This piece was inspired by the insightful work of Dr. Jean Raffa (http://jeanraffa.wordpress.com/).  Enjoy.

Dreams– moving murals painted across the living canvas of the mind by the artists of the soul.  The mediums they use are so mysterious: seemingly innocuous experiences we have during the day, foods we eat, events from our childhood, scents and aromas, music, the sense of touch, movies we saw twenty years ago.  The venue they have chosen to work in is even more mysterious—the dark theater of sleep.  We must enter the darkness in order for the artists to step from behind the curtains and begin splashing paint across them.  Once they’re finished, and the curtains form a watery backdrop, they arrange a set with props from the past and silken memories draped over moveable, skeletal scaffolding.  Then they invite us to go up on stage and parade around with huge, larger-than-life-gestures wearing the masks of dog, aunt, uncle, neighbor, co-worker, angel, devil—even ourselves.  And oddity of oddities, we get to watch from the audience as well—and we watch with our eyes closed!  It’s all so strange.  And yet the players and the artists creating the whole vision are there to do more than entertain—each night they prepare elaborate mystery plays, initiation rites, ancient sacrificial rituals, and birthing ceremonies; and all of them on the stage of the imagination—that wonderful and blessed, living playground of the soul, and all of them meant to instruct and enlighten—to open our eyes to the truth.  These players form the most loyal, dedicated guild of artists there is.  They are the trusted servants of our deepest desires.  Day after day they labor for us and with us.  And every morning, as we wake, and sunlight begins filling the auditorium, all of the artists, the players, and the set, are moved behind the curtain to remain back stage until the next showing. 

When we wake up, if we are troubled by a particular play that transpired that night, take a moment and peek behind the curtain, see backstage the most amazing mystery of all—the play within a play—all of the workers are one worker, one director–the person we most want to become.