A dream with three scenes:
I am looking through rock specimens, mostly polished agates, on rickety tables on a hillside facing
some kind of shop. Seeing several that I would like to have, I ask the woman in charge if I can pay
her for them. She tells me that I may have three large specimens for free, or a handful of smaller
polished agates in place of one of the large ones. Although I am interested in a large piece of
dark red carnelian and some of the smaller agates, the only specimen I recall taking is a flattened
chunk of white feldspar about 10 inches across which has half a dozen chunks of mica embedded in, or
perhaps just glued onto, its top surface.
I am at work in a large mostly empty room adjacent to the foyer of a church similar to the Auburn
Academy Church which I used to attend. Sometime this afternoon I am to be featured in a public
event - perhaps I am to give a presentation, or to be recognized with an award, I am not sure - for
which I do not feel that I am ready, so as the hours tick by I begin to hope that perhaps it will be
rescheduled for another day. When it is just about time to go home, Barack Obama enters the room
from the foyer, looking official in a dark gray suit. He greets me warmly then explains that he
will be going away, and I suddenly am concerned that my scheduled event might be postponed for a
week or more. Barack laughs and explains that he will only be gone one day and I am relieved. He
leaves the room and after packing up my work, a large banner of some kind and several large
watercolors which I fold up to carry with me, I follow him into the foyer.
On the far side of the foyer I see Barack going into another large room, now wearing a pale green
gown or robe of some gauzy material. I see two women in the room as well, both wearing similar
robes which are cut low in front giving a partial view of their breasts. Assuming that what they
are doing is private, I do not look too closely.
Leaving the church, I walk across the parking lot and squeeze butt-first into a small dog house.
The dog house sits on a square platform with small wheels, like a dolly, and I will be riding it
down the hill. From inside the dog house though, I cannot see where I am going because the door is
too small. I try pushing up on the roof so I can see more clearly out the door and suddenly the
whole house lifts up off the platform, so I set it aside. Able to see clearly now, I begin riding
across the parking lot, leaving behind the piece of feldspar with mica since I can't carry it with
me.
Leaving the parking lot I pass a tall woman walking out to her car, then I roll or slide down a
gentle slope covered by several inches of pale blue-green ice. The surface is slightly terraced as
if the sidewalk under the ice has small steps in it. After about a block the way levels out and
turns right and I glide across dark ice as smooth as glass, passing several young women I think,
before starting down a long gentle hill towards home. Partway down the hill it occurs to me what an
easy way this is to get home from work, and I think about how I need to carry my sled back to work
with me the next day so I can do it again.
In the first scene the tables are laden with mostly carnelian
agates which have been cut and polished, similar to the agates I have collected and worked as an adult
here in the Northwest. The rock that I choose to take with me though is a piece of less colorful
feldspar and mica similar to the minerals I collected from pegmatite mines during college and earlier
in my life. The specimen is of dubious quality, which I think represents how I tend to idealize the
the paths I failed to pursue as a young man. Looking back I find it easy to pick out flaws in the
decisions I made and the paths I chose, adopting Christianity and marrying Susan for example. I tend
to assume that if I had made "better" decisions back then, I would have lived a more satisfying life.
In this scene my dream is casting doubt on that assumption.
Barack Obama is apparently the man in charge in the church in my dream. In real life as president
he was the most powerful man in the country/world. As such, in the dream I believe he represents
God, but it is not an image of God that typically appears in my dreams. He is warm, gentle, kind
and gracious. He understands my concern and relieves it. It is as if in this scene I consider the
possibility of a good God. I do not understand the meaning of the green robes, but perhaps they
serve to reinforce the idea that God is superior to me and engages in activities which are beyond my
understanding. Later dreams suggest that the color green may represent an ideal, or the ability
to achieve an ideal, supporting the idea that in this dream Obama represents an ideal of God.
The meaning of the doghouse in the final scene seems clear. As a young man I stuffed myself into
the constraints of Christianity but that belief system ultimately did not work and after effectively
leaving the church, I set those beliefs aside. Less clear is the symbolism of finding a smooth and
easy ride home on the foundation of the doghouse. Maybe the foundation represents my discovery of a
more authentic self through my long experience with Christianity. Maybe life is easier when we live
as ourselves rather than attempting to be someone else.