John: In the dream you described yesterday (see Inner Decisions), we saw you presented with two options for buying a new house, one larger and one smaller. And in the dream you’re weighing the relative benefits of each one.
If we consider the house in a dream to be your inner life, the questions and insights become even more fundamental to your personal development. Because what you are really weighing here is your readiness and capacity to progress forward, to open further into the development journey you are on.
That’s why dream analysis can be so useful as a process of spiritual development. Within the imagery of this very simple decision about which house to buy, you can understand the crossroads you find yourself at, as a person on a development journey, from the perspective of your inner life. And you are being asked, in a gentle way, if you are ready to make the next step.
So, it has the aspect of being a question, it has the sense of being a bit of a personal test as well, and it also offers you the perspective and awareness of where you are so you can make a conscious choice.
Part of what it is asking is, “Are you truly surrendered to a purpose greater than yourself?” Because if you don’t have that within you as a firm foundation, what you begin to add on top – a bigger house or anything else – will cause a stress that may make you stronger and more resolved, or it may throw you into a tailspin.
If you are not firmly fixed, it’s better to stay with the smaller, more manageable house. That way you won’t be overwhelmed and perhaps you can hold better inner connections that way.
Personally, I think this dream is showing you – in the form of the larger house – a new octave that you are ready to enter. Because something in you wants to take another look at the space and see what can best be done with it. You are drawn to the challenge of it.
Of course the challenge is to hold the connections and simple inner state that you had in the smaller house (say, your current inner life), and let that expand into the larger space. That’s how one makes progress on a development journey: by continually applying what you have won through your work to more and more of your life.
So, I think it’s a type of dream that has to do with making a decision about freeing yourself to expand – and you do that by letting go. The dilemma that many people face when they get on a conscious path is that they reach a point where they don’t trust themselves anymore.
In other words, they know that they’ve made certain progress along the way, but that’s because they’ve tried to keep their lives simple so they could maintain their focus without being overwhelmed. But life likes to challenge us, so we are presented with opportunities for growth. If we are building certain capacities inside ourselves, we can’t just stay back where it’s safe. We have to get out there and keep pressing to let more and more go, thereby further opening up our hearts.
Eventually, through this process, a person can expand into being something that’s beyond the beyond. The simplicity and inner quiet is carried through in whatever one does and wherever one goes.
In the story of Mother Teresa, the depth of her inner calling didn’t change as the work she was doing became recognized. Early on she was reluctant to respond to everything that began to open up – when she was asked to speak publicly and be the representation of the work she was doing.
Her concern was that all those external distractions could harm her greater calling. Ultimately, those concerns were unfounded because she had the depth within herself that remained unchanged no matter how expanded the world around her became. That’s why you have to be surrendered to it, otherwise you will get lost in the expansion as so many do.
So, you are at a crossroads to a greater step forward. The process of expanding often requires a shift in oneself and a period of adjustment to feel comfortable. Then you will begin to move toward the next expansion.
It requires surrender and trust to continue expanding further and further, and opening up more and more. It seems like you’re getting some insight into the process of how something unfolds.
