Yesterday night I had two dreams. In the first dream, I was the leader of a small spiritual community, which is true to life. We were living in dark rooms on the second floor of a beat-up section of downtown, a location which is not true to life. In actuality we presently dwell in the exurbs of Louisville, not in its “Portland” slum.

It was dark in our apartment because there was no power. It seemed as though there had been no power for quite a while. I was unworried by the lack of power, for we were headed to Avalon Farm, L/L Research’s spiritual retreat and bio-dynamic farm in real life, where we have solar power. I was serene. I had my trusty laptop computer and a 24-pack of AA batteries for my mouse. I knew my job was to communicate, and I could do that.

At the opening of the dream, it was the dead of night. We knew that we had until morning to solve the conundrum that was keeping the world in a state of fear. I thought, “Who am I to save the world?”

As we were discussing the situation, a band of looters broke into our apartment. They rifled the place, looking for food. Finding none, they departed. They had dropped behind them a wrapped box of chocolates. I looked at the gift tag. One of the looters had intended to give the candy to a friend. I was sure they had not meant to lose that.

I went down into the streets with my friends to locate the band of looters so that I could return their candy. We were lucky, finding the looters and giving them back their chocolates. “You must have dropped these,” I said to the looters. The thieves were so grateful and touched by our trust that they asked to join us. We took our new friends back to the apartment and once again began working on our dilemma.

In the second dream, I was on a sea journey. At first it was most enjoyable, as our group was large and each person had delightful places to show the group. However, on our return trip, in going with one friend to visit a shrine, I missed an appointment with another friend who was waiting for me at the pier. Realizing that I had “missed the boat,” I came back as quickly as I could in a series of very inconvenient and uncomfortable small boats. She was still waiting for me. She asked how my journey had been. “Hard,” I replied. She asked what the name of our ship had been. “Becoming,” I said.

It is not surprising that there should be dark notes to my dreams today, because as I write this, it is the six-year anniversary of 9/11. The news of the day is full of remembrance and the media sound the alarms of this sad day in history.

The fall-out of 9/11 is dark indeed. The United States now has a close equivalent of the Third Reich’s Gestapo, even to the design of their black uniforms, in our Homeland Security. Our Congress has voted away our rights to privacy and habeas corpus, for now at least, although the courts are beginning to review Congress’ right to alter our constitution.

I recently wrote a column on this very matter, discussing how I had been intimidated and threatened, innocent as I was, when my bags were searched while going through security on a flight to Mackinac Island, where I was to speak.

A lot of mail came my way after that essay was published. One of the responses was from an old friend of L/L Research, Monica L. On Sept. 2, she wrote,

“I’m so sorry to hear that the situation in this country has now affected you personally. That must have been a horrible experience!

“This is precisely why I asked the question of Q’uo last year, about whether we should be activists. Since Q’uo’s answer, I have been trying to avoid fear, and just focus on shining the light in whatever small way I am able. However, again and again I feel myself drawn into political issues. Again and again I seem to be convinced that the only viable way for this scenario to end and be replaced by an alternate, peaceful reality is for people to wake up to the truth.

“I have struggled with trying to determine whether I am acting on fear or whether I am acting on some soul mission I signed up for. The answer to that eludes me.”

Looking through our transcript archives in our website’s Library, I found the channeling session to which she referred. It took place on Nov. 12, 2006. Monica’s question to the extraterrestrial group source, Q’uo, was this:

“Ever since 9/11, I’ve been concerned that this planet may be heading towards a catastrophic war. I feel a sense of failure, helplessness and hopelessness. I feel myself heading towards complete despair. I’m beginning to question whether all is well with the birthing of fourth-density Earth. Has the planetary experiment gone awry? If so, what spiritual principles are involved in transmuting despair into hope and doubt into encouragement?”

The Q’uo group’s response to this question began with an explanation of why their discussion must remain within spiritual principles:

“We cannot make a frontal approach to your query. We are those who come on a vibration of unconditional love. Our contact does not have the facility with detailed, earthly information of a practical nature that an inner-planes entity might have. It is not our place to interfere with the governance or the affairs in general of Planet Earth.

