Very nice essay by the way. Thank you for sharing.

Every conception of Heaven that was given to me by well-meaning parishioners in the dogmatic church of my youth _always_ reflected the personality of the person explaining it. Always.
A golden shopping mall is a new one though :-)

Amen

God must be as much in constant morning as in constant joy.

Yes, for sure. I think of the dream state as being absent of some filter, therefore allowing me to construct a symbolic image that I can carry into the waking world. The waking state has a strong filter that prevents this, thereby depriving me of the imagery.

Something about the dream state allowed the vision to be something I could see and sketch when I woke up. This is different from Divine encounters that have happened when in a waking state which are much less visual and describable.

I thought I would have been terrified, but I wasn't. There was, for sure, a sense of awe and grandeur, but the familiarity of it tempered the fear.

I once dreamt of meeting God as an enormous cliff face. Sandy orange like in the American West, but dotted with evergreens. Extending into the clouds & far below my feet. Inhospitable yet alive. Monstrously huge yet familiar.
This was the only time I've ever felt compelled to sketch a dream vision.

An absolutely superb piece of work that I cannot get enough of.

Oh! I'd love to check it out! Thanks!