By Eddie Pedersen

A friend of mine and work associate came to me with a dream he recently had. In the dream there resided a bully who terrorized the neighborhood, a nasty little cuss. Fred, my friend, related that when he was walking about, he made sure he was aware of the where the bully was, and avoided him whenever possible. He would walk down side streets to bypass any encounters.

One day he was out, and there was the bully straight ahead. Alarming was the fact that the bully was headed straight for some small children. Apparently, there was little redeeming value to the bully who was dangerous to any person or property. Fred knew he had to confront the bully to save those children. They fought and wrestled in strenuous combat. It went on for some time, and finally Fred pinned the bully to the ground. He had his first chance to really look at his opponent face to face. And his opponent was he, himself. It was his own face that he saw on the bully. In horror he revulsed from the dream and woke up.

There is a saying, “Mastership is gained only through experience.” Dr. Doreal elaborates to say, “Thus one who desires Mastership must experience everything in life without faltering, for only by so doing can the inner self be attuned with the Cosmic. He must be, ‘all things to all men”, for only thus can he realize the things that are part of the life of the average man.”

For a lot of us that is a very nice saying. And surely, someday, we will test the waters and dip our toe into realm of metaphysical advancement. Why don’t we make that commitment right now? What would that entail? As we read the quote on “experiencing everything in life without faltering”, do we acknowledge to ourselves the inescapable truth of it, or do we set it aside for another day? Once we embrace that truth as truth then we go beyond the intellectual understanding and begin a transformative process.

As we contemplate what a week or day or even an hour fully committed to experiencing without faltering our mind begins to imagine the pitfalls we surely will encounter. Fears begin to well up because we all know that the bullies we typically circumvent are now going to start circling around us. Those bullies have time and again intimidated us from walking the true path, relegating us to side streets. And as long as we comfort ourselves that those bullies are outside of our control, that long will they intimidate and subjugate us.

I remember my discussion with my friend. I remember that I told him that rather than being a nightmare, this dream was in fact an important step in his own personal development. He was a bright young man who could make everyone laugh. He was a fun, energetic individual who was inspirational to others. And he was in a fast growth mode of his life. He enjoyed listening to metaphysical principles.

He wasn’t getting what I was saying. The dream was too powerful. I related that when individuals reach a spiritual crossroads, their own inner fears will rise up to squash any attempt to travel further down the path. He earned the right to be at that crossroads. He earned the right to confront his dweller. It was a mark of strength, that got him there. In point of fact, one encounters his dweller at some point because at that very time he is strong enough, no matter what he may believe at the time. Therefore, Fred may have faltered in that dream, but now he is armed with information and truth as to exactly what he will face, I told him. And when the bully shows up again, he can confront it with the undeniable truth that the bully is an illusion. Dr. Doreal says, “If the seeker has a desire strong enough to surmount all obstacles, even though he be a weakling, he will never go far astray…The will of man is omnipotent, when used to advance his mind in knowledge and wisdom.”

Some years later I was meditating on my friend and his experience. I wondered if I said something, or failed to say something, that would have motivated him to take on his bully directly with conviction. I know that we went our separate ways not long after that dream. I know he was cowed by the experience and was unwilling to confront the bully. His promising future was derailed at least in the short time.

I had my own experience thereafter. What I discovered was the powerful emotional aspect of confronting the bully, the Dweller on the Threshold. It set me back. I got it. It was scary to see the darkness we hide from the world and ourselves. I knew then why he reacted the way he reacted. As mentioned in Dr. Doreal’s statement above, “He must be, ‘all things to all men,’”. As a guide to others, we can impart intellectual understanding of truth principles, but until we experience and grapple with life head on every day, we won’t know the full impact of what we try to teach.

Dr. Doreal states, “They have met the Dweller on the Threshold and have been vanquished by it. Some believe that the Dweller on the Threshold is an entity that is placed between the planes to drive back trespassers. The answer to that is simply this, that the person who is not ready for certain experiences does not get into higher planes. They only get there when they make themselves ready or at least are ready for certain experiences that they may pass through.”

One of the publications of the Brotherhood of the White Temple is a booklet containing the ritual of the Brotherhood. There is a section entitled “Fear of the Dweller”. Students at membership classes are instructed by the Voice: “Name him by name; who is the Dweller?” of which the answer is “Fear is the Dweller.” And the acknowledgement follows, “Aye, we know.” The question we have to ask ourselves, do we really? Can we give our personal definition of the Dweller? Would we say it is some fearsome shape?

Truly, that Dweller is that one embodiment standing between us and our present progress. There is a plentitude of fears. These fears can prevent us even from overcoming one fear to get to another. Dr. Doreal relates the story of a student reading aloud the Ritual. When in the process of answering the question, instead of answering, “Fear is the Dweller”, he heard a voice utter the real fear he was experiencing. It surprised and confused him. But then he became certain that the voice was the voice of his own self naming that ultimate fear preventing him from spiritual progress. It was his immediate enemy; the enemy he had to master.

Lastly, Dr. Doreal says, “Man by his power of will, can externalize his own fears and some of the illusionary images that come from within himself and which may frighten him, but they are only illusions, self-created by the individual consciousness which passes into that plane. That is one of the predominant obstacles that lie in the way of the student… Let us then try to master the immediate fears as they present themselves in our pathway, and then as we progress toward our pathway, and then as we progress toward our goal of “Oneness with God” we will find that the Dweller will change its shape, and mayhap, become an Angel, with whom we, even as Jacob, wrestled and prevailed.”