In a dream I am walking joyfully up the mountain. Something breaks and falls away, and all is light. Nothing has changed, yet all is amazing, luminescent, free. Released at last, I rise into the sky … This dream comes often. Sometimes I run, then lift up like a kite, high above earth, and always I sail transcendent for a time before awaking. I choose to awake, for fear of falling, yet such dreams tell me that I am a part of things, if only I would let go, and keep on going. “Do not be heavy,” Soen Roshi says. “Be light, light, light – full of light!”
– Peter Matthiessen, from The Snow Leopard
Notes:
- Quote Source: Thank you WhiskeyRiver. Photo: Philippe conquet
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
Live & Learn 
Such imagery…too fly above, to soar…to dream.
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So true.
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A book that changed my life.
Enlightenment always comes with a price.
Matthiessen shared that truth with a generation of seekers. I will be forever grateful.
Thank you.
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Hi Carrie. I am just getting introduced to Matrhiessen’s work. He was an incredible man.
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Love this…
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Oh yes Am gonna be Light, light, light and light. Great post love it.
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free yourself –
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Fear of falling is what we all face “but oh my darling, what if you fly?” (Erin Hanson)
Yes be light!! 🌟🌟
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LOVE THAT!
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The last dream before waking is like a barometer of the day ahead for me. I ask every night to have a joyous, love-filled one. They are rare, but so transformative when they arrive.
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I feel the same way. Joyous dreams for me, are rare too.
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Often truth comes disguised in dreams. Not a Freud interpretation, but a universal need. To fly…to dream. To let go of worldly constraints and just BE.
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If it’s only truth in dreams, I’m in trouble, full stop.
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No no! Keep dreaming! During the day too!
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I’m trying. I’m trying!
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So beautiful! Breaking, falling away and all is light 💛
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Yes, Yes….so agree.
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“Do not be heavy….Be light, light, light”….
(No more late night snacks of sweets and cakes…probably not going to happen….)
Otherwise? I’m good.
Thanks for asking.
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Laughing. Me too. So me too. But for those snacks. I need Doritos NOW.
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“…I am a part of things, if only I would let go…” Moved….
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Exactly…
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Oh I so love this. Yet another book to add to my “to read list”… sigh…
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My sentiments exactly. Overwhelming that list is….
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Oh yeah!
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I hear two uses of “light” one being to cast of a “weight”ed burden,,,and when one has traversed through the challenge of climbing (reaching higher) letting go of control…gaining, Joy beaming as “Light”, a Force of Life…
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does this resonate?
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Yes, I see the dual interpretations although, until you mentioned it, I never saw the “weight” of light…interesting…
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to cast of a “weight”ed burden brings an opportunity for light and when a person loses weight they are lighter…and when a person loses a loved one who was full of light, they deal with a heavy burden…eventually the person comes to term with the weighted loss and embrace that that person who passed loved them, was a blessing to have had them in their live, shinning the light of love….this girl must keep being one who is Joyful and one who needs to lose some excess pounds…and I also think of treading more lightly…I am no over thinking…
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Smiling. No. You are not.
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I do need to proof read,,,should be “now” not no!
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of course I also think of the mountain top experience and reaching closer to the Light of God….
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closer to the heavens for sure!
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I love such dreams and feel blessed to have had them.
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I can’t recall most of my dreams. Lucky you Russ.
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fyi, not recalling dreams (after a period of sleep) or not having dreams is a classic hallmark of sleep apnea..I know this first hand..
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Dreams are the stuff life is made of.
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Yes!
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