In one scene, I was in a library with other people. An official looking woman walked into the room and said something like it was time for us all to settle up and make sure we had returned all of the books we had checked out. I believe we had library cards she scanned, and she would then present each person with a printout of what books they still had out outstanding and therefore which needed to be returned.
I remember a woman who was scanned before me and presented with a list of maybe something like 4 or 5 books that were missing. The official then came to me and as she scanned my card I wondered how many books would be on my list. To my surprise, all of the books I had checked out had been returned. The printout I was given instead listed all of the books I had read, the date I had read them, and a check mark next to each one showing that I had returned them (I assume that was what the check mark meant).
The details are even more vague from this point on, but I remember that in some instances people were not in the library when the official was looking to scan their card. Rather than printing up a list for them, she printed something that looked to be a gray heart - I am not sure if it was made of paper or something else. I remember knowing some of these people and wondering where they were, but the rest of the imagery was confusing.
In a later dream scene, I found myself in some familiar environment which I took to be something like my home here, though I don't remember any house. Meaning, I felt like I was here in Minnesota, but the details of my surroundings elude me. I was just kind of 'here'.
I was told that it was time to go. I believed I replied by saying something like "I don't know the way". This discussion was happening in my mind (I wasn't speaking), and it was with an unnamed and unseen presence. I couldn't see anybody. In reply I was told to just follow the Sun, and I was shown a picture of it setting in the West. I was given to understand that this would involve walking, and I wasn't given to know just how long that walking would go on for. At this thought, I replied that this was not enough information to go on. Was I supposed to just leave everything right now and walk with no more direction than this? How far was I going to walk? How would I know when I got to wherever it was I was told to go? I wanted more detailed instructions. Coordinates or a specific location, I remember asking for. Where is the spot? I wasn't given any, and I woke up with the thought of following the Sun in the West (or at least, I don't remember any of the dream after this before waking up).
With dreams that affect me, I will usually lie there and think about them for a bit and see if I can make some sense of them. At first, a song from Sara Bareilles called "Chasing the Sun" came to me mind. However, almost immediately afterward, I thought very specifically of a quote from a movie I watched as a child called "The Land Before Time", and this connection seemed to make some sense.
The specific quote, or at least reference, involved Littlefoot learning from his mother on how to reach the Great Valley. When I remembered that the whole premise of this movie is about dinosaurs escaping some catastrophic change on earth (as well as predators) to find what is essentially a Promised Land-type of place, I first thought of my recent posts about Adam-ondi-Ahman, and this being the Valley where I believe that a gathering is and will be occurring. This was further symbolized in Hill Valley, the fictional town from Back to the Future, with Tirion (Jerusalem in my story) sitting on a hill in that valley, at least as I imagine it.
In other words, a major premise of this story unfolding on my blog is about Beings escaping this earth in order to stand in Holy Places, which seem to coincide with this journey of dinosaurs to a Great Valley as portrayed in this movie.
Don Bluth, who produced and directed this movie, has Mormon roots, so in some ways we shouldn't be surprised to see imagery of a journey to a Promised Land enter into the story, since that is very much a Book of Mormon theme that isn't unique to any thinking here. Bluth was also known for making some pretty dark cartoons with more adult themes back in the 80's, movies like The Secret of NIMH and An American Tale.
Anyway, the specific dialogue that came to my mind turns out to be from a scene where Littlefoot looks at a leaf, which he calls a "Tree Star" because that is what his mother named it earlier in the movie. Actually, lets look at that earlier scene first, because that has some of the imagery following the Sun as it sets in the West. I had to look up the scenes this morning, as it was the specific quote or reference to the movie dialogue that came to my mind, but not the scenes themselves. For example, I had forgotten all about the Tree Star, but as you will see some of the imagery is pretty striking.
In this first clip, Littlefoot is introduced to a Tree Star and then his mother teaches him about the Great Valley, what is there, and why they are going there.
Littlefoot will later be separated from his family (his mother will be killed by T-Rex, and his grandparents can't find him), but will come into contact with other dinosaurs who will ultimately join him on his journey.
For a time after his mother's death, however, he basically wanders around (as far as I can remember) in the wasteland-desert and forgets about the Great Valley and how to get there.
