Help
Sign In
alignment
October 2009 
Dream Allegory: The Three Shells
Posted on Oct 21st, 2007
by 
Mathew
Mathew
A little more than a year ago, I woke up one morning remembering a dream that disturbed me so much, I couldn't bear to think about it. The funny thing was, the dream wasn't scary in any way; it didn't involve jeopardy, threat or behavior that was morally questionable. In fact, I had no idea what it was about the dream that disturbed me so much. All I knew was, when I woke up and began to remember the dream, I immediately chose to do something that was totally uncharacteristic for me: I tried not to think about it. (Up until that point in time, I had always gleaned valuable insights about myself from my dreams -- especially since my first prescient dream in 1982 at the age of twenty-one. As a result, not only was I good at remembering my dreams, but I had become very efficient at identifying the dreams that were important as opposed to wasting energy on the ones that weren't -- that is, the ones that only rehashed or reviewed the decisions, choices or experiences of the preceding days or weeks). In any event, I immediately knew I had just had an "important" dream and like I said, I tried not to think about it. I use the word "tried" because as much as I thought I had managed to forget the dream, standing under a hot shower the very next morning, the dream suddenly came back to consciousness in full force. Only, contrary to the feelings I had experienced the day before, I no longer found it difficult to think about the dream because I suddenly found myself with a clear sense of understanding that wasn't previously there. Where did this understanding come from you might ask? Of course, I have no way of knowing for sure other than to tell you that I have had many occasions where upon waking, I have experienced an odd deja-vu sensation like I was just in the company of angels (having had some sort of discussion or review). As a result, I have woken up with a sudden understanding of things I have never thought about or understood before. Anyhow, now that I've given you all of this background, I would like to describe the dream and the understanding that followed.
In the dream, I was visiting a seaside community of whitewashed clapboard houses that were small, weathered, uncared for and old. The houses were situated about a hundred feet away from the beach, all lined up in a row facing the water, one next to the other. The surf was rough and the clarity of the water murky, however, there I was, wading in the shallows, doing something I love to do, which is to squat down in the water and feel around the sandy bottom for seashells. After a few moments of doing this, I pulled a beautiful shell from the water. In fact, it was the most exquisite shell I had ever seen - about 10 inches in diameter, with perfectly formed spokes coming out from all around the perimeter of the shell. Carefully holding this treasure in one hand, I continued to search the sandy bottom with my free hand until moments later, I pulled another beautiful shell from the water, this time a conch shell, about 7 inches long. I transferred the shell to the hand that was holding the first treasure, and once again continued to sweep the sand. A few moments later, out came my third and final treasure, a sweet little cone shell, about 4 inches long. Having as much as I could now hold, I left the water and immediately brought the shells to my house. But I don't remember entering the house and staying. The next thing I remember is returning to my house after being away for what seemed like a long time. And as I entered the house, my wife was there, and she handed me the three shells. But none of them were the way I had remembered them.
The first shell, the exquisite one with the spokes, was now a plastic man-made imitation that easily came apart in my hands like a cheap toy. The second shell was definitely the conch, but the top of the shell was missing, and where there was now a hole, partially smoked cigarettes and cigarette butts had been stuffed inside. (As soon as I saw this, I suddenly recognized this shell as belonging to one of my dream-world neighbors; suddenly remembering it hanging outside his door for guests to use as an ashtray before they entered his house. And for a brief moment, I wondered how it had ended up in the water for me to find it.) The third shell was indeed the same little cone shell, however, when I took a closer look, it was no longer opaque; it was translucent. And within the shell, I could see creepy looking snakes and serpents writhing throughout the structure of the shell which caused me to feel instantly repulsed and disturbed. Of course, I was also extremely disappointed to discover that all three shells were flawed (and not worth keeping). Anyway, standing under my hot shower, not only did I remember all of this, but now I would like to share with you the understanding that I suddenly had:
The three shells were gifts that were freely given by the water (which to me represented gifts from the Source of Life; God). I had been overjoyed to receive these gifts (and I looked forward to caring for them and sharing them with others). However, I went away somewhere (into the world of duality perhaps?) and when I returned, my gifts had changed. The first shell had become a cheap man-made imitation - to me, a symbol of the effects of negativity on the human "mind" -- hardly representative of the best the human mind can achieve. The second shell, now an ashtray - symbolized negativity towards the human "body" - hardly representative of the reverance and gratefulness one should have towards the human body. The third shell, corrupted by snakes and serpents -- was symbolic of the effects of negativity on the human "spirit" - hardly representative of the beauty, magnificence and true potential of humanity.
