First We Were Dreamers - Mammoths, Angels, and Demons

Before Psychology and Religion, there was Us andBefore greeting him, you ask Meeree, the best with
our Dreams -hides in the whole tribe, to make new extra strong
As we stand on the proscenium of the Future, in thespecial shoes for Jarboo. You sit down with her and
21st Century's front door, it is useful to remembertalk about his lame foot. This is sensitive and you ask
that Humans are not our things, not our technologies,her to make them in the context of the Special
not our web, nor our electronic codes. We are notCeremony. She knows that these "boots" will help
the New Age. We are not all the research locked uphim. Not only with the hunt, but also give him a new
in endless hard drives. We are ourselves. Our Psyche,look on a daily basis. She is a close cousin and
our Hearts and our Souls. We are walking aroundunderstands the tribal dynamics. She also likes Layluh
creatures who think and feel and get worn out atand thinks this might help that potential relationship.
the end of the day, then we lie ourselves down andMeeree also knows something. Layluh is pregnant by
sleep. And then by some recuperative magic, weJarboo. It will be important for him to be honored.
billions, we "happy few" have dream lives thatWhen you hear this, it does not completely surprise
somehow restore us so we can rise and do it allyou, but it fits in with the Words of the Mammoth.
again.That Mammoth was definitely smart, even if it was
Dreams were at the dawn of Us. Before we had allnot the Voice of the Great Spirit.
the above, we had our loves, our work, our incredibleOmens - Bad and Good -
brains and our dreams. With those dreams, weYou have been a Vivid Dreamer all your Life. You
explained the inexplicable to ourselves. With dreamscome from a strong family in the Tribe, and you
we interpreted meaningful events and assignedhave been known as a Great Hunter Family.
values and significances to mystery and confusingHowever, your Father dying of "Poison in the Gut"
outcomes. Dreams are the private little electronicwas not a good Omen. Omens are funny. They are
exertions of our beings. Yes, that's how some mightways we have of making sense of the Unknowable.
look at them. I say dreams are the beginning of theA good Omen seems to build momentum for a
gods, the beginning of social continuity, the beginningsperson or activity. A bad Omen gives a sense of
of psychology and astrology and predictivedirection. Without formal religion, we pick up cues
statements and prophecy. Dreams are at thefrom Life and its many happenings.
nascient spark of all that we call human. DreamsAngels and Demons -
began science when science couldn't be even defined.Omens, good and bad get interpreted, the people
Dreams have been helping us since flint and will helpare constantly doing this in their daily life. Everyone is
us with alternate realities!a Little Omen Maker for their own life. Omens don't
Look at those angels and demons, those scarycome in little M&M drops, they seem to come in
apparitions on the edge of consciousness. Like scareflocks. People have noticed this forever. They say, "it
crows on the dusty highway, we stop and stare intoseems to have a Meaning." Its how we get through,
the field of the night time side of us, and we smile aseven if we have a highly evolved churched approach.
we shake. But alas, we have been dealing with angelsBesides the good news/bad news events of individual
and demons and the unseen reason for the Manifestlives, the Tribe had its own set of good news/bad
World for ages. Let's look before science andnews trends. Blessings and Cursings were events.
technology. When science was spear throwing andLong Term Trends of Blessings and Cursings were
making clothes, and technology was a really coolsent by Angels and Demons. All those stars up there
sharp stone Mammoth killer.were the gods of the universe and they were
The Mammoth Hunt at the Foot of the Glacier -dictating things. It was the job of Leadership and
Imagine the glow of a melting glacier, illuminated by aShamanistic Interpretation to name and classify these
setting full moon in the predawn sky. Its SouthernAngels and Demons.
France and, in the future, this will be called "10,000Dreams - The Magical Language -
BC".Funny thing about dreams. Everybody has them.
