Evolution of a Dream

The secrets of the universe lie hidden in the details of our experience. Look for them! – Pete

Mule Team Dream Revisited

The following dream occurred January 11, 1991 around 4 AM. It was long and complex, containing a lucid dream section about mules and creation, magic and an out-of- body experience. Several days ago, after publishing the Mule Team Dream (the part of the dream about mules and creation) on my website and submitting it for publication to Lucid Dream Exchange magazine, I went back and reread the original notes to make sure my facts were straight. It was then I discovered glaring differences between my living memory of the dream and the notes I had written in 1991, as sketchy and poorly written as they were. How could that be, I thought, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach?

Honesty and integrity are important to me. I have no wish to mislead or bamboozle anyone in any way.

So, what happened between the time I had the dream and when I decided to share it with others nineteen years later? I was certain I remembered the details with exquisite clarity. Somehow, without my conscious knowledge, the memory of this dream changed over time. Newer memories replaced older ones, not unlike past memories of shared experiences between siblings and friends. Just like we as individuals change over time, our memories change over time.

Evidently, as I relived this experience in my imagination and dreams over time, as I tried to do a better job of understanding and describing it, it evolved! Instead of a little white box showing a man kissing a mule and turning him into a human being, as happened in the original dream, for example, it became a framed portrait with the white mule’s head coming to life and winking at me. This is the clearest memory I have of this part of my experience.

Like other important experiences in my life, I didn’t record seeing the two mules standing belly to belly, staring back at me the next day on Starr Road. I was driving a county bus and figured I could do it when I got home. If it didn’t get recorded in my journal, that was okay too, I thought. It was such a profound experience, how could I not remember it? Suffice it to say, this information never did get recorded in my journal, only my consciousness, until now. I was so excited at the time, though, I pointed to the the two mules and shared the story of my dream with nearby passengers.

In the current version of the Mule Team Dream, instead of:

I was in a car, driving… speeding down a road with ducks and birds scattering ahead of me. The setting was country (rural CA) but when I came upon this bridge with ducks and birds, it was heavy vegetation and steaming – a jungle, swampy type feeling,

I wrote the following:

I wake up behind the steering wheel of a car driving at high speed down an empty highway. An arched concrete bridge looms ahead, which is littered with tall weeds growing out of dirt and gravel accumulated from years of disuse. Anxious to reach my destination, wherever that may be, I continue driving at high speed. When I notice ducks foraging for food in the dirt and weeds on the bridge, an alarm goes off. Slamming on the brakes, I come to a screeching halt in a cloud of exploding dust and squawking ducks. Leaving the car parked sideways, I walk to the top of the bridge. A large section in the middle is missing. If I had kept going, I would have driven off the edge and crashed into the water and concrete below. Looking into the distance, I see my destination. It’s a lone farmhouse several miles down the road.

I remember the mules and standing on the edge of the broken bridge with exquisite clarity, perhaps from a later version of this dream. Similarly, I remember the framed portrait of the white horse winking at me. Do dreams, like people and ideas, or the memories of them, change over time as we relive them in our imagination and dreams? Are they alive like people? Do they have a reality of their own? At first, I felt bad about the differences between the living memory of my dream and the original version described in my journal. I thought it was a bad thing. But now, I’m not so sure. Maybe it provides us with new insight into the nature of consciousness and being.

January 11, 1991, 4:10 AM, Dream Journal, Volume 8, Page 120, Original notes from dream, grammar and all:

Keep in mind, “original” dream notes are sketchy at best. Like a good idea, you hurry to sketch out the highlights before it evaporates into thin air. Once you record the essence of an idea or dream in your waking consciousness then you go back and sort out the details.

To be true to yourself, you must resist any temptation to embellish, exaggerate or distort your experiences if you want to share them with others, but be prepared to see them change or evolve naturally over time as you relive them through your imagination and dreams. Everything, being created by and composed of consciousness and energy, evolves. It’s the nature of consciousness and being.

Woke up at 3:00 am and went to bathroom. Came back to bed and couldn’t get back to sleep. Tossed and turned and finally I was in a car, driving…speeding down a road with ducks and birds scattering ahead of me. The setting was country (rural California) but when I came upon this bridge with ducks and birds, it was heavy vegetation and steaming – a jungle, swampy type feeling.

