… Wings to the Mind, Flight to the Imagination, and Life to Everything.”
~Plato~

I had a dream I was walking through a park by the ocean. Along the way, I met a beautiful loving couple who asked me to join them. We were guided towards a playground built within a fortress that was in a major state of decay. We needed to cross a dilapidated bridge over a dark, muddy pond. Surrounding us were sharp spikes of rusted iron sticking out from the water – we had to be careful. The couple walked ahead of me crossing the bridge first, however, as it was my turn to cross, the bridge disintegrated into the pond. All that remained was driftwood, none of which was strong enough to carry my weight. I couldn’t follow them.

Stranded within the fortress, the walls began to crumble around me, and there was no escape. It was then that my angel, my husband, appeared, and pulled me out from the rubble. Drifting away, he brought me to a strange scene of wired fencing, security guards, a park, port-a-potties- and lots of grass. It was some sort of concert… why has he brought me here, and where was he taking me? Wherever we were going, he knew a shortcut…

Through a tunnel we arrived on a balcony that over looked an amphitheater. There weren’t that many people here, and we had a perfect view of whatever it was we were about to see. Still confused as to why he had brought me here, once the music started I understood…

Playing, was by far the most heavenly symphony of electronic sounds I had ever heard. There was a young man on stage playing the music with his hands, on drums. The music that he played was like nothing I had ever heard before, but strangely, I had heard it before. It was a piece of heaven, a piece of our collective soul, it was a piece of him, of me, of you, of all us. It was beautiful. This was such a pleasant, refreshing, and surprising experience in the least likely of places. We couldn’t stay for long, but I heard what I needed to hear.

My angel brought me to another stage, where the music was the complete opposite. We were out-of-place and didn’t belong there. We had to go, and I woke up.

This dream came to me in March 2015, during my venomous temporary assignment, while on the search for another job, and just a few weeks before Ultra Music Festival. Having gotten to know some of the other executives in the corporation, I had become friends with a lovely progressive couple. They were both hard-working, compassionate, earth-friendly, genuine human beings. Their assistant, who was fed up with the toxicity of the animals running the show, had just quit to go work for another firm, and it appeared as though an opportunity I was a perfect fit for, just opened up.

Knowing we had to be careful on how we approached this, everyone followed the rules and sent coordinated emails to the animals, letting them know that they wanted to hire me. However, the animals had already made their decision. Even though their fortress was starting to crumble (they have all been fired since), I knew too much of their illegal plans for the office, and needed to go. It was 10 humans versus 3 animals, so as it goes under most tyrannies, the animals won, and the bridge to me working in this Miami branch was gone.

Disappointed, I fell into a depression, and it was here that my angel stepped in and saved me from myself. Buying me a ticket to Ultra Music Festival, he wanted to share with me an enlightening experience for him that was something he looked forward to every year. There are many paths that lead to the universal truth of oneness and love, and since we are polar opposites, I was excited to experience something that brought my angel so much peace, joy, and made him feel at one with the universe.

Set in Miami’s Bayfront Park, right next to the ocean, this festival is a place to express yourself, to let loose, and be free in whatever form that may be. You can enjoy the music from the grass, or from underneath the magic of a Banyan tree. If the crowd and music becomes too much, one can step back and refresh themselves with the ocean breeze. This was a beautiful place to have an electronic dance party and I completely understood my angels fascination with this festival. Ultra was amazing.

It was on the last day of the festival, Sunday, my angel and I decided to enjoy the music sober. Not only did we drink too much the night before, but we had work early Monday morning, we needed to be responsible. Feeling that Steve Angelo was too dark and intense for my taste in dance music, I sat under a banyan tree and grounded myself to the earth. My angel came with me and suggested that we go check out Porter Robinson, an electronic music producer and DJ, who was playing on the opposite side of the park. I stopped listening to Porter Robinson a few years ago when his music also took a dark route, but I figured that anything would be better than what I was feeling now, so we left.

Arriving and walking along the grass of the parks amphitheater, I had a flashback to my dream and all I could feel was that something was coming…  Sitting on the grass, towards the back, we had a perfect view of the stage. When the music started, I was mesmerized. Playing before us was the most heavenly, symphony of electronic sounds I had ever heard in a festival. It was as though the universe had conspired to bring me to this exact spot. At this exact moment. Time seized to exist. Through the grass, the air, the fresh ocean breeze, the energy from the music penetrated my core. There was no other place I was meant to be at this moment, than where I was.

Sounds that were so transcendent and familiar. Sounds that I had only heard in a dream. Sounds that were beyond beautiful. Filled with so much magic, playfulness, joy, sadness, pain, hope, strength, and love… It felt like I was feeling the story of the earth, the world, through music. Tears trickled down my face.

My angel mentioned that this was Porter Robinson’s World’s Tour. He had heard from interviews that this was different from his usual style, that Robinson had tapped into something deep and spiritual, and this was the result. All he knew was that it had received rave reviews, this was not like anything either of us had expected. We were both stunned.

We’ll see creation come undone, These bones that bound us will be gone, We’ll stir our spirits till we’re one, then soft as shadows we’ll become.
Every place you have ever imagined is real. It is a fictional city in your mind, and you know every corner of it. Your mind is a world. Each of us is a place.

As Ultra is coming up in just a week (and I didn’t share this post when I wrote it two years ago), I felt it was appropriate to share what was a very emotional experience, in the least likely of places. Just like in my dream, we couldn’t stay long, but we stayed long enough for me to hear what I needed to hear. I was spiritually moved.

Following this experience, I noticed a significant change within myself. Having spent so much time in an environment that was so consumptive, I felt a love, an inner peace return within. Going back to work, I was able to look at the problems I had with a clearer perspective. When we are doing things that are non-conducive to our souls higher purpose, sooner or later, we will be forced to move on to discover what is in line with our souls higher purpose- to then do it, and live it with all our hearts.

Even though my current employment situation is far from ideal, I am reminded that challenges are blessings. Dealing with difficult people, and tyrants, are blessings in disguise. Just as a lotus flower can’t blossom without the mud, the deeper and thicker the mud, the more beautiful the lotus blooms. And like the lotus, we can’t grow to our full potential unless we too are faced with some mud of our own from which we are able to rise from. The thicker the challenges, the stronger, more radiant we also become. Having just returned from our incredibly sacred trip to Peru (I will post stories soon), I feel recharged, and re-awakened. And I am more than ready for Ultra 2017 🙂

“A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism.”
– The Mysticism of Sound and Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Featured Image by Simon Haiduk.