Last night I dreamt of a friend who had betrayed me. She made a heartfelt apology to me. I forgave her and hugged her really tight. Then, I noticed Joe looking around us anxiously. We were outside at night and there were a lot of people around. It was like a downtown area. I asked him what was wrong. He said, “That’s what they said before that guy was injured.” Then he uttered some obscure phrases, and it came to me that these words were heard spoken before some kind of terrorist attack recently reported in the news. Apparently, someone had just said them in the crowd and that brought anticipation of another attack. I said, “Oh no, now you’ve said them too.” Would others hear him and grow anxious too, perhaps manifesting a self-fulfilling prophecy of terror? It was as if the words themselves had taken on the power to spread fear and violence.
Then Skylar woke me up. She had woken from a nightmare and come into our room.
As I hugged Skylar, I felt the lingering sensation of forgiveness. That was the antidote to the fear of the attack. Forgiveness sets us free from fear. We fear others because we don’t understand them. To understand is to forgive. Yet, when we forget this and don’t seek to understand or forgive, the fear can spread like wildfire. As people talk about the fearful actions, it spreads, extrapolates, unless we decide to stop it with love. That humble strength that allows us to let go and just love for no other reason than we know it’s the best thing for us – that will extinguish the fire of fear.
Maybe by forgiving my trespassers, I can be part of the cure.
I Awakened Like This 