Excerpted from Passion for Pilgrimage, by Alan Jones
“In the Eastern tradition there is a critical period in our lives that is a privileged opportunity for spiritual growth. This time is called the period ‘between dreams.’ Dreaming is essential for our existence. It holds life together by a series of images and pictures. We need to dream if life is to be worth living. From time to time, however, something wakes us up. Much to our consternation we find ourselves in a deep and impenetrable darkness. There is no light, no dream to hold life together. The bottom falls out of everything. In our panic we try to go back to sleep to recapture the old dream. The spiritual masters suggest that this moment of panic is a thing to hold onto and treasure. The time ‘between dreams’ is a place to stay and wait in the darkness so that a new and larger dream has the chance to emerge. It is only in the waiting that horizons of our dreaming can explode and expand. The new dream will make new space for us and send our lives in a new direction.”
