refuse the delusion

One more quote from this book that I finally finished:

"This delusion has now been presented to you in full. It consists of separation, fragmentation, the loss of wholeness. There must be a final "NO!" that refuses to participate in the delusion...
There are times when I want CNN to stop running endless crises in the crawl space at the bottom of the television screen and start running these words instead so that people can be reminded about what's real:

Whatever is in the mind is like a city in the clouds.
The emergence of this world is no more than thoughts coming into manifestation.
From the infinite consciousness we have created each other in our imagination.
As long as there is 'you' and an 'I', there is no liberation. Dear ones, we are all cosmic consciousness assuming individual form."

-- Deepak Chopra, The Book of Secrets

While I might find points to question, or at least to clarify, about some of his propositions, I love the thought of words such as these appearing suddenly on CNN. Or on some such channel of our collective mediasedation. Even better, maybe you'd like to join me in imagining what other words YOU would re-energize the fearmind with, if you could for one moment be in charge of the "news" bulletins being broadcast so urgently out to the world. (I love his term "crawl space" - the psychic implications, especially, of the claustrophobic corners to which this society limits itself, from which to try and perceive reality. We're all crawling, by some crazy choice, when we could be walking free. Or at least, those who buy into the fear, and the materialism, seem to be...).

The dreamtime altered my consciousness last night with a wonderful post-apocalyptic dream. There was some kind of worldwide plague or epidemic (not necessarily The Flu of which we are asked to live in fear, or maybe it was. It wasn't specified, really). It seemed to intensify and then diminish, in waves and by regions, over time. To keep us alerted, the government (a basically benevolent entity, in this world) would send out bulletins announcing the status and the recommended actions. On this day, the outlook was not so good, and they were recommending that we all lie low and stay indoors as much as possible. The friendly community in which I lived was ready for all contingencies - plenty of food, water, all the needed supplies - and we agreed that we didn't really have much to worry about. But later in the evening, a crowd of kids came to our door, with a bunch of cheap stuff that they wanted to barter (there seemed to be a disproportionate number of unattached children in this world, out fending for themselves in groups on the streets). The door guard and I had a short discussion about whether we should open up to the kids, and whether we risked contamination by trading with them. Again, we decided to be careful, but not to worry too much. Later on (apparently, after the alert was lifted), some of us went out into the city on the bus. I felt sad to see how many streets, plazas, buildings seemed abandoned and lifeless. But then we passed through the university, a grand old complex of brick buildings and open squares, and I cheered up at the sight of the barterer's market there, full of young people with tables of beautiful objects that they had made, found or gathered.

This dream should've been dark and oppressive throughout (there was even another segment where a few of us were captured for a while, for some unknown purpose, but even then we were upbeat, pragmatic, expecting a positive outcome). But it flowed all throughout with currents of optimism, empowerment, competence, warm community, and hope. I am thankful to all the voices within, and all accompanying spirits/Spirit, that affirmed my own wish, with this dream, to refuse the delusion for another day.