches and the teacher/lecturer stood and gave the class. He was a man in his late 30's early 40's and he discussed making sure your aware of your environment and how to pay more strict attention to your surroundings. This was going to be the general theme of the discussions that were going to go on for the next few days.
At the end of the discussion we were all told that we were going to go out to town to have dinner and we should get ourselves ready for the short trip to the dinner place (kitchen/restaurant). Everyone got up at once and started stepping forward only to realize their pants were around their ankles. People started falling all over one another and on the floor. No ones undergarments were down it was just a test to see if anyone was paying attention and no one seems to have been, or were paying to strict attention to the teacher to.. I dunno I just fell on my face.
What seemed to be the next day I was running a bit late to class and the teacher noticed me coming down the hall and started telling everyone in the class that he could see me coming (here he comes etc.). I was embarassed. I was watching him closely, securing my pants with one hand and gripping some books in the other. When I got to the doorway he asked me to stop, he made sure he had my attention and then a bucket of water came down on me and the floor. I had seen the bucket above the door way but for some reason did not put two and two together.
I have not yet found a moral to the story (dream) though I am trying to pay more attention as to what is going on around me.
 
noise said:
I have not yet found a moral to the story (dream) though I am trying to pay more attention as to what is going on around me.
Hi noise,

Paying attention is always a good idea! :D

I probably shouldn't attempt to analyze your dream ... after all I'm not all that good at analyzing my own. I do have some thoughts about it though, which I'll share.

Perhaps it was the "bucket" part of your dream which reminded me of this little story about humility involving a student and his guru.......

A guru advised a scholar: "Go out in the rain and raise your arms upward. That'll bring you a revelation."

The next day the scholar reported back: "When I followed your advice water flowed down my neck," he told the guru. "I felt like a complete fool."

"For the first day, that's quite a revelation," replied the guru. (De Mello)
I think there are two sides to humility; self-defeating humility that leads us to think poorly of ourselves and makes it easier for 'the predator' to prey on us, and healthy humility which allows us to freely admit how much we still need to learn without looking at ourselves in a negative way, telling ourselves we're not up to the challenge. The latter allows us to respect ourselves and our uniqeness during our struggle to learn our lessons. It lets us gently laugh at ourselves, and the mistakes we make along the way. Self-defeating humility, though, is the kind that leads to being self-defensive and inappropriately angry; always so worried about what others are thinking of us that it limits us, even to the point of giving up.

In your dream you felt embarrassment, but it seemed to be tinged with a 'sense of awe'. Perhaps you are coming to a deeper realization of how difficult this 'work' is, but at the same time you're developing that "healthy kind of humility" that will actually help you to progress?

Just some thoughts.

Lucy
 
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