“Our ability to speak through this instrument is based upon her preserving a certain tuning. Were she to slip out of this tuning range, we would be unable to continue offering her information.

“We say these things to you so that you will understand if we do not roll up our sleeves and dig in to the cleaning up of Planet Earth. Indeed, my sister, we do not see that picture. Let us talk a bit about what we do see upon your planet at this time.”

Q’uo talked about taking the ills that we perceive in the world around us, internalizing them and working on them within the context of our spiritual walk. As we heal the sense of separation we have between us and our other-selves in the world; as we are able to see all human beings as one with ourselves, they said, we are healing the world.

The natural response to such a suggestion is to feel that it is hopelessly inadequate. How can our thoughts change the world? Q’uo addressed this by saying:

“We ask you to realize that we are speaking on the level of a causality that is far beyond the causality of worldly things. We are not saying that if you heal your sense of separation today, the world will change tomorrow. We are saying that when individuals who belong to the tribe of humankind choose one, upon another, upon another, to serve the love and the light and to refrain from fear, that attitude will spread. That emotional safety net will begin to spread out. And the more people that are doing this kind of work within themselves, the more the environment will shift on the inner planes in such a way that those who come after you will be able to do this work in consciousness more and more easily.”

Q’uo went on to say:

“We cannot tell you not to be concerned about politics, society, economics and culture. Depending upon your own judgment and your own free will, we encourage you and all entities to follow your heart, to define those gifts that you might feel to share with your society and your culture that might make it better. This is your free will and your good work to do if you wish it. What we are here to speak with you concerning is something far simpler and at the same time something far greater. We come to tell you a story about love: love unconditional; love unlimited.

“We would encourage you to see that if you choose to stand knowing who you are, your feet planted upon the soil of your life and your experience and your arms stretched in praise and thanksgiving to the Creator of all things, you are a person of great power.

“If you choose to adopt and embrace faith, no suffering can break you, for you choose the truth and all else is illusion.

“If you choose hope, those wings shall fly you where you need to go.”

This response seems balanced to me. If we are drawn to activism, then it is our proper path. Yet we must not become activists because we fear what is happening. Rather, if we march, fast or meditate as we are drawn to do by our personal compasses, we must be motivated by our love for our society and our desire to see our nation recover its beloved and just constitutional freedoms. And if we are drawn instead to the completely inner work of healing our own separation, then this is our rightful and appropriate mission at hand.

And regarding Monica’s fears that our planet’s shift into the Age of Aquarius, which the Confederation of which the Q’uo group is a part calls the Fourth Density, Q’uo offered this assurance:

“The fourth density is being born normally and in a healthy way. Many groups, including this one through which we speak this day, have spoken of light and love. And the word has been passed, more than perhaps you might realize, at the grass-roots level, at the level of indigenous peoples; and at the level in civilized worlds of the first fumblings and reachings for something that has substance.

“We see the world waking up to love. We see it beginning to identify the hunger that it has for love. We see it beginning to respond, love being reflected in love. There is great hope at that grass-roots level, below the radar of politics and empire.”

In my first dream, love was reflected in love when I chose to give the chocolates back to the looters, and reflected again when the looters switched their polarity from service to self, as they thieved, over to service to others, as they joined our band of Quixotic dreamers out to save the world. Q’uo’s “emotional safety net” was working.

And there is great hope in my other dream as well, for are we not on a journey that is hard? And yet, is it not all about becoming? Who are we to save the world? We are human beings. The prayer of “Handbook for the New Paradigm” rings in my mind: “I am a human being. Help me to become.”

I open my arms and embrace your spirit. May we find the grace and the courage to live in both worlds, the world of the nitty-gritty of suffering and limitation and spirit’s world of love, beauty and truth, without splitting our minds and hearts. On this hard journey together, may we grow into all that our inner vision calls us to become.