I am in a middle-eastern village and have the role of a leader – coordinating community projects and much more. The village is rustic and has an earthy quality. After a while, I remember that the real leader of the village is still alive, although he is very old and is being taken care of at another location. He is not capable to lead the village, so I have taken the role. There is an uneasiness about having forgotten about him.
The village has an earthy spiritual quality which I associate with Sufism. In the dream there was a parade of projects and situations that I coordinated and led in a way that seemed natural and relatively effortless. There was a sense of natural strength and receptivity combined with authority.
At some point, I realize or remember that I am not the official leader of the village.
The old man is, even though he is absent and not capable of leading. I feel uneasy and ashamed over having forgotten about him. It seems out of place, a lack of humility, a lack of respect of the hierarchy of the village, and a lack of appreciation for him and how he has governed the village over many years with a great deal of wisdom (far more than me, since I am still relatively young.)
The dream feels significant, although the meaning of it is still not quite clear.
What comes to mind is the Master in the Big Mind process, which is often absent until consciously developed and brought in. Is the old man the master, made irrelevant because ignored? At the same time, the coordination of the village did go smoothly even though may of the situations were difficult and gritty.
Another aspect of the dream was of being in a leader role, which I am not so comfortable with in real life. I usually feel there are others more qualified than me around. In the dream, it was a natural role which brought up leader qualities such as strength, receptivity, decisiveness, wisdom. It was a reminder that these things are available for each of us, and come up when the situation calls for it (as I certainly see in my own life), and are exercised through finding (or putting) oneself in such a situation.
And then the location and feel of the village. It had many of the qualities I am attracted to. The village was made of natural materials such as stone and clay, and felt very earthy and solid. At the same time, there was a depth of human maturity there, and of an earthy form of spirituality similar to Sufism. A spirituality of the heart and the belly, although the head is certainly included.
There was also a sense of everything being very well coordinated and flowing smoothly, even when difficult and gritty situations came up.
Similar to the dance dream a few days ago, there was a beautiful mix of individuality and multitudes, and organic coordination and flow. Decisions were made from a wide landscape of qualities… receptivity and decisiveness, sitting back and engagement, empathy and lack of sentimentality, detail-focus and overview, and so on.
But then there is the old man, the real village leader, incapable of leading because of old age… I’ll stay with that for a while.