After the duck and bird scattering the road came to an end at a cliff. Ahead was a body of water. At this point I began to notice that whatever I needed began to appear. For example, I decided I needed to continue on, which meant getting past the body of water. As I thought this, trees appeared which seemed to be there all the time and which would provide me with a way down to the water. Actually they seemed to be growing out of the water. I jumped or climbed…I’m not sure which, it was so easy. As I hung in the branches of the tree out over the water, I remembered that I was in a dream or out of body and that I should be able to fly. I tried and, instead, I started to drop into the water. Falling, I thought I didn’t want to swim through that stuff and wouldn’t it be nice to have something to carry me through it.

As I thought this, two mules appeared below me who, once I saw them, appeared to have been there all the time when I looked hard. I floated down to the water and put an arm around each mule’s neck. The one on my right I gave a nice kiss on the side of his neck in appreciation for the gift of their presence. After that I gave the one on my left a kiss but more on top or in back of the neck. I did it as an afterthought so as not to offend the mule on my left. It seems I gave most of my true regard to the mule on the right and kissed the mule on my left so it wouldn’t feel slighted. Anyway, as I kissed the mule on my left, both mules turned human and I found myself with my arms around the necks of two humans. When (after) kissing the mule on my left and having him turn into a human, I playfully projected up in(to) the air in front of me, a little white box with a diagram inside showing a human kissing a mule on the side of the neck, with the caption below saying: “How to Kiss a Mule”(,) appeared.

At this point I found myself back in bed, starting to sing out of happiness and playfulness. I remember monitoring my singing because I (k)new I was at a level of consciousness close to waking. As I continued to sing I tried to figure out if my body was singing out loud or not. It didn’t seem to be but out of concern for Sandra I rolled over in my bed so I could look town the hall towards her room to see if I had awakened her. As I looked at her door something shiny, which I associated with her somehow, was flexing (membrane?) on her door in response to my singing. As I looked at this I realized things were different from our house in Santa Rosa. I could see her room door down this long hall when in our Santa Rosa house; her door is off to the right of mine, across the hall and out of my line of vision. Besides, my bedroom door is kept closed. In the dream or OOB (out of body), it was open.

I decided to check strings out. As I left my room and started moving (floating) down the hallway I began to hear noise and see people. As a matter of fact, a short way down I encountered an open door with sound coming out of it. I looked in and saw a theater screen and people watching a movie. As I kept moving forward I encountered one or two more doors into the theater and off to my left were groups of several people smoking, drinking and standing around in conversation. I looked at this and continued forward to find a cafeteria. At this point I became fully aware that I was either dreaming or out of body. As I walked into the cafeteria, I decided to play with these people. Once I was well inside and standing near the serving line, I said “hello” to the people next to me and announced that I was a ghost. As they looked at me with growing skepticism and a little fear/annoyance? I said “see?” and started to rise up into the air.

As I floated above them, they all started reacting by covering their mouths, pointing to me to confirm if other people were seeing the same thing etc. I floated back down and then my eye was caught by a beautiful woman sitting in a chair at a table next to where I landed. She had on these beautiful earrings with bright colors. All of a sudden she got up and, as she walked away, her earrings disappeared and she became a man with a regular hair cut. I clapped my hands in glee even though a little bit disappointed. As I looked passed (past) her/him walking away towards the exit, I noticed all these new people in the cafeteria looking at me. I got excited and thought/said? that “news travels fast”. Anyway, I greeted them and then hesitated again, pointing out the fact that I was a ghost, – “see?” I floated (backwards) through the cafeteria and out the door where a couple of young boys were. As I floated down the hall with people watching from the cafeteria I rose higher and stuck my head into the ceiling to show them how I could move through matter as well. I did the same with a large pipe hanging under the ceiling. My head going through it made a funny sound (it gave me a headache). At this point I slowly entered my body on the bed and heard the noise of our heater turning on.

Also remember good sex dream but I’ll keep that to myself (now, 2010, I don’t remember what it was – so sad!).