“To live long, love other people including your family as you love yourself. Don’t be greedy because that is the origin of sadness. Be careful to learn every day”
The Dream
By Adeola Aderounmu
Adeola Aderounmu
Olawale had a dream.
When he woke up, he had forgotten the dream. He was afraid because he had forgotten the dream. In his village, the people always say when you forget your dreams that the gods may have forsaken you.
Nobody knows if the postulation is superstitious or not. Some people thought it is a way of promoting spiritual awareness and consciousness of the unseen dimension or the supernatural world.
They say that dreams are the revelations of the things to come. They say that dreams are ways to remember their forefathers and it will be the way that their children will remember them.
Dreams can be the substantial evidence of reincarnation and the fulfilment of the wish to live forever.
It is like that. Our departed parents and grandparents come to us and we go to them in our dreams. Olawale remembered one of his father’s postulations.
Therefore the gift of dream and the gift of memory are cherished among the dwellers.
In this village, you will never tell anyone about your dreams if you don’t remember them.
By following their dreams many people have accomplished outstanding feats. Many have found a way to move on with their lives, away from the points of hopelessness.
Olawale had forgotten some of his dreams before. It is not unusual for people to forget dreams. This is because the transition between night and day in our sleep is endless.
No one knows what breaks the transition for the people who return to day with consciousness.
It was in this village that people first ask if another person has woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
They think that the people who are angry in the mornings are those who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. They think that you lack spiritual guidance if you forget your dreams and that could be one of the sources of your anger.
Nobody is perfect and no mortal will always remember all their dreams. If they do, they will transform to gods and there will be too many gods for human needs and desires.
Olawale was also sad.
So for 7 days he almost didn’t speak to anyone. He only replied and gave short answers when people spoke to him.
His parents didn’t hear from him as much as they would have wanted. When he is returning from work, he usually pays them a visit on his way home. When he had gone home on another route, he calls them from a local telephone kiosk.
But this week is different because he felt inadequate for forgetting yet another dream.
On the 8th day he decided to leave the house and go for a long walk in the forest. He wanted to clear his mind.
After walking for just 15 minutes he was very tired. He was tired because he had also not been eating very well since the day he forgot his last dream.
So he said to himself, I will rest.
Then he sat down on a big stone. He rested. But he fell asleep on the stone.
He rolled off the stone and fell down on the other side of it. He was shaking. He did not know when he fell asleep. Now he was awake and the big stone was above him.
As he was about to stand up, he saw a bag under the stone. But he was afraid because he didn’t know how the bag got there. He was more afraid for what could be the content of the bag.
As he was pondering about where he was and how a bag could have landed under a big stone in the forest, his “forgotten” dream came back to him like a flash.
Eight days ago, he had dreamt that he became a very rich man during his middle-age. So he was upset when he forgot the dream because he had a feeling it was something positive.
Now he remembered his dream and he saw a mysterious bag.
He started to ponder about the meaning of his dream. He was still afraid. He was not sure what could be inside the bag and he was alone in the forest.
How can a bag lie under the stone in the forest where nobody lives? He pondered.
He took the bag from under the stone and was surprised that such a big bag felt to light when he took it up. He opened it and found nothing but a letter inside the bag.
Dear son,
To be happy, you need to find the things that you like. Do them and you’ll be happy.
To be well, eat fresh food that you cook yourself.
When you get married, take care of your wife and children.
Don’t let the sun go down on your anger or frustrations.
Instead take a walk for life, for health.
Be of kind heart and show appreciation for the things you have.
Work hard and don’t forget to spend from your savings.
Contentment, not material richness, is the secret of happiness.
To live long, love other people including your family as you love yourself.
Don’t be greedy because that is the origin of sadness.
These are some of the simple lessons of life.
But be careful to learn every day.
The lessons you learn will guide you. They’ll enrich you.
When the alarm went on Olawale woke up and realised that he had been asleep for 3 hours. He was sweating, so he took a cold shower and spent the evening reflecting about his dream.
In it he learnt about some of the simple secrets of life in a letter that he found in a bag in the forest.
aderounmu@gmail.com
(c) 2014
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