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Showing posts from November, 2012

On Prophets and Purpose

My favorite Biblical story has always been the Genesis tale of Joseph, abandoned by his brothers and left for dead, then imprisoned by the Pharoah in a strange land.  Joseph survived the abuse by his siblings and not only discovered  purpose but reinvented and elevated himself by interpreting the dreams of the Pharoah.  People often assign psychic abilities to Joseph but I agree with those critics who see this error: it was not Joseph who was the psychic; it was  Pharoah.  Joseph was merely the translator of  dream.  The dream itself was an expression of the Divine. Joseph Campbell identifies dreams as a great source of the spirit, and those who do metaphysical work know this.  Dreams are vivid and visual and often more revelatory than waking consciousness. The irony is that we sometimes go through our waking life in a stupor while our dreams shock us into the more potent reality.    I cherish my dreams; some of my most profound recognitions occurred in the dream state.  Many of them

Mirror, Mirror

I've heard many times that those people who present us with challenges are really mirrors of our own frailties.   That means if I encounter a person who consistently stirs my emotions, it might not be that person who has the problem at all.  He or she is merely providing a mirror for me to see (and hopefully heal)  the burning ulcer inside me.   It makes sense when you think about it.  Assigning the negativity to the other person is just an easy way to avoid confronting ourselves. Then imagine my surprise when I wrote an electronic note to my ex-husband's current live-in sweetheart in which I remarked how far we've come  in a difficult year.  Last year I was still reeling not so much from the divorce  itself but from the way it ended, with a third party involved but hidden from me.  I was furious with him and her.  He even came to my house for dinner in September,  sat across the table from  me, and told me how he'd found his soul mate, raving about her for over an