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(August Strindberg in A Madman's Defense)
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E L E C T R I C D R E A M S
Volume 3 Issue #11
26 December 1996
ISSN# 1089 4284
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Electric Dreams - on the World Wide Web
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
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-- Send Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
Bob Krumhansl
-- Send Dream Questions and Concerns to
Victoria Quinton
--Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to:
Peggy Coats
-- Send Requests for Dream Groups to:
Chris Hicks
--Send Articles and Subscription concerns to:
Richard Wilkerson:
--For back issues, editors addresses
and other access & Staff see
ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION
at the end of this issue
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Download a GREAT COVER for Electric Dreams 3(11)!
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
Cover by Jesse Reklaw & Raven
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C O N T E N T S
Editors' notes
Dream Groups via Email - Chris Hicks
Slow Wave - Jesse Reklaw
Be an Elecrtic Dreamer! Sign up Today.
Dream Airing Column - Victoria Quinton
Legality of Dream Sharing in Cyberspace
Philosophy of Sleep discussion
Column: Dream Psi - Linda Magallon
!! Feature: Granny Gallery - Interactive Art Gallery
- Nancy Richter Brzeski
Guest Column: Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams (Part II)
- Charles McPhee
Article: Lucid Dream Resources Online - Richard Wilkerson
DREAMLIFE:Alissa's Dream Art & Creativity Column
- Alissa Goldring
Dream Network Journal Update - Roberta Ossana
ASD Announcement: A Special Issue on the Psychobiology of
Dreaming - A Call for Research
G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S
Peggy Coats
THIS MONTH'S FEATURES:
NEWS
- 1996 Planetary Dream-In, 20-21 December
- A Long Winter Night's Dream
- New Version of Alchera Dream Software
- Revised Announcement, Dream Studies Program
- RecallAnyDream Telephone Service
BOOK REVIEWS
- Internet Dreams
- Archetypes and Strange Attractors
- DreamScape
RESEARCH and REQUESTS
- Dreams of Winter
- Psychic Dreamers Sought
WEB SITE UPDATES
- Lucid Dream Paintings
- Dream Inspired Mandalas
- Dream Keeper, Safe Haven for Dreamers
- Discovery Channel Dreams
ONLINE EVENTS
- PowWow Get-togethers
- IRC Get-togethers
DREAM CALENDAR
- December-January-February 1997
== D R E A M S I N D E X ==
D R E A M S SECTION EDITORIAL BY BOB K. (For ED V3N11)
Birth of Hope & New Beginnings
FEEDBACK FROM THE DREAMERS
-E-mail on Alt.Dreams and ELECTRIC DREAMS
COMMENTARY ON DREAMS FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
From a Previous Dream: Bank Problem" by RE
-a Poem: Guilt Deposits by Island Inspired by Dream "Bank
Problem" by RE
From a Previous Dream: "The Free Gift" by GD
-a Poem: Charleston Chew by Island Inspired by Dream "The
Free Gift" by GD
NEW DREAMS
PRECOGNITIVE/FUTURE DREAMS
[Stories from past experiences, or send them in before it
happens, if you can]
**Island shares some older dreams, and how they related to
current as well as later developments in her life.**
**Dream: Buried Under Snow by Island (75.12.01)**
==Commentary by Island on Buried Under By Snow==
**Dream: Farmer s Market on 14th Street by Island
(87.09.12)**
==Dream Reflections a Decade Later by Island (9610xx)==
**Dream: Dying Geishas by Island (88.02.10)**
**Isis and Island share some thoughts on the relationship
between Dreams and Waking Reality, and how they related to
current as well as later developments in life.**
==E-mail 1 by Isis==
==Response by Island==
==E-mail 2 by Isis==
REPETITIVE DREAMS
[Significant by nature]
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
[Your stumpers may not be so mysterious to others]
==========================================
LINKS TO STAGES OF LIFE
BIRTH [Starts]
**Dream: Maggie s Dream by Maggie (961213)**
==Commentary by Brien (961215) on Maggie s Dream==
==Commentary by Rosalie on Maggie s Dream (961216)==
==Commentary by Narcissus (961216) on Maggie's Dream==
CHILDHOOD [Early development]
ADOLESCENCE [Maturing, testing]
**Dream: SYLVIA AND SHIMMERY by D. S. (961217)**
ADULTHOOD [The main event for most]
**Dream: Jail Dream/Gestalted by Eugene Marks (961206)**
==Commentary by Eugene: GESTALTING MY DREAM==
==[Eugene shares some tips and lessons learned:]
GESTALT DREAM WORK (FROM CLAUDIO NARANJO'S I AND THOU)==
OLD AGE [Wisdom, Approaching the Journeys end]
DEATH [Endings]
**Dream "Grief" by A.M. Used (961119)**
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD [Beyond our terrestrial limits]
==========================================
==========================================
ANIMALS [Basic Instincts]
This month brings us spiders and water creatures:
**Dream: Insects by Vince (961221)**
Island Dream Series: Bathing in Fish Dreams/
Thoughts and Poems
**Dream: Sizzled Fish by Island (79.10.28)**
**Dream: It all begins with Taw by Island (80.06.08)**
**Dream: Leviathan on 42nd Street by Island (80.12.09)**
**Dream: QueenFisher by Island (81.10.20)**
**Dream: Arrows of Misfortune by Island (82.03.06)**
==Commentary by Rosalie on Islands Fish Dreams & Response==
AGGRESSION [By us or against us- crossing others paths]
**Dream: They re Coming To Get Me by Vince(94????)**
**Dream: Dino s Dreams and Inquiries by Dino (961124)**
BATHROOMS [Maintenance, Cleansing and Elimination]
BRIDGES [How we get across an obstacle or go from here to
there]
CELEBRITIES [The well known - famous and infamous]
DISCOVERY [New insights and unexpected developments]
DRUGS [Healing or Hurting?]
EATING [Getting nourishment for maintenance, growth and
pleasure]
ESCAPE [Get me outta here!!!]
**Dream "Fire" by Alissa (961204)**
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on "FIRE" by Alissa==
**Dream: The Magical Little Man by MarkM (961224)**
FEAR [What scares us]
See Fire by Alissa in the ESCAPE section of this issue.
FOOD [The source of our physical nourishment]
-In many dreams we are preparing or eating the food
(nutrition & energy), in some dreams we are dealing with
growing the food as in this months:
**Dream: Harvesting Granny's Garden by NRB (961220)**
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on Harvesting Granny's
Garden==
GIFTS [Offerings from others]
HOBBIES [Our interests and desires]- COLLECTING THINGS
HOSPITAL [A place for treatment, healing and repair]
HOUSE [Where our lives take place]
HOTELS [Temporary Dwelling or Special Event location]
JOURNEYS [Missions away from our home base -explorations]
LOST [Disorientation or abandonment]
LOTTERY DREAMS [Sudden Wealth - Randomness favors the
dreamer]
NUDITY [What you see is what you get]
PERFORMERS [Entertainers]
POLITICAL SCENE [Public issues through positions of power]
RELATIONSHIPS [Other parts of ourselves]
RELIGIOUS RELATED [The Ritual and the Spiritual]
SCHOOL THEMES [Learning and learnings trials]
SOLUTIONS [The answers to problems or quandaries]
TORNADOS [Pretty well defined destructive power of nature]
TRAPPED [Temporarily helpless- Sometimes we are paralyzed or
imprisoned by jobs, relationships or expectations]
-See the JAIL DREAM by Eugene Marks in the ADULT Stage
section.
