Last night I had a strange dream: I dreamt that I was in a small boat, by myself, traveling down a river. I traveled to a place where the water flowed through some narrow man-made channels, and eventually flowed under a large building like structure. Under the building the waterway opened up and became like a large expansive room with pillars all around, most of the room being filled with several feet water. The ceiling was around 15-20 feet above the surface of the water. In the water were people, standing completely still like statues, covered with a sort of brown sludge or sewage type material. The people were the lowest of the low, afflicted with a disorder which compelled them to place themselves in this state, in the sludge and mire, in this large sewage channel of sorts. It is difficult to explain my sense of the disorder these people were afflicted with. It was a combination of self hatred, obsession with self abuse and filth, withdrawal from society, resignation to a life in the sewer, and an overwhelming sense that they deserved to be in this place, covered with this sludge.

In my dream was a man who was devoted to these people, explaining that love and physical affection were a large part of rescuing these people from this state. They needed to know that they were valuable and loved by someone willing to embrace them physically. He suggested that I embrace a statue-man standing near me in the water, covered with the sewage. I did embrace him and held him, and I saw on his face that he immediately received love and responded to my affection.

posted by Chaddo 12/16/2002 12:29:00 PM