Tonight as I slept, I dreamed.  I saw myself flying, not like a bird, but as a man who could fly by my own might.  I soared among the clouds, going higher and higher towards a place I knew was there but could not yet see.

Before me, I saw a great wall and I soared towards its heights.  Yet, I could not fly to its top.  As I looked at the wall, it turned into a flight of stairs.  These I could walk and so I did.  I ascended not by flight but by walking.  I ascended to the top of the stairway and entered into a strange but familiar land.

This place seemed more real, more vivid than anything I had ever seen on Earth.  While I knew I was dreaming, I also knew in a different way I was fully awake.  I also knew that I was not just in a dream state or in a different mode of thought; I was actually in a different place, on an entirely different world.

I could see mountains, waters and the deepest blue skies with the most brilliant of white clouds.  Everything seemed so surreal; no earthly artist could have painted more vivid colors.  In this strange yet familiar land, I quickly saw that I was not alone.   Coming towards me from not too far a distance was a group of people.  Even before I could recognize their features, I could see that they were long lost friends who seemed to know who I was and were very happy to see me again.

Beautiful they were, yet not in any extraordinary fashion.  Their clothing looked rugged and practical.  They did not seem to be dressed for fashion or impression.  They were not exceptionally tall or short, dark or light; they looked rather like everyday people, but something about them shined through making them appear to me the most beautiful people I have ever seen.  They seemed so natural, so unpretentious, so simple, and so down-to-earth.  There was nothing ostentatious about them.  They had a light that shined from their eyes and their smiles.

I was embraced, and kissed with the warmest of affection by all the members, male and female, young and old.  Somehow, I knew this was a regathering of my family.  Now here was something strange, while we communicated and asked each other of our welfare, I noticed that no lips were moving.  All communication was from one mind to another.  There were no words spoken, no secrets to conceal, nothing but pure and open communication.  Here on Earth such a form of communication can actually be dangerous.  Here in this place, communication could not be in any other way, nor would I want it to be.

I knew that I was home, yet I also knew how very far away from Earth I was.  With such a feeling of joy and relief, I turned to my family and said in my mind, let us go home.  They smiled at me with a forlorn smile.  In their eyes they said to me how much they would like me to come back home, but as I already knew, my time had not yet come.

Then, as if our minds were joined, I could see visions inside my head, and I saw how long ago I chose to go the Earth, how I chose to remain there to seek out other members of our family who had gotten lost there.  I was a leader and an elder, of all our family I was the strongest and the most able to descend to Earth and not become lost like the rest.  I knew this to be true and mourned my fate.  Although I knew it was right and indeed necessary, I did so much miss my home and I so much wanted to return home to be with my family.  Nevertheless, I knew that duty called and that I had a mission.

As we walked along a wooded plain we came to what I recognized was a holy Temple.  I was not only invited to enter, I knew I was expected to offer a sacrifice.  Thinking for a moment, it came to me that the sacrifice I was to offer was the same one that I offer daily on Earth, this being my prayers with their associated meditations.  I began in my mind to recite the Amidah prayer along with my own form of Kavanot meditations that I use to elevate the prayer above.  I chuckled to myself for a moment realizing that I did not have a need in this place to rise up my prayers, for I was already in this place, and this was the altar upon which my prayers rise daily. 

As I went through my prayers, I saw a rainbow of lights floating around me.  I could see how certain thoughts made the lights glow one color and then the next.  As I focused on the ascent, I could see an image descending upon the altar.  It had the wings of an eagle, the face of a lion and its body seems to both glow and burn simultaneously.  With what looked like its talons it grasped my prayer like prey and took it up.  As it ascended it turned to me and smiled, saying thank you, from all of us.  I believe I know what he meant, but I feared then and now to express what I believe in my heart.  As the image disappeared into the Light, I saw what looked like an explosion of color, like a merging of forces below and above.

I received certain information that I was told not to repeat, and unfortunately I forgot it immediately.  I was told I would remember when the moment was right and when the information will be needed.  In my mind, I was told that this is the way knowledge is transmitted and protected.  It is there safely hidden and will be awaken when the time is right.  Again, I chuckled, thinking myself being programmed like a computer.  Somehow, I knew this was right.

Upon completing my service, I arose from before the altar.  The Temple disappeared and I was again standing with my family.  We exchanged information about goings on in other places in the universe, about other peoples, some like us and others quite different.  Our minds joined and I could see Aravot, the center of our galaxy; I could see the Light coming forth from the Holy of Holies speaking to me and assuring me of the way of Heaven.  I was told what it is I had to do and why I was allowed now for this moment to come home.

I understand it now.  I understand that although I was dreaming, by Earth standards, in truth by the standards of this other place, I had awakened and realized that my life on Earth is really the dream.

As I stood with my family, some with tears in their eyes, yet all of us with smiles, I felt like I was being summoned back to Earth.  As I knew it was time to depart one of the beautiful people who I believe it best not to describe called to me and said ever so pleadingly to remember them. She then communicated to me a special name, repeating it over and over again, and even spelling it out for me so as to make sure I would not forget it.  This name would be my passage home. 

As I awoke I was repeating this name over and over again on my lips.  This dream was so vivid and so real.  I laid in my bed for a long time, remembering and reviewing every detail, every image, every communication.  I understood now what I thought I already knew, but now I had more than knowledge, I had experience.  I know how to travel through space and time.  It is not by machine, but rather by mind. 

My body is of the Earth, thus when I leave the Earth I have no need to take my body with me.  I leave it here in the safe hands of those whose job it is to provide protection.  I am then free to travel, to go about, guided by what I know within, that which lies buried deep within my mind, hidden under layers of conscious thought.  Yet, when my body sleeps, so to does my conscious thought.  I am thus free and aware.

I have come back here to share with you this experience.  I know that many of you also have made this trip.  I also know many of you are my lost family members for which I have come here to collect.  Therefore, I write this to you.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Is this all a dream or are we dreaming now?