**Dream: Gnawed Knees (96.10.15) by Island**
WORKPLACE [Where we make a living]
WRITING & WRITERS [Communication and creativity]
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
DREAM SERIES
See ANIMALS sections for-
***Dream Series: Bathing in Fish Dreams/Thoughts and Poems
by Island***
**Dream: Sizzled Fish by Island (79.10.28)**
**Dream: It all begins with Taw by Island (80.06.08)**
**Dream: Leviathan on 42nd Street by Island (80.12.09)**
**Dream: QueenFisher by Island (81.10.20)**
**Dream: Arrows of Misfortune by Island (82.03.06)**
E L E C T R I C D R E A M S ACCESS INFORMATION
DISCLAIMER
END INDEX
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January 15, WED deadline for submission FOR ED 4-01
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Editors notes
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Dreamin' up a New Year...
Wait, what about 1996? Like dreams, unrecorded years can
also evaporate. Sometimes only a scene or two is remembered.
This year may be remembered as the one of the most
pioneering of years for dreams and Cyberspace. I can hardly
summarize the whole year in a note, but would like to say
that all areas of dreaming seemed to find expression, dream
sharing groups and venues, dream education and class, dream
research, fabulous new resources offered by Electric Dreams,
DreamLink, ASD Web, DreamNet, DreamWeb, DreamGate,
DreamTree, the Lucidity Insititute, and many others. The ASD
conference XIII in Berkeley, with Bay Area BADG & DreamGate
supported and financed a week long Computer and Internet
dream exhibition room, including panels, classes and
continual online projects. New creative dream adventures are
sprouting up all over; dream inspired art galleries, Web
sites that allow us to respond to dream researchers and
authors, Mail lists like the Oneiro-Network that develop
online focus in lucidity and other topics, Dream Harrowing,
dream psi, and other online activities are unfolding
everywhere.
The Electric Dreams Staff has been very active as you can
see from our year of dream publishing, dream sharing groups,
dream events, news, interviews, web upgrades and mail lists.
Many thanks to you!
In all this dream sharing activity, what amazes me is
that there is still room for the individual to find
expression. Whether this is a Net thing, or a Dreamwork
thing, I don't know, but I like it and am continually amazed
by eruption of meaningful creativity and expression of
personal caring.
Throughout this explosive year, the Eccentric,
Independent, Electric, ED Dream community has, like a
Chinese New Year Serpent, woven its way through these many
projects and invigorated, fertilized, and energized all we
have come in contact with. If the community dispersed
tomorrow without a trace I would have no regrets. We have
been a magic catalyst for the dreaming across the globe, and
I want to thank everyone for their part of this dream, you
are all wonderful pioneers doing foundational work and a
delight to work, play and share dreams with.
But let's not disperse just yet.
I had a dream a few weeks ago where I was visiting a
young girl's house. Outside in the summer evening was a
wooded area and then a runway for intergalactic travel,
which this girl's family was involved with. The wonderful
sense I woke up with was there are large and wonderful
things were unfolding, about to take off, and quite
interstellar!
I feel there are several large projects coming along
next year that will be a lot of fun to participate in, in
preparation for dreaming in the new Millennium.
As more people come online, our educational and referral
role with grow. Do we send folks off to swim or sink in a
massive resource page or offer some courses in basic
floating and diving? What delights me about the Net is that
so many people can participate in a project normally handled
by one or two. Rather than being a waste of resources, we
get multiple viewpoints and thus empowered dream sharing
individuals instead of devotees and one perspective
thinking. I see Electric Dreams as again working like a long
invigorating beast or swarm that may be able to bring a
variety of educational programs together. Since we are not
tied to one perspective or school of thought, we can act as
a catalyst & fair witness for various other projects.
A part of this project will be gathering resources that
can aid and help dream sharing, such as the networks that
bring together psychic material, mythology, Jungian
work,journaling,and other peripherally connected areas.
A second project, maybe for 1998 as well and anticipating
the Global Dreaming Congress in 2000, will be a large
ONLINE dream conference. This may be a more traditional
conference lasting a week or so with scheduled events and
online meetings, but might also be something novel and
unique to the Net, like a joint web expo.
A third large project is continuing to bring into the Net
individuals, groups and ideas that are still not represented
online, such as dream anthropology, regional dream programs
and groups, dream drama, and the fabulous data collection
and assessment tools demonstrated at the conference in
Berkeley.
Finally, our right to share dreams with one another is
continually theatened in the current global atmosphere.
There are good arguements on both sides of the control and
freedom of speech pole, and we are a microcosm of this
larger project. And, as Chris Hicks has shown us in his
writings, our dreams reflect a wide range of global issues.
Our first obligation seems to get these views out and
maintain the right to share them. All the rest will follow.
If you can express and find the personal significance of
your sharing dreams and dream talk online, this will help
those who will be making the upcoming decisions about the
rights of dream sharing & other expressions in cyberspace.
Let's continue dreamin' up a storm!
This issue is no exception to our grand projects. The
opening of the "Granny Gallery", the Dream Inspired Art
Gallery of Nancy Richter Brzeski is being presented and I
recommend that you all drop by her Web site as well and be
sure to *write* Nancy. What we want to get going is an
*interactive* dream sharing experience. Sometime we share
dreams with words, but as this gallery show, it is also
profound to share with graphics as well.
This sense of dynamic graphic dream sharing is not
unknown to our regular creative dream columnist, Alissa
Goldring, who continues to share her dreams and how her
graphic and verbal interpretations inform and transform her
life.
Charles McPhee is back with his interactive web site as
well. This month Charles continues to explore how dreams and
consciousness work together. Be sure to stop by his site
"Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams" and tell him your own
experiences in lucid dreaming. I've included some resources
at the end of the column and would like for you to send in
new ones as well.
For many years the Dream Psi researchers and community
have been rather quiet. Now Linda Magallon and the Fly By
Night Club are letting us in on goings on of the outer &
subtle regions of dreaming and offering you a chance to join
in this exciting area experience and become part of the
Dream Psi tradition.
One of the offline dream networks already in place is
the DreamNetwork Journal. I'm reprinting Ossana's statement
on the Network this month.
ASD also offers extensive networking and you can learn
more at their web site www.outreach.org/gmcc/asd/
If you are a psychobiologist, be sure to read the request
for research, reprinted this month on ED.
As a matter of fact and evidence for all the dream
activity online, simple run your eyes over the index of the
Global Dreaming News that Peggy Coats has put together to be
amazed by the abundance of people and organizations now
using the Net for dreamsharing. Be sure to look over Rob's
Online Events for the Oneiro-Network.
When was the last time you visited the ED web? You may
be in for a shock. Matthew has set the site up with frames
and with the help of Jesse Reklaw you can have ED with a
Graphic cover!
Our dream section has been evolving and this issue not
only full of fabulous tales that make up a special weave in
the fabric of our lives, but chalk full of ways of seeing
and interpreting these meaningingful images. Bob Krumhansl
has developed a way for us to read these in an organized
index of meaning and value and takes us on a journey with a
path for everyone. Be sure to read Eugene Marks embedded
example of how to approach a dream via Gestalt techniques.
