I had a powerful dream last week that I want to share. Please be forewarned that parts of it are horrific.

I dreamed that the Nazis had come. They had gathered up a small group of women, about seven. Each woman had been tightly bound to a tall sheaf of hay, a sheaf as big around as herself. The woman/sheaves were arranged in a circle, facing each other, and then the sheaves were bound to each other. The whole arrangement was bound to a platform on an open convoy truck, hanging off the back of it. It had just been lit on fire, and it was beginning to smolder, the smoke wafting up from below. The women would not only be burned alive, but they would also watch each other burn alive. The plan was to to drive this truck through town to terrify other people. At the last moment a young soldier in Nazi uniform, overwhelmed by his conscience, tried to intervene and stop the process. He was knocked out cold and his body was tossed into the center of the pyre, in the laps of the women. Then the truck drove off.

As horrific as all this was, amazingly, there was also a message of Love. 

I was one of the women in the circle. I felt that my purpose, in that moment, was to remain calm and keep my eyes open. To look at each woman in the circle, look her in the eye, and say “I Love You” while we burned. So that no matter what evil was being thrust upon us from the outside, each person would die knowing they were loved. 

I woke up from this dream before that came to pass, but the dream affected me deeply. I have been thinking about it, and its applications, daily since then. There are at least two places I can use this:

I have been traumatized by the direction the U.S. government is heading. I have been active and aware since the 2016 election. I have watched so many needed protections getting torn down—the environment, social safety nets, racial and religious safeguards. The list is extensive. Just when I think it really can’t get any worse, here come the impeachment proceedings. I have been following them since November and we have just reached aquital. Many days I have broken down sobbing at the travesty and injustice, the extent of the greed and power mongering. I feel like we are going down in flames. Not unlike the Nazi burning circle. Maybe one thing I can do in the face of this is to look each person in the eye and say “I Love You” , to create the human connection and vibration of Love on a personal level. I don’t even have to verbalize this, I just need to feel it and mean it.

The other place is also personal. I am in the youth of my old age. Many of my friends are older. We are all heading down the inevitable path of physical decline. Many conversations involve illness, loss, and dying. Without the acknowledgment that this is one of the stages of living, it would be easy to become distraught. But we are all going to die. We are all going to die of something and, statistically, very few of us are going to get the instant out we hope for. Most of us are going to face some suffering along the way. We are going to suffer and we are going to witness suffering, probably more than at any other time in our lives. In this situation, like in the burning circle, my purpose is to remain calm, look each person in the eye, and see them and honor them. We’re in this together, folks. We can choose how we behave. Choose Love.