Thursday, July 29, 2004

What are dreams? Are they real?

What are dreams?  Are they real?  Are they indicators of the future or the past?  Do they teach us important life lessons along the way?  I'm not sure that I can answer any of these questions, but I will relate a few of my dreams as I remember them....

I was stationed in Camp Pendleton CA for a number of years as a young Marine.  In order to go to the McDonalds, I had about a mile long hike, as I didn't have a car.  The hike crossed two open fields, one of which was the General's Parade Ground.  This field was largely dark.  Also of interest, CampPen, like most if not all military bases was and still is a wildlife sanctuary, so the place is rife with deer, ground squirrels and coyotes.  Now onto the dream. . .

In this dream I was hungry, it was late and I had just a short amount of time in which to make my McDonalds run.  I left the barracks and hurried to my destination.  I ordered two 9 piece nuggets and a big mac or quarter pounder (I'm not sure which.)   On the way back I noticed a small group of coyotes was shadowing me.  It was dark and all I could really see were shadows.  Somehow, in the way that dreams do, the length of my return trip grew ominously large.  The coyotes were growing braver by the step, moving in closer always behind and to my sides.  I grew worried and began to talk to them. 

"You're not getting any food, so I don't know why you're there."  I said. 

After a few minutes of them gaining even more courage, I began to get scared.  I reached into the bag and started tossing chicken nuggets on the ground in the hopes that these canines would feel more attraction to the food laying on the side of the path than to me.  None of the coyotes went for the nuggets.  I continued to throw nuggets upon the ground in a desperate attempt to sway them from the ultimate target.

"You can have the nuggets but you're NOT getting my burger!"  I said more forcefully than before.  Still they came closer, now only an arms length from me.   I realized that the group of them was herding me to some certain point.  The trail ahead seemed clear so I worried that these coyotes might try attack me from the rear.  I kept glancing to my right, my left and behind.  They were so close that I could almost feel their breath on my legs.  I ran out of nuggets and they kept inching closer and closer to me.

"Here's the damned sandwich, now leave me alone!"  I screamed, flinging the burger to the ground.  None of them went for it.  It was as if they weren't hungry, as if they didn't even know that food should have been a prime motivator for them.

Finally I looked up the trail again.  In the middle of my path, the only path I could take was the largest coyote I've ever seen in my life.  He was the size of a wolf, with fur that was so dark gray it appeared to be black.  I stopped, paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.  This coyote displayed a sense of confidence, of knowing, of reassurance.  He did not growl at me nor at the other coyotes.  He merely sat in my path, waiting.  The others shepherded me closer to him and as I got within about five feet, he lifted himself off of his haunches and walked slowly towards me. 

This magnificent creature walked to me, his eyes never leaving mine.  A wave of panic ensued and then quickly abated inside of me.  Then he gently placed his mouth over my right hand and began to pull me in a different direction than my barracks.  I didn't resist because the halcyon atmosphere that pervaded me and the rest of the animals.  We walked for what seemed hours in this dream.  We crossed streams and walked along oceanside sandstone cliffs. 

The sun was coming up and I could see up ahead a chainlink fence, as the gravel crunched beneath my feet.  The other coyotes which had been keeping close to me as their "Alpha" led me along started running for the fence, which had an open gate.  The leader and I walked on, maintaining the same pace that we had all night and into the morning.

Inside the gate, there was green grass and coyote families with pups and adolescents playing and cavorting.  The leader released my hand and took 5 steps in, stopped, turned around and sat, staring at me.  I leaned on the fence taking in this most wondrous sight.  Finally I looked at my feet, and the "gravel" that had been crunching under my feet was money, coins and dollar bills all strewn about as far as the eye could see, yet none was on the green side of the fence.

At that moment I awoke.  I realized that I could never possess pure and simple happiness and riches at the same time.  I had to make a choice.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Pretty damn cool dream. I believe that dreams can foretell the future or have some sort of important meaning; and sometimes they just don't make any sense at all. I can say this because I've had many dreams that have predicted things in the not to distant future, and have let me know of things that I must do, or persue. Pretty weird stuff. I don't know if everyone has dreams that can do these things. But for those who have figured out their dreams, it can be useful and exciting, or just something you wish you never really figured out.