A Joyful Practice

Notes & EXCERPT: “Are You Dreaming or Not Dreaming?” June 23, 2024

Happy Pride! Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing the Pentecost — Trinity Sunday, Midsummer’s Eve, and/or dreaming and working for more peace, freedom, and wisdom (inside and outside).

“BOTTOM: When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is ‘Most fair Pyramus.’ Heigh-ho! Peter Quince? Flute the bellows-mender? Snout the tinker? Starveling? God’s my life, stol’n hence, and left me asleep? I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream—past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had—but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream. It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream’ because it hath no bottom. And I will sing it in the latter end of a play before the duke. Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.”

— quoted from Act IV, Scene i of A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare

Tomorrow, June 24^th, is Saint John’s Day (in Western Christian traditions*), also known as Midsummer — making today, June 23^rd, Saint John’s Eve or Midsummer’s Eve. Another way to think of tonight is as Midsummer’s Night, since this is when the celebrations begin and, theoretically, could be the night made famous by William Shakespeare’s play.

CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW for the entire 2020 post.

Are You Dreaming or Not Dreaming?

“They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who’s to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the earth”

— quoted from the closing narration of The Twilight Zone, episode “Perchance to Dream” by Charles Beaumont (episode directed by Robert Florey, aired November 27, 1959)

Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, June 23^rd) at 2:30 PM. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06232020 MidSummer’s Night Eve”]

CLICK HERE to see how today is connected to tomorrow.

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).

Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.

Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.

*NOTE: In Orthodox Christian traditions, today is Pentecost — Trinity Sunday, which falls on the “fiftieth” day after Easter. Similar to (and related to) Shavuot, this is the feast day associated with the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles.

### Dream On! ###