Awakening from Sleep: Three Amazing Events of Coming Out
Awakening the dead is a difficult task unless the time has come for a sleeper’s resurrection. For some, such as Punxsutawney Phil the grand awakening arrives every year, rain or shine on February second. But not all souls are as lucky … and it is the fate of some individuals to sleep without waking for years!
Imagine what it would be like to close your eyes for a little nap and not wake up for a month, two months, or a year. Such is an all too common fate for people with health crises. Sometimes the sleep is induced, other times the body just demands it. The awakening of such individuals is a joyous occasion, and hopefully full of health.
Sleep is a necessity. There are many studies about the need for all creatures to participate in restful sleep. We must all go through the patters of dozing off, subdued rest (where muscles relax and body temperature drops, deep sleep, and REM cycles. One of the first sleep studies every produced came out of Greece around 350 BCE.
An Ancient Sleep Study
The Philosopher Aristotle once wrote: “With regard to sleep and waking, we must consider what they are: whether they are peculiar to soul or to body, or common to both; and if common, to what part of soul or body they appertain: further, from what cause it arises that they are attributes of animals, and whether all animals share in them both, or some partake of the one only, others of the other only, or some partake of neither and some of both.”
Aristotle noticed that when people sleep longer than normal there are real difficulties. He once wrote, “When the state of our own minds does not change at all, or we have not noticed its changing, we do not realize that time has elapsed, any more than those who are fabled to sleep among the heroes in Sardinia do when they are awakened; for they connect the earlier ‘now’ with the later and make them one.”
Epimenides the Sleeper
Aristotle knew the story of Epimenides of Cnossos in Crete who fell asleep in a cave sacred to Zeus while watching his father’s sheep and did not wake up for fifty-seven years. Upon arising he went to look for the sheep, but did not find them. He thereupon sought out his father’s farm, but found that everything had changed. He was perplexed, until he located his younger brother, who by that time was an old man, and who helped put together the story of what happened.
The sleep did him good, for something mystical in the cave of Zeus gave Epimenides the gift of prophecy. This gift was put to good use, as leaders of various cities called on him to help solve problems. It is said he helped Solon bring reforms in Athens and he brought purity to Sparta. The Cretan sleeper is so famous that several lines from his poems appear in the Bible. (mentioned by Paul in Acts 17:28 and Titus 1:12).
It is hard to imagine what it would be like to fall asleep and wake up in a different era. The arousal and coming out could be very disorienting. For Epimenides this turned out to be very good, and he used some unique powers to help others. But such is not always the case.
Honi the Circlemaker
Honi the Circlemaker was a roofer that studied the law of the scriptures to become a famous Rabbi. He was known for his prayers, and one spring a in after a winter without any rain, his neighbors requested that he appeal to God for an end to the intense drought and heat. Honi, accordingly appealed to God for relief, but no rain fell.
Rabbi Honi was famous because he was not a person who gave up easily. He read the verse from Habakkuk 2 that said, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me.” He thereupon drew a circle on the ground and told the people he would not remove himself until the rain came. The great Rabbi continued to pray.
Rain began to drip and the people gathered around him began to credit him with a miracle, but he stopped them. He proclaimed, “It is not for this that I have prayed, but for rain to fill ditches, depressions and caves. ” Then the rain began to come down with such force so all the people present ran for cover and protection. As they ran, they begged Honi to stop the rain. The Rabbi responded, “I have a tradition that will not let me ask God to end an excess of good.” The teacher had scruples.
Several years after the miracle, two brothers, John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus became King and High Priest of Israel, but each was jealous and desired to hold both positions. Aristobulus asked Honi to pray for his success against his brother. Honi prayed that God would not hear the prayers of either the selfish brothers or their followers.
The followers of Aristobulus sought to stone him to death, and Honi left Jerusalem and found a cave where he could go into hiding. He ate a large meal and went to sleep. When he awoke seventy years later, nothing was the same. The great Rabbi visited a school of learned scholars who were discussing his teachings. Honi cried out, “I am he!” but the scholars would not believe. This hurt the the Rabbi greatly, so he prayed for death and died.
The Day of the Awakening Groundhog
And so we move in this blog from one sleeping weather maker to another. It is a popular North American tradition to appoint a Groundhog, who after a long winter’s nap will awaken at precisely 7:20 am in order to make a prognostication concerning whether it will remain winter or become spring for the next six weeks.
Imagine yourself, after a five month nap, awakening to more than a thousand people staring into your bedroom and shouting at you to come out and predict the weather. Would you act more like Epimenides, who gave a blessing, or like Honi, who curled up and died. I hope the groundhog is favorable, because I like Spring … but if not, I will find the strength to endure.
As the world awakens into this new season are you confused by the events that are occurring all around us? Perhaps the book, Spring: Connecting with God, will help to discern what is going on, and help you make some correct prognostication concerning the immediate and distant future.