You have a full stomach from a recent MammothSome you know you had, but immediately forget.
hunt, and your dreams were really vivid last night.Some you remember for a moment and then they
You stand up and stretch and check out your fellowdisappear, Some you can remember with effort.
tribe members. The assembled are all safe and inSome are unforgettable. The language of dreams is
deep sleep. You grab a piece of meat from the spit,not immediately discernible. Symbols, visions, talking
still being warmed by the smouldering fire of lastanimals, images that meld into other images. Total
evenings festivities. You throw your bear fur overstrangers, lovers, friends, and mute humans -- it goes
your shoulder. Since everyone else is asleep, youon and on. Literally anything can happen in a dream,
quietly move to a rise nearby and contemplate theand its own context, dreams always seem to have
festival of starry lights blazing in every part of thetheir own logic, even though the Dream Logic can
night sky. Vincent Van Gogh's starry night was dimchange too.
compared to the fiery illumination you see above you.Dreams seem appropriate to the Receiver. We are
There is no TV news to wake you up. Or rush hourboth the Author and the Audience to our Dreams.
traffic to contemplate. Your dream, thatThe personalization of a dream makes it automatically
unforgettable, other worldly experience you had lastimportant or significant to the Dreamer because you
night is still got its grip on you. You look over yourare the best authority on your own dreams. Dream
shoulder without thinking about it, because theInterpretation is an Art that is probably more ancient
spectre of the 10 tusked Mammoth of your dreamthat we can imagine, though it is now a rare
might just be real. You smile at yourself as youformalized experience that few people use or ask
realize - "It was just a dream." That's the first thingfor. But back 10,000 BC, dream interpretation
humans have been saying for aeons, and you say itprobably was our main "entertainment" or "sermon",
too. The next thing you say to yourself: "I wonderor "secret message center".
what it means?" In your dreams your fellow hunters"I Dreamed About You Last Night!" -
all got away from the 10 tusked beast. You fell on"I had a dream about you last night." Now that was
your back as you saw your mate crying for you afarhow your mate first started flirting with you back
off.when you were camping near the Cote D'Azur on
The Big Dream -the Med. She threw a rock into the sea, and you
The Mammoth stopped and stood over you. Youwatched her body move with a new appreciation.
thought you would be instantly crushed, but youSomehow that statement had a bunch of meanings
were not. It stood over you and cried. "I gave youat once, but it was a simple statement. Kind of magic
my life. I travelled over mountain passes far north ofactually, because the relationship started cooking
here and ate from a thousand places, just so yourafter that. There is SO MUCH electronic noise in our
family could eat me." You are still on your back andmodern world, it is virtually impossible to imagine
you touch one of the tusks.what life used to be like for our human family. For
"I could kill you right now, but I don't. My spirit is nowthousands of years the electronic firings of our
in your whole tribe. You have great glory becausedream sleep were the TV/Entertainment of our
you killed me. They call you the "Great Hunter" now,world. Oh yeah, and add in God's Voice, and
all because you figured out a way to back me offRomantic Imaginings and Funny Visions that made
that little cliff. Yeah, it was smart of you, but ityou blush or giggle all day long. Dreams were a Big
wasn't that great. I was distracted actually by allTime part of life, not just the flittering simple fanciful
those screaming hunters and that one sharp spearsnatched vision pushed away by the rock and roll DJ
that stuck in my eye. It was Jarboo's long shot thaton the alarm clock morning show.
actually did the trick. Sure you were the Leader ofThere is an emotional psychical component to
the Hunt, but you know you didn't deserve thedreams. Dreams are seldom simple problem solvers,
credit. Jarboo is a great spear thrower, and he neverbut they often have confusing, emotionally charged
gets the credit he should get because he has thatimagery like the Mammoth talking. Dismiss the feelings
lame leg and its hard for him to keep up in thein dreams and you are cutting yourself off from Your
frenzy of the hunt. But, once Jarboo catches up, heOwn Core. Dreams are the Silent Part of You nudging
plants that shriveled little left foot and hurls withyou, shoving you, suggesting things to you. The loud
great accuracy. You guys have to stop making funEgo and the Voice of Busyness sometimes get a
of him. He is very valuable to your tribe. The othersvoice, but often do not.
