I remember Jeremy Taylor from talks and classes I attended at The University of Creation Spirituality and The Chaplaincy Institute, an Interfaith Seminary in Berkeley. I also had the great privilege of interviewing him for the Creation Spirituality Elder InnerView Series last year (now posted at http://creationspirituality.info/experience/elder-innerviews/). I always sensed that he was a giant among men - a giant mind and heart. So it was with great sadness that I learned of his sudden passing and remotely attended his Celebration of Life in Berkeley via Zoom on Jan 14, 2018. That night I had this dream.
I am walking with my wife and children through the most amazing stores filled with brightly colored whimsical metal art: copper fired with beautiful glazes (for light switches, wall panels, even some kind of fancy toilet). We go outside just as the sun is setting over a steep radiant green lawn-covered hill upon which stands a huge vibrantly colored metal sculpture meant to look like medieval town or castle. I’m awe-struck by this art installation and take pictures with my cellphone as we hike beside the hill. I should add that I rarely dream in color and this is the most vivid and dazzlingly colorful dream I’ve ever had. Upon awakening, I immediately wonder, "Where are we? Why did I have this dream? What does it mean?" And then, "Was this dream related to Jeremy’s passage and Celebration of Life gathering?" It seemed to me that these artists from the wondrous psyche were creating stunning representations of another reality, like Heaven, like what Jeremy could be experiencing on his journey to home, revealing the highly conscious perception of the radiant beauty of the other side…glimpses of eternity.
Later, reflecting meditatively on this dream, I begin to see its outline. Art pieces, brightly colored glazes burned onto copper plates: anticipatory depictions of eternity's resplendent beauty. The path moves around the Biblical and shining "City on the Hill" (Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" any more than can Jeremy's brilliance) before an incredible sunset luminous with orange, yellow, white and gold light, symbolizing the other side shining through the dream. Walking around the green hill in Jungian active imagination, I see that the path leads downward to the water's edge to the ocean where all our loved ones wait in celebration.
I now believe that this dream was sharing something of Jeremy's journey through the veil, a journey not at all grim but incredibly beautiful. I think the words and consciousness infusing his Celebration of Life stirred a mystical awareness of his passage, an intuitive co-experience that hospice workers sometimes report at the moment of death. Jeremy was always giving, sharing his immense knowledge of dreams and archetypes, his love for people and justice, and his joy in life. He was so open. I think he was shining so brightly that his light burst through to us all. PS. I gotta ask him about that toilet part! I can hear him laughing now.
I am walking with my wife and children through the most amazing stores filled with brightly colored whimsical metal art: copper fired with beautiful glazes (for light switches, wall panels, even some kind of fancy toilet). We go outside just as the sun is setting over a steep radiant green lawn-covered hill upon which stands a huge vibrantly colored metal sculpture meant to look like medieval town or castle. I’m awe-struck by this art installation and take pictures with my cellphone as we hike beside the hill. I should add that I rarely dream in color and this is the most vivid and dazzlingly colorful dream I’ve ever had. Upon awakening, I immediately wonder, "Where are we? Why did I have this dream? What does it mean?" And then, "Was this dream related to Jeremy’s passage and Celebration of Life gathering?" It seemed to me that these artists from the wondrous psyche were creating stunning representations of another reality, like Heaven, like what Jeremy could be experiencing on his journey to home, revealing the highly conscious perception of the radiant beauty of the other side…glimpses of eternity.
Later, reflecting meditatively on this dream, I begin to see its outline. Art pieces, brightly colored glazes burned onto copper plates: anticipatory depictions of eternity's resplendent beauty. The path moves around the Biblical and shining "City on the Hill" (Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" any more than can Jeremy's brilliance) before an incredible sunset luminous with orange, yellow, white and gold light, symbolizing the other side shining through the dream. Walking around the green hill in Jungian active imagination, I see that the path leads downward to the water's edge to the ocean where all our loved ones wait in celebration.
I now believe that this dream was sharing something of Jeremy's journey through the veil, a journey not at all grim but incredibly beautiful. I think the words and consciousness infusing his Celebration of Life stirred a mystical awareness of his passage, an intuitive co-experience that hospice workers sometimes report at the moment of death. Jeremy was always giving, sharing his immense knowledge of dreams and archetypes, his love for people and justice, and his joy in life. He was so open. I think he was shining so brightly that his light burst through to us all. PS. I gotta ask him about that toilet part! I can hear him laughing now.