DOG DREAMS   Bruce Wagner   [HERE]

   Last year, I had a pivotal dream. I was set upon by dogs that threatened to tear me apart if I mistepped. I was able to remain relatively calm; eventually, with the help of bystanders, I escaped. But just before awakening, a voice informed, “These dogs are from another dimension, This is how it is going to feel and this is how it is going to smell. This is the beginning of how it is going to be.” In shock, I lurched to the computer and wrote everything down. What set this apart from a “normal” dream was this: rather than being feral, the dogs were bizarrely composed of purebreds, including poodles and chihuahuas. (The Nagual had spoken to me of just such incongruous indicators. He called them scouts or “foreign energy” that invited one to a broader awareness.) Since the vision had terrified me so, it needed to be closely examined, and manipulated by intent. I remembered something extremely useful he had said: One can change the course of dreaming through intent, just as the course of rivers are changed by the erosion of wind and Time. Through the act of recording my dream, I could see how my initial interpretation was malevolent, yet it slowly became clear that the dogs were bringing an enticement to awareness. This was their gift.

   As I went deeper, I saw that the beasts were indifferent—reminders not to run from my responsibilities as a sentient being. Around the time of this dream, I’d been going through one of those periods in which everyday life seems pernicious and threatening. The dogs were warning me to stay sober and vigilant, to accept the help of the Other. (For me, the ‘Other” is that evoked in the metta bhavana prayer, or loving-kindness meditation: the friend or acquaintance, the parent or teacher, the lover, enemy, or stranger. From The Way of the Bodhisattva: “Those desiring speedily to be / A refuge for themselves and other beings, / Should interchange the terms of ‘I’ and ‘other,’ / And thus embrace a sacred mystery.”) They were herders and border dogs. The horror show had been provoked not by them but courtesy of the usual source: Bruce Wagner.

   To lack awareness is the real terrain of nightmares.

   The border is here, not elsewhere.

   I didn’t have the energy to follow those dogs—

   But so what?