About six months ago. I had a very vivid dream. It went something like this...
I was walking down a narrow stone walkway with a blonde-headed blue eyed gentleman beside me. Looking around I saw a beautiful landscape with various trees ( Cedars, Oaks, Maples, Lombardy Poplars, etc ) dotting the rolling hills. Among these hills and trees were elongated semi-open stuctures. As we approached one of these stuctures I asked the person beside me who he was and where we were and what the structures were for? He told me that he was an angel of God and he had something to show me. He said " The structure in front of you is yours. A shrine dedicated to your life on Earth. I asked " Am I dead, Am I in heaven "? He just said " Come inside and see ".
First off, I have to describe the stucture. It is in the shape of a long rectangle, I can only guess it's dimensions but it would have had to have been at least 150 feet long by 30 feet wide. The entrance had a roofless vestibule with the stone wall reaching no more than 3 1/2 feet high. Within that vestibule was a stone statue, I can't remember exactly what of, but I think it was of me! Along the walls were stone benches. The vestibule was narrower than the rest of the structure.
The structure itself has a stone wall to perhaps 3 1/2 feet above the ground floor and above that is open, with the roof supported by wood poles, or maybe concrete pillars. I can't remember this clearly enough. Below the roof there is a wooden " upper wall " extending down maybe three feet. The roof itself looked like the roof on those temples you see in Japan. As I have said before, the sides of the shrine was mostly open, with the wall extending only a short distance up from the ground and down from the roof. The vestibule has no roof. The angel told me that dispite the open nature of the shrine that no rain or other objects ever got in from the outside. A row of Eastern White Pine, about 70-80 feet tall was on the right of the structure but no fallen cones or needles were ever seen inside the stucture. The distance ( gap ) between the lower wall and upper wall is about 6 feet. I remember a tree, across from the structure's entrance, across the walkway. It was an evergreen. I feel it might have been a Yew or maybe a Holly. As to the height of the roof I could only guess. It was quite tall.
Entering the vestibule I removed my sandals and then followed my guide through a set of small swinging doors into the main structure. I entered the door on the left. The right one was an exit door. It had a smooth stone floor, I cannot remember whether it was granite or marble, nor can a really remember it's color, but it was not white. It closely matched the color of the outside wall stone. Maybe grey? The long interior was bisected lengthwise by a wall except at the very end where you could walk to the right around the wall to go back down toward the exit.
Anyway, upon entering I noticed familiar things on shelves, stands, walls and tables. The angel explained that they were things that represented events, people or valuables in my life. The first things were baby things. Pictures, blankets, rattles, baby bottles, pictures of my youthful parents. Every thing was in chronological order, from birth on. As I went onward into the shrine I saw my childhood. Things I loved, things representing people I loved. Places. Stuff from my youthful days on Briggs rd. I found the Walking Cane that my Great Grandfather Baxter Warren had given me and I had lost when I was two, yes, I can remember that! The angel told me I could not remove anything from the shrine. I did not ask why. I took for granted that the object would turn to dust or just simply vanish if I did.
Going onward deeper into the shrine I found stuff from my preteen and teen years. My rock collection, My chemistry sets,, telecopes/micoscopes, fishing poles, representing fishing trips with Dad, My jars of protozoan cultures and caterpillars. Model airplanes and Penthouse magazines. Pictures of life at that time. Reaching into my twenties I found more things representing my life, including my new friend, Clay. Also pain. My parents divorce. Approaching the back wall I found baby stuff. Stuff representing my daughter, Sarah. I was certainly crying by now. Followed by stuff from my Oleta Rd days. Books, Celtic Studies, The Bible. And my Hawthorn Hiking Staff.
On the back wall were four beautiful very lifelike statues. Basically life sized clothed porcelain dolls. I recognized them immediately. They are the four women I loved most in life, not counting my mom. Joy, my beloved wife. Cheri, my ex-wife, Holly, a friend I have always adored, and Iva, my first real girl friend. Now I was really in sobs as a touched each one. Looking past the statues I could see the back of the shrine was higher off the ground than the entrance. A small creek could be seen down the hill and the sky was a bright blue with a few small puffy clouds. A wonderful breeze wafted in.
Rounding the corner I now became aware of that this would progress to my death. I continued onward.
Heading down the other side I saw my painful divorce from Cheri and ongoing things representing events. I saw my pinecone collection representing my love for trees. Then I saw pictures of Lake Julian representing my move to Arden. And something of mother, representing her ongoing battle with cancer. Then looking up I suddenly awoke!
Sitting up in bed, my heart was racing and I was wet eyed. I could not go back to sleep right away. Joy asked me " What's wrong " I told her that I had an unusually vivid dream, that I would tell her about in the morning. I made a point to remember as much of it possible. It also occurred to me that I woke up at exactly the point of life I am at now. At 45! Did I wake up because my mind had no more memories to incorporate into the dream because those events had not occurred yet, or was it that the dream was of divine nature and God did not want me to see my future and death? What would his purpose for showing me the dream be?
I have never had a dream so clear and vivid as this one. Before or since. Only water images so well for me in dreams, but not a whole landscape as this! Was it just a dream or one divinely inspired? God has communicated to people before in dreams. The Bible has several examples.
I never did really find out where the shrine was. Personally, I don't think it was in heaven, but in a prepatory place. Maybe what the Catholics call " Purgatory "
Fortunately, I did not have to pull all this from memory. I typed much of the details down on the computer the next morning.
Comments are welcome.
