12.28.24 ~ Dream A Little Dream

Good morning!

In This week's Torah portion, Miketz/at the end, we have Pharaoh blown away by Joseph's interpretation of his dreams and vision for the next 14 years. Obviously, as a result, he states to his advisors emphatically, regarding the dream master, "Can there be another person who has God's spirit in him as this man does (Gen. 41:38)?"

And to Joseph he says, "There is none as understanding and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and according to your word shall all my people be ruled; only by the throne will I outrank you (Gen. 41:39-41)."

Joseph is appointed Prime Minister of Egypt, the most powerful man in the ancient superpower, besides the king.

Commercial: Last night's zoom call: Wait Your Turn: Life lessons from Joseph. Life lessons from Joseph on how to use two ears, one mouth, and be exalted in due time or hurry up and wait! He is with you and needs to get all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

To the enquiring mind, one might ask, 'how did Pharaoh confer upon Joseph the highest position in the land not even knowing if his interpretation will materialize? Why did the Egyptian king immediately appoint Joseph as viceroy without any evidence that this young slave was the right man for the job? As usual, definitely some head scratchers!

One answer can be found in the position of the fat cows and the ugly cows standing next to each other near the bank of the river (Gen. 41:3). The narrative tells us that there was a moment during which both sets of cows coexisted simultaneously, and only afterward did the lean cows proceed to swallow the fat cows.

How is it possible that plenty (fat cows) and famine (gaunt cows) can coexist? Either you have fat cows alone or you have lean cows alone, but you can't have them both together! Either you are satiated, or you are starving, but you can't be satiated while you are starving, and you can't be starving while you're satiated! The seven years of famine simply cannot be present during the seven years of surplus. Either you have lots of food, or you have no food, but you can't have both at the same time. You can’t be wealthy and poor at once...or can we?

Joseph understood that the coexistence of the two sets of cows in the dream contained the solution to the approaching famine: During the years of plenty Egypt must "live" with the consciousness and awareness of the pending years of famine as though they were already present. Even while enjoying the abundance of the years of plenty, Egypt must experience in its imagination the reality of the upcoming famine, and each and every day store away food. The seven lean and ugly cows ought to be very much present and alive, in people's minds and in their behaviors, during the era of the seven fat and beautiful cows.  Conversely, if this system was implemented, then even during the years of famine, the nation would continue enjoying the abundance of the years of plenty. The seven fat cows would be present and alive even during the era of the seven lean cows, because of all the food they saved up.

This is what impressed Pharaoh so deeply about Joseph's interpretation. To begin with, Pharaoh was struck by Joseph's ingenious accounting for that one detail of the dream that had evaded all the wise men of Egypt (Gen. 41:8).

But what thrilled him even more was Joseph's demonstration that Pharaoh's dreams not only contained a prediction of future events, but also offered a solution, a remedy, on how to deal with those events. The dreams did not only include problems, but also offered solutions. Many people can tell you all about the pending problems; Joseph’s brilliance was that within the very dream which predicted the crisis he perceived the solution. In the very dream predicting calamity, he saw the way out of disaster.

Are there any truths we can glean from this dream interpretation? Enquiring minds want to know :-)

All of us experience cycles of plenty and of famine in our lives. There are times when we have moral, emotional and spiritual clarity, and our consciousness is filled with love and connection; our souls are on fire with authenticity and truth. At other times, we are hungry: for integration, for clarity, for bliss. And because of these feelings, we experience anxiety and stress and a disconnect in multiple areas of life.

This was Joseph’s super power. It's what he did throughout the past 13 years of his life, while in prison (Gen. 39). He taught us how to integrate the two competing and paradoxical states of consciousness; which always happens in dreams. Let me explain what we all experience...When we are awake, our brain shuns paradox. When we dream, or enter altering states of consciousness, paradoxes converge and dance together. Joseph is the master of explaining dreams—he knew how to help people remove the fear of paradox and integrate it into their regular state of consciousness; living abundance and famine at the same time

And when we do that, we can discover that all the parts of ourselves are not only evident, but welcome; each of them contains the still inner voice of oneness and love. Each of them helps us bring light and truth into the spaces we need to work through.

At the moment, so many of God's people feel so much pain, yet so much love. We feel abandoned, but also profound resolve and resilience. The two experiences coexist not only because of weakness and inconsistencies; but as Joseph, the master of dreams, has taught us—these paradoxes summon us into a much deeper space of our conscious reality, where infinite light can illuminate profound darkness...mooo!

On this Sabbath morning, may we embrace each other with endless love, clarity, and resolve to become the people we need to become, to shine the light we are called upon to shine (fat fleshed cows), to confront the nasty but meaningless powers of fakeness, stupidity, cruelty, and hate (ugly lean cows); living the life of abundance even when famine is present with us (Gen. 40:5-7).

Shabbat Shalom!

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