The other night I had a terrible dream. It was one of those dreams that seem so real it’s hard to distinguish it from reality. In this dream, something had happened to my hand so that I would never again be able to use it. I remember feeling so desperately sad; I would have done anything to be able to use my hand again. Then, all of the sudden the thought came: “This is too horrible—it just can’t be real. Why don’t you wake up?”
Next thing I knew, I was awake in my bed with my hand just as perfect as it had been before I fell asleep. A flood of relief washed over me, and I was immediately grateful for several things: to have the option to wake up and leave that sadness behind, to hear the voice of the Christ break in on my dream, and to understand that reality was unchanged despite the chilling nature of the dream.
Ever since, I have been thinking of this experience as an illustration of the practice of Christian Science. How freeing it would be if each time an upsetting thought arose in my consciousness, I would hear that intuitive call to abandon the dream and know that I was able to wake up. That night I didn’t have to figure out the waking up process; it happened spontaneously, after I entertained the thought that it’s what I wanted to do. There was no backsliding into the dream once I was awake. I knew how to recognize reality versus dreamland.
