The Three Refugees

The Three Refugees

My dreams had been going extraordinarily well, as far as my own character development had been concerned. I appeared wise and my influence upon others was positive and constructive. Particularly in moments of tension or conflict, I was able to say and do exactly the right things to bring peace and calm. I only had to wonder why I was not as capable in Real Life.

For instance, in one dream, Mel Gibson was producing another movie and was distraught that a certain pivotal song was not working, and he was breaking down increasingly into fits of negativity. It seems that the song, toward its middle section, was emphasizing a lower bass register to signify imposing strength, but that their singer’s range (he was more of a tenor) was making it sound instead as a bit vacuous. I thought for a minute and suggested that Song be re-calibrated so that the Tenor can sing the first part of the song in the his lower register, where the vacuous quality of his voice could suggest the vulnerability that originally was supposed to be suggested merely by a higher register, and that the powerful middle part of the song could then be made to work with the Tenor singing in his strongest and best voice – and that a certain bite and growl in his annunciation could be made to serve for the masculine power that had been originally supposed to be projected by bass notes. I was even able to demonstrate (not being a bad singer myself). And everyone realized all at once that it would be a good enough ‘work-around’ and production could get back on schedule. And when Mr. Gibson again began fussing that he was not even able to solve his own problems, I was able to sooth him with the observation that he was only clumsy with fatigue from all the great work for which everybody was deliriously grateful to him for. And this was only one dream of many in which I had taken the part of the Wise Old Man.

Then I had a dream of Failure. It seems I was in an English Composition Class and had just received a Failing Grade – an “F”. I was quite startled by it all. There was an exercise in which a Beginning was offered for a Story, and the purpose was to complete the story. I saw my Paper, and I had apparently dismissed the Exercise with a scathing and brief criticism – in less then 5 short sentences (when had I ever been so brief?) Well, I instantly apologized and explained that I had thought the exercise a mere suggestion and had not known it was being graded, and would certainly beg for the chance to make up the assignment for at least some partial credit.

Well, suddenly the Old Teacher and the students all agreed to help, and the Beginning of the Story was re-enacted. I was shown a dried River Bed through what appeared to be a desolate desert. And, one at a time, there came, struggling and staggering, each of three refugees – the first from Plague and Disease, the second from War, and the third from Famine. And as each Refugee arrived, students could not remain as mere observers and went and received each Refugee with helping care and concern.

And I was left to frame the rest of the Story.

What? No new avatar!?!

Are the refugees afflicted or just escaping? And what does to "frame the story" mean?

It's great that most of your dreams are so positive, you clearly have a healthy high self-esteem and are driven by purpose to guide and help others. Not musically taught I could not envision what you described. But your saving the day for someone as important as Mel Gibson is self assertive indeed.

The English Composition class seems clearly to be about learning how to communicate. This is where you somehow had a failure. A five-sentence critique is very unlike you indeed, but you were suppose to continue someone else's story, and that is the basis of the failure.
But you are given another chance. The written story suggests how something is going to be portrayed and perceived in people's minds.
I would expect a river to represent emotions that one lives with, and the riverbed to be that in the past and potentially the future but not anymore for now. The desert is probably loneliness or nongrowth.
Plague, War & Famine are considered the population checks. My first thought is that this is related to the issue of overpopulation but I decided to individualize the conditions. Plague: a very broad problem, possibly affecting all your relationships or what you see in all people. War: troubled relationships. Famine: a negative turn, maybe emotionally, maybe in health. And to dream of refugees means either to not belong, or be trying to escape a bad situation.
Then the students get caught up into it and help them. They are probably your relations. I don't think the refugees are parts of your (they are in a story instead of in front of you) but rather the meaning you see in others.

The dream seems almost to be about this website! But I'll dismiss that. As you were always driven by purpose to guide others I'm guessing this dream is an existentialist message (as if to work on your moral character development) because that's the way you tend to interpret others' dreams. It's the way you communicate (and this is a common problem in the world) that has failed. You lost popularity (the failing grade.) You've been given another chance but everyone else is taking over. Then you are left to "frame the story" (I don't know what that means.) The end of the dream always runs into the present, and you need to be able to write out the continuation of what happens to those refugees and the meaning of that story.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Inspirer
What? No new avatar!?!

Are the refugees afflicted or just escaping? And what does to "frame the story" mean?

It's great that most of your dreams are so positive, you clearly have a healthy high self-esteem and are driven by purpose to guide and help others. Not musically taught I could not envision what you described. But your saving the day for someone as important as Mel Gibson is self assertive indeed.

The English Composition class seems clearly to be about learning how to communicate. This is where you somehow had a failure. A five-sentence critique is very unlike you indeed, but you were suppose to continue someone else's story, and that is the basis of the failure.
But you are given another chance. The written story suggests how something is going to be portrayed and perceived in people's minds.
I would expect a river to represent emotions that one lives with, and the riverbed to be that in the past and potentially the future but not anymore for now. The desert is probably loneliness or nongrowth.
Plague, War & Famine are considered the population checks. My first thought is that this is related to the issue of overpopulation but I decided to individualize the conditions. Plague: a very broad problem, possibly affecting all your relationships or what you see in all people. War: troubled relationships. Famine: a negative turn, maybe emotionally, maybe in health. And to dream of refugees means either to not belong, or be trying to escape a bad situation.
Then the students get caught up into it and help them. They are probably your relations. I don't think the refugees are parts of your (they are in a story instead of in front of you) but rather the meaning you see in others.

