“Everything on this Earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing…changing. You were not put on this Earth to remain stagnant” – Steve Maraboli

About a month ago, I had a dream.

My Angel and I were prisoners in a complex that was based deep in a cave. I recognized some of my co-workers, my Angels co-workers, a few friends, all of us were a part of this dark, sinister place. We all worked in separate spaces, and when we were done appeasing the oppressors, we were allowed to go to our own quarters. Some accepted this life as it was, day in and day out, but we knew we were prisoners, and we knew we needed to escape.

An uprising ensued, and my Angel and I could no longer accept our condition. We, along with a few others, managed to escape from the complex and violence. We were chased to the edge of the cave, where the oppressors backed off because they assumed our escape would only come at the expense of our death. We wanted to go back and help the rest, but we couldn’t. Taking shelter at the edge of the cave, in the sunlight, we found ourselves on a beach. In the not too far distance, there was an island, which we decided we would risk our lives in order to swim for our freedom.

Saying our good-byes to one another, in case we didn’t make it, a HUGE tidal wave surfaced just a few meters in front of us. It was at least 100 meters tall. Our death was certain. My Angel was laying on the beach, under the cave. Surrendering himself to the moment, to our fate, his eyes hurt from seeing the sunlight. The wave drew closer as I too went to go lay beside him and surrender myself. But something took us by surprise. The wave didn’t hit us. The wave crept along the side wall of the cave, over our heads, and instead came crashing down on the prison complex behind us. The water crashed down in waves, one after another. Everyone who remained in that prison world, who created it, invested in it, and evolved with it, this wave completely crushed.  I woke up.

This powerful, surreal dream stayed with me for days. It wasn’t until after the American election, that I realized what all (or part) of it, was symbolic for.

I feel that the prison complex in the cave from my dream was symbolic for Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. For those who are unfamiliar with the allegory, Plato’s theory goes as such:

There are three prisoners in a cave. They are chained to a wall in the cave and are bound in such a way that they cannot move their heads, hands, or feet, and can only stare at the stone wall in front of them. They have been here since the day they were born, and they have never left. Behind them is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway. When people walk along this walkway, it casts a shadow along the wall, which is all that the prisoners can see. Because this is the only thing they have ever seen and continue to see, these shadows are perceived as “real”. To pass time the prisoners would play a guessing game as to which shadow would appear next, and whomever guessed correctly was praised for being clever and a master of nature.

One of the prisoners escapes from his chains and leaves the cave. Leaving the cave, his eyes burn from seeing sunlight for the first time. He is so shocked by the outside world, he doesn’t believe it to be real. As his eyes adjust to the light, he too adjusts to his new surroundings and realizes that his former perception of reality was completely wrong. He learns that sun is the source of all life and that life is a journey filled with beauty and meaning. His life and the games played in the cave, were all meaningless.

Returning to the cave to help set his fellow prisoners free, he enlightens the prisoners of what he has discovered. The prisoners, however, don’t believe him, and threaten to kill him if he attempts to set them free.

Plato’s message is clear. We think we know everything there is know about life, but we really don’t. If one isn’t willing to venture outside of ones comfort zone and learn other ways of living, thinking, and being, one will forever reside in a cave.

I feel that the cave from my dream is symbolic for Plato’s cave, where the majority of  mankind is trapped within a closed-off perception of reality where the shadows projected on the stone wall (or television) is the only truth. The shadows that are being perceived as truth, being defended and fought for as the only truth, are merely shadows of truth but not truth itself.

For the past 5 years, I have come to see how the mainstream corporate news networks further enhances these narrow perceptions by not reporting on actual news, but rather on what their corporate sponsors pay them to cover. Even if its lies and propaganda. Throughout the entire election, the world believed that Clinton would become the president. When the DNC tampered with this “democratic” process in the primaries which elected Clinton as the Democratic nominee over Sanders, I too was convinced that the entire process was rigged for Clinton to win.

When I woke up on November 9th and learned that our president-elect was Trump, I was surprised I had been wrong, but I wasn’t shocked. Both were garbage, and it was one or the other. I don’t subscribe to the politics of fear nor watch corporate news networks, so I went about my day. I got out of bed, made my morning lemon water, played with my cat, and continued rowing through life, because that’s what I do. However stepping out into the world I realized that I was one of the very few who wasn’t emotionally destroyed by the election result. Yes, an era of change has been ushered in, but like the colossal tidal wave in my dream, this wave flew right over my head, and instead crushed the hearts and minds of those who place their faith and trust in the corporate media. A media that distracts the world from environmental and global issues that truly matter. A media that dictates ones emotions and worldview by systematically lying and manipulating them into following shadows of truth.

Like the escaped prisoner from the allegory, there are those of us who have escaped the cave. We have ventured outside of our comfort zones and have had experiences that expanded our minds and perception of the world beyond the 5 senses. There are those who have partook in personal, intellectual, spiritual journey’s that have shown that there is more to this world that meets the eye, and that the world’s favorite household item is nothing more than a tool used to distract, manipulate, and control the masses (google Patent 6506148). After all, an educated and informed populace is an incredible force to be reckoned with should we chose to unite and take our planet back from those who are destroying it.

In wanting to help others escape from cave, I have learned that facing reality and the uncomfortable truths that come along with it, is a choice. During this election cycle, I found it nearly impossible to engage in meaningful, productive conversations with fellow critical and free thinkers about the reality of the world. It was almost as if everyone bound themselves to the stone wall and closed their eyes as one scandal was exposed after another… However, the galactic waves of universal truth and justice are coming and they will continue to barrel down on the cave, its inhabitants, and all the institutions responsible for manipulating humanity until they are no more. It’s just a matter of time.

“You are being presented with a choice: evolve or remain. If you choose to remain unchanged, you will be presented with the same challenges, the same routine, the same storms, the same situations, until you learn from them, until you love yourself enough to say “no more”, until you choose change. If you choose to evolve, you will connect with the strength within you, you will explore what lies outside the comfort zone, you will awaken to love, you will become, you will be. You have everything you need. Choose to evolve. Choose love.” (Creig Crippen)

When I discussed this dream with a dear friend of mine, he commented, ” I want to believe this is true, but all of my students are scared, depressed, and if anything are following corporate news even more. Do you know anyone personally who has changed their perception as of late?”

Realizing that he was completely right, and my theory could be nothing more than just an ambitious dream. It dawned on me. There is one who has changed their perception of the world as of late, whose eyes, just like from my dream, have been burning from seeing the sun for the first time. But by stepping outside the cave of the traditional worldview, he liberated himself from having his opinions, behaviour, and emotions controlled by the mainstream media… My Angel.

The evolution of consciousness is a process, and each time a new person awakens to the universal truth, the whole of humanity rises a notch. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the current state of the world, and our perception of it, won’t change overnight, rather it will change in waves. One by one, the world is awakening. It’s just a matter of time 🙂

Peace, Love, and Light
~R~