This morning I remembered another dream…
And it was quite a strange one. It mixed several element that were on my mind but still… Yesterday we had our annual “belt granting ceremony”. I didn’t get a higher belt (but expected that – was sure of it really). Since the ceremony and my martial art is quite important for me, it is no wonder that it penetrated my dreamworld.
This time the dream consisted out of 3 parts:
1. Yesterday during the ceremonies I didn’t get a higher martial art belt. I have improved quite a lot lately but not enough to move up a level. I dreamt that my teachers in my martial art came to hand me a higher belt. They thought I had deserved it and that the Master had made a mistake. And in the dream (as I would in real life) I refused to take it. The only one who can give me a new belt is my Master. So not only I do not deserve it (wich is true) but apparently it makes a big difference WHO’s giving me the belt (and I can see that it matters to me)
2. The second part of my dream was at a dinner outside somewhere together with lots of friends. At one point a stranger came to our table and started looking for trouble with me. I got ennoyed that this guy was ruining the atmosphere for all of my friends so we stepped back a bit and started to fight. Using my martial arts I quickly wiped him to the ground and went back to the table.
3. The third part of the dream started exactely the same as the second part. Same dinner, same friends, same stranger. However, this time in stead of getting into a fight, I stayed calm and told him that I didn’t want to fight. I was thinking that every fight you prevent is one you have won. So I ignored him and didn’t want to fight him. Case closed? I’m afraid not.
The stranger went to someone else (A. = a friend of mine) and took her digital camera. He wrecked the aparatus. I felt ashamed that because of my unwillingness to fight, someone else got into trouble and even had material damage. I know that I am not responsible for the actions of that stranger but somehow my decision not to act caused grief.
So now I’m wondering what route of action would be the best in real life. Should I refuse to fight (violence isn’t the answer) and accept that I should not feel responsible for whatever consequences it causes? Or should I be aware of the possible consequences of in-action and choose the route that would cause the least discomfort for those I care about?
Or maybe there’s another route that I overlook?
I guess it is somewhat the same question as “suppose you, as the only person in the world, could travel back in time, would you kill a 10-year old Hitler?”
1. Yes, because it would prevent the murder of millions of innocents (change the course of history unknowing the results or consequences)
2. No, I should not kill an (untill then) innocent child. The choices he makes are his and I am not responsible for his actions.
What if, BECAUSE of your assasination he gets bittered and decides to become the mass murderer?
Damn those moral dilemmas…
