"True art is when the soul and spirit of man recognise
that they are made in the image of God." - Olivia Christian Paasche
(22/1/2017)
“SIMBA, REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!” KING MUFASA
(The Lion King -Disney)
Hello Everyone! I hope your week has been full of beautiful dreams.
This week as I continue to invite you into the pages of my book, I would like to return to the interesting subject of dreams. Last week, I invited you to share anything relating to dreams and how they have had an impact in your life. Well, I remembered a very impacting and baffling dream I had in 2017. In fact I included it right at the beginning of my book. And it is the one you see at the top of this page. Let me explain:
On the 22nd of January 2017 during the early hours of the morning I woke up to some amazing words. I quickly wrote them down. The words were rather strange, and had me pondering upon the deeper meaning.
True Art is when the soul and spirit of man recognize that they are made in the image of God.
The meaning of these words all came together I went to watch Disney’s new Lion King movie with my daughter and my two grandchildren at the cinema last Saturday. It all started to make sense. But first, if you haven’t watched The Lion King, I would recommend that you do. There are so many real life lessons and situations. For me personally, it prompted me to delve deeper into the meaning of my dream. For those who have not watched The Lion King, I will give just a brief overview to the parts relevant to this discussion.
Simba is the beloved son of the lion, King Mufasa. He is the heir to Pride Rock in Pride Lands, in the Savannah of Africa. The cub’s wicked, jealous Uncle Scar kills Mufasa and blames it on Simba and exiles him from Pride Lands. Although Simba survives in a new found sanctuary, a sort of Eden, with the help of two new friends, Pumbaa and Timon, deep within him the guilt remains.
He is content to embrace his friends’ carefree “no worries” philosophy, “Hakuna matata.”
Sadly, he loses his identity as a king’s son. Many seasons later, he has an encounter with Nala, his childhood sweetheart, who tells him how Scar has ruined Pride Lands and begs him to return and take his rightful place. His repressed guilt immediately resurfaces and the death of his father haunts him. He cannot go back. He retreats within himself.
Just when he thinks he’s done forever with Pride Rock, the wise man – monkey Rafiki - tracks him down in his Eden to remind him who he is.
Rafiki has an interesting encounter with Simba. He asks Simba an impacting question, ‘Who are you?’ Simba replies that he is a “nobody.”
Rafiki corrects Simba with very profound words, “Everybody is somebody.” He informs the grieving lion that his father, King Mufasa is alive and lives in him. He leads Simba to a pool and invites him to look into the pool. Simba sees only himself and becomes very discouraged. Rafiki tells Simba that his father, King Mufasa lives in him and urges him to “look closer!” at the image. Simba does this. To his amazement, he sees his father in his reflection and when he hears his father call his name he looks up into the sky and sees his father, the king, majestic and silhouetted against the clouds.
King Mufasa reminds Simba, “Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are!”
Simba’s life takes on a new turn. Suddenly he knows who he truly is. Life comes flooding back into his spirit. He was dead for so long but now he feels the passion of life.
The knowledge of who he truly is changes everything for Simba. His roar changes and becomes that of a king. He is filled with a new impetus in life. With leaps and bounds, he races towards Pride Rock to possess his inheritance and to oust the impostor. The fear and guilt leave him and he knows he can go back to his homeland. Simba has a brutal encounter with Uncle Scar who tries to push guilt back into his spirit. However, after the revelation that it was really his uncle who killed his father, he feels liberated and empowered and is able to fight this rogue uncle.
He wins the battle.
The drama comes to a triumphant close when Simba resumes his place in the circle of life as the true heir and king!
A bit like the Biblical story the Prodigal Son?
And so going back to the quote in my dream…
I now understand.
I am actually only realising that the quote given to me in my dream not only has an important relevance in everyday life but in Father Angelo’s, in my book. His life so was riddled with guilt. However the discovery that he was truly loved by God changed his life, even in excruciating moments of suffering.
Guilt is a destroyer of life....That’s a topic for the future, but for now, I pray for all affected by guilt that God gives you the strength to forgive and love yourself as He loves and forgives you. God lives within us. He is reflected in the depths of our eyes. Like Simba, if we could only look closer, we would see the compassionate face of the King, reflected in our image.
It is a fight, but as long as we know who we are, we are destined to win! We are the sons and daughters of God; the true heirs as to the throne of Grace.
We are children of the Most High God.
In Rafiki’s encounter he asks Simba an impacting question, ‘Who are you?’ This reminds me when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” To which Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” This pleased Jesus. Peter could not be an effective disciple if he did not know the true character.
In the face of conflicting opinions, and in order to be an effective disciple, it was imperative for Peter to truly grasp the nature of Jesus was. We too need to know who Christ is in order to know who we truly are.
We are the beloved children of the Most High God.
Chapter One of my book starts off when Angelo has a very mystical dream. He has to make sense of the dream in order to understand his life‘s purpose.
So next week come with me as we delve into this chapter which forms the essential backdrop for The Next of Kin.
THE DREAM.
Little Note: The blog picture shows Jesus holding a little girl’s hand. I bought this picture when I went on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. I fell in love with instantly. Does anyone know who painted it? I am sure that I will be using it quite a lot in my blog. Until next time, Remember who you are!
Ciao ciao
Olivia
