Waking Up from the Dream

I will tell you a story. There was a guy who went to his psychotherapist claiming that he had a big problem, and that it had been bothering him for one year already.

“I go to sleep every day, and I have a dream at night. Mice are playing soccer. It’s a regular league, and each day, Warsaw mice are playing against mice on a different team, and it’s been like this for a year. I don’t want to see it anymore. What should I do?”

And the doctor says, “It’s OK. It’s out of stress. I have these pills; here is the prescription. Swallow one in the evening, and no more dreams.”

But then the guy says, “Can I please wait until tomorrow to start taking the pills? We have mice finals tonight. The World Cup!”

This is about our waking up. It’s very similar. We want to wake up. We know it’s a dream, and it’s not so cool. But we still want to see the finals. Or something in the dream continues to hold us back, and we wait. That’s why we stay in the dream.

So stay attentive. If you cannot wake up, or it goes slowly, that means you have something that is holding you back. And you have to know what that is. The teacher can help you, but the best teacher is here inside yourself.

Oleg Šuk JDPSN
(From The Kwan Um School of Zen)