"Samurai Initiations"
01/15/2008
01/15/2008
(This is one of the most painful dreams I’ve had in a while. I think I had B6 this night, but I didn’t write it in my notes, so I’m not sure.)
I was back in high school, and there was a huge event taking place in my ROTC class. We were having these initiations into a sort of samurai culture, which were being held in secret, in a large, temple-like arena beneath the school. There were a bunch of different events, of which these trials consisted, including; weapons exhibitions, full-contact fighting tournaments and hardcore endurance tests.
In one of these tests, we had to do a kata while weilding a katana sword, ending with a downward swipe and splitting a bowling ball in half with the sword. I don’t know if it was something I did wrong - or just that my sword wasn’t strong enough - but when I swung the sword down onto the ball, the sword, itself, shattered like glass. Shards of metal flew up at me and became lodged in the fabric of my gi, around my lower, left side. I was not allowed to take the shards out, and so I had to go through the rest of the trials with these glass-like pieces of metal scraping up against my body, perpetually cutting into my skin.
In another trial, we had our wrists and hands covered in flammable fluid. One by one, they went down the row of about twenty of us, setting our hands on fire. We had to stand there, for a specific amount of time (which I cannot remember), while the fire burned, refusing to yell out in pain until our superiors put the fires out. It was excruciating. I have to say it felt like real fire, in every way, except for the maximum intensity of the heat. Had it been a real, waking life fire, I highly doubt I could have held on, but I was able to make it through the dream trial (even though it hurt like a sonofabitch).
In the final trial that I can remember, someone would kneel in front of us with a katana and angle it vertically, standing it on end, with the hilt to the floor and the point facing the ceiling. We would, then, have to press down as hard as we could, on the very tip of the blade. The premise of this test was that, if your mind was strong enough, the blade would not penetrate. But, if you were to lose the “mind over matter” aspect of the test, the sword would pierce your hand, straight through. This is the one that I was most nervous about. I kept thinking to myself that there is no way I’m going to be able to do this. I watched out of the corner of my eye, while they came down the row, one by one, with each student easily passing the test. I began to get more and more anxious, as they came toward me. Once it was my turn, I placed my hand down on the tip of the sword, feeling its all-too-real sharpness.
Just at the moment when I was about to give up all resistance, and press down upon the blade, I woke up.
(*Original Art, based on dream*)
I was back in high school, and there was a huge event taking place in my ROTC class. We were having these initiations into a sort of samurai culture, which were being held in secret, in a large, temple-like arena beneath the school. There were a bunch of different events, of which these trials consisted, including; weapons exhibitions, full-contact fighting tournaments and hardcore endurance tests.
In one of these tests, we had to do a kata while weilding a katana sword, ending with a downward swipe and splitting a bowling ball in half with the sword. I don’t know if it was something I did wrong - or just that my sword wasn’t strong enough - but when I swung the sword down onto the ball, the sword, itself, shattered like glass. Shards of metal flew up at me and became lodged in the fabric of my gi, around my lower, left side. I was not allowed to take the shards out, and so I had to go through the rest of the trials with these glass-like pieces of metal scraping up against my body, perpetually cutting into my skin.
In another trial, we had our wrists and hands covered in flammable fluid. One by one, they went down the row of about twenty of us, setting our hands on fire. We had to stand there, for a specific amount of time (which I cannot remember), while the fire burned, refusing to yell out in pain until our superiors put the fires out. It was excruciating. I have to say it felt like real fire, in every way, except for the maximum intensity of the heat. Had it been a real, waking life fire, I highly doubt I could have held on, but I was able to make it through the dream trial (even though it hurt like a sonofabitch).
In the final trial that I can remember, someone would kneel in front of us with a katana and angle it vertically, standing it on end, with the hilt to the floor and the point facing the ceiling. We would, then, have to press down as hard as we could, on the very tip of the blade. The premise of this test was that, if your mind was strong enough, the blade would not penetrate. But, if you were to lose the “mind over matter” aspect of the test, the sword would pierce your hand, straight through. This is the one that I was most nervous about. I kept thinking to myself that there is no way I’m going to be able to do this. I watched out of the corner of my eye, while they came down the row, one by one, with each student easily passing the test. I began to get more and more anxious, as they came toward me. Once it was my turn, I placed my hand down on the tip of the sword, feeling its all-too-real sharpness.
Just at the moment when I was about to give up all resistance, and press down upon the blade, I woke up.
No comments:
Post a Comment