The Dream of the Bleached Skull - 19/5/2025

 Title: The Dream of the Bleached Skull

There is a dream I had long ago that still burns vividly in the silent corners of my mind.
Not a dream in the casual sense, but a message. A whisper from the depths. A vision.

I stood on high ground, sword in hand, facing my nemesis.
The earth below us was drenched with the aftermath of battle—lifeless bodies, broken steel, the cries of ghosts still echoing in the red, cracked sky.
And there we stood, face to face, locked in that eternal moment before the final blow.

But my enemy did not move.

I stared into his face, and saw it was not a face.
It was a skull—bleached white, hollow-eyed, cracked by time and violence.
There was no malice there, no defiance.
Only emptiness.

And in that moment, something moved in me—not a thought, not a feeling, but a knowing.
Without hesitation, I let the sword fall from my hand.
I stepped forward.
I reached out and took the skull from where it sat upon his shoulders—
and I slammed it down upon my own head.

I became him.

And that was the end of the dream.

No thunder. No applause.
Only silence.

---

I have returned to this dream many times over the years, asking what it meant.
And perhaps now, I understand.

I did not defeat the enemy.
I did not forgive him.
I did not even see him as wrong.

I became him.
And in doing so, there was no enemy left.

This is the Dharma.
This is the end of duality.
This is the wisdom of the Buddha: no-self.

To see clearly that "enemy" and "self" are just names we give to movements of the mind—projections carved out of fear, memory, and story.
To realize that when we cling to identity, we perpetuate the illusion of separation.
And to let go is not weakness, but liberation.

We are all on that battlefield, in one form or another.
Some of us still raise swords.
Some stand with empty hands.
Some have begun to see that the war is only within.

And some—just a few—will walk forward, unarmed, and become what they fear most,
only to find that what they feared was themselves.

---

#Buddhism #NoSelf #SpiritualAwakening #ShadowWork #DreamsAsTeaching #EndOfDuality #Compassion #CheeseburgerBuddha #PersonalReflections #InnerAlchemy #FacingTheSelf #LettingGo #TheEnemyWithin