Magenta

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Dream 02/20/21

I glanced at a book in a dream, the dream I have forgotten but the book I have not. The book was a guide for couples, and it got me thinking, "Why not contemplate the topic of love?" For the sake of keeping this pg, I am not gonna state the title of this book here, nor its content; however, in place of the name, I shall use a word that describes the color of the book: that color being Magenta.

Jesus says that the entire law of Moses could be fulfilled in two commands. Those commands being, "Love others, and Love God." In the context of community, we both love others and are loved by others. I would like to expound upon this statement by imagining two postures: a receptive posture and a posture of distribution. In other words, we give love, and at other times we receive love. 

Love is communicated from one person to another in many ways. If we don't understand what love looks like, it becomes easy to misidentify it. Love postures itself through adoration, frustration, quietness, smallness, being big, and being loud, just to name a few of its forms. In the community context, we must learn to receive love in all its forms while not being deceived by how it chooses to manifest. In this way, we practice receiving love. Sometimes "I hate you" is the purest way that a person might say, "I care" or "I feel misunderstood because I am talking, but you are not hearing me." Is there a lonelier place to be than that? 

Adoration; a posture of distribution, maintained with open hands and a willingness to provide love without expectation of reciprocation. It is also more than a willingness to give love; it is the act of seeking to love others as love is not passive. It is often the first to move and not the last, the first to give and the last to receive. 

Frustration: a feeling that is not specific to anger or sadness, emerging from the isolation of a failure to be heard or the pain of not being taken seriously. Both of these appear bound to the realm of communication and the ability, or lack thereof, to express oneself. Both of these emotions seemingly manifesting as a form of speechlessness that appears with, or from, the feeling of being unheard while having a lot to say. 

Quietness and loudness are simply how a person expresses their feelings of adoration or frustration within that community context. Smallness and bigness are how a person sees themselves in the eyes of others. A person who is small in their own eyes may struggle to receive love, while a person expressing bigness might struggle to give it. However, biggness and smallness do not protect one from the other's weakness. Someone big in their own eyes might struggle to receive love as well, starving with every bite, just as someone small in their own eyes might struggle to give love, as they could be led by emotions to feel that what they have to give is not enough. This is a spectrum, not a straightforward line.

I wrote this in place of a long dream because I did not remember many details from my other dreams. I have flashes of 6 story giants stomping through a facility and swimming through the air to avoid them with my brother. We had to swim slow to avoid their attention—a strange dream. 

Another dream I thought of using but failed to recall many details was the story of a Chinese semi-divine, potentially fully divine king that stood between his kingdom and several armies. Things I remember about him were long-clawed fingernails that allowed him near-instant victory over every opponent they touched and his disturbing ability to turn trained animals against their masters, forcing them into a fight to the death.

Anywho, these dreams were weird but fun. Hopefully, I will have some fun dreams this week and I hope you do as well.