In my dream, I was struggling in a huge bowl of spagetti - trying to get out. I would work and work, slipping and sliding, until finally I worked my way up to the edge of the bowl. I still needed to get ahold of the edge to pull myself out. Floating above the edge was a miniature Zen master - he was rather like a brush drawing, but dressed in his flowing white robes - he was smiling at me. I called to him, asking for help.
He asked me if I was proud of the work I had done to get as far as I had. I stopped to consider this, and found that, yes, I was proud. I had worked hard for what I had achieved and in the back of my mind figured that this was the way I was being praised for where I was spiritually in my life.
He then asked why I wanted to steal such a feeling from anyone else. I was taken aback and a bit stung by this. I protested "Of course I don't want to steal anyone's feelings of accomplishment!" "Oh?" He replied - I knew that he meant my desire to "help" others by fixing their problems for them - my need to be the healer.
"The healer is within, my dear. Within you, and only within the other person as well."
And with a smile, he pushed me from where I clung near the edge of the bowl! As I slid down through the spaghetti once again, surprized and rather shocked that instead of being helped out, I was sliding back in. I could hear him calling with laugher as musical as a wind chime...
"Surrender isn't hard at all! It's NOT surrendering that is such hard work!"
