In addition to Ultimate Journey, I'm reading "Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman's Sourcebook" about native American cosmology, in particular goddesses of the Southwest tribes.  One story from the Aztecs, pre-white man conquest, included a song that I thought some might be touched by as I was:

We only came to sleep
We only came to dream
It is not true, no it is not true
That we came to live on the earth
We are changed into the grass of springtime
Our hearts will grow again green
And they will open their petals
But our body is a rose tree
It puts forth flowers then withers.

Yes, I like that poem. :)


It speaks of the temporary, fleeting nature of our existence here on the earth, as opposed to our more real, spiritual nature. So yes, being here in the physical is like being 'asleep and dreaming' spiritually while we are 'awake' here. When here is the illusion, here is the real dream. Here is the ultimate mind-made fantasy of our divine Creator. It is here that we so foolishly believe that here is what is real and the rest is a dream, when in fact, it is the other way around. :P


Very nice poem! Thanks for sharing!  :)


PUL,

Ally

Yes, this is a nice poem, and says 'it is not true' twice when refering to why we are here. It is making the point very strongly that the body is a temporary vehicle. To me, comparing us to grass is an interesting contrast to the image of a 'rose tree' because the grass is like one large communal entity and the 'rose tree' is imagined (by me) to be a more solitary, individual presence, one which is far less hardy and resilient than the grasses on which we all depend. The grasses of springtime are fresh and new, and this poem seems to tell me that there is a freshness, a newness, which is hidden behind the practicalities and the desires of our everyday lives. The song is a song of liberation, of joy and freedom, certainly not of sadness.

thanks for sharing

You are welcome.  I like both of your thoughts about the poem, which reflect some of my own.  The book in which I found it is quite rich.  I'll keep an eye out for other things the author has to offer from native American mythology.  I hadn't done much reading in this area and I'm finding it very rewarding, including lots of synchronicities with the after-life knowledge view of the universe.