Read about this and more in Bob's notes at the beginning of
the Dream Section.
And special thanks to Island for all her contributions in
every catagory and for the special selections of dream
quotes dispersed throughout this issue and repeated in full
at the end of the Dream Section.
Dreamin' up a New Millenium,
Richard
=======================================================
Special Thanks from RCW to Wired Magazine for the DreamGate
interview in the December 1996 issue. Online at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/4.12/reality_check.html
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George Orwell in Coming up for Air: In every one of those
little stucco boxes there's some poor bastard who's never
free except when he's fast asleep and dreaming that he's got
the boss down the bottom of a well and is bunging lumps of
coal at him.
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Dream Groups via E-mail - The DreamWheels continue!!
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Chris Hicks continues to moderate and motivate us all with
the ED DreamWheel dreamgroups. This is really a fun way to
share dreams and you can join the groups by simply sending
Chris a note that says, "Hey Chris, put me on the list for
the next DreamWheel and send me instructions on how to
participate!" send to:
dreamwheel@michweb.net
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Arthur Miller in After the Fall: I dreamed I had a child,
and even in the dream I saw it was my life,and it was an
idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept on to my lap
again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could
kiss it, whatever in it is my own, perhaps I could sleep.
And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible . . . but
I kissed it. I think one must finally take one's life in
one's arms.
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Slow Wave
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Slow Wave is a collective dream diary authored by
unconscious minds from around the world, and illustrated by
Jesse Reklaw. A new strip is uploaded every week on the
first minute of Saturday, EST. That's 9 PM Friday in
California, 6 AM Saturday in France, and 3 PM Saturday in
Sydney, Australia.
There were Three Slow Waves for the month of December, 1996.
-- Elizabeth Thiel finds out that dream snow is out of this
world!
-- Watch out for Pizza's with marbles!
--Tired of your life, maybe you can get another one with
Laura Miller at the Revival Tent.
They can be viewed together on the
http://www.nonDairy.com/slow/wave.cgi?dec96
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Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own: Yet it is in our
idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes
comes to the top.
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Be an Electric Dreamer
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Electric Dreams continues to offer a wide variety of free
dreamsharing venues and this means we log a lot of online
time. It is fun and we do this because we love it! But
sometimes we can't keep up with all the networking tasks and
then the quality is diminished in our programs.
And not everyone has the time to be a staff member
(though if you *do* have the time and desire, drop me a
line!).
And so we would like to ask for ELECTRIC DREAMERS -
volunteers who can give just a few minutes every week or
even once a month. Here are some of the ED areas that
Electric Dreamers might help in:
- Co-Moderate a dream group.
- Post a few dreams to a few Newsgroups or Mail lists.
- Post an ad regularly to a Newsgroup you will "sponsor".
- Post an ad to a mail list you will "sponsor".
- Post an ad to a SIG at your commercial online carrier.
- Surf the net for new dream web sites.
- Surf Educational college sites for dream bibliographies
- Send in addresses of magazine departments that might like
to carry a story about dream sharing in cyberspace
- Send in local resources on dreams - groups, schools,
lectures, library resources, newsletters and new age papers.
- Check you Yellow Pages for schools and ask what programs
or classes on dreams and dreaming dreams are available.
- Many other projects available!
Because these tasks are a little tedious at times
(though usually fun) we are offering a FREE HOME PAGE for
anyone who participates!! Be and Electric Dreamer, sign
up today...
contact Richard Wilkerson
rcwilk@aol.com
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Alfred Lord Tennyson: Maybe the wildest dreams are but the
needful preludes of the truth.
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Dream Airing Column - Victoria Quinton
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Victoria is on maternity leave/slow-down, but we plan to
deep the column going with your questions and comments and
other dream related items. -R
===================================================
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: US Supreme Court Schedules CDA Appeal: The Showdown
Begins in Jan.
------------------------------------------------------------
The US Supreme Court on Friday scheduled briefing in the
government's appeal of the 3-judge Philadelphia federal
court ruling that the Communications Decency Act provisions
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are unconstitutional,
in the merged ACLU v. Reno and ALA v. Dept. of Justice cases
against the recent Internet censorship law.
* Briefing Schedule for Supreme Court Appeal of CDA
Constitutionality Challenge (ACLU v. Reno, ALA v. DoJ
merged case), as of Dec. 1996:
Jan. 21, 1997 - Appellant (government) brief due
Feb. 20, 1997 - Appellee (EFF, ACLU, ALA, CIEC, et al.)
brief due
Mar. 7, 1997 - Appellant reply brief due.
Mar-Apr., 1997 - Oral arguments in the case will be
scheduled
It is important to note the announcement was not about
whether the Supreme Court has chosen to review the lower
court's decision in ACLU v. Reno -- the Court has *no
choice* as to whether it will review that decision, so
long as the government's appeal is not a frivolous one.
According to Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the
Supreme Court can be compelled by Congress to hear certain
kinds of appeals, even though normally Congress lets the
Court set its own docket. Pursuant to Article III, the
Telecom Act, like the Voting Rights Act and certain other
legislative measures, grants the government an "appeal as of
right" whenever a provision of the act is found
unconstitutional by a lower court . This is very different
from the normal petition-for-certiorari process by
which cases normally come before the Court. Congress
intended that the contentious provisions of the Telecom Act
be settled quickly, and wrote provisions into the law itself
to ensure this.
More importantly, the Court's announcement is not any
indication, despite CDA supporters' claims, that the Supreme
Court wants to overturn the lower court's ruling.
What is significant about the news is that the Supreme Court
has expressed 1) an interest in hearing oral arguments as
well as 2) an interest in speaking *directly* to the issues
raised by the case (as distinct from deciding the case
summarily).
Legal teams from both of the original, now merged, cases
will continue to work cooperatively on countering the
Justice Department's appeal.
EFF remains very optimistic of the outcome of this case, as
the CDA fails not one but *all* constitutionality tests.
Previous documents from cases are available at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/EFF_ACLU_v_DoJ/
More information about the CDA and similar Internet
censorship measures:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/Internet_censorship_bills/
=========================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996
From: "Dominick A. Miserandino"
Subject: Philosophy of Sleep
I'm having a little problem with my current philosophy
assignment. My professor has assigned us, The Philosophy of
Sleep. I know that he wants "schools of thought on how
much, the purpose and the necessity of sleep" and the
"biological/psychological basis for such." Before I get an
F in the class, can anybody help me?
Any information, thoughts, etc... would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks,
Dominick
Dominick A. Miserandino
Fax (212) 335-0846
e-mail: dmiseran@opsny.fbc.com
=================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 16:50:50 -0500
From: David Langston
Subject: Re: philosophy of sleep
For Darl in Faulkner's _As I Lay Dying_, falling asleep far
from
home propels him into vertiginous doubt about his own
identity.
Descartes in his stove could not do it better:
In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And
before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when
you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you are
filled with sleep, you never were. I dont know what I am.
I dont know if I am or not. Jewel knows he is, because he
does not know that he does not know whether he is or not.
He cannot empty himself for sleep because he is not what
he is and he is what he is not. Beyond the unlamped wall
I can hear the rain shaping the wagon that is ours, the load
that is no longer theirs that felled and sawed it nor yet
theirs that bought it and which is not ours either, lie on
our wagon though it does, since only the wind and the rain
shape it to Jewel and me, that are not asleep. And since
sleep is is-not and rain and wind are was, it is not. Yet
the wagon is, because when the wagon is was, Addie Bundren
will not be. And Jewel is, so Addie Bundren must be. And
then I must be, or I could not empty myself for sleep in a
strange room. And so if I am not emptied yet, I am is.
