Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Giant oak on a cliff  (Read 6783 times)

iteachpeace

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
    • View Profile
Giant oak on a cliff
« on: November 13, 2012, 01:13:05 PM »
In my dream I was standing at the top of a mountain with a steep sides and a deep ravine below.  There was a place where a sliver of rock jutted out over the ravine and in the middle of it was an enormous oak tree.  Because of the depth of the rock, it seemed nearly impossible for it to contain the roots of the oak, but it did.   Off the side of the protrusion where the tree grew there was a deck suspended off the side into midair. 

Many people were gathered at the cliff edge and I stood behind watching.  A helicopter appeared and hovered, lowering a politician onto the deck.  He reached across the ravine and shook hands with the people waiting there and then was lifted away by the helicopter.  The people left and I was left alone. 

I was amazed by the tree and curious about how the deck was suspended.  There was no way to walk around the tree as the circumference of its trunk was as broad as the ground it grew on.  I had a desire to get out to the deck and after some planning found a way to climb around the back of the tree and reach the deck, but once I got there I could not figure out how to get off.  There was no one to help me.  I thought if I climbed over the railing and clung to the side of the tree, I could push off the tree and leap across the ravine.  For some reason, it was impossible for me to go back the same way I came. 

I climbed up on the railing and was pretty frightened by the height.  I scaled the side of the tree and my body clung to its trunk.  My feet were slipping.  I realized that I didn't have enough leverage to leap from the tree across the ravine back to the mountain.  I could not move my hands to climb back to the deck without falling off the side of the tree.  I was stuck and terrified of falling.   I had a sense that I was in a dream and woke up.   

Thanks for your consideration.

sailrmc

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 35
    • View Profile
Re: Giant oak on a cliff
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2012, 06:50:34 PM »
Hello ITEACHPEACE,

Your dream is quite interesting to me. I have read and reread it several times and it leaves me wondering what might have incubated (caused) this dream. I can easily think of several scenarios.

Rather than speculate about a specific cause, I will take a couple of steps back, and say that your dream seems to be showing quite a bit about the person that you are (as of late).  It shows that you have been involved in a thought process that is rather open minded.  You have stepped out of what might well be a norm, for you, and explored options.   The fact is,  that you are very much inclined to cling to a strong and traditional way of thinking (maybe even a way that your ancestors have seen things). If nothing more, you understand the stability of tradition (the oak growing out of the rock) although you are very open minded. In some way you feel trapped by traditional  or ancestral thinking although you are not afraid to revisit it. In so doing you find it difficult to return to your mainstay.   A new way of thinking has been on your mind but it is difficult to move from the stability that you have enjoyed.

Vacillating?
If your dream has to do with presidential elections and the politics associated, I would not be surprised, but looking deeper your dream shows that you are rather set in your ways, and at the same time very open minded (at least thinking about change).

It is always a natural and good thing to visit the strengths of past ways and traditions that have facilitated success. In the same way it is good to have an open mind.

regards
sailrmc

iteachpeace

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
    • View Profile
Re: Giant oak on a cliff
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2012, 02:54:58 PM »
Thanks SAILRMC-

I appreciate your interpretation.

I laughed when I read your note about presidential politics.  I am a died in the wool progressive and a little idealistic: social justice, occupy, world citizen, human race-- not at all "traditional"-- in that sense at least.   Perhaps I went the opposite way and am trying to understand the traditionalists.   I don't know who the politician was that was there.  He was wearing a navy suit and looked kind of silly rappelling out the helicopter in it. 

My real fascination in the dream was the tree and the incredible feat of nature's engineering that allowed it to hang out there and thrive for so long (it's trunk was immense).  I was very afraid of falling off of it, but I was also captivated.  It was also, aside from myself and the other people that had been there,  the only living thing in the landscape.

Thanks again for commenting.  I'll have to think about my old and new ways of thinking. 

Aristocrates

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 107
    • View Profile
Re: Giant oak on a cliff
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2012, 06:22:40 AM »
This reminds me of something I encountered recently in the I Ching.  It's the 53rd hexagram, Wind over Mountain.  This hexagram is often symbolized by trees on top of a mountain.  The theme of this hexagram is gradual/steady progress.  In order to withstand their exposure to the elements, the trees must remain strong, well proportioned, and firmly rooted.  

I believe that the tree in your dream is, in fact, quite the opposite of traditional.  I feel safe in saying that a lone oak thriving high on a mountain top doesn't actually happen in nature.  And to me this tree is much more a representation of progressive thinking than traditional thinking.  Again, going by the I Ching's interpretation of this image I would have to disagree with Sailmrc and say that, perhaps, the dream suggest that you should move toward stability, not away from it.  (I don't think this means you should completely stop thinking progressively, but perhaps could benefit you to scale it back a bit)

Ultimately, though, you are the authority on the meaning of your dreams.    






« Last Edit: November 29, 2012, 06:29:09 AM by Aristocrates »

iteachpeace

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
    • View Profile
Re: Giant oak on a cliff
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2012, 04:51:19 PM »
Thank you both.  The 53rd hexagram is an interesting connection.  That connection also brought to mind the tree pose in yoga-- grounded yet flexible.  I have actually seen myself that way most of my life, but last year my child became very ill, I found myself fighting very hard against the grief and powerlessness I felt and the chain of losses that I couldn't make sense of intellectually or emotionally.   I guess I have learned that I made things worse by trying to run away from it rather than accepting myself and my feelings.  They literally became trapped in my body.

There were times I was terrified that I would suffocate in sorrow.  I really wasn't sure I could survive it, but my body knew better.  It healed my mind by allowing me (sometimes more like forcing me) to cry bits at a time in my car or when I would take a walk.  It regulated where and when and how much and allowed me to keep up with my work and care for my daughter.  I was certainly not at all graceful, but I was taken care of and that was the only way  I could take care of her.  My daughter will not be cured, but we are learning how to manage and find some stability and moments of joy. 

I think I have learned to trust my body's wisdom, to listen--  to be strong and flexible. 

Thank you again.