Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

No Boundaries in the Land of Dreams

John Beverley Butcher
on Sunday, October 8, 2006, when Dr. Jeremy Taylor was speaker
Palo Alto, CA

Reflect with me for a moment on the relationship between our night dreams, out day dreams, and our dreams for the future.

We all dream, some go “poof” and vanish soon after we wake up. Some occur more than once.

As I tell you two of my dreams, perhaps you will be recalling some of your dreams.

Some years ago I dreamt that I was in a house and had a big saw in my hand: I cut all along one side of the ceiling, then around the next side, until I had cut away all four sides.

Then the ceiling came down: two by fours, lathe, and plaster, and I woke up in a panic.

That same dream occurred several times.

At that time, my worldview was collapsing.

I realized that I had been living in a two storey universe with “God” and Heaven “up there” and Earth here.

I had since given up the motion of a “hell” down there. So mine was not a three storey universe with heaven, Earth and Hell, but two storeys with Heaven and God above and Earth here. My dream was confirming that the two storey universe was collapsing.

Fortunately at that time I was reading The Magnificent Frolic by Barry Wood: he helped me see that there is no God up there, there is no Creator as separate from Creation. No Separation!

But there is what is — and I am part of it! Amazing! The book served as a magnificent introduction to Taoism for me.

Some time later I had another dream in which I am walking along a dirt road and come to an old barn made of weathered wood.

I start dismantling the old barn, looking for good materials to build a new structure. I have been working on that project ever since.

I am excited about the old documents now available to us, especially the Tao Te Ching, the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Philip, and the Thunder Perfect Mind and many others.

I am building a new house and I have some reliable construction advisors. Quite simply, I am now a student of Jesus of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala, and Lao Tzu of China!

Two dreams: the collapsing house and building a new structure out of valuable old materials tell the story of my life very well.

My dreams have prompted me toward understanding Life with four basic principles:

1. There is only one Everything!
2. We are all part of It!
3. Our task is to become more aware.
4. The implications are enormous.