What is, then, is what you are! And there is value in recognizing that one of the most penetrating insights into your true nature is immediately available if you will merely examine your environment (meaning, the aggregate of that which surrounds you, objectively or subjectively). Such an examination instantly removes much of the mystery from those deep and perplexing questions about who and what you are, as this simple answer intrudes itself into the consciousness of whoever makes those inquiries: Open your eyes! The answer is all around you!
Your friends, acquaintances, and co-workers precisely reflect aspects of your own basic self. The work you do exactly describes significant elements of your beingness. The state of your health is a portrait of some part of your essence. And if this sounds like kindergarten metaphysics, ask yourself where the correspondence ends. Is it limited only to those major components of existence such as relationships, employment, and health? Or might it extend beyond the categories you conventionally establish? What about you’re automobile for instance? If it has a flat tire, is that occurrence not as much a reflection of your consciousness as are the friends you have or the place you live?
This concept rather swiftly enlarges the arena of exploration. For example, the relationship of actual sickness to an “illness consciousness” may seem elementary and familiar, but how are you to account for a flat tire? Is there a “flat- tire consciousness”? Are you to search your mind for a particular section which deals with tires? You may find one; though the more probable relationship is rooted in the tire’s being an external symbol of an internal state which has nothing to do with tires. Thus, the conviction in consciousness that you have been deprived of your psychological mobility may manifest externally as a deflated tire. Or as a sore leg!
And consider where you live. How’s the plumbing? Is there anything that desperately needs re-pair, which you have ignored? How are the telephone, water, electricity, and gas connections doing? Does your roof leak? What condition are your clothes in? Are your watches and clocks usually slow or fast? When is the last time you lost something, and what did it mean? What sort of mail do you generally receive?
Most of us pay close attention to the symbols of our sleeping dreams, knowing they disguise useful and insightful information. But what are we learning from the fascinating array of symbols in this, our waking dream?
