I woke up and continued trying to solve my dilemma. Even though I was awake, I was still participating in the dream. I started to chant some om mani padme om/s to bring me back into the waking world. Sometimes I have dreams like this when I’m feeling anxious about my survival.

When I’m feeling anxious like this I ask the universe for an answer. What to do? Where to go? Could you throw some cash my way. The universe always responds, with a dime. If I happen to ask during the day, usually I will find a dime on the sidewalk within an hour or so. The dime is always in the middle of the sidewalk. If I ask during the night while I’m sleeping, I’ll find a dime sometime during the next day as I’m walking around – the dog, some errands, whatever.

After last night’s dream I asked the universe for some support. “Show me a sign,” I asked. Show me a sign that I’m on the right path. So as I was walking around today I found a dollar on a crowded city street.

Sure beats a dime.

But just as in my dream, the realization comes that no matter how much money the universe throws at me, no matter how much money I throw at my captors, whether it’s a dime or a dollar or a million dollars, it’s not going to buy my freedom, and death is inevitable.