Ale and I bought a charming old house with a garden. I walk down to the dock by the lake, and a largish boat arrives. It’s quite blocky, almost like a small ferry, but surprisingly fast and maneuverable. A group of people are on it, and ask if they can dock there, and if we know a place where they can stay for the night. I say yes, and that we can see if we have space for them.
I take them to the house, and find a reasonably large and beautiful room I hadn’t seen before, with two beds and a sofa. Everything is clean, and the beds are ready, with clean sheets. I take them to see if we can find more sleeping spaces. We come to another building, which I was only vaguely aware of. It’s a kind of retreat or camp building, similar to Vangen Skistue by our cabin. Here too, everything is clean and ready. We find plenty of sleeping spaces, and also a nice industrial quality kitchen.
Doing all this for nine people is more work than I thought, so I ask them if they can cook the food for all of us, and also make sure everything is as clean when they leave as when they arrived. I realize that this could be a good business for us, especially if we hired someone to help us, or maybe do most of the work.I enjoy taking charge and taking on the coordinator role and making sure it all runs smoothly.
THE DREAM
The group were nine adults, all with a youthful approach to life. I liked them. They said a larger group were associated with them, on a trail basis, but they were not with them on this trip.
One of the dynamics in the dream was that I kept discovering more places. First, I discovered the lake and the dock. Then, a new room in the house. And finally the larger camp space with several bedrooms, community rooms, and the industrial quality kitchen. I realized we could run it as a business, at least if we had some help.
It was surprising how clean everything was. Even the beds had clean sheets and were ready to sleep in.
And I noticed I enjoyed taking charge and taking on the coordinator role (which was natural since I owned the place), and also making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
WAKING LIFE
In waking life, we are looking at houses to buy in Europe, ideally something charming like in the dream.
The building itself reminds me of Vangen Skistue in Østmarka, close to our cabin, where they have guests and also summer camp for youth. It also reminds me of a Zen monastery in Oregon where they repurposed a large building which I think used to be a camp for young people.
The discovery of new spaces also resonates with waking life. We have sizable land in the Andes where we are discovering new physical places, and we are especially discovering more possibility for businesses. We have only had expenses so far, so we need to find some sources of income, at least to cover continued expenses for regeneration, developing the food forest, and maintenance.
In the dream, I am also taking on a coordination role, which I am doing with our land in the Andes, and I enjoy it. Maybe it’s time to step into it more, including with other future projects.
I used to work as a coordinator for a sustainability group in Wisconsin (Sustain Dane) and enjoyed that work a lot. It is a natural ability and kind of calling, although because of my health, I haven’t done it as much as I perhaps otherwise would have.
ALL AS ME
Everything in the dream is me. At a human level, the dream elements mirror qualities and dynamics in me. And it’s all made up of the consciousness I am. (Just like waking life.)
I am the house, with the room(s) I hadn’t discovered yet. I am the lake I wasn’t aware of, with a dock. I am the larger building with space for lots of people and a nice kitchen to make nourishing meals. I invite in new people/energies, and ask them to do some of the work for themselves.
I keep discovering more sides of myself. The world is my mirror, and the world always shows me more sides of itself and me.
A FEW MORE REFLECTIONS
Some see dreams as wish fulfillment. In this case, a beautiful house by a lake, with extra space, and where everything is clean and ready to use. I can see that, but to me, it misses much of the juiciness and substance of dreams.
At one level, these dreams give me options, and they allow me to try out and rehearse those options. They remind me of what I want, and what I may want to bring to life.
At another level, the dreams show me what’s already in me and in my life. I have those qualities and dynamics in me. I am the consciousness taking all those forms – in dreams and my experience of waking life. The dreams remind me of what’s already here, and noticing consciously invites further shifts.
ADDITIONAL INFO
After writing this, I asked ChatGPT 5 for some input. See below.
Appendix: Additional Reflections on the Dream
From a Jungian perspective, the house represents the self. Discovering new rooms, a dock, and even a whole lodge points to previously unknown or unused aspects of the psyche becoming available. Jung often emphasized how dreams reveal the larger Self moving toward wholeness. The clean, ready rooms suggest these potentials are already present and prepared; they only need recognition and integration. The nine guests may symbolize youthful, energetic parts of the psyche—qualities of vitality, openness, and play—that now wish to be hosted and integrated into conscious life.
The lake is another classic Jungian image, often representing the unconscious and the depths of the soul. Having a dock suggests a stable access point: a way of moving between everyday consciousness and deeper layers. The arrival of the boat—fast, maneuverable, and carrying a group—points to a sudden inflow of new energies or possibilities emerging from those depths.
From a symbolic perspective, the dream highlights abundance. You not only find hidden rooms and buildings but also discover them ready for use. This speaks to hidden capacities within yourself and in life: resources are already there, awaiting recognition and practical coordination. The industrial kitchen echoes themes of nourishment, transformation, and the capacity to feed many.
A psychological reading emphasizes the role of coordination. In both waking life and the dream, you are placed in a facilitator role—organizing, setting boundaries, ensuring sustainability. Inviting the guests to contribute to cooking and cleaning reflects an awareness that hospitality must be mutual, and that any new venture requires structures to avoid burnout.
From an existential and spiritual angle, the dream reflects the ongoing discovery of new aspects of being. Life itself is a continuous unveiling, and the dream mirrors that process: with every step, a new space opens, revealing more possibilities for living, relating, and creating. The dream also points to the joy of stepping into one’s natural role, whether as host, coordinator, or steward of possibilities.
Finally, in an “all as me” perspective, every element is a reflection of consciousness itself. You are the house with its hidden rooms, the lake with its depths, the dock that connects realms, the boat and its travelers, and the lodge where community life unfolds. To live this dream consciously is to continue discovering the hidden abundance already present in you and your life, and to welcome it with both hospitality and wise stewardship.