A WOMAN WHO INTERPRETED DREAMS

         All her life she believed she was a modern messiah but .....

         She had spent many years

         learning

         how to descend into the dark recesses of the mind,

         learning

         how to discover the secrets of the soul

         and

         learning

         how to interpret dreams.

         Dreams

         were like

         treasures from the underground world;

         when she had collected

         enough of those treasures

         she dedicated her life

         to

         sharing them with others.

         Every morning she went to the clinic and spent her day listening to other people's stories, helping them solve the riddles of their lives. It was as if she lit a candle of hope which would burn in the dark corners of the people's hearts.

         She felt as if those troubled souls were lost in a jungle. Dozens of trails surrounded the souls but each person was not able to choose the trail that lead to the highways of their lives.

         She shared with those troubled minds that by opening their outer eyes they had closed their inner eyes - those of their heart. They were so involved with their turbulent environments that they had lost touch with their inner selves; lost within the "humdrum" of the outside world they could not hear the music inside.

         When she met people who led hectic lives she would suggest that they stop a minute, steal a few moments from their routinely busy days so that they could ponder over their dreams and listen to the whispers of their hearts, the whispers that shared the secrets of the highways.

         For years she helped people with a wide range of existential dilemmas but gradually it was those people who had romantic and sexual problems that would frequent the clinic.

         One man shared with her that he was thirty-five years old and he was still a virgin. He had never seen the naked body of a woman and had never experienced the magic of the intimate touch of a woman. In his dreams he would kiss the eyes, cheeks, and lips of a beautiful woman. He would embrace her body and became intoxicated by her company but when he woke up in the morning, he felt even more lonely than he had before.

         Another man shared that he was trapped in a loveless marriage for years. His relationship with his wife reminded him of fruits that had become dry because every drop of their juice had already been squeezed from the fruit. Even if he had to make love to his wife he fantasized about other women; without the fantasy, he was impotent. He was unhappy but he did not want to leave his wife because he felt bound to the promise he made to live with her for the rest of his life.

         The third man who came to see her shared that he got so fed up with his bland marriage that he started having an affair with another woman. His mistress knew about his wife but his wife did not know about his mistress. He was always in conflict. On one hand he felt guilty about his infidelity but on the other hand he felt pleased that his affair was keeping his marriage together. If he did not have a mistress he would have divorced his wife a long time ago. Whatever happiness he acquired from the company of his mistress was passed along to his wife. Such a conflict became a thorn in his soul. He spent sleepless nights worrying about it.

         One other man who came to see her told her that he got so fed up with traditional relationships that he said goodbye to all of them. He felt free, like a bird. He dated and slept with any woman he desired. Many times he had lunch with one woman, dinner with another and breakfast with yet another. Although his life was filled with romance he still was not happy. He wanted to look into his own soul but he found all the windows and doors closed.

         She listened to the stories, dilemmas and dreams patiently day after day of those men and many others who could not share their private lives with their families, friends or colleagues. They felt relieved to share their heartaches with her and she believed that she was the messiah of her era who helped men overcome times of difficulty.

         When people inquired about her philosophies of life she shared that she believed that life was an ocean and the human heart was a boat. As long as the boat was in good condition, it could float above thousands of tons of water and no harm would come to the passengers; however, if there was but a small hole in the bottom, then even a bucket full of water could lead to peril: the boat, inevitably, sank. She told people that when they lost touch with themselves and did not listen to the whispers of their souls their hearts broke and they became overwhelmed by the ocean of life.

         She was so good in interpreting people's dreams that instead of calling her a therapist they called her "a woman who interpreted dreams."

         Her practice continued for years. She would have listened and interpreted the dreams forever but she experienced a change in herself. She was no longer as enthusiastic and adventurous as she had been previously. She felt as if her own soul was inhabited by white ants. She couldn't listen to her own music inside. She felt numb. One day when she closed her eyes the windows of her dreams opened and she found herself in another era, a century before her times. She was living in the period when most of the people used to live in villages and went to big towns and cities only occasionally.

         Those male villagers who were unhappy with their romantic and sexual lives visited prostitutes in big cities, satisfied their sexual desires and went back to their faithful wives in the villages. When they felt guilty they visited their priests confessed their sins and were asked to pray as penance to cleanse themselves from the dirt of their sins.

         In her dreams she observed that one day the village priest went to the big city and unexpectedly met the prostitute whom the men of his congregation visited. He felt as if he had known her all his life. He felt attracted to her and asked her out for the evening. She agreed. They dined, drank, danced and finally spent the night together.

         Her dream took an interesting turn when in the morning neither the priest nor the prostitute came out of the bedroom. She was curious as to their whereabouts, so she went inside. The bedroom decor was just like her own, including her very own four poster bed. She approached the woman lying on the bed and it was her own face she saw.