The People of the Dream

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One of the things that I have not addressed in my writings about dreams and trauma culture is the issue of lineage. 

 

But the lack of lineage is a core part of the alienation that so many of us feel. 

 

I think that I have not gotten this, because in so many ways the separation from lineage is such a given for me, and for so many of us. I know very few people who identify in any strong way with the full lineage that they come from.

 

In fact for most people there is quite a stark break. 

That break is so common in our culture that we take it for granted. When something is everywhere, it feels like it is nowhere. 

But in the way that we take this for granted – we then ignore the enormity of the break. We ignore the trauma and alienation that is inherent in that break and we ignore the enormity of the challenge this break creates in our personal and spiritual growth work. 

I don’t bring this all up to focus on the challenge though.

I bring it up because there is something about facing into this challenge that opens up a conversation that is full of possibility. 

In part, it adds a kind of acknowledgement to the consciousness work that we are already doing – whether that is dreamwork or another practice that brings consciousness into ourselves and into this crazy world of ours. 

 

We need to take what we are doing seriously. 

Along with knowing we are primarily doing it for ourselves, in terms of healing whatever we have been through. We need to also know that in that very personal process we are creating lineage. We are creating culture. 

What we each do matters more than we know.  And in honoring ourselves, enough to let it in that we matter, we are creating possibility.

That is not a small thing.

To let oneself matter is to let oneself be big and that is an enormous accomplishment in a culture that teaches us to be small – very, very small. 

We live in a culture that teaches us that bigness belongs to certain groups – to the stars, to the rich, to the famous, to the “successful”, to the master teachers, to the white men, to the “powerful”, to straight relationships and families, to mainstream Christianity – to all forms of the normative…

 

In letting ourselves matter – we are creating a new culture, a new lineage. 

We are refusing to be disempowered by another’s definition of what is right and wrong, of another’s definition of what is powerful, of what is beautiful.

Even in alternative spiritual traditions, we are often taught that what matters is to accomplish more, to be deeper in your work. While that is true at times, at least on some level, what is more true is that your life matters as it is now. 

What matters, is that to simply be in the process of learning what is true inside of each of us, is honoring that our lives can each be a creative expression of deep consciousness. 

There is nothing more sacred than that. 

I watched an interview last night with Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old climate activist from Sweden. When asked what the single most important thing that we can do to help stop or at least mitigate this unfolding climate catastrophe, she stated that it was to educate ourselves about the situation we are in. 

I would argue that one of the most important parts of that education is the consciousness work that we are doing. We need to understand how we have become so alienated from ourselves and from our bodies. How we have become so dissociated from this earth that we live on, that we are radically undermining our own ecological base of life sustenance. 

I don’t say that to be grim. 

I say that because I believe that in facing that dissociation we are also opening a possibility of reconnect with that consciousness. 

That consciousness exists in our bodies and it exists in our dreams.

It exists in the appropriated land that we live on. It exists somewhere in all our psyches and in the elements all around us. Not only can you reclaim this consciousness but if you are doing deep inner work than you already are. 

My belief is that it is time to take that reclaiming to another level. 

It scares me to say that and I honestly don’t even totally know what it means and at the same time I know it to be true. 

Sue and I called our business and website “Students of the Dream” because, in the face of the abuse in our own spiritual lineage, we wanted to be honest that we too are in this learning process even as we teach and we facilitate. 

We wanted to emphasize that we are not better. That we are all students. 

And it is time to not let being students, not let being humble in a healthy way diminish the importance of the work that we are all doing.

One of the things I loved about watching Greta Thunberg last night was that she has an enormous presence. It made me cry to watch her speak. To watch her take herself seriously, even though I am not sure the interviewer or even the audience did. 

I want to be more conscious of taking myself that seriously. 

I want us each to know that we matter, in the way that Greta Thunberg seems to know that she matters. 

I believe that the climate crisis and that many, if not all of the social crisis’ we face at this juncture in time, are symptoms of a more chronic problem that is embedded in our culture. 

Alienation, trauma and abuse are all too often accepted as the norm in a way that drives new possibilities into the unconscious. It is daunting to think about this bigger context, that we are each a part of. 

And at the same time it is exciting. 

There is a bigger and deeper love, a kind of joy that lives in that possibility. And even though it is bigger and sometimes feels so far away, it might also be simpler to be with, than most of us have imagined. 

I know for me at least, there has always been an assumption of needing to do something more. It is what I was taught in my earlier spiritual practice. I have never been taught to honor myself for who I am now. 

It was always for what I had come though or for what I could accomplish in some way. 

It was always around the corner, for when I was deeper in my calling or more successful in my practice in some way, either personally or professionally. 

This is not true. You matter for who you are now. You do not need to do something more to be respected as a part of this lineage. In being here in whatever way you are, you are already creating that lineage. 

 

Just the fact that you have made it here to this point in time is enough. 

This is not about accomplishing more. None of us know whether we can save ourselves or even our place on this planet. 

What I am really saying is that, if we let in the enormity of who we already are, then that change in consciousness alone, would begin to radically alter the healing path that we are each on. In turn that would alter the path that we are on together as a community. As a people that are building relationship with each other – from this place of bringing deeper consciousness into being. 

 

In that way we are each People of the Dream. 

People who hold a conscious dream of a better life and a better world. 

People who turn inward to their dreams, to the consciousness that our bodies hold. People, who in our own ways, are devoted to letting our lives be a creative expression of that consciousness…

With respect and gratitude,

Bill St.Cyr

PS

I hope that this piece contributes to your own knowing that you matter! If you are interested in being in further conversation in this regard, then please consider joining our upcoming three-month program called The People of the Dream – Creating a New Lineage.

You can find more info about that program here: “The People of the Dream – Creating New Lineage”. (Pricing is variable dependant on your ability to pay.)

Also, check out the webinar link just below this post!