don't like the way he can't handle all the chores, but"I had a dream about you last night" also declares:
they forget that he is very kind to the old ones. The"This is topical." It's an immediate message - a text
kids follow along with him because he is slower, butmessage from deep within about the most recent
they like him. He has a sense of humor. And thepulsation of your Soul.
wives and girls say he is charming, but not offensive.The World of Duality - "Oh that's not good, or could
You know what I mean?" The Mammoth shook hisit be...?"
head with an ironic twinkle.You have been thinking, as you watch the patterns
"Well, I want to thank you for telling me all this". Youin life that nothing stays good and bad forever, but
kept on rehearsing the dream in your head, now thatthe Shamans are right -- everything is cyclical. Your
you were fully awake, but still in complete memorydream helped you stop in a moment in time to see
of it. The Mammoth with 10 tusks went on: "Youthe complexity in back of it all. Not only is life Cyclical,
must honor my Spirit and praise the Lame One -there is a powerful role that Choice makes. Because
Jarboo." Remember your Father. He died suddenlyof individual choice, it seems that the Human Will is
from Poison in the Gut. He ate for three nights in anot completely subject to the Angels or the Demons.
row and did not share the food properly with theYou start your speech to the Village. You want to
Stinky Family. Just because they are Stinky andcover lots of issues and make it memorable to
Obnoxious does not mean they don't contribute toeveryone. "The Tribe has been watching Jarboo for
the Tribe. I think your Father was cursed by themany years. Sometimes we thought to ourselves,
Great Spirit for not properly distributing the meat.why can't that Kid keep up. When he was really
You don't want to suffer the same fate. Otherwiseyoung people would pass him around on their
you could be known as the "Son of the Chief Whoshoulders, when the Tribe would move. He would
Died from Poison in the Gut" Not a good Omen. Andtake a little bag of rocks along with him, as he was
that's how you figure things out down here -- withcarried on people's shoulders. Well, some people out
Good and Bad Omens.there thought he was cursed with a bad omen, or
"Now Jarboo, you know, except for his lame lefteven that a Demon pushed him into that old tree. I
foot, he is quite a great guy. Besides, your daughterthink that's how most people thought of him. They
Layluh, she gets very stimulated in his presence. Andfelt bad for him because of his problem. And you
he likes her attention, but has always treated herknow, he had an automatic excuse for the rest of
with respect. He would take great care of Layluh,his life for not being able to keep up. But we all know
and he isn't cursed with that left foot. If he becomeswhat he ended up doing.
your Son in Law, his children should be normal.When the hunters gathered for the big effort,
Besides, you know Layluh is not the most glowinglyJarboo would listen, but everyone knew he just
attractive of the tribal girls, and she has that funnywouldn't be there for most of the hunt. But they also
voice. The big guys respect her, but she doesn'tknew he would keep up for the Coup de Grace.
have the greatest following.Jarboo made a shot that no one could believe - right
Tribal Decisions, Spiritual Insights, Fateful Moves -straight into the eye. It sent the big boy down the
A few minutes later, after contemplating the Bigcliff like a rock! Let us honor Jarboo because he
Dream over again, you make your way back to theworked his whole life turning a Bad Omen into a
camp. People are stirring. You kiss your mate who isGood Omen. The angels smiled down on him and the
cutting a piece of breakfast off for you. You have aDemons lost their power, because Jarboo lived his life
new sense of sharing because of the Big Dream andthe way he lived it."
you are on a Mission. You mozy over to Joe, theIt looks like you will be moving North this summer.
Shaman. You give him that warm piece of meat. YouGreat dreams have shown that you must listen to
don't tell Joe the Shaman about the Big Dream,the Bidding of the Great Spirit. You decide to
because he gets jealous when you talk about yourcommune with your Mammoth tonight, maybe he will
Dreams.give you some more insight. This dream has turned
You make your way toward Jarboo and his people.into a personal religion. And so the story starts.
Jarboo is a cool guy. You look at him in a new way.