The Swirls

Your vision will become clear when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

                                                                                                    – Carl Jung

© Leslie Owen Wilson

swirl2

The swirls of my dreamlife

destabilize the politics of the schoolyard,

the power of the gang.

They interrupt the endless

boredom of my compulsory

education.

They ease

the pain

of the split tongues,

iced shoulders,

the pinches from disdaining eyes.

In those dreamscapes

the bullies were never born,

nor are they borne.

The swirls provide

a viewing tube,

a one way mirror of safety

an electrical shock

helping to carry the weight of my reality.

The swirls of my dreamlife

are portals to pleasures

conduits of knowing

escapes from pained puzzling

into

fluid awareness,

flowing continuums,

whole pictures

and beyond.

They keep trying

to pull me back

into the screaming glare

of their mindless banter.

God but they’re loud!

Blah, ba blah, blah they say.

Just vacant noise

filling the warm silences

and corners of my mind

with their feral screeching,

and meaningless words.

“Daydreaming again are we?

Pay attention.

I am talking to you!”

They don’t seem to realize

the swirls of my dreamlife

help me answer questions,

offer visions,

show me the way

to fantastic worlds of wonder

and

into possibilities, probabilities, preferabilities.

For daydreams are portals

to my self-worth,

music to my eyes.

The swirls are threaded directly

into my soul

with sacred beauty

and promises of good things to come.

Blessed be the swirls . . .

Comments: In schools we negate daydreaming as a useless pastime and a sign of ill-attention. But what if what is going on in students’ daydreams are much more productive, imaginative, and wonderful than what we are offering up as knowledge or education? Thomas Edison knew the the power of a good nap  and a good dream. As well he valued the relaxed state between consciousness and sleep as the special place where great ideas could be found. Perhaps teachers have something yet to learn about the educational power of the dreamtime.

© Leslie Owen Wilson all rights reserved

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