The church, the mountain, and the valley of growth

Northern Skies

New member
Hi, I'm new here and I'd like to share a two part dream I had over the span of a year or so about seven years ago. First, a quick background. I used to be a deeply spiritual person. My journey in the past eight years has included a divorce, a spiritual crisis, and an existential crises that has left my spirituality decimated and me unsure of where I stand these days. I'm doing well, I'm no longer suffering, but I am no longer who I used to be. I know we all change over time, but I am different in a profound way. I am not a religious person nor do I really subscribe to any kind of higher power these days. I suppose there could be a kind of intelligence behind the universe or some such thing, but I just don't know anymore. I'm telling you all of this because my dream is very heavy in spiritual and even religious symbolism. I have only ever had about a dozen dreams over the last ten years that I would consider meaningful and symbolic. I personally don't think all dreams are relevant or important. This is one of the two most important dreams I ever had. Perhaps one day I'll share the other one, but it's highly personal so maybe. I think this dream was a message of sorts.

Anyways, the dream...

I was sitting in a pew in a church, on the left hand side towards the front. There was a pulpit at the head of the church, and stained glass windows over on the other side. I was seated sideways and looking behind me at an old gentlemen with white hair wearing a thin red vest sitting a few pews behind me. We were talking though about what I don't know.

Suddenly, there was a thunder clap, and I whipped around in my pew and looked up towards the pulpit. There stood death, with his arms bent at the elbows out in front of him holding two tiny white skulls. When I looked upon the skulls, his grip tightened. I turned back around to the old man saying "Did you see that?". I wasn't alarmed or scared. More like amazed. But when I turned to the old man, he was slumped over in the pew, dead. I reached back and patted him on the back and smiled. I looked to the stained glass windows because I could hear a group of people outside passing by.


End of first dream. Then about a year later, I had a part two to this dream...

There was a mountain and a path leading down from the mountain top. My view shifted to the right where I could see the stained glass windows of the church I was in, in the side of the mountain way off in the distance. It was at the base of the mountain on the other side before reaching the top. My view then shifted to the left.

The path was now down out of the mountain but still working its way down towards a valley. I was walking with a group of people. We were all wearing grey/black sweatshirts. They were all talking amongst themselves, and I was kind of walking by myself with a sheepish grin on my face. In the middle of the group was a donkey. At the rear of the group, guiding us down the path, was a very old man who was dressed like Moses and his arms were spread apart and he had a staff as he guided us down the path. He had scraggily white hair and a beard to match. The the view shifted to the left again.

The path went further down and off into a valley. A lush green valley that was beautiful and sunny. Off in the distance in the valley was a farm where there was beautiful growth. End of dream.

Let me know what you think.
 

Lyn Holley

Active member
In the first dream, death usually means transformation. The, "old you," with its more traditional view of religion has died. The devil possibly means you must integrate the shadow, or the darkness. Your spirituality can no longer be all sweetness and light. None of this is bad. It is growth and transformation.
In the second dream, your ego has come down off the mountain, or an artificially elevated view of religion. You can glimpse the windows of the church, but you are leaving them behind. Remember that Moses led the people out of slavery and to the promised land. Here represented by the lush valley. Your spirit/soul knows there is more to discover. Your deepest heart is spiritual and the wounds of the past should not prevent you from seeking out growth in this area. Meditation, yoga, listening to podcasts that catch your interest can be helpful in this growth. Your psyche is saying, "I believe."
 

Northern Skies

New member
In the first dream, death usually means transformation. The, "old you," with its more traditional view of religion has died. The devil possibly means you must integrate the shadow, or the darkness. Your spirituality can no longer be all sweetness and light. None of this is bad. It is growth and transformation.
In the second dream, your ego has come down off the mountain, or an artificially elevated view of religion. You can glimpse the windows of the church, but you are leaving them behind. Remember that Moses led the people out of slavery and to the promised land. Here represented by the lush valley. Your spirit/soul knows there is more to discover. Your deepest heart is spiritual and the wounds of the past should not prevent you from seeking out growth in this area. Meditation, yoga, listening to podcasts that catch your interest can be helpful in this growth. Your psyche is saying, "I believe."
This is very insightful and helpful. Thank you. You hit the nail right on the head on a few things. I'm particularly impressed by your insight that my psyche is saying "I believe" because I have found that while I consciously deny, I default to a belief system in the moment without thinking sometimes when called for.

Would it interest you to know that my family isn't religious, yet my mom and dad took us kids to church (Presbyterian) as children so we had a foundation to work with for life. I've always been spiritual, but not religious, or so I thought lol.

Thank you for the reply
 

Lyn Holley

Active member
So often when we leave organized religion, we feel a sort of all or nothing feeling. But, the wisdom and the belief are inside of us. Keep recording your dreams and watching how your spiritual life unfolds.
 

Northern Skies

New member
In the first dream, death usually means transformation. The, "old you," with its more traditional view of religion has died. The devil possibly means you must integrate the shadow, or the darkness. Your spirituality can no longer be all sweetness and light. None of this is bad. It is growth and transformation.
In the second dream, your ego has come down off the mountain, or an artificially elevated view of religion. You can glimpse the windows of the church, but you are leaving them behind. Remember that Moses led the people out of slavery and to the promised land. Here represented by the lush valley. Your spirit/soul knows there is more to discover. Your deepest heart is spiritual and the wounds of the past should not prevent you from seeking out growth in this area. Meditation, yoga, listening to podcasts that catch your interest can be helpful in this growth. Your psyche is saying, "I believe."
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "an artificially elevated view of religion"?
 

Lyn Holley

Active member
Sometimes we look to organized religion to answer all our questions and never let us down. For women people this works beautifully. For others, we begin to see the shadow of religion and realize that it is one container for spirituality but not the end of the search. When we come down off the high of religion, we can feel lost for a while. We may still practice our religion, but we see god everywhere.
 
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