It is three years since I had the following dream experience, although the impression it made upon me has not diminished over time. The experience itself was so vivid that when I came out of it I believed for a moment it had all just taken place in real life.
I was standing outside in an open area, a heath wreathed in early morning mist. I held a gun in my hand, and my first thought was that I must be in a battle. But looking up I saw a man facing me from across the heath and immediately I knew why I was there. Glancing down again at my weapon I recognised it as a duelling pistol. I raised the pistol to take aim, squeezed the trigger, and fired. My shot went wide. I should have been dismayed that I’d missed but felt elated instead, happy in not having hurt or killed another human. I woke up not knowing what happened next.
Many years before I was told by a teacher from the world of spirit (one we were privileged to listen to in those days), that in a past life I died in a duel. Quite when this occurred I don’t know, but the matter to be settled concerned a woman. For years I thought no more about it until having this dream. It gave me one additional detail; that I had fired and missed. Although it didn’t come into the dream, I suspect that my opponent fired his pistol and killed me outright.
No doubt in the original incident I would have died with a curse upon my lips. But in this ‘reconstruction’ I had the opportunity to show that since that time my feelings had changed. I no longer wanted to curse my enemy or to wish him dead. I was happy to have missed, despite the fact that I would lose my own life. Any vestige of hatred I had harboured for this man, possibly for many, many years, could finally be cleared from my consciousness, leaving me free of this part of my past.
One might ask, if I had learned then why the need to go through it again? The answer is that until we are confronted by a similar situation it cannot really be known what our natural reaction will be, and whether or not we have fully learned the lesson.
My adversary’s state of mind was not revealed in the dream. His feelings remain his concern, not mine. But what this dream experience shows is the possibility of meeting former enemies out of the body so that past differences can be cleared, from one’s own mind at least. If neither one has learned to let go of hatred or the desire for revenge, then they might well come face to face again, either after passing or in a further incarnation upon earth.
The Biblical book of Revelation speaks of those who have been wronged who call out to be avenged, (Rev 6:9-11). They are given white robes, which on the face of it sounds good. But in this instance white shows only self-righteousness and not the fullness of light. If this world is to free itself from darkness we should all look to building light ourselves, not wanting others to suffer for anything they may or may not have done. Jesus the Master Teacher taught this. We need not and should not judge another, for we do not know the extenuating circumstances, or how that one truly feels. Both those innocent or guilty of causing harm come under the law of cause and effect, and must learn through the effects, be they good or bad. Anyone who willingly accepts the lessons of life will learn how to love and to bless others. They will then find the way to make amends for the past without further suffering to themselves or to others.
C.E.J.