However, eventually a Tree Star descends from Heaven. With this Tree Star is his mother's voice, calling his name. As he looks into the Tree Star, he is given some additional instructions on how to reach the Great Valley. In addition to following the Sun to the West, he is told:
Follow the bright circle past the great rock that looks like a long-neck and past the mountains that burn.
That instruction is concluded with the statement to "Let your heart guide you".
Here is the clip. It is a bit of a longer one at 5 minutes or so, but the relevant part starts at about the 1:20 mark.
It was this dialogue, and specifically this very instruction, that had come to my mind as I was laying there earlier this morning thinking about the dream. And when I thought about it, I heard this instruction in a slightly different way than in which the riddles unfolded in the movie.
When I thought of "long-neck", my mind went to the "narrow neck of land" that is mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Specifically, I thought of William Tychonievich's post in which he had likened this narrow neck of land to the Little Skinny Planet.
For whatever reason, the "rock" became a planet in my mind (much like how people sometimes refer to Earth as the 3rd rock from the sun), and thus the great rock that looked like a long-neck became The Little Skinny Planet, to my mind.
This instantly made the instructions given to Littlefoot, and therefore the phrase I thought through this morning, become interstellar. He was to travel past that world. He would then come to the "mountains that burn", and would also need to pass those before arriving in the Valley.
Valinor, where I have placed Tirion and the valley of Aman-ondi-Ahman, was said to be surrounded on all sides by Mountains - the Pelori Mountains, meaning a Boundary or Fence. Maybe these are the mountains? I am not sure why the burn reference would be applicable, other than Joseph Smith taught that the place where God lives in is one of everlasting burnings. Maybe something there. Or it could mean something else, I guess. I have likened mountains to planets, and some planets were set on fire during the assault of the Numenoreans - specifically Eressea, but also Aman itself was set on fire, with the Mountain Taniquetil (Manwe's mountain) specifically mentioned:
But Angor (Ar-pharazôn) assailed the shores of the Gods, and he cast bolts of thunder, and fire came upon the sides of Taniquetil
But this is all to say that the imagery to me of the scene when I actually looked at it made some of the symbolism and the instructions I was kind of reinterpreting all the more relevant. This "Tree Star" comes down from Heaven. I had that song going through my head for the longest time (I don't really anymore now) about "Waiting for a Star to Fall", with the lyrics from that song suggesting that the Star would carry a heart back into someone's arms. Littlefoot would look into this Star-shaped leaf and it was in the course of looking into it that he received additional details and directions on how to get home. These directions came in the form of Milestones - he would know he was on the right path as he passed various things. And Littlefoot would end up carrying this Tree Star with him on his journey, just as one might carry a Stone or like Lehi had his Liahona.
A few other things I noted as I watched these scenes and thought more on what I can remember of the movie.
"Littlefoot" is an interesting name for a couple reasons. Sasquatch or Bigfoot has come up on this blog and on William's a few times, so it was interesting to see it's opposite here. Feet, and footwear, have also come up as important symbols for any kind of journey off of this Earth, so that also seems to be reflected in the name.
Littlefoot will ultimately become part of a group of 5 Beings. This number 5 has been a repetitive theme, not so much on what I have written here, I don't think, but in some of the imagery that William has shown on his blog, with 5 Beings shown in various settings, including in the Little Skinny Planet post where he linked a music video by Of Monsters and Men which show 5 individuals on a journey.
Lastly, one of these five Beings is a bird-like dinosaur named Petrie. Petrie, as you might guess, is a form of the name Peter (also Patrick, I guess). It is actually the Scottish (Gaelic!) version or nickname for Peter. Peter being symbolized as a bird has come up many times before. In fact, it was in my post back in May titled "Good and Evil, and a large bird named Gregor" that I first explored the possibility that Peter and Pharazon were the same Being, a conclusion that was extremely surprising to me, but nevertheless remains my current guess. This bird symbolism also is over on William's blog, for example with the post on Odessa Grigorievna.
He is shown flying here, but for much of the first movie he is unable to fly, something that he will have to eventually learn. One potential connection with Peter is his unsuccessful initial attempt (per the New Testament, at least) to walk on water with Jesus, though he was clearly meant to, per Peter's own desire and Jesus' invitation. Water or the Seas represents the skies or Outer Space in some aspects of my story, so there might be something to this also.
No comments:
Post a Comment