BraindumpReflections on an Unusual Dream Involving Aboriginal Culture and Spirituality
Summary:
- The speaker dreams of driving with Aboriginal people down a river in Australia.
- He observes abandoned houses along the river, hinting at a disconnect between their lives and mainstream society.
- The Indigenous people seem content with their traditional lifestyle, fishing and enjoying nature despite the decay of nearby structures.
- The speaker reflects on the spiritual beliefs of Indigenous Australians, noting their connection to nature and dreamtime.
- He contrasts this with the history of colonization and forced Christianity, recalling his own familial ties to Aboriginal heritage.
- He expresses concern over the influence of secular ideologies on the community's spiritual state.
Content:
I just had a dream, and it was really an unusual dream. I was driving around what looked like to be the coastlands of Australia, and I met this group of Aboriginal people. And I was driving my family car, and I was just following them down all these dirt roads, and I come to a river. They said, you can't mate, you can't use that vehicle here, use ours. And they have an old four-wheel drive. And somehow, we ended up on this big river and we drove down this big gully into what was a stream, then got bigger and bigger and it was a river, and we were floating down this river.
And as we were floating down this river, there were high cliffs coming out of the river, and the land looked like spinifex and really bad country, very little, really, it was all stunted, saltbush and spinifex, and sort of like it was out in homeland or somewhere. And we were going down the river, and now I noticed as we were going down the river, there were normal buildings and houses on the river, made of wood and galvanized iron roofs, but the doors were all battened shut with strips of plywood, and the windows were covered over. And we went down the river and pretty much the modern timber house was all just overgrown in the spinifex, and they'd been boarded up with bits of corrugated iron and all kinds of stuff, all the windows were covered.
And as we went down, there would just, on every bend, there'd be another one, but they were well out of the range of, or my perceived range of where the river could get to them. And the Aboriginal people, or whoever they were, I didn't know who they were, but they were just laughing and fishing and doing their thing. And I said, how come you don't live in the houses? No, you're no good here, mate. And this went on for some time, and on my right up on the riverbanks, there were these houses on both sides, and then the country flattened out, and instead of it being a cliff from the river to the houses, the houses were still there, but the land seemed to come down towards the river, but we were still in the river.
And it was like the river got broader and shallower, and I thought, I don't understand what's going on here. And then I was talking to them and they were talking a bit about what their spiritual beliefs were and everything, and then I woke up. And I thought to myself, this is just pure paganism, and they believe it, they have their dreamtime and all that, but all the principalities and powers in this dreamtime, there was eagles, which I think is a Warren my thing, and there was crocodile, I think, and various birds and things. As we're going down this river and they're fishing and jumping into the river and swimming and generally having a good time and enjoying nature, and it was quite nice actually in the trip, but the river got broader and broader and broader and bigger, and the water wasn't really, it was not murky, it was sort of not very clear.
It was like muddy water, like there'd been a lot of rain somewhere and it'd come down, it was sort of very muddy looking. And then it went out, as I met the ocean, there were sandbars and things. And then I woke up and I thought, what's all this about? So I was sitting thinking about it, it was pure paganism, and they had, they didn't see it as paganism, this was just them having a good time fishing and living off the river and they didn't want to live in these houses as people had spent lots of money building for them.
Pretty much every house was boarded up and they were just overgrown with land tanner and it was all very dry looking, the ground. There's no water where the houses were, and the sky had no, it was just an ordinary sky. It wasn't hot or cold, it was indifferent. But and they were enjoying all this stuff. And they were, that was their life. And it was quite idyllic if you, you know, you just fish and you eat and you get what you do out of the land and you just, just enjoy it and jump in and out of the water.
And it's really cozy, really nice life. Pretty tough, they were all skinny, but it was a tough life that they loved it. And I thought, and then I thought when I woke up, little white men herded them into missions, and in the missions, they had no freedom. They were taught about Jesus, I suppose, but they had no real freedom to express their thing. And I was reminded of Dan Armstrong and his wife who used to, they actually have adopted some Aboriginal children. And I was reminded that Sue used to go, and it was in South Australia somewhere, or down in the Coorong there.
And they had to take a rock from our hunter area where they lived down to the Coorong and give it to the elders. And that was the key for them to come and minister in that place. So there's some keys that we aren't aware of with the European ancestry which unlock those doors. And I also was reminded... And another lady we know, who used to work at Karua with Aboriginal people, and she got on well with them, but they, they didn't want a bar of Christianity or, but the Holy Spirit did some stuff uh through her, but it wasn't a wave of Christianity or a wave of a revival, because of course, it's all so steeped in animism, paganism.
And then I thought of my daughter, who was a teacher, and my daughter was teaching this stuff and had connections and had the Wurundjeri people and the Awabakal people come to the school, because it was part of this. So we were all being swamped with this stuff. And then I even think about the First Nations, or so they were sold as flag. It's got all this animism and stuff all for the red and the yellow and the black. And father, it's supposed to be their flag. And so all these things, whether it's flags or cultural stuff, and it's the same, and then I realised that communism and fascism is the same as animism, and it's about nations being soaked in it, father, by people who have no desire to know Jesus at all.