How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof,
thinking
of home.
David Langston
North Adams State College
North Adams, MA
dlangsto@nasc.mass.edu
=========================================================
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 15:03:51 EST
From: William Ball
Subject: Re: Philosophy of Sleep
Dear Dominick,
If you have accurately related the philosophy assignment
below, I would offer you the services of my good friend,
also named Dominick, from Chicago, who will make damn sure
this prof makes no more such assignments.
Bill Ball
=================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 19:14:20 -0500
From: B Merrill
Subject: Re: philosophy of sleep
Robert Paul wrote:
>>Here's another angle: sleep is Providence's design to
provide His creatures >yet another positive corporeal
pleasure.<
> >But sleep itself is not the *real* pleasure. The real
pleasure consists in >shutting off the alarm and going
*back* to sleep. This is worth 8 (on a scale >of 10) in
Bentham's calculus of felicities.
and then Robert wrote:
>Kant says that reading Hume awakened him from his dogmatic
slumbers.
Kant also said that the problem of the antinomies
(and reading
Crusius?) awoke him from his dogmatic slumbers. So, if he
fell asleep in the interim, going back to those same
slumbers, then he experienced level 8 of Bentham's ranking
of felicities. Plus: he wrote the Critique of Pure Reason
when he woke up. Lucky Kant!
Bruce Merrill
======================================================
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 00:31:55 PST
From: Robert Paul
Subject: Descartes's dreaming
'Descartes worries..."lest it all be a dream"...'
Descartes did not believe that it *all* could be a dream. In
the Meditations his doubt advances in stages, from simple
cases to tougher ones, and at each stage he applies no more
sceptical pressure than is called for by the example. We're
often mistaken about things seen fleetingly, or under poor
light, or at a distance, e.g. one might mistake a scrap of
paper blown by the wind for a bird. But few sober people
would mistake a piece of paper upon which they were
laboriously composing a philosophical treatise for a bird,
and Descartes doesn't believe that the rich and persistent
visual experience of sitting in his library before the fire
could be a simple perceptual mistake: the conditions are too
stable for that. So, he supposes that he might be dreaming
that he was seated in his dressing gown before the fire.
But even this isn't enough. The 'dream hypothesis' leaves
two things untouched
(and allows us to infer that Descartes dreamed in color). He
says that even in a dream the colors that appear to him are
'absolutely real.' And even in a dream the truths of
mathematics remain what they are: 2 + 3 = 5 isn't called
into question simply because one dreams that 2 + 3 = 28. In
order to doubt the truths of mathematics he introduces an
Evil Genius, who is 'no less malicious than powerful,' who
can somehow bring it about that Descartes believes *falsely*
that 2 = 3 = 5; that triangles have more or fewer than three
sides, etc.
How this Supreme Deceiver does his work is mysterious, and
it's interesting that Descartes supposes that the SD knows
the truth of the matter (e.g. in the case of 2 + 3 = ?), for
how else could he ensure that Descartes's belief on this
score was false? One might wonder how far the SD's powers
extend: could he systematically deceive Descartes about word
meanings, etc.? (This may be relevant to the unfinished
business of Goodman and Kripke.)
However, my point is only that the dream hypothesis will not
make everything dubitable; nor did Descartes think it would.
Cheers,
=======================================================
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 13:43:17 -0330
From: Walter Okshevsky
Subject: Re: Descartes's dreaming:limits thereof
SNIP
> So, he supposes that he might be dreaming > that he was
seated in his dressing gown before the fire. > But even
this isn't enough. The 'dream hypothesis' leaves two things
untouched > (and allows us to infer that Descartes dreamed
in color). He says that even in > a dream the colors that
appear to him are 'absolutely real.' And even in a > dream
the truths of mathematics remain what they are: 2 + 3 = 5
isn't called > into question simply because one dreams that
2 + 3 = 28. SNIP > However, my point is only that the dream
hypothesis will not make everything > dubitable; nor did
Descartes think it would.
====================================================
1.Interesting.Since you agree with Descartes on this point,
I can ask you. I'm unclear on how it is that Descartes
believes himself able to control the scope of the dreamwork
here. If I were in doubt over whether I am presently sitting
at my Mac typing this out to you, then why would I not also
wonder whether the colour of my Mac were a product of my
dream? In other words, if I were to doubt the reality of the
former, on what grounds would I be able to exclude the
latter from doubt? It would seem that once one began to
doubt that kind of thing, i.e.,to wonder whether that was
but a dream, then the sky's the limit. Could it be that
Descartes' "dream hypothesis" actualy poses an
epistemological nightmare above and beyond his wildest
dreams, so to speak? And wouldn't such an effect be one of
the reasons why Heidegger would suggest that we remind
ourselves of our original "being-in-the-world" before
attempting to find the required proof or method? 2.Is the
"philosophical peace" that W. refers to in PI 133 to be
understood as the freedom from precisely the kinds of
perplexities haunting Descartes above? I'm wondering here
whether "[t]the dogmatism into which we fall so easily in
doing philosophy." (131) isn't illustrated by the Cartesian
demand for certainty and the search for a method which would
secure it for us.This is all very complex, and I apologize
if I'm just muddling through here.I found your two posts
very interesting. W
Walter C. Okshevsky
Memorial U.
=========================================================
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 01:27:59 PST
From: Robert Paul
Subject: Descartes: colors in dreams
Re my saying that Descartes believes that 'the colors [he
sees in his dreams] are 'absolutely real,' Walter C.
Okshevsky writes:
>1. Interesting. Since you agree with Descartes on this
point, I can ask you. I'm unclear on how it is that
Descartes believes himself able to control the scope of the
dreamwork here. If I were in doubt over whether I am
presently sitting at my Mac typing this out to you, then why
would I not also wonder whether the colour of my Mac were a
product of my dream? In other words, if I were to doubt the
reality of the former, on what grounds would I be able to
exclude the latter from doubt?<
If you hallucinate that your Mac changes color before your
eyes (from bright orange, to blue, to iridescent green,
etc., you might wonder something like the following: 'Is it
really changing color--or am I just hallucinating?' You
might, under other circumstances, ask: 'What is its real
color?' But you couldn't hallucinate that it was changing
color unless it appeared to be changing color. Suppose that
you *knew* you were hallucinating. Could you then sensibly
ask: 'It appears to be changing from orange to blue to
green, but are orange and blue and green really the colors
that it appears to be changing to and from?' (Excuse the
grammatical awkwardness here.) I'm not at all sure I would
understand this question.
I dream of a sunset--vivid red and yellow and pinks
striations of clouds near
the horizon. Of course that I am dreaming of a sunset
entails that I am not really seeing a ('real') sunset; but
if it appears as I have described it, that is its
appearance, whether in a dream or not. One might say,
unhelpfully, 'In dreams and and hallucinations it's
appearances all the way down: there is no
'appearance/reality' disconnect. That I am ('really') seeing
an x entails that there is an x to be seen. That I am
dreaming (hallucinating) that I am seeing an x, doesn't.
