The best way I can describe this experience is how I saw it at the time. An out of body yet clinical examination as an observer from somewhere high over my body. I am not religious, in fact, I am anything but. Yet, I can only imagine that if it happened to someone else, I would understand if they suddenly gave away their possessions and joined the Hari Krishnas at the airport.
I seemed to start by imagining that I was outdoors walking in a lush landscape approaching a bush alongside the trail. I stopped to visually examine the bush when I thought I saw movement coming from behind its far side. I leaned a little to my left and craned my neck to get a better look when suddenly I caught a glimpse coming from the bush’s right so I leaned to the right and, again, craned my neck to look. Repeating it again and again; faster and faster until my head was spinning making me feel a little nauseous. With each cycle, I seemed to get a better and better look at the object until, like viewing a kinetoscope’s fluttering image, it began to morph into a 3-dimensional live image of, you guessed it, a rabbit.
It seemed like we stood face to face examining each other for an exceedingly long time. My mind was urging me to see if it was real. To reach out and touch it or grab it or something but I instinctively knew I could not or, maybe, should not. I was not afraid only curious but not curious enough to follow as the rabbit turned and hopped a zig-zag pattern up the trail looking back at times to see if I was following. I felt an urge to follow but something was holding me back. A hand….
“Wake up!” “Are you okay?” I felt a hand on my shoulder as I opened my eyes to my wife’s concerned face lit by the dim light of the dollar store flashlight. I was drenched in sweat even though it was a slightly cool evening. “You must have been having a nightmare”, she offered. I could not wait to tell her about the dream while it was fresh in my mind. She listened. “If I didn’t wake you, would you have followed that rabbit?” To this day, I can’t say one way or the other if I would or wouldn’t not have followed.
I later learned that “chasing the rabbit” is a reflection of the temporary happiness you enjoy (according to theastrologyweb.com )
Perhaps Jamaica is that rabbit….metaphorically speaking.