The dream seems almost to be about this website! But I'll dismiss that. As you were always driven by purpose to guide others I'm guessing this dream is an existentialist message (as if to work on your moral character development) because that's the way you tend to interpret others' dreams. It's the way you communicate (and this is a common problem in the world) that has failed. You lost popularity (the failing grade.) You've been given another chance but everyone else is taking over. Then you are left to "frame the story" (I don't know what that means.) The end of the dream always runs into the present, and you need to be able to write out the continuation of what happens to those refugees and the meaning of that story.

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Oh, "Frame the Story"... well, the idea was to complete the story after being given the beginning. I did not want to say "finish' the story, as that would imply to do all of work involved which would result in a completed product. I only wanted to convey the idea of envisioning what the entire story would appear like -- a notion or conception of where the story was going and where it would arrive. So I used the word "Frame" -- to encompass both the Beginning and the End of the Story.

I put a bit more thought into the dream. Perhaps my 'failure' consisted in viewing these indications of great human suffering in a merely intellectual context. We can see that the other students -- the ones who did not 'fail' were ready to jump into the 'Story' and become part of the action, in showing and demonstrating their concern and compassion.

Regarding the 'dry riverbed' -- I have seen that before in Dreams also. An Angel who was discussing the End Times said that the Peoples of the Three Mountains would experience a great drought, and that they would need to be lead to The Lake, and I was shown a Global Map, with the position of the Three Mountains, and the Lake off to the South East. I took the Notion of a Drought to mean a Spiritual Dryness -- a sterility in the Modern Religions which penetrates into every cultural experience.

Oh! Wait! The Three Mountains. That matches up with the Three Refugees, doesn't it? I had interpreted each of the Three Mountains to be each of the Three Remaining Higher Religious Traditions. Fit together with this present Dream, it would indicated that one of the Religions is Diseased, one is crushed by War, and the last is Starved by Famine. Catholicism is diseased with Paulist Doctrine. Islam is invalidated by its Militancy. And Orientalism is starved, though, on the Dream Map, it would be they who would be closest to the Lake.

In the light of these new thoughts, I would now have 'framed the Story' as a Quest for these Students to gather up the Refugees and guide them to this New Lake of Spiritual Waters, starting at the Diseased Mountain to the North and the West, and then the Militant Mountain to the North, and finally the Starved Mountain to the South that is practically abutted to the Lake just to its East.

I guess that's it, and I didn't think of it, but you have to write an ending for that story, and that's your HOMEWORK.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Inspirer
I guess that's it, and I didn't think of it, but you have to write an ending for that story, and that's your HOMEWORK.

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Wait!

Wasn't 'framing' the Story enough?

Well, if I were to write the story, on the basis of a merge in the Dreams of the People of the Three Mountains with this Dream of the Three Refugees, then it should be realized that there has been a serious decline in conditions. The Three Mountain Peoples are disintegrating. Where once it may have been a realistic goal to guide the Three Peoples to the Lake of Spiritual Waters, now there are the scattered Refugees, and what the Refugees always leave behind – the Dead and the Dying.

Next, I was thinking about the whole idea of ‘guiding’ these people toward the Lake of Waters. But after thinking about it for a moment, these Refugees were already on the move, and each from a different Region. They were converging. They must have known where they were going. They were not aimless. Yes, the terrain was arid, but it must have been possible that the Lake was not far away.

Anyway, the next step is probably not to ‘write’ the story. Remember, my ‘failure’ consisted of having dismissed the assignment with a page of writing that was not considered enough. And the Students who had received passing grades were actively participating in the ‘story’. This would lead me to suspect that the Story must be continued within the Dream.

Okay, what I know is that the Lake will be just to the East of the Mountain that is to the South and the East. The Refugees had come from our right, which means that we were standing to the North and facing South. If this dream should appear to be Recurrent, then my next step should be look off to the Left, the East, and see if there is any sign at all that there may be a Mountain in that direction. The Lake would be on the other side.

How about a simpler meaning, that reads between the lines?

I see it as: You have an opportunity to help the three refugees, you turn your back to them, and denounce them. As a result you "fail" that turn. Even you say "You weren't yourself" as you used five sentences instead of paragraphs to denounce them.

Perhaps your dream just reiterated "You aren't yourself when you don't help people".

Quote:

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Originally posted by Distant Clone
How about a simpler meaning, that reads between the lines?

I see it as: You have an opportunity to help the three refugees, you turn your back to them, and denounce them. As a result you "fail" that turn. Even you say "You weren't yourself" as you used five sentences instead of paragraphs to denounce them.

Perhaps your dream just reiterated "You aren't yourself when you don't help people".

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Yes, as a matter of fact, I had thought of my first dismissive five sentences did not appreciate the actual human tragedy involved.

Thinking of how I think of things, and if the Three Refugees were indeed from the Three Higher Religions, all of which were now disfunctional and ailing from much their own fault, then the content of my five dismissive sentences was probably an indictment upon these Peoples which concluded that what Misery would befall them they largely deserved.

Well, it is for the Historian to assign blame and set aside Future Lessons. But this was a Class not in History but English Composition, and as such, a more Human tact was required.

The other students pointed the way by immediately jumping from their desks to reach out and help the Refugees as they arrived one by one.

And of course I owe it to myself to say that I was not slow to follow. I quite got the Teacher's point immediately.

But it always remains of importance to discern how best it is to help. The Wisdom of a Solomon makes for a better King then the Bravery of a David.