Yet, as every student of Epistemology 101 knows, there must
be something about a dream or a hallucination that can give
rise to the question: 'But is it *really* an x?' The thing
hallucinated or dreamed must have the properties of an x, to
make the question plausible: that is, the
hallucination/dream image must resemble an x in many ways.
This collection of resemblances is how the thing looks or
appears. Once one has testified that something 'looks red,'
there is always room for the question, 'But is it?' There
is, though, no room at all for an epistemological question,
'Was it red that it looked?'
>It would seem that once one began to doubt that kind of
thing, i.e.,to wonder whether that was but a dream, then the
sky's the limit. Could it be that Descartes' "dream
hypothesis" actually poses an epistemological nightmare
above and beyond his wildest dreams, so to speak?<
I've tried to show that one can sleep soundly on that
score--or at least take a short, Wittgensteinian nap.
Cheers,
Robert Paul
Reed College
robert.paul@reed.edu
===========================================================
Philosophy of Sleep" discusssion from the Philosophy &
Literature List
==========================================================
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Lord Byron in The Dream: Sleep hath its own world, // And a
wide realm of wild reality. //
And dreams in their development have breath, // And tears,
and tortures, and the touch of joy.
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Dream Psi Column - Linda Magallon
Fly-By-Night Club Presents A December Dream Game
The Golden Seed
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Last month: The Holiday Ornament: A Telepathic Dream
Experiment
November: the Dream Psi Bib & Dream Target
------------------------------------------------
Fly-By-Night Club Presents A December Dream Game
The Golden Seed
*The Golden Seed* is a bedtime story. It has been created by
weaving together scenes and images from real dreams--the
dreams of people who have deliberately dreamt together.
The original dreams came from shared dreaming projects. In
such a project, members attempt to meet one another in the
dream state. The projects were Dreams10 (1984); The Lucidity
Project (1984-1987); Shared Dreaming (1987-1988); Bay Area
Dream Team (1988); Nexus (1989) and Women of Power
(1990-1991).
Author Kyla Houbolt was a member of the last three of these
shared dreaming projects. Thus, she knew some of the images
first hand. But the others she did not; they came to her
spontaneously as she was writing this bedtime story. It was
meant to incubate the dreams of yet another group of
intentional dreamers, Communal Magic (1996). Only after the
story was completed were synchronicities noted with the
other projects, too.
Similar imagery from so many dreamers make *The Golden Seed*
a NeverEnding Story. It's an archetypal, communal,
continuously evolving tale. Any dreamer can open the pages
of the NeverEnding Story book. Just by having a dream.
How to Participate
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to read
the story and attempt to have a dream about it.
You can find the story at the Fly-By-Night Club web site
(http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm). Or
request a copy from
CaseyFlyer@aol.com. Subject: Golden Seed.
You will be notified if you have a successful dream and your
dream will be posted at the web site. Please indicate if you
will allow use of your full name, e-mail name or pseudonym.
Merry dreams,
Linda Lane Magallon
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm
(Fly-By-Night Club)
http://members.aol.com/dreampsi/archive/index.htm (DreamPsi
Archive)
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Here are a couple of quotes from two great explorers of
dreams and telepathy. -Richard
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"The human being has a potential that goes beyond it. What
all that potential can e, no one yet can know. All of that
is the promise of the futures, The thing the psi discovery
dos right now is make the promise... Parapsychological
abilities may someday be put to work and if they are, the
result can benefit mankind very greatly. But whether or not
they ever are, the very fact that they exist opens a big
window for man's outlook. "
Louisa Rhine
"...I devoted ten years of my life to parapsychological
research because of a lifetime curiosity concerning the
scope of human consciousness as well as a commitment to the
development of human potential. The findings about ESP and
PK, sparse though they may be, suggest that there exists in
the universe a dimension that is ignored, unacknowledged,
and virtually unexplored. This dimension of existence could
teach us more than we know about time and space. It could
expand our development of intellect, emotion, intuition, and
creativity. It might even demonstrate that human beings do
not end at the boundaries of the skin, but exist as part of
a network of consciousness which connects one person to
another person distant in space and time."
(Stanley Krippner_ Call of the Siren_ , pg 290)
If you have questions or comments on psi, paranormal,
telepathic or mutual dreaming, send them in to Electric
Dreams and we will try to distribute those questions to
researchers in the field.
Richard
rcwilk@aol.com
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H.D. Thoreau: Love is an attempt to change a piece of a
dream-world into reality.
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The Granny Gallery
The Interactive Dream Inspired Gallery
of Nancy Richter Brzeski
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Nancy Richter Brzeski has come to "dream art" by a
roundabout route. Born in N.Y.C., raised in Pittsburgh, PA.,
she received her B.A at the University of Michigan and her
M. A. in sociology at the University of Chicago. She was a
research associate for several years at the Institute for
Social Research in Oslo, Norway, where she remained for
three years as the wife of the young political scientist,
Christian Bay.
Her interest in dream-inspired art developed in northern
California, where she settled in the late '50s. In the Bay
Area she worded with Fariba Bogzaran, now on the teaching
staff of JFK University. In Davis, she worked as a
"consurrent student" in the University of California, Davis
Art Department with Tio Giambruni, Wayne Thiebaud, Cornelia
Schulz, Squeek Carnwath, Robert Arneson, Tony Natsoulas and
others.
This gallery is about the dream inspired art that has been
unfolding since 1955
Nancy invites you to stop by, view the art and e-mail your
comments!
Have you had a similar dream? Have you done art work
related to this?
What associations are evoked by my work? Why do you like it?
EMAIL: abrzeski@ucdavis.edu
The Granny Gallery
"Dreams are telling us something. If we learn to understand
our dreams, it helps us to understand ourselves. "
Many artists use dreams and fantasies as inspiration for
their work. I have mainly used art as a *means* of delving
more deeply into my dreams. My main focus has been on the
integrity of the dreams. In the process of externalizing the
images, many new insights have come to me. The more I
worked, the more I understood. Some of my sculpture-sketches
and paintings did not develop in this way, however. The
sculptures have often come directly from the place from
which dreams come, the unconscious mind. The subjects of the
paintings, including "Icon (Granny)", have often been
deliberately determined.
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/granny/gran05.htm
Icon (oil pastel, 31"x37") 1996
Process involved in the "Granny" Series
* Granny I * is a lithograph, made as an art student in
1966. *Granny II * is a pen-sketch made in the same year, a
doodle which turned into Granny with the long black hair I
had then, a composite image. *Granny III * was an oil pastel
made on newsprint in an art therapy group in 1986. I
recently transformed it into*"Icon(Granny)"* because I felt
it came the closest to my memory of my grandmother, who died
in 1951. * Granny IV * is an acrylic painting made in 1995,
when I rediscovered my Hungarian roots. I was strongly
influenced by the frontal image of the Fayum portraits and
the "eternal gaze" which Giacometti tried to grasp. I wanted
to capture, *to bring back to life*, my grandmother's spirit
of gentleness and compassion, the "nurturing mother."
Dream: Harvesting Granny's Garden
I was sitting outdoors in a little garden. Granny's Garden.
Vegetables, fruits, flowers. I was sitting at a little
table, typing something which I had written. A story? Many
pages.
When I finished typing, I got the idea to weed the garden,
which I did. It was muddy. I think I was barefoot and didn't
mind the mud.
