First it was the rib juggling cough. Then comes the sore throat. Yesterday was the full blown flu, complete with running nose, uncontrollable sneezes and high fever. Call me a masochist but I really enjoy having fever dreams.
But apart from Dali-esque melting objects and landscape, the most surreal fever dream that I ever had was one that started out quite serene:-
It was a starless sky and the full moon was high above the sky. I had a telescope and I was peering into the small peep hole. I saw the wonderfully scarred lunar terrain. Suddenly, I spotted something shiny. I zoomed in and I notice that it was a mirror. Perplexed, I increased the zoom and I saw the blue sphere that was the earth, reflected from the mirror. I looked further and I saw the continents. I zoomed in further and further until I can make out the shape of the Malaysian peninsular. I zoomed further and further until I can see my house and myself being looking up (or down) at myself.
In a way, I find it quite poetic. It seems to tell me that as I search further externally for answers, the answer had always been with me. It reminds me of a Shaker song that I’ve come to know and love:-
Simple Gifts (Joseph Brackett, 1848)
‘Tis the gift to be simple,
’tis the gift to be free.
‘Tis the gift to come down
where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves
in the place just right,
Twill be in the valley
of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend
we shall not be ashamed.
To turn, turn
will be our delight,
‘Till by turning, turning
we come round right.