Posts Tagged ‘barack obama’

PORTRAIT OF A PRESIDENT

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

After the election, I dreamt of a grinning Barack Obama as Commander-in-Chief. He was wearing a military uniform, like a South American dictator.

Every dream about him — before, during, and after the election — was about war. I fear there will never be peace in my lifetime.

DS, November, 2008, San Francisco

A Just and Lasting Peace (through War)

Is a smiling Barack Obama, Commander-in-Chief, the friendly face of a U.S. military empire? Is a smiling Barack Obama, Commander-in-Chief, the friendly face of a global military dictatorship?

Totalitarian rulers — dictators –- assert authority and create intimidation clad in pompous military uniforms adorned with medals and ribbons, signifying conquest. Whether installed in a rigged election or a bloody military coup d’ etat, the message is the same: I control the military. I have the force of the military with me, against you.

Whether politically right or left, dictators repress political opponents and their own citizens, surging or revolting to reclaim their country. Dictatorial leaders use spying, repression of civil liberties, and brutal paramilitary tactics like kidnapping, torture, death squads, and assassinations to retain their power.

The U.S. Constitution establishes civilian control of the military. An American president scorns military garb (unless he is G.W. Bush dressed up in a codpiece and faux flight jacket).

Dreams, nighttime messengers, reveal hidden truths. These morning glories confer insight. They wake us, the citizenry, duped by media, moguls, and monarchs to authentic facts. They empower us to recognize the truthfulness of a candidate who promises change you can believe in.

To understand what the Portrait of a President dream reveals about U.S. President Barack Obama, let’s examine the details, where meaning resides.

NEXT ISSUE: Why is the dictator in the dream a U.S. President?

VIRTUE:
Dream Classic Imparts Wisdom for the Common Wealth

Friday, November 7th, 2008

Ancient philosophers Plato and Cicero explored the ideal commonwealth in their writings. Their treatises sought to instill the desire to lead an upright, law abiding life. Departed souls, sometimes in dreams, revealed the way.

Plato’s Myth of Er in his Republic and Cicero’s Dream of Scipio from De re publica are vaunted vehicles.

In Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, (translated with an introduction and notes by William Harris Stahl, Columbia University Press), Macrobius interweaves philosophical discourse with narratives of visions and dreams. His discussion of types of dreams and their prophetic significance (derived from Artemidorus’ Onirocriticon) was one of the leading dream books of — and from — the Middle Ages.

The words of Scipio’s grandfather to Scipio Aemilianus, a philosopher and man of public affairs, in the younger’s dream ring loud in the wake of Barack Obama’s presidential win. The elder suggests what is incumbent upon the new leader and upon us, the citizenry:

That you may be more zealous in safeguarding the commonwealth, Scipio, be persuaded of this: all those who have saved, aided, or enlarged the commonwealth have a definite place marked off in the heavens where they may enjoy a blessed existence forever. Nothing that occurs on earth, indeed, is more gratifying to that supreme God who rules the whole universe than the establishment of associations and federations of men bound together by principles of justice, which are called commonwealths. The governors and protectors of these proceed from here and return hither after death.

In his commentary on Scipio’s dream, Macrobius expounded: “Virtues alone make one blessed and only through them is one able to attain the name.”

Obedience to the virtues — prudence, temperance, courage, and justice — benefits the commonwealth and the man….

Macrobius expands on these virtues in the political arena: “By these virtues . . . upright men … direct the welfare of the citizens, and by these they safeguard their allies with anxious forethought and bind them with the liberality of their justice; by these ‘They have won remembrance among men.’

“… By these virtues the good man is first made lord of himself and then ruler of the state, and is just and prudent in his regard for human welfare, never forgetting his obligations.”

FROM JOYCE:
“Environmental” Change — Fear or Fact?

Friday, November 7th, 2008

“I had a political dream last night and I wanted to give you a call,” a sleepy-sounding Allison said on a voice message at 8 o’clock on Halloween morning. A long pause, and then … she wished me well and hung up.

I called and emailed my friend several times to learn about her dream. Then, finally, around 3 o’clock on November 4, she left this: “Happy election day. I did not get back to you with my dream, because it was not a very good one…. Barack had won at/in (garbled) the polls, and then there was a kind of environment with a lot of riots. There was a movie going back on the human rights movement.

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