Wedding Dream

In May 2009, I went to Israel with my family. Rachael was already there on a work-study program in architecture and Jessica was on a Birthright trip.

Two of my nieces got married, Naomi on May 31 and Aviva on June 4.

Aviva invited me to speak at her wedding, which I accepted.

I knew I was going to talk about the four immeasurable minds, but I didn’t  know what I was going to say.

The four immeasurable minds are loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

Loving-kindness is the offering of happiness to others. In fact, kindness is the most important quality that people look for in a mate. This is certainly true for me.

Compassion is the intention and desire to relieve the suffering of others, as demonstrated in The Neuroscience of Compassion.

Sympathetic joy is delighting in the happiness of others. For me, this is really alive when I experience the happiness of my children.

Equanimity is seeing things just as they are because that is exactly the way that they are.

So I spoke a little about each of these minds applied to the marriage of Aviva and her husband, Eylon. I did not mention the origin of these teachings or the Buddha. Many people told me how much they enjoyed what I had to say.

Wedding Dream

The night before last, I had a lucid wedding dream in which I was once again involved in a marriage celebration. This time, I was conducting the ceremony.

Before the final vows, I gathered everyone in concentric circles around the bride and groom.

In the inner circle were the parents and grandparents of the couple. Later, when thinking about the dream, I added the couple’s children, if any to this circle.

In the middle circle, I placed the “sisters and cousins and aunts,” and also brothers, uncles and all the children and grandchildren of the couple’s siblings.

In the outer circle, I placed everyone else in attendance.

When everyone was in their proper place, I asked the groom to walk around the bride seven times saying the loving-kindness blessings:

May you be safe from internal and external harm.
May you have a calm, clear mind and a peaceful, loving heart.
May you be strong, healthy and vital.
May you experience love, joy, wonder and wisdom in this life, just as it is.

Then I asked the bride to walk around the groom seven time repeating the loving kindness blessings.

Next, I invited the couple to shower loving-kindness blessings on the people in their inner circle, and have the blessings reciprocated by the people in the inner circles.

This process repeats for the middle and outer circles.

And then I woke up. This gave me a chance to organize my thoughts about the dream and provided me with time to contemplate the significance of it.

Do You Know Anyone Getting Married Soon?

This dream was so vivid and so memorable that I want to share it with you and your loved ones.

You can either try to use it yourself with the brief introduction I’ve given, or invite me to conduct the ceremony.

Naturally, you could customize the blessings to suite your own taste and I can work with you on this.

I am legally qualified to do so and would take great joy in celebrating your happiness.