LIPPING OFF TO GOD: SOME DREAMERY

I was puttering around on a theist site, when I came across this:

It was fairly interesting (at least it was lucid, and in no ways resembled the lunacy of the Twin Peaks episodes). I shan't poke fun: rather, I am republishing an article from my original website.

LIPPING OFF TO GOD

Now, I had this dream one night (9/10/2005), really strange. This is not bullshit.
I was having problems sleeping (drank too much coffee that day), and so I decided to find some kind of peaceful scenario, and lo! I was walking down a beach, seagulls flying, somewhat overcast (so I'm not a sun-worshipper: so sue me). I look up, and this is no bullshit folks, I see this huge, I mean HUGE ivory cathedral in the distance, in the clouds, and I see this large figure, some kind of shiny medieval Christ-figure (stay with me, this is where it gets good) at the gates, fades back to the cloud-wreathed gates, and I hear this voice, calling my name, saying "You deny me?"

Darkness.

And guess what the first words out of my mouth were? "What about the Canaanites?"

I hear this intonation, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of--?"

"Yeah, yeah," I tell the voice. "The earth. Wasn't there. Now, howzabout them Canaanites?"

Darkness. Silence.
"Wait. Don't go! I want an explanation!"

I woke up.

Now, I don't mind saying, it made me more than a little nervous. There are provisos here (aren't there always?):

1. If I have 2 more of these (visions? Dreams? Let's go with dreams for the nonce), then I will have some SERIOUS issues to cope with, and
2. The shiny medieval Christ-figure. If it had been a living, breathing figure, well, you wouldn't be reading this here. I'd have dumped the website, rent my garments, pledged my soul, clad myself in ash cloth (you get the general idea), etc. But what I saw in the dream looked like something you'd buy in a Tijuana curios shop (probably cleaner and newer, I'd guess).

As of this writing (6 days later), no revelations from on high. I wait, pensively.
More on this if it happens.

October 9th, 2005.
Interesting dreamery.

At some juncture (perhaps in the Hour of the Wolf?), I realized I was dreaming. Always love those. Wish I could do what that old charlatan, Castaneda, called 'creative dreaming', if memory serves, where a person dreams in a manner directed at a specific target.
And so, I said, "Cool, I'm dreaming. Let's fly!"
There was indeed some sensation, not the sort I'd experienced as a youth. Explanation later.
I began spinning thru a dizzying vortex of cumulus clouds, and somehow (no joke, folks!) I was an angel of some sort (I have a memory of briefly glimpsing reflections of myself, decked out in white, full wings, the works).
At some point, I came back to Earth, and it became a dull, dreary return to dust, pollution, bad neighborhoods w/chain-link fences (which is odd, as I grew up in Pleasanton, nothing like that at all).

Brief interlude (I hope) on flying dreams:
There's all sorts of explanations for these, but I like the Taoist concept best.
In this, there is a human treasure called Shen, which roughly translates from the Chinese as spirit. In Taoism, the prevalent theory is that when one is young, and one experiences the flying sensation in these flying dreams, it means that the spirit isn't as firmly embedded as it is when one grows older. And anyone reading this who has had such a dream has probably experienced that sensation.

Now for the disclaimer.

I am still an atheist, thank you very much. I said I like this explanation, it's a pretty idea and all, but likely as not, some scientist will release a study next year, or whenever, w/a perfectly rational explanation.

Still, the angelic imagery troubles me sorely.

As of this date (5/27/2006), no religious iconography has plagued me yet.

But, in honesty, I question myself, my atheism, every day (if I can remember to: old age, it's a creepin' in all right). The nature of my personal skepticism, is, to quote Descartes: "Dubito ergo sum."

And still I wait for someone else to prove me wrong. Anyone. Even myself.

Thus far, all have fallen short of the mark.