Covid-19, Music and Dreaming

A few weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic it started to get clear to us all how sweeping and pervasive a situation we were finding ourself in.  Like many, I found my thoughts and energies going more inside myself as the busy-ness of day to day living slowed and quieted.  I found myself having a lot dreams about music, with famous musicians visiting me and having interactions.  I dug out some of my dusty instruments and music gear, and found old unfinished (and some finished!) songs and enjoyed reconnecting with them.  In a phone conversation with a friend I found myself remembing a song lyric I'd written way back when that was suddenly charged with deeper meaning. The opening part of it struck me strongly in connection to this Covid era and a dream I had. In hopes that this sharing is useful…

“Somebody’s got to get to the outside of all this,
and come back and say what they see.
We are needing the reminder that the purpose of our living
is the beauty of our dreams.”

A few nights ago I had this beautiful dream:

There was a wheel made of people. They were of all colors and genders and they were strong. They made the wheel by interlocking their bodies, where each was firmly holding onto and being held onto…with footholds and handholds, by elbows, knees and hips, the wheel was a circular woven human fabric that radiated strength, ability togetherness.

It was a beautiful, powerful thing to behold.

In perfectly choreographed and visually arresting movements, all would suddenly shift positions as one…impossibly knowing exactly when and how to simultaneously release and glide into ways of holding each other in an utterly new and equally powerful design. Each shift generated a delightful shimmering of colors and shapes as hands, feet and bodies reached anew for one another with clarity and purpose…revealing a newly formed wheel each time, a wheel fully capable of carrying on, turning, revolving, moving. Like circus ninjas of a single but rhizomed mind, their strength, innovation and resilience seemed tireless. They never missed a catch.

To follow the spirit of the dream I say:
Let’s not miss a catch! Who am I holding, reaching for?
Go get them!

Who is reaching for me? Be available to them!
What can I do to hold my part of our beautiful wheel?

Let’s wheel, together.