06-02-2018, 01:32 PM
I don't know that I've dreamed of Sifu since he passed -- though I've thought about him a lot.
I did have two very vivid dreams about him on the third and second day before he passed.
Dream 1: April 22, 2018
I'm over at Sifu's, somewhere in his house, and I have this very important Tai Chi question to ask him. So I go into the room where he is, and he's mostly turned away and doesn't notice me, and he's just starting to watch something on his laptop or on the TV or whatever (the layout is distorted from reality). He's wearing a cowboy hat, by the way. Yes, a cowboy hat. Seeing that he's becoming totally abosorbed in what he's watching, I opt not to disturb him and leave the room.
Retreating to another room, I find a baby on a cot. My "dream understanding" is that the baby is in Sifu's care. The thing is, the baby is alone and very near the edge of the cot, and I'm not seeing any protective barrier. I'm worried the baby might fall.
Then just like that the baby rolls over and falls.
I jump forward and catch it -- and wake up.
It took me a long time to get back to sleep that night.
Interpretation: The cowboy hat. The sense I got was that Sifu was a loner in the style of a James Stewart or Gary Cooper, just blazing his own trail, refusing to throw in with anyone else, just going it alone. That's pretty much how he handled his illness, as well as his life. The baby: The baby represents all of Sifu's teachings and knowledge which is in danger of being lost. As it fell, I caught it. This is the most positive interpretation. More likely the baby represents the two cats that I was coming over to care for in the past week or two while Sifu's daughter went on a much-needed vacation. Yeah, I think that's all there was to the baby. But it certainly preyed on my mind after I woke up.
Dream 2: April 23, 2018
I'm in a supermarket with someone, and it's time to check out. We find a checkout that doesn't have a line. I'm surprised to see that Sifu is the checkout person. He is very cordial to us both, and when he learns that my companion does some martial arts, he asks if he can see some of it. My companion proceeds to do a form just beyond the checkout. Sifu is very attentive and treats him with utmost respect. But I begin to realize that my companion is V, a fellow student, and one that forever tries everyone's patience, including Sifu's. Still, Sifu is treating him with utmost respect. I wake up.
Interpretation: Sifu as a checkout clerk speaks of his humble beginnings and his humility and lack of ego throughout life. It's hard to think of anyone who was more humble. As for his show of respect for V, despite his many annoying traits, that speaks further of his benevolence and patience.
But a couple weeks later (shortly after the funeral), I heard something that gave this dream a deeper interpretation. After a Sunday morning Tai Chi class, V took me aside and told me what he had done a couple Sundays ago -- the Sunday before Sifu passed. After that morning class, he decided to go over and visit Sifu -- this despite Carol's emphatic emails that it was Anna's and Sifu's wish that he not be disturbed. But V can be clueless. He told me how he knocked on the door, and Anna answered, and he asked if he could see Sifu. I can imagine Anna trying to decide what to do, not knowing V, not wanting to be rude. In the end she invites him in and goes up to check with Sifu. Sifu eventually comes down the stairs, which he's barely able to do, and he dutifully greets V and asks him how his Guandao form is coming, and treats him with the utmost respect -- even though he's in no condition to be receiving a visitor and this is the last student he'd want to see.
I was livid, listening to V tell of this, especially when he started going into gruesome detail of Sifu's condition. I really wanted to shut him down and tell him off. But in the end I just let him finish, which he did convinced that he'd done a good thing, and stating that he and Sifu had always enjoyed a very special close relationship. I let it go because that's what Sifu had done, recognizing that V simply isn't capable of understanding the basics of good manners and privacy.
I did have two very vivid dreams about him on the third and second day before he passed.
Dream 1: April 22, 2018
I'm over at Sifu's, somewhere in his house, and I have this very important Tai Chi question to ask him. So I go into the room where he is, and he's mostly turned away and doesn't notice me, and he's just starting to watch something on his laptop or on the TV or whatever (the layout is distorted from reality). He's wearing a cowboy hat, by the way. Yes, a cowboy hat. Seeing that he's becoming totally abosorbed in what he's watching, I opt not to disturb him and leave the room.
Retreating to another room, I find a baby on a cot. My "dream understanding" is that the baby is in Sifu's care. The thing is, the baby is alone and very near the edge of the cot, and I'm not seeing any protective barrier. I'm worried the baby might fall.
Then just like that the baby rolls over and falls.
I jump forward and catch it -- and wake up.
It took me a long time to get back to sleep that night.
Interpretation: The cowboy hat. The sense I got was that Sifu was a loner in the style of a James Stewart or Gary Cooper, just blazing his own trail, refusing to throw in with anyone else, just going it alone. That's pretty much how he handled his illness, as well as his life. The baby: The baby represents all of Sifu's teachings and knowledge which is in danger of being lost. As it fell, I caught it. This is the most positive interpretation. More likely the baby represents the two cats that I was coming over to care for in the past week or two while Sifu's daughter went on a much-needed vacation. Yeah, I think that's all there was to the baby. But it certainly preyed on my mind after I woke up.
Dream 2: April 23, 2018
I'm in a supermarket with someone, and it's time to check out. We find a checkout that doesn't have a line. I'm surprised to see that Sifu is the checkout person. He is very cordial to us both, and when he learns that my companion does some martial arts, he asks if he can see some of it. My companion proceeds to do a form just beyond the checkout. Sifu is very attentive and treats him with utmost respect. But I begin to realize that my companion is V, a fellow student, and one that forever tries everyone's patience, including Sifu's. Still, Sifu is treating him with utmost respect. I wake up.
Interpretation: Sifu as a checkout clerk speaks of his humble beginnings and his humility and lack of ego throughout life. It's hard to think of anyone who was more humble. As for his show of respect for V, despite his many annoying traits, that speaks further of his benevolence and patience.
But a couple weeks later (shortly after the funeral), I heard something that gave this dream a deeper interpretation. After a Sunday morning Tai Chi class, V took me aside and told me what he had done a couple Sundays ago -- the Sunday before Sifu passed. After that morning class, he decided to go over and visit Sifu -- this despite Carol's emphatic emails that it was Anna's and Sifu's wish that he not be disturbed. But V can be clueless. He told me how he knocked on the door, and Anna answered, and he asked if he could see Sifu. I can imagine Anna trying to decide what to do, not knowing V, not wanting to be rude. In the end she invites him in and goes up to check with Sifu. Sifu eventually comes down the stairs, which he's barely able to do, and he dutifully greets V and asks him how his Guandao form is coming, and treats him with the utmost respect -- even though he's in no condition to be receiving a visitor and this is the last student he'd want to see.
I was livid, listening to V tell of this, especially when he started going into gruesome detail of Sifu's condition. I really wanted to shut him down and tell him off. But in the end I just let him finish, which he did convinced that he'd done a good thing, and stating that he and Sifu had always enjoyed a very special close relationship. I let it go because that's what Sifu had done, recognizing that V simply isn't capable of understanding the basics of good manners and privacy.