Vision

Jonathan was driving his blue 1966 Chevy Impala and I was sitting in the passenger seat. I braced myself by grabbing the dashboard in front of me as I watched Jonathan steer the car off of the highway. We bounced into the ditch and through a wire fence. Jonathan said, “I want to see how far we can go.”

The car didn’t crash, but sluggishly continued to struggle through a farmer’s uncultivated field. We made it to the boundary of a creek. I told Jonathan to turn around and go back to the highway so we wouldn’t get stuck. He steered the car around and traced the creek back to the highway. We drove until the highway was in view. Then I woke up from the dream.

I have dreams involving cars and driving quite often, but rarely am I the passenger while a friend is driving. This particular dream was memorable because the scenario is implausible, neither Jonathan nor I are into off-roading, and neither of us owns a Chevrolet. The only thing Jonathan said in the dream, “I want to see how far we can go”, kept repeating over and over in my mind after I awakened.

I’m a rank amateur when it comes to dream analysis. In fact, I’m quite bad at it. Yet peculiar dreams beg explanation. The first situation relating the dream belongs to Jonathan. In real life, my 20-something friend is readying himself for some major changes in his life’s direction. There are plans to move away from Norfolk, Nebraska and settle into a different city and a new career. He has shared many of his plans with me. Perhaps the off-road driving is a dream analogy for Jonathan’s big move.

I thought about my own actions in the dream, especially the hanging onto the dashboard scene. Perhaps that represented me wanting to hang onto our friendship. We all have dear friends who have moved away to different towns. Now, this friend will be moving away. He’s an ambitious young man with beautiful visions in his head about what he wants to do with his life.

My further, rough interpretation of the dream is this: I am witnessing Jonathan traveling down the “highway” of his life. I’m only a temporary passenger for a short portion of his journey. During the past few years, he’s had to go through a great many trials and tribulations to get to where he is actually at now. I didn’t awaken from the dream until we both could see the highway again. It’s the highway of Jonathan’s life. The statement that he wants to see how far we can go, might represent the unknown future of his ambitious dreams. In the meantime, I’m happy for my friend but I still want to hang onto him as long as possible.

For now, I like this interpretation. I can hardly wait to describe the dream and hear his thoughts about the dream.

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”–Carl Jung

This dream has caused me to ponder my own concepts of dreams and visions about life. Career and success have been important but not foremost in my life. I’ve been an idealist during most of my life. I don’t think I was born to just be a cog in an economic machine or in some other belief-system.

I think I’m here to somehow help realize the uplifting vision of equality and liberty for everybody–even if only to participate as an advocate. It is unwise to reveal one’s own personal goals to the general public, but it’s OK to say something about the general direction of one’s life. I want to be someone who helps people realize their visions, not someone who smashes people’s dreams into dust.

My vision was forged during the civil rights movements of the mid-20th century. My imperfect heroes from those days provide inspiration. The fact that they were human beings with personality warts and imperfections keeps me from placing them on pedestals; yet reminds me that we can proceed forward as flawed human beings with our visions intact. I’m thankful to have an over-all positive, progressive vision for the future.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness quotes singer/songwriter, Bob Marley. “Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief, and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!”