holding the tension of the opposites...

Our dreams are impeccable at helping us find the places of tension within us…the places where our inner self and outer self aren't in alignment. And in our willingness to look at this place of conflict within is we can begin to not only make clearer choices, we develop the capacity to be patient…to wait…for something new to emerge.

There is even a lovely teaching on this place of waiting for something new to be born. It is seen in the mandorla (the Vesica Piscis), in its sacred meaning, the divine feminine and the healing potential in all of us.  The mandorla is the image of two intersecting circles with a space created where they overlap each other.  

I first came upon the mandorla in the clear and helpful writings of Robert Johnson and it was an entry point for me into an important teaching...that in a place of confusion and conflict, a place where we truly don’t know what to do...to be willing to hold “the tension of the opposites.” 

As one side of the circle pulls towards its opposite, there is a tension that is created.  We all know this place, where we struggle to make a decision, to fix, to figure out, to feel the need to force an issue. We can feel it is all on us.

Yet this is not a place our thinking minds can bring us to...it is something that...when we allow ourselves to feel and to wait...reveals itself to us.

The mandorla teaches that in our willingness to wait versus our exerting our willfulness...to take a breath in this place...we allow for a third shape to take form...the almond shape in the middle...the place where something new can emerge...something new can be born in us and for us…something often times simple, clear and unexpected…yet surprisingly and often delightedly obvious.  

As we take a breath into this place of waiting…of willingness…this experience is enriched even more deeply by the support that comes in our dreams. Also emerging in that new opening there comes through our dreams a helpful figure…a recovery of our capacity to feel…a return to inner connectedness and relationship.  Our dreams help us learn…help us remember…that we are not alone in this place…that we never were.  Our dreams bring us back to our wholeness and capacity to be with and know we are supported during all those times that challenge us.

 

(Image from The Mandorla Institute)

 

(Mary Jo Heyen is a Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients locally or anywhere by phone video conference. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com.)