In fact, it's treated, he's treated like pie in the sky, and we haven't got to worry about that, but they're so steeped in all this stuff. I think, Lord, how does one break that stronghold? So I was praying about what to do, and then I wake up, and I'm still none the wiser, but even in my own ancestry, as a couple of greats grandmother, she was an Aboriginal person. But she ended up marrying in the Newcastle Cathedral, baptised five or six children, I can't remember how many, but she came to the Lord. I won't say she was a Christian as I would understand it, but she was, she kept the church.
And that gave her the rights that she never had as an Aboriginal. In fact, she was cut off and rejected by society just because she was Aboriginal. She was treated like dirt. But she was quite canny in that she baptised all the children, her husband and herself. Her husband was a convict from England. And they all got baptism, the whole family got baptised on the same day. The convict wasn't allowed to marry her initially. I don't know how he got around that, but anyhow, they got married and they all got baptised. Now, I don't know whether it was by intent or not, but that made her a believer in the government's eyes, and she became able to do things as a believer, as a Christian, and get rights the government bestowed on her because she'd gone from heathen in their eyes to being a believer in their eyes.
In fact, they tried to cut her out in a court case because she was heathen, and she produced all her baptismal certificates, and the judge had to rule in her favour because she wasn't a heathen. She'd been baptised in an Anglican church. I don't think she really prescribed to that, but she did it. I don't know whether she intentionally did it, accidentally did it, but she ended up getting all these rights under the law because she'd got all of our family baptised in Newcastle Christ Church Cathedral, which is quite a weird story. And so the Anglican church, when I look back on the family, the Anglican church or whatever it was in those days, was always somewhere in the tree, an Anglicanism was in the tree.
Now, the Anglicans, and I, my back was in Anglicanism, but the only time I ever saw the Charlie Spirit moving in an Anglican tradition was I saw it in Melbourne, I saw it a bit in Newcastle, and then I become Pentecostal, if you like, in the AAG, and the Holy Spirit started play a vital role in my life probably when I was in the army in 1971. So it's been a long time and God's done a lot of stuff. Don't really understand any of it, really, and I just have to lean not on my own understanding and just acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord, and he seems to do stuff.
And I'm really grateful he does stuff. And I really would love to see him doing it with other people, but there's not a lot of evidence of it, which is really sad for our nation, because they're getting so misguided by all the other stuff that's going on with probably the TV and other forms of indoctrination, and they reject the Lord. So what it all means, I have absolutely no idea, and I'll finish it there.
- The speaker dreams of driving with Aboriginal people down a river in Australia.
- He observes abandoned houses along the river, hinting at a disconnect between their lives and mainstream society.
- The Indigenous people seem content with their traditional lifestyle, fishing and enjoying nature despite the decay of nearby structures.
- The speaker reflects on the spiritual beliefs of Indigenous Australians, noting their connection to nature and dreamtime.
- He contrasts this with the history of colonization and forced Christianity, recalling his own familial ties to Aboriginal heritage.
- He expresses concern over the influence of secular ideologies on the community's spiritual state.
Content:
I just had a dream, and it was really an unusual dream. I was driving around what looked like to be the coastlands of Australia, and I met this group of Aboriginal people. And I was driving my family car, and I was just following them down all these dirt roads, and I come to a river. They said, you can't mate, you can't use that vehicle here, use ours. And they have an old four-wheel drive. And somehow, we ended up on this big river and we drove down this big gully into what was a stream, then got bigger and bigger and it was a river, and we were floating down this river.
And as we were floating down this river, there were high cliffs coming out of the river, and the land looked like spinifex and really bad country, very little, really, it was all stunted, saltbush and spinifex, and sort of like it was out in homeland or somewhere. And we were going down the river, and now I noticed as we were going down the river, there were normal buildings and houses on the river, made of wood and galvanized iron roofs, but the doors were all battened shut with strips of plywood, and the windows were covered over. And we went down the river and pretty much the modern timber house was all just overgrown in the spinifex, and they'd been boarded up with bits of corrugated iron and all kinds of stuff, all the windows were covered.
And as we went down, there would just, on every bend, there'd be another one, but they were well out of the range of, or my perceived range of where the river could get to them. And the Aboriginal people, or whoever they were, I didn't know who they were, but they were just laughing and fishing and doing their thing. And I said, how come you don't live in the houses? No, you're no good here, mate. And this went on for some time, and on my right up on the riverbanks, there were these houses on both sides, and then the country flattened out, and instead of it being a cliff from the river to the houses, the houses were still there, but the land seemed to come down towards the river, but we were still in the river.
And it was like the river got broader and shallower, and I thought, I don't understand what's going on here. And then I was talking to them and they were talking a bit about what their spiritual beliefs were and everything, and then I woke up. And I thought to myself, this is just pure paganism, and they believe it, they have their dreamtime and all that, but all the principalities and powers in this dreamtime, there was eagles, which I think is a Warren my thing, and there was crocodile, I think, and various birds and things. As we're going down this river and they're fishing and jumping into the river and swimming and generally having a good time and enjoying nature, and it was quite nice actually in the trip, but the river got broader and broader and broader and bigger, and the water wasn't really, it was not murky, it was sort of not very clear.
