Le Brun Le Soir Morpheus: The Greek God of Sleep and Dreams Being in a hospital was not foreign to me. For twenty years, I had spent my days taking care of patients — now I was the patient. In May of 2000, I found myself penetrated with medical tubing in and out of all the critical places. During two urgent hospital admissions, I floated around in a sea of pain, discovering firsthand the blessings of properly administered narcotics. While my recollection of most of that remains foggy, I have a persisting clarity of something that happened to me, out of the hospital, while my sedated body was still in the hospital — perhaps a dream, perhaps morphine, perhaps it was something else.
Friedrich Sertürner derived the name of the opiate drug morphine from the name of Morpheus — the Greek god associated with dreams and sleep. In an image from the Odyssey, Penelope says:
“Stranger, dreams verily are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfillment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ivory deceive men, bringing words that find no fulfillment. But those that come forth through the gate of polished horn bring true issues to pass when any mortal sees them. But in my case, it was not from thence, methinks, that my strange dream came.”
Six years earlier, in April of 1994, while wide awake, I had a profound personal and spiritual experience while at the western wall in Jerusalem. But, this dream came out of nowhere while I was asleep, and the wall was vastly more significant, vacant, and quiet. An impression, much like the still small voice, clearly let me know that this was not my time. My mind was on narcotic cruise control and my eyes were closed -- and yet a wall was clearly visualized, and has not faded from my memory. It was as if I wandered there by accident and somehow was allowed to see a glimpse of something eternal while floating in the arms of Morpheus. You would think that this would have made the way easier. Not so --I still have to face temptation, repent, and keep some serious covenants if I am to walk in His path daily. This event has matured into a strong conviction that when I have the privilege of going there again, I do not want to be left standing on the wrong side of the wall.
More recently, in April of 2022, I had a chance to test my theory about unconscious visions being triggered by IV narcotics. On two separate occasions, I was given a dose of IV Fentanyl. If I had strange dreams, I do not remember them — nothing to support my theory. I do recall worrying a little as I was being prepped for surgery. All alone in the pre-op bay, I could hear the radio at the nurse's station playing in the background. “THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!” I had not yet been given any IV medications and began to laugh at myself. That was about it — nothing but a funny coincidence that I will probably forget in a few months, unlike my vision while unconscious, over 20 years ago. Ever vigilant, RT
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