As soon as I realized my gifts had been ruined, I immediately believed that they were no longer of value. And that was the flaw to my thinking; the very thing that had caused me to originally feel so deeply disturbed. Because the truth of the matter was, a gift from God is eternal. We may intentionally or unintentionally allow our gifts to waste or to become corrupted, distorted or sullied however, with correct thinking and action, they can always be restored to their original splendor. I call this restorative process "cleansing" or "purification" and this is precisely what the dream was telling me. My mind, body and spirit needed to be restored back into alignment with their original splendor and beauty, i.e. with my true nature. And although I had no idea what that true nature was, I was determined to open myself up to the process of cleansing and purification. I knew the life I had been living had barely scratched the surface of my potential. I could feel this. I just didn't know how to free myself from the negative thoughts, words and actions of my past. But I knew this was my mission. And as I stood there under the hot shower, and suddenly remembered and understood my dream, I felt a newfound determination to find my way back to my true Divine self.
I recently did a bit of internet research in order to find photographic examples of the shells from my dream. In particular, I was most interested in finding an example of the first shell, since this was something I had never actually seen before. Sure enough, after a bit of searching, I found a picture that closely resembled all three shells.
(06/10/07)
In the dream, I was visiting a seaside community of whitewashed clapboard houses that were small, weathered, uncared for and old. The houses were situated about a hundred feet away from the beach, all lined up in a row facing the water, one next to the other. The surf was rough and the clarity of the water murky, however, there I was, wading in the shallows, doing something I love to do, which is to squat down in the water and feel around the sandy bottom for seashells. After a few moments of doing this, I pulled a beautiful shell from the water. In fact, it was the most exquisite shell I had ever seen - about 10 inches in diameter, with perfectly formed spokes coming out from all around the perimeter of the shell. Carefully holding this treasure in one hand, I continued to search the sandy bottom with my free hand until moments later, I pulled another beautiful shell from the water, this time a conch shell, about 7 inches long. I transferred the shell to the hand that was holding the first treasure, and once again continued to sweep the sand. A few moments later, out came my third and final treasure, a sweet little cone shell, about 4 inches long. Having as much as I could now hold, I left the water and immediately brought the shells to my house. But I don't remember entering the house and staying. The next thing I remember is returning to my house after being away for what seemed like a long time. And as I entered the house, my wife was there, and she handed me the three shells. But none of them were the way I had remembered them.
The first shell, the exquisite one with the spokes, was now a plastic man-made imitation that easily came apart in my hands like a cheap toy. The second shell was definitely the conch, but the top of the shell was missing, and where there was now a hole, partially smoked cigarettes and cigarette butts had been stuffed inside. (As soon as I saw this, I suddenly recognized this shell as belonging to one of my dream-world neighbors; suddenly remembering it hanging outside his door for guests to use as an ashtray before they entered his house. And for a brief moment, I wondered how it had ended up in the water for me to find it.) The third shell was indeed the same little cone shell, however, when I took a closer look, it was no longer opaque; it was translucent. And within the shell, I could see creepy looking snakes and serpents writhing throughout the structure of the shell which caused me to feel instantly repulsed and disturbed. Of course, I was also extremely disappointed to discover that all three shells were flawed (and not worth keeping). Anyway, standing under my hot shower, not only did I remember all of this, but now I would like to share with you the understanding that I suddenly had:
The three shells were gifts that were freely given by the water (which to me represented gifts from the Source of Life; God). I had been overjoyed to receive these gifts (and I looked forward to caring for them and sharing them with others). However, I went away somewhere (into the world of duality perhaps?) and when I returned, my gifts had changed. The first shell had become a cheap man-made imitation - to me, a symbol of the effects of negativity on the human "mind" -- hardly representative of the best the human mind can achieve. The second shell, now an ashtray - symbolized negativity towards the human "body" - hardly representative of the reverance and gratefulness one should have towards the human body. The third shell, corrupted by snakes and serpents -- was symbolic of the effects of negativity on the human "spirit" - hardly representative of the beauty, magnificence and true potential of humanity.
As soon as I realized my gifts had been ruined, I immediately believed that they were no longer of value. And that was the flaw to my thinking; the very thing that had caused me to originally feel so deeply disturbed. Because the truth of the matter was, a gift from God is eternal. We may intentionally or unintentionally allow our gifts to waste or to become corrupted, distorted or sullied however, with correct thinking and action, they can always be restored to their original splendor. I call this restorative process "cleansing" or "purification" and this is precisely what the dream was telling me. My mind, body and spirit needed to be restored back into alignment with their original splendor and beauty, i.e. with my true nature. And although I had no idea what that true nature was, I was determined to open myself up to the process of cleansing and purification. I knew the life I had been living had barely scratched the surface of my potential. I could feel this. I just didn't know how to free myself from the negative thoughts, words and actions of my past. But I knew this was my mission. And as I stood there under the hot shower, and suddenly remembered and understood my dream, I felt a newfound determination to find my way back to my true Divine self.
*****
I recently did a bit of internet research in order to find photographic examples of the shells from my dream. In particular, I was most interested in finding an example of the first shell, since this was something I had never actually seen before. Sure enough, after a bit of searching, I found a picture that closely resembled all three shells.
(06/10/07)
Access: Public
