A Simple Dream

Last night I dreamed a very vivid simple dream.

I was walking towards a plain looking two-story adobe building without any windows lit up by bright sunlight. There was a flight of stairs leading up to a door, quite high up which seemed to be the only entrance. Half way up the stairs stood a man and at the bottom another man. They both appeared to be East Indian but dressed in Western clothing.

I had a strong premonition they might be looking for my Sufi teacher. So I asked if they were looking for him. They didn’t reply directly but the man at the bottom of the stairs motioned for me to follow him.

We proceeded into an adjacent building, again nondescript and while walking I felt impelled to tell him I had been to the dargah. He looked at me blankly as though not understanding. “In Delhi…” I continued but he didn’t respond.

We walked through a door into the building and then through another door into a smaller room, pushing the door open as we entered. “Look behind the door,” the man instructed.

I pushed it open wider so that I could see behind it.

I was looking at sunlight and shadow playing on a blank wall. There was a feeling of complete silence though I thought I could hear the wind blowing lightly outside.

The man accompanying me was standing to my left and facing what appeared to be a closet door, slightly ajar, his back to me. “What do you see?” he asked.

“Nothing”, I replied and as I turned back to look him, I saw his body fading into nothingness against the closet door.

I put up both hands to touch the apparition, my fingers coming up against the door, the contours of the vanishing body surrounding my hands.

Postscript: I guess it was not too surprising to receive an email forwarded by a friend this morning with the subject line "Unconditional Love". But when I opened what I thought was a powerpoint attachment, guess what?

Nothing!