Why do I want to talk about this? Like all these numerous dreams, some come out so sharp and alive that you would want to keep them in your memory, not because they are pleasant , but because they plant an indelible lesson towards the journey of life.
Such was that which I had on the night of the 4th, cum morning of the 5th of October, and I consider it a lesson from my Patron St Francis, which I celebrated on that 4th.
The dream began from a church, and there was this talk - presumably by one of the administrators of the church( I don't remember him as a priest, neither as a layman; I'll call him a churchman )- about an exhibition of The Transfiguration , which would depict a somehow real experience of the transfiguration ,that which was being organized by the church ; so about four of us (me, including some friends, which i dont recognize in real life) decided to visit this exhibition with this churchman, and I personally was very excited about it, I presume my other 3 friends also were.
We left the church, it was night, and our first passage was a building which looked like a hospital. We were surprised that the patients hadn't slept by that time of the night, it felt like around 2am( probably the real time I was having the dream); later it became impressed upon me that we were in a kind of psychiatrist hallway, the patients weren't asleep, and they weren't awake either, they were moving like zombies. It was a bit scary.
Led by this churchman, we crossed this building into a main road , I had a feeling we were still traveling around a very large compound with all these( church, hospital and the exhibition venue) buildings in the custody of the church. I entered the back of a pickup van with my 3 other friends and I heard my cousin ( either Tobi or Tosin) shouting to greet me as the van was moving. He appeared to be the only recognizable figure in that dream.
We got to the exhibition building and the churchman was leading , passing through hallways, until we got to a particular door which he unlocked and went in, I followed suit and the door shut behind me with my 3 other friends outside. Immediately I felt the horror of where I was, it was very dark and frightening . I protested to the churchman that I didn't want to go in first but he ignored my plea and in spite of the fact that I knew he was with me, my horror was never lessened, it was a feeling of being alone in spite of somebody. Not knowing I hadn't seen nothing yet: I had no choice but to follow this churchman as he led me through a dark corridor and I witnessed the most dreadful part of this adventure: along this narrow corridor were beings ( wether humans or demons, I don't know) thrusting their hands out from holes of the walls from this narrow corridor and were making to grasp me, this hands were horrific and rotten and was like of dead rotten men in the midst of darkness!
I knew the churchman was at the front but I was dead with fright, I feel it is impossible to face such horror and be bold, it was very very dreadful ! In the midst of this, some things remained deeply impressed on me during this dream: I still knew the passage of this horror was a necessity towards experiencing the Transfiguration exhibition . I was also very conscious of my extreme powerlessness, and I feel indeed every man would be powerless inside that corridor , and also, I was very factually conscious that Christ would rescue me and that I would scale through, and indeed, in my own case, I was lucky that this corridor was much shorter,I feel I could have died out of fright if it had been longer. Also, meanwhile I was still hopeful and picturing what my idea of the Transfiguration exhibition would be like, I wanted to walk through the corridor quickly but I was very frightened, terrified and weak, I pity very very much in that instant those who wouldn't have the consolation of faith.
As the churchman wouldn't help me, I cried: 'Oluwa gba mi!'
I woke up.
These things remained deeply impressed on me after waking up:
1.The Transfiguration exhibition was fulfilled in the waking up to Reality. In my dream, I had preconceived an environment shining, glowing, ornamented etc, as an expression of Transfiguration , but it came out to be simply, a waking up to the peace of Reality , and that , this our present life itself is the dream, our death and Ressurection is the actual experience of waking up unto the Real Reality!
2. That Daddy's death experience was very similar to this, and Christ's went through this: He descended into hell. This 'hell' in which everything breathes damnation may be purgatory, or hell itsef;and to think that any man would be presumptuous enough to think that he could save himself from such terrifying tunnel is the height of pride, the more he would struggle alone without calling on The Lord in faith and trust, the longer he shall be in that horrific place ,and, God help him that those terrible beings don't grab him and drag him inside that hole!
3. The life of faith is a journey, I can only explain those idiosyncratic people we passed through at the hospital as people who live without motive, perambulating without journeying. From the church to the exhibition is the journey, inside that room is the experience of death, my bed at home is waking up to Reality, the Ressurection . But we are still dreaming, lets learn, this life itself is the dream. Reality is awaiting us.