There was a huge eggplant growing there. I thought, "Since
I'm weeding this garden, I might as well pick the eggplant
and the other ripe vegetables." It was *my* garden. I was
about to do that when I woke up.
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/granny/grn01.jpg
Nancy's work has appeared at four international meetings of
the Association for the Study of Dreams: In Arlington, VA,
Santa Cruz, CA., London, England, and Berkeley, CA. She has
learned about dreamwork from Nancy Jungerman, Jeremy Taylor,
Gayle Delaney and Loma Flowers. Nancy Richter Brzeski lives
in Davis, CA and San Francisco. She is the wife of Dr. A.
Brzeski, recently retired from the Economics Department,
UCD. They have two grown children, a daughter, Eva, who is a
filmmaker in New York City and a married son, Jan, who is an
independent businessman in Los Angeles, as well as their
Polish daughter Agnieszka Silva who lives with her family in
Davis, California.
Granny Gallery
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/granny/
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Bob Dylan, quoted in Robert Shelton, No Direction Home: I am
against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is
very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams,
which nature can't touch with decay.
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Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams
Part II
by Charles McPhee
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In his enlightening, entertaining book, Charles McPhee
assists anyone interested in finding out how to become a
conscious participant in our dreams by offering a
step-by-step guide to mastering the techniques of lucid
dreaming. Charles has also offered us a Web site through
which we can discuss the issues of consciousness and dreams
with him directly. He will be visiting with us here for the
next few months at Electric Dreams, answering questions and
giving us peeks into his work, Stop Sleeping Through Your
Dreams. - Richard
www.dreamgate.com/dream/mchphee/
In Electric Dreams November 3(10) Charles began exploring
the phenomena of dream sleep and consciousness. This issue
he continues to unfold his investigations into whether or
not we actually possess consciousness in dream and what this
can mean to our lives.
Now, let us return again to our question. We possess a lot
in dreams, but do we possess consciousness?
From CHAPTER 4: The Body of Time
The Evolution of Consciousness
Against the backdrop of millions of years of evolution, the
question is often asked as to why consciousness should have
evolved. What benefit or advantage does the ability for
self-awareness, and the concomitant existential reflection
that attends self-awareness, lend to us evolutionarily? As
conscious beings, we are partial to consciousness; it is the
only way we know ourselves. But as we survey the world
around us, we must acknowledge that nearly all other life
forms do not possess this ability for consciousness. Why,
then, are we the exception? If there is a biological
reason, then do we come to life on the back of this ancient
creature of time, man, merely to take a ride on an
existential Ferris wheel? Do we get swooped up to see the
stars, only to retire gently, and forever, at the end of the
ride? Or has our consciousness evolved for another reason?
Are we a most-favored species, selected by the gods to
become as we imagine them?
Consciousness is a psychological experience, but as with all
psychological experiences, it possesses a neurobiological
corollary. As suggested in chapter three, consciousness is
our ability to experience the experience of sensation as it
occurs. When we gain consciousness in a dream, we are able
to experience our experience of the dream as it is
occurring, which allows us to make the fairly obvious
observation that we are dreaming. But notice that with
consciousness, we always experience sensation twice: first
when it comes over the sensory wires to us, and then when we
actively observe, or experience, our experience of the
sensation. Thus we see our seeing, touch our touching,
and feel our feeling. The extent to which we focus our
attention on the experience determines the degree to which
the experience is impressed in our memory. It also
determines the degree to which the experience becomes part
of our active awareness - that is, memory that is recalled.
As our experiments with consciousness progress through the
course of this book, we will find that a striking
relationship exists between consciousness and memory. And
to return to our original line of inquiry, this relationship
also suggests a simpler answer to why consciousness evolved
than, perhaps, does divine intervention. Our ability to
reflect radically enhances our ability for memory, which may
be one reason why consciousness is valuable from an
evolutionary point of view. The relationship that exists
between consciousness and memory is most likely the great
advantage of consciousness. This ability for reflection
also ushers us into the paradigm of experiential existence.
Welcome to the living.
CHAPTER 5: Why We Sleep Through Our Dreams
Of all the times when we might most want our consciousness,
when we are in the fabulous dreamscape, we find that it is
almost categorically denied us! Each night we enter the
dreamscape once again, yet each night we enter blind.
Without consciousness we are unable to recognize our dreams.
We are unable to see where we are, unable to be where we
are.
Psychologically, the absence of consciousness from dream
sleep makes no sense. We are all blessed with a fantastic,
natural mechanism for inner illumination, for healing and
mental health, yet we are never permitted access to it? To
add insult to injury, not only are we unable to interact
with our dreams consciously, but our memory of the
experience is radically impaired. Unconsciously experienced
sensation is very difficult to recall; we routinely forget
the overwhelming majority of our dreams. So why do we dream
at all?
******
The need for dampening of the reflective ability during
dreams is curious. As chapter six explains, sustained
experience with lucid dreams shows that consciousness is
compatible with the dreamscape, albeit a rare guest. When
we observe that the immediate result of gaining
consciousness in a dream typically is that we awaken
ourselves, then we can see why consciousness generally is an
undesirable accompaniment to dream experience. Most often
when we perceive we are dreaming, the realization startles
us and we disturb the physiologic balance of dream sleep,
causing us to awaken shortly thereafter. Put simply, we
notice we are dreaming, and then we wake ourselves up.
First our mind wakes up in the dreamscape, then our body
wakes up, and we make that quick transition from dream sleep
to being awake again, with the dreamscape but a memory.
This is the famous Oh, shoot! of lucid dreaming. In
attempting to prolong periods of consciousness in the
dreamscape, all lucid dreamers first learn not to startle
their bodies out of dream sleep once they recognize they are
dreaming.
So, we arrive at a perplexing juncture in our search. The
dreamscape is very nearly categorically denied us. But
enjoy, for a moment, the paradox that attends this grail: It
is ours, but we are not permitted access to it. We are
responsible for its creation, but we know not whence it
comes. We spend an hour and a half a day, ten hours a week,
twenty-one days a year in the dreamscape, but we rarely get
a chance to visit. We walk in it, we talk in it, we feel
it, we touch it, and we ask it questions. It touches us, it
holds us, we are enveloped wholly within it. Every night we
walk the corridors of our mind. Feel and touch the walls!
Consciousness: We exist without it; we do not exist without
it.
Next month we move into the lab to see what research can
offer us in a way of evidence and explanation. If you can't
wait, you can stop by my Web site for a full chapter summary
of Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams. If you would like
more on this, my book is published by Henry Holt and
Company, Inc. Publication Date: December 27th, 1995.
0-8050-2500-6 $22.50, cloth. Contact: Robin Jones, (212)
886-9270
-Charles Mcphee
Brainsufr@aol.com
www.dreamgate.com/dream/mchphee/
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DH Lawrence: I can never decide whether my dreams are the
result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my
dreams.
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Lucid Dreaming Resources on the Net
A Call for Link Updating
Richard Wilkerson
==========================================================
I have been going through my _Dream Guide to the Internet_
this month in an attempt to update the links for the
upcoming ASD vote on what links will and will not be on the
ASD Web. It is my position that the Net is made up of
individual and group efforts that are interwoven together in
a complex new gestalt of interconnectivity and open
communication. There may be some reasons to censor in
cyberspace, but there are more compelling reason *not* to.
