I'm in a high stakes card game in the open air on the back of a big truck with a group of rough and vulgar young working class men who are good friends.  There is a joyful, playful raucous atmosphere.  I have a lot of money and win a big hand but the money gets mixed up with other money and is very difficult to separate, a fact that distresses me. My attempts to separate out my share are completely futile.  Nobody seems to mind but one helpful friend lends a hand. Another happy go-lucky fellow tells how he lost a four-hundred dollar pot.  He seems to be proud of it.  My companions tell me that if you are a winner you can’t quit.  I don’t listen and continue to try to separate my winnings.   

This subtle and humorous dream is about Self realization.  The ‘big hand’ is my realization of the Self.  It is the true jackpot of life.  But instead of seeing that the fruit of Self realization belongs to everyone, the ego wants to keep the winnings for itself.  So the Self mocks its attempt to separate its winnings by preventing it from accomplishing its goal.

 

Then it presents the proper attitude of a Self realized person.  First the dream says that life is chaotic and that you can’t separate yourself from it.  You can only play the game in a good natured way, indifferent to the results.  This indifference to the results of one’s actions is the essence of Self realization.   It is symbolized by the man who looses a large pot but is still happy.  The dream is saying that when you know who you are there is no sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’   You have to keep on playing whether or not you win or loose. 

 

I think it is also not unreasonable to see the dream as a statement that you should listen to the vital parts of yourself…that they have something valuable to offer.  And finally, I see in the ‘helpful friend’ the dream’s suggestion that there may be value in discriminating what is yours from what is others.  Good fences make good neighbors.