It was like muddy water, like there'd been a lot of rain somewhere and it'd come down, it was sort of very muddy looking. And then it went out, as I met the ocean, there were sandbars and things. And then I woke up and I thought, what's all this about? So I was sitting thinking about it, it was pure paganism, and they had, they didn't see it as paganism, this was just them having a good time fishing and living off the river and they didn't want to live in these houses as people had spent lots of money building for them.
Pretty much every house was boarded up and they were just overgrown with land tanner and it was all very dry looking, the ground. There's no water where the houses were, and the sky had no, it was just an ordinary sky. It wasn't hot or cold, it was indifferent. But and they were enjoying all this stuff. And they were, that was their life. And it was quite idyllic if you, you know, you just fish and you eat and you get what you do out of the land and you just, just enjoy it and jump in and out of the water.
And it's really cozy, really nice life. Pretty tough, they were all skinny, but it was a tough life that they loved it. And I thought, and then I thought when I woke up, little white men herded them into missions, and in the missions, they had no freedom. They were taught about Jesus, I suppose, but they had no real freedom to express their thing. And I was reminded of Dan Armstrong and his wife who used to, they actually have adopted some Aboriginal children. And I was reminded that Sue used to go, and it was in South Australia somewhere, or down in the Coorong there.
And they had to take a rock from our hunter area where they lived down to the Coorong and give it to the elders. And that was the key for them to come and minister in that place. So there's some keys that we aren't aware of with the European ancestry which unlock those doors. And I also was reminded... And another lady we know, who used to work at Karua with Aboriginal people, and she got on well with them, but they, they didn't want a bar of Christianity or, but the Holy Spirit did some stuff uh through her, but it wasn't a wave of Christianity or a wave of a revival, because of course, it's all so steeped in animism, paganism.
And then I thought of my daughter, who was a teacher, and my daughter was teaching this stuff and had connections and had the Wurundjeri people and the Awabakal people come to the school, because it was part of this. So we were all being swamped with this stuff. And then I even think about the First Nations, or so they were sold as flag. It's got all this animism and stuff all for the red and the yellow and the black. And father, it's supposed to be their flag. And so all these things, whether it's flags or cultural stuff, and it's the same, and then I realised that communism and fascism is the same as animism, and it's about nations being soaked in it, father, by people who have no desire to know Jesus at all.
In fact, it's treated, he's treated like pie in the sky, and we haven't got to worry about that, but they're so steeped in all this stuff. I think, Lord, how does one break that stronghold? So I was praying about what to do, and then I wake up, and I'm still none the wiser, but even in my own ancestry, as a couple of greats grandmother, she was an Aboriginal person. But she ended up marrying in the Newcastle Cathedral, baptised five or six children, I can't remember how many, but she came to the Lord. I won't say she was a Christian as I would understand it, but she was, she kept the church.
And that gave her the rights that she never had as an Aboriginal. In fact, she was cut off and rejected by society just because she was Aboriginal. She was treated like dirt. But she was quite canny in that she baptised all the children, her husband and herself. Her husband was a convict from England. And they all got baptism, the whole family got baptised on the same day. The convict wasn't allowed to marry her initially. I don't know how he got around that, but anyhow, they got married and they all got baptised. Now, I don't know whether it was by intent or not, but that made her a believer in the government's eyes, and she became able to do things as a believer, as a Christian, and get rights the government bestowed on her because she'd gone from heathen in their eyes to being a believer in their eyes.
In fact, they tried to cut her out in a court case because she was heathen, and she produced all her baptismal certificates, and the judge had to rule in her favour because she wasn't a heathen. She'd been baptised in an Anglican church. I don't think she really prescribed to that, but she did it. I don't know whether she intentionally did it, accidentally did it, but she ended up getting all these rights under the law because she'd got all of our family baptised in Newcastle Christ Church Cathedral, which is quite a weird story. And so the Anglican church, when I look back on the family, the Anglican church or whatever it was in those days, was always somewhere in the tree, an Anglicanism was in the tree.
Now, the Anglicans, and I, my back was in Anglicanism, but the only time I ever saw the Charlie Spirit moving in an Anglican tradition was I saw it in Melbourne, I saw it a bit in Newcastle, and then I become Pentecostal, if you like, in the AAG, and the Holy Spirit started play a vital role in my life probably when I was in the army in 1971. So it's been a long time and God's done a lot of stuff. Don't really understand any of it, really, and I just have to lean not on my own understanding and just acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord, and he seems to do stuff.
And I'm really grateful he does stuff. And I really would love to see him doing it with other people, but there's not a lot of evidence of it, which is really sad for our nation, because they're getting so misguided by all the other stuff that's going on with probably the TV and other forms of indoctrination, and they reject the Lord. So what it all means, I have absolutely no idea, and I'll finish it there.