The dynamic social revolutions that are arising from open
global communication and experimentation are still quite
fragile. There is a cost in this freedom, and my experience
has shown that the cost is defrayed by caring attention,
where as it becomes too high a price where there is neglect.
We apply this caring in many ways, each with his and her own
talents and skills.
What I would like to do here is list the dreaming
resources so we can link to them where appropriate, and add
to them where we missed or lost links. This month's focus is
on Lucid Dreaming Resources. If your web site offers a
unique lucid dream resource, tell us about me about it and
I'll include it in the growing body of LD sites.
-Richard rcwilk@aol.com
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Goethe: These whimsical pictures, inasmuch as they originate
from us, may well have an analogy with our whole life and
fate.
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============================================================
LUCID DREAMING RESOURCES ON THE NET
============================================================
The Usenet Newsgroups related to Lucid Dreaming:
+ alt.dream.lucid
+ alt.dreams.castaneda
The Web sites & Mail lists
+ Charles McPhee Stop Sleeping Through Your
Dreams. Author invites discussion of Lucid dreaming and
provides some of the best Links to Lucid Dreaming Online.
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/mcphee/
+ The Lucidity Institute, Inc - A mix of
helpful commercial & non-commercial products and direct
educational materials and essays, the Intititute is the
outgrowth of Stephen Laberge's work on Lucid Dreaming. Be
sure to check out What's New? for current and upcoming
events. Stop in at the Intstitute's
LUCID FAQ
http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html
or if all else fails, call 1-800-GO-LUCID.
http://www.best.com:80/~lucidity/
+ Online Guide to Lucid Dreaming - This
democratic site includes an FAQ, Methods, Techiques &
Tips,LD Phenomena, Research Papers, a Gallery & Other LD
Resources
http://www.york.ac.uk/%7Esocs214/ogld/
+ DreamWeb - Not just a delightful Dream site,
Ryan brings you Intros, FAQs, Histories, techniques & tips
as well as a dreaming science information.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/3815/
+ Dream Harrowing by Rick Smith is a site
devoted to turning your dreams into a journey from which
objects and treasure may be found. This site will soon
encompass the Dream Canteen and other dream support
projects.
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/~rls3z/hrrw2.htm
+ Astral Library - Links to lucid dreaming
technology and information sites
http://lava.net/%7Egoodin/library.html
+ The Lucid Dreamers Reference Guide -
Resources, links, reviews by Mark Breck
http://www.cris.com/~Mbreck/lucid.shtml
+ The Oneiro-Network The Oneiro-Network is
dedicated to advancing the global online community of lucid
dreamers through telecommunications, and telepresence
technologies. It's purpose is to bring lucid dreamers from
all points of the globe together in a social atmosphere. To
meet and get to know others of like mindedness, and to talk
about lucid dreams. Everyone is welcome to participate, and
create their own niche within the club.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2357/
+ Online Guide to Lucid Dreaming - This
democratic site includes an FAQ, Methods, Techiques &
Tips,LD Phenomena, Research Papers, a Gallery & Other LD
Resources
http://www.thenet.co.uk/~philmarley/ogld/
+ Electric Dreams Besides a helpful online
community of nearly 600 members, many of the Electric Dreams
E-zine backissue contain articles on and by lucid dreamers.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
+ Lucid Graphics A graphical web site about
Lucid Dreaming, where you can find several tips and tricks
on how to do it in a graphical environemnt. The site uses
frames so only netscape 2.0/explorer 3.0 users can see it.
http://www.brightsite.com/mirror
+ "A Study of Dreams" By Frederik Van Eeden
(1913) and transcribed by Blake Wilfong :" In this seminal
work, Van Eeden describes several varieties of dreams and
coins the phrase'lucid dream'. Although many of his
conclusions contradict the findings of modern researchers,
this paper remains a classic."
http://www.phoenix.net/~blake/dreams.tx
+ SpiritWeb Go to the Search box and type
"lucid" for more than a dozen articles.
http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit.html#Subjects
+ LUCID DREAMING Article by Denise Linn for
Golden Age Magazine. A positive short introduction.
http://www.newage.com.au/contributions/lucid.html
+ The Lame Man's Guide to the Dream World A
quick lucid and obe techniques guide.
http://home.earthlink.net/~izone/astral.htm
+ Lucid Dreaming Enhancement A Treatise on
Lucid Dreaming by Robert Bruce,1994.
http://zeta.cs.adfa.oz.au/Spirit/lucid-dreaming.html
+ Vìdomé snìní Vìdomé snìní (lucid dreaming) je
snìní, pøi nìmž si èlovìk uvìdomuje, že sní.
http://st.vse.cz/~xpavt01.fak4/_lucid.htm
+ Ben's Lucid Dreaming Page A quick reference,
personal experiences.
http://www.eolas.co.uk/ah/ben_garb.htm
+ LUCID DREAMING: FRUSTRATIONS AND FANTASIES A
short article by Brenda Giguere 95.08.20
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/articles/frustrat
ion.html
+ http://www.utu.fi/~jounsmed/asc/ld/b
lackmore.html">Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep? By
Susan Blackmore - From Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 15 Summer
1991, pages 362-370
http://www.utu.fi/~jounsmed/asc/ld/blackmore.html
+ The Carlos Castenada Internet Resources page
is growing, and continually adding new links and information
on workshops, hermeneutics, books, and other Castaneda
archival materials.
http://www.cyberjockey.com/meridian/castaneda.html
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Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past: If a little
dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less
but to dream more, to dream all the time.
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DREAMLIFE
Alissa's Dream Art & Creativity Column
December, 1996
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Introduction
It seems to me that I experience two forces at work, in
myself and life, and I wonder if you have noticed this too?
-- an expansive movement forward toward the new, toward
growth and wholeness, and a constricting pull backwards
towards habitual limitations.
What we're used to we equate with "right" and good and safe,
and even if we have a taste of something better, a part of
us says, 'stop! danger!' and we run for cover into the old
familiar habits. Anyone who has tried to stop smoking, ect,
knows that, and it is equally true of subtler addictions,
not to substances, but to attitudes and behaviors.
I believe that dreams offer us potent images and experiences
of these two forces at work within us. I've had some
horrific dreams that made it hard for me to see them as the
gifts I believe dreams are, until I recognized them as
warnings and reminders. (see below, for example, the "FIRE"
dream).
And other dreams that encourage me, that bring healing and
help me to get used to the new more positive frame of mind,
so that it becomes familiar and eventually habitual.
www.dreamgate.com/dream/goldring/
Alissa Goldring
December 19, 1996
Here is an example of on of those BIG DREAMS that come every
so often, to mark a turning point an light the way.
I follow the dream with notes on what the dream brings
to me, as I contemplate all elements in the dream as parts
of myself.
Sometimes a brief fragment of a dream or a single image
carry great energy. However, the dream I share with you
today is a complete story of an intense episode.
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/goldring/firea.jpg
Wednesday, 4 December, 1996 "FIRE"
My little daughter penny and I are on a visit to a farm.
I leave her with the family while I walk in the fields.
I come to a large garbage can near fences. I keep
walking. I look back and see that a flame has come out of
the can, the wind whips is, suddenly it ignites the fence
and spreads along the fences to the house. I see the old
farm buildings in flames and people running.
I race back toward the farmhouse looking for Penny. I
see one child after another - there are many children in the
farm family - but I do not see Penny.
