Monday, April 18, 2011

Say Yes to the Quest



I woke up happy this morning after a night of sublime dreams and luxurious sleep during which there was never a moment when I found myself searching for a car. YAY!! There was one wheeled vehicle in the dream, a rustic ox cart that my mother had loaded with a bunch of old stuff she no longer needed. The cart was stacked high with clothes, neatly folded and sorted according to color. Even in the dream I was thinking, "her chakras must be SO clean." My mother was headed to the second hand shop to say goodbye to unnecessary baggage. That is a Really Good Dream.

Following the trail of lost cars, night after night, lead me at last to the gleaming white marble resort that seems a whole lot like the in-between-lives place if you ask me. Wouldn't heaven be a gleaming white marble resort? Well?? The final dream from that series brought many revelations, so many, wow. Now in the aftermath of all that looking but never finding, I feel grateful. It was the searching that mattered, it was the quest that provided the insights. My very wise and insightful sister Hannah, when I consulted her about this dream series, said, Morph frustration into gratitude. I had no idea what she was talking about at the time, but as it turns out, she was absolutely correct. Wow.

The quest is the hero's journey, yes? I say yes. So did Joseph Campbell and a lot of other very smart people. Undertake quests with gratitude, not frustration, yes? My sister Hannah says yes.

Tonight is the first night of Passover, the quest we Jews take every year. Last night's dream in which my mother was cleaning out her closets reminded me of the scrupulous housecleaning that is a part of the beginning of Passover. Traditionally we are supposed to find every crumb of leavened bread, scrub away anything that even resembles yeast-risen food. That cleaning is a metaphor for finding and cleaning up all the little bits of ourselves that resist growing and learning.

Quest in the form of questions is a big part of Passover. There are the four classic questions that are given to children to ask, but the Seder itself is a setting in which everyone is supposed to ask questions. Questions indicate a desire to learn and grow. Asking opens a space into which wisdom can flow.

Looking back now on the series of car dreams, I feel that in some very core way (not consciously) I have been aligning myself with the quests that mark this time of year: searching for the strength to let go of everything in order to cross the desert, for instance, or to bear the grief of Jesus's incomprehensible death, also the joy of his incomprehensible rising (the Easter version of the same idea).

I feel clean and ready to undertake the journey, and I am grateful. All aboard!

22 comments:

ellen abbott said...

love the chariot cards on your sidebar.

ellen abbott said...

and I'm questing away chasing down the illusive image transfer.

Reya Mellicker said...

You will prevail, Ellen!

Vicki said...

What a beautiful and happy post! And the pictures are marvelous! Love coming your way......xoxoxox

Reya Mellicker said...

Love headed back at you, Vicki!

Lisa Ursu said...

Reya,
I have to tell you that I have been on a kick with car horror flicks lately. The Car, Duel, and Christine. I was thinking about that this morning. Interesting?!
What the heck?!
Hannah is very wise.
Morph frustration into gratitude.
Oh so hard to do at times, especially when you just want to scream! but practice makes something pretty close to perfect. Thanks for this. Have a happy day.

The Bug said...

I had one of those morphing things happen last night. I had been bitching to Mike (there's no other word for it) about a man who has started going to our church. I told him that if J had been attending that church when I first visited I wouldn't have ever come back. Mike was wondering why he had so much negative power over me - & then he said, well he's psychotic for one thing. And then it was as if I could hear God telling me that J had come to our church to be kept in a safe place while he heals. Took the wind right out of my sails! Frustration to gratitude just like that.

Then I dreamed that Mike told me to write a poem about marijauna. Who knows what that's about!

Linda Sue said...

Whatever works I say- spring cleaning before the sun comes out and glares through at untidy-ness and mounds of dust bunnies- If it happens at Easter or Passover or whenever- seems the thing to do.

Jo said...

Good Passover and Happy Easter and Lovely Spring and all other good things to you as you hop into that flower laden car and continue on your journey!

What a TRIP (in every sense of the word).

Deborah said...

WOW this photo is unbelievably great!

And your reflections are equally clear and beautiful--hope to use some of them tonight at the Seder.

Love you so

Tess Kincaid said...

Lovely Passover and Easter thoughts.

debra said...

It is a time of renewal isn't it. Of setting aside old stuff and being open to the new. Spring is like that. Makes me smile every time.

Tom said...

ooh, the classic Reya reflection pic...seriously, i've driven home with foliage like that pushing out from the inside! Ever try to drive with a leaf tickling your ear?

Reya Mellicker said...

Tom, it sounds fun, especially for you!

Thanks for all the good wishes. xx

steven said...

reya thanks. thankyou for the gorgeous lush images of pink and red and blue and the whole reflecting inside itself. thankyou for layering this with the silent night dialogue between your mother's presence and yourself. there's one great moment and so much wraps itself around and inside us. steven

Reya Mellicker said...

Yep. This has been an incredible week. I guess that's last week, eh?

Pauline said...

two fabulous photographs surrounding thought provoking text - does one wish another a Happy Passover? If so, Happy Passover!

Reya Mellicker said...

Thanks, Pauline!

Kerry said...

Questioning, this you do so well, Reya, that this must be a favorite season of yours. What a good thing to do. Your vehicular dreams, as if you need to get from here to there rather urgently, are so interesting when you think of it all as a quest. I like that you can embrace it without completely understanding it, and that you can stop yourself from being frustrated.
Love the many versions of "chariot" in your sidebar! Tarot cards are so cool-looking.

Reya Mellicker said...

Thanks Kerry. I didn't stop myself from being frustrated. What happened is that it transformed itself! I have no control over these things.

Also I understand almost nothing - seriously. I would never embrace anything if I waited to understand.

glnroz said...

the last photo,,,"Purple Hayze",,hey who is that on your new banner? :) Got a new computer and had lost your addy for awhile but now i have found ya agin,,,

Reya Mellicker said...

Glenn glad you're back! I watched Woodstock a few weeks ago - nicked that image of Jimi kissing the sky from the film.