Dreaming

Last night I had a strange but very lucid dream in which I was having a conversation with a friend and martial arts mentor of mine about the martial arts, their modern-day relevance, and our search for deeper truth and meaning in the practice of our art. (It's rare that I remember my dreams so vividly, so I thought I'd share this one.)

In the dream, my friend expressed his frustration at the superficial training that I was receiving, which stressed physical application and memorization without tapping into history, culture, and even universal human myth; he also agonized at my training, which, while effective, had no depth, no spirit, and no sense of celebration.

In the dream, my friend broke away from our conversation for a moment to show me some of what he had learned from his latest mentor — it was an unfamiliar (and decidedly non-martial) art with dance-like movements that were full of joy, laughter, love, light-heartedness, music, and expressions of sincere gratitude.

My friend and I then continued our conversation, at which point I told him (in reference to my martial arts training), "I feel like there's no food left on my plate, but I'm still hungry." He didn't respond, but an answer came to me:

When it comes to my budo training, It's time for me to cultivate my own seeds, to grow my own food, and — most importantly — to head deeper into the bush in search of bigger game.

And then — poof — the dream ended, and I woke up feeling unusually refreshed.

Strange, no?