Then I see her still on the porch, bobbling up and down
and realize she is on a little pointed wooden rocking horse.
She looks tiny and vaguely troubled, no understanding what
is happening. That end of the building is not on fire yet. I
yell to her and race to pick her up and run with her to
safety.
The woman is herding her children along, lovingly
cheering them up, encouraging them to be brave and string,
to walk briskly, as we all take to the road to get away from
the fire. The buildings go up in flames.
Carrying the youngest in her arms, the woman is slim,
dark haired, string, courageous, dauntless -- a young
"Mother Courage". her appearance is a cross between a
Margaret Bourke-While foto farm mother and a college girl in
worn ragged clothes that she wears with grace. (a very real,
specific, intelligent, energetic, resourceful woman -- all
in very real color and full of emotion)
============================================================
I see a great deal pictured in this potent dream in
images that vividly call my attention to danger and
necessary action.
First, the dream leads me to consciously experience my
anxiety about the part of myself that is vulnerable, tiny,
innocent, unaware, dazed by repetitive automatic rocking. To
"ride a hobby horse" is to be stuck on one there, out of
touch with reality, hearing only the sound of one's own
voice, trapped in on's own story.
There is something poignant about this image of a
child's grasping something familiar and comforting which
then becomes deadly as she becomes oblivious of present
reality. A child's innocent avoidance of innerwork is
familiar to me. I recognize that pattern in myself in years
of denial. I have become aware of how much of m life I lived
unconscious of the great danger I was in. Trying to be
"good". STUCK, in a daze, trying harder to repeat what had
seemed to work in the past.
It is this image that I chose to paint.
This dream warns me that time is running out. Over the
years, I have often dreamed about many houses in varied
stages of remodelling, a metaphor for myself in the process
of disassembling and re-structuring myself. Now I must leave
before I am destroyed about the many houses in varied stages
of remodelling, a metaphor for myself in the process of
disassembling and re-structuring myself. Now I must leave
before I am destroyed in the collapse of the old forms.
There is a particular significance in the fact that this
dream takes place in a farm, since the happiest time of my
childhood was spent on a farm in North Carolina. But I
cannot escape into memory; I must deal with present reality.
The garbage can of the past turns into a source of
danger that consumes - like heat generated in compost. This
is a vivid metaphor for the combustion/danger inherent in
re-living the past, although this is a necessary and vital
component of innerwork.
We all face the risk of falling into the past, of being
sucked back into the old pain, fear and shame behind
survival ploys that have become automatic. We come up
against the numbing unconsciousness we resorted to when pain
and fear were more than we could deal with. We have the
choice of unconsciously regressing into old habits or
becoming aware, and leaving them behind.
When the child part of myself does not understand the
danger and does not run away, she is fortunately saved
because the wind has not yet brought the fire to that
section of the farm house. This reminds me that we cannot do
it all; we exist and grow within forces larger than
ourselves. I mediate on the fire and wind parts of myself
both as energies within my psyche and as powers encompassing
me...
I recognize the young "Mother Courage" part of myself,
who moved to various places to build a better life with my
children, and with my inner children...
Now I have become a WITNESS of all this, and have grown
into both compassion and the ability to talke action. I have
evolved into an adult who is able to recognize, appreciate,
love and care for the precious, sweet, child-like parts of
myself and all the varieties - boisterous, angry damaged,
mischievous, destructive... I guide the children parts of
myself into the hard work of the difficult journey ahead.
All parts of me leave the nostalgic, decrepit old farm and
set out for anew life. Intrepid.
There will be no more re-modelling: a new home must be
built. The past has consumed itself. A narrow escape.
Catastrophe is an opportunity for freedom and a fresh start.
This dream reminds me of the vital necessity for love and
protection as we make the inner journey, and of the
underlying power of grace in our lives.
Alissa Goldring
alissa@dreamgate.com
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Language of the Dream/Night is
contrary to that of Waking/the day. It is a language of
Images and Sensations, the various dialects of which are far
less different from each other, than the various Day-
Languages of Nations.
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Dream Network Journal Update
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As you know, the Dream Network Journal is now online and is
extending its ability to act as a voice for the dream
movement. An if you can get a hold of the issue this summer
of #15(1) there is a special on *Dreams and Community*
which relates to much of our online work (and includes
Richard's Update on Dreams and Cyberspace). Be sure to get
a copy of this issue!
To order a subscription, back issues or "The Art of
Dreamsharing & Developing Dreams Groups" booklet, call
(800) 861-3732 or drop by the Web site at:
http://waking.com/waking/dream/order-form.html
What, you never heard of the Dream Network Journal!?!
From Roberta Ossana on the DreamNet Web Page:
Dear Dreamer,
Thank you for your interest in your dreams and in the Dream
Network.
As more of us awaken to the truth and value presented each
night in our dreams, it becomes increasingly desirable to
learn to understand dreams' unique language, the language of
symbol and metaphor. With the growing evidence of our
longing -- and *need* -- to comprehend the necessity of
mythology, it becomes evermore compelling to understand
*where* we lost it and *how* we can *reclaim the mythic
life*.
The _Dream Network_ is published to help in fulfilling
these intrinsic human needs. Initiated in 1982, the DN has
served as the ground upon which the foundation for the
growing 'dream movement' is building, internationally.
It is our purpose to demystify dreamwork so as to make the
meaning of our dreams more readily available to each of us,
believing every dream remembered desires to be understood
and each dream conveys information that is of positive value
toward our good health and well-being. Even our nightmares!
Though we aspire to maintain a high level of scholarship,
_Dream Network_ is not an academic journal per se and is not
affiliated with any academic institution, organization or
theoretical disposition; rather, we remain eclectic and open
to all schools of thought and personal experience. Together,
we explore the mystery.
Our goal is to remain an interactive publication, actively
engaging readers and sharing our unique messages with an
increasingly interested readership. We enthusiastically
invite Responses/Letters, dream or myth related
manuscript/articles, poetry and art work.
Each issue of Dream Network contains sections on The Art of
Dream Sharing and Dream Education, the Mythic Dimension and
articles which respond to Questions posed in previous
issues.
In each issue, there is a listing of over 55
Networkers/Contact persons, available to provide
dream-related information, resources and assistance in
initiating a dreamsharing relationship or a dream group. Our
Classified section offers DNJ readers the opportunity to
network, learn and explore with other dreamers,
internationally.
Please be openheartedly invited to join us in reintroducing
this deeply valuable, cross-cultural, common human
experience into your life/our culture. It is here, now....
and it is about the Power of Dreams!
Choose to explore the mystery with us!
To the wisdom and power of our dreams,
H. Roberta Ossana, Editor & Publisher
dreamskey@sisna.com
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Tennessee Williams in Camino Real: You said, "They're
harmless dreamers and they're loved by the people." "What,"
I asked you, "is harmless about a dreamer, and what," I
asked you, "is harmless about the love of the people?
Revolution only needs good dreamers who remember their
dreams."
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ASD Announcement:
A Special Issue on the Psychobiology of Dreaming
A Call for Research
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DREAMING, a multidisciplinary journal, is planning a special
issue on the psychobiology of dreaming. Contributions are
invited for research reports or literature reviews that:
1.provide explanations for dream formation based upon
advances in cognitive neuroscience;
2.examine relations between dreaming and
psychophysiological measures of brain activity (e.g., EEG,
PET, MRI);