[Fursa was a holy man from Ireland who built a monastery in East Anglia. But he fell ill, and dreamed angels and devils were testing his spiritual soundness...]

When he had been taken up on high, he was bidden by the angels that conducted him to look back upon the world. Upon which, casting his eyes downward, he saw, as it were, a dark valley in the depths underneath him. He also saw four fires in the air, not far distant from each other. Then asking the angels, what fires those were, he was told, they were the fires which would kindle and consume the world.

One of them was of falsehood, when we do not fulfil that which we promised in Baptism, to renounce the Devil and all his works.

The next was of covetousness, when we prefer the riches of the world to the love of heavenly things.

The third was of discord, when we do not fear to offend our neighbour even in needless things.

The fourth was of ruthlessness when we think it a light thing to rob and to defraud the weak.

These fires, increasing by degrees, extended so as to meet one another, and united in one immense flame. When it drew near, fearing for himself, he said to the angel, "Lord, behold the fire draws near to me." The angel answered, "That which you did not kindle will not burn you; for though this appears to be a terrible and great pyre, yet it tries every man according to the merits of his works; for every man's concupiscence shall burn in this fire; for as a man burns in the body through unlawful pleasure, [i.e., promiscuity spreads syphilis] so, when set free from the body, he shall burn by the punishment which he has deserved."

Then he saw one of the three angels, who had been his guides throughout both visions, go before and divide the flaming fires, whilst the other two, flying about on both sides, defended him from the danger of the fire. He also saw devils flying through the fire, raising the flames of war against the just. Then followed accusations of the envious spirits against himself, the defence of the good spirits, and a fuller vision of the heavenly hosts; as also of holy men of his own nation, who, as he had learnt, had worthily held the office of priesthood in old times, and who were known to fame; from whom he heard many things very salutary to himself, and to all others that would listen to them.

When they had ended their discourse, and returned to Heaven with the angelic spirits, there remained with the blessed Fursa, the three angels of whom we have spoken before, and who were to bring him back to the body. And when they approached the aforesaid great fire, the angel divided the flame, as he had done before; but when the man of God came to the passage so opened amidst the flames, the unclean spirits, laying hold of one of those whom they were burning in the fire, cast him against him, and, touching his shoulder and jaw, scorched them. He knew the man, and called to mind that he had received his garment when he died [presumably for giving him last rites].

The holy angel, immediately laying hold of the man, threw him back into the fire, and the malignant enemy said, "Do not reject him whom you before received; for as you received the goods of the sinner, so you ought to share in his punishment." But the angel withstood him, saying, "He did not receive them through avarice, but in order to save his soul."

The fire ceased, and the angel, turning to him, said, "That which you kindled burned you; for if you had not received the money of this man that died in his sins, his punishment would not burn you." [i.e. Fursa let his client down--went through the motions of saving the man's soul, but failed.] And he went on to speak with wholesome counsel of what ought to be done for the salvation of such as repented in the hour of death.

An aged brother of our monastery is still living, who is wont to relate that a very truthful and religious man told him, that he had seen Fursa himself in the province of the East Angles, and heard those visions from his lips; adding, that though it was in severe winter weather and a hard frost, and the man was sitting in a thin garment when he told the story, yet he sweated as if it had been in the heat of mid-summer, by reason of the great terror or joy of which he spoke.

SOURCE: Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation by The Venerable Bede, c.730, ch. 19, pp.175-177 (online edition at Gutenberg.org). Bede's primary source: a short biography of Fursa (now lost), plus secondhand testimony from one of his brother monks.

EDITOR'S NOTES

Fursa frames his trial by fire in Christian terms, but it's a shamanic initiation dream. In Siberia you might be eaten by ogres who count your bones while your ghost watches--but if there's an extra bone, the bone of a born shaman, you can reconstruct yourself, having passed through death and lost your fear of it. Fursa, pious, doesn't fear death as much as failure to save others. So his demons rub his face in failure--a man trapped in hellfire because Fursa did a halfhearted job.

This Dark Age dream's quite relevant to our Phony Age. In the flame of scorching self-regard, would your actions stand up? Not mine.

But that's not why I posted this dream. It's an example of dreams leaving physical traces, a phenomenon usually dismissed by Westerners sure that dreams are internal simulations of reality, not (as shamans worldwide have always claimed) travel through alternate realities--a multiverse. Having had a few such dreams, I can't dismiss the shamanic model; so I present examples and am wary of theorizing. Remember, lucid dreams were called a superstition too.

--Chris Wayan

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sh - Si-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites