5th Invitation -- Live Like You're Dreaming
Reading and study – Setting Your Heart on Fire, p. 138-171
In the Fifth Invitation, love calls you to awaken to the power of your unconscious.
In pages 139-143 Cushnir suggests that no day is like any other, that there are no “rules,” that basing the future on past experience is an exercise in arrogance. Living life as a dream requires a little time and imagination and can result in a life of richness with flexibility, possibility, diversity, liberation, and a continuing blossoming of love.
Making magic and mystery: There’s endless magic and mystery even where we least expect it. Pages 147-148 show us how to reframe the mundane. Choose an activity that has grown stale for you and reinvest it with mystery and imagination. Were you able to dream it back to life?
Pain as a teacher: Painful life patterns are appeals from our unconscious. In pages 149-151 Cushnir asks us to view detrimental life patterns as a recurring dream calling for exploration. Can you identify patterns in your life that need exploration? Are you willing to look?
Molding memories: To love life fully can require broadening our story of the past. In pages 152-154 he reminds us that our memories may not be fully reliable, complete or understandable without additional context. Take time to ponder your own most difficult childhood memories. As you move into the “villain’s” role in step three, do you find a human being there instead? Do you feel a softening, a willingness to gather them back into your heart?
"…Your neighbor AS yourself": Everyone we meet is an outward expression of ourselves (recall the second of Jesus' two great commandments). We’re reminded on pages 155-158 that we are both the individual dreamer and the whole dream, and we’re asked to relate in a new way to the people in our world. Try taking on the persona of those who cross your path; notice your findings. Can you agree with Cushnir that the ability to see ourselves in others, and they in us, is perhaps the world’s greatest healing force?
Intention as a tool: Clarity and strength of purpose are what fulfill our heart’s desire. In “Lucid Living” on pages 168-170, we find an exercise for mastering the power of intention. Select one intention and begin following the steps outlined. Do you find this exercise helpful?
Accepting the Fifth Invitation:
To the best of my current and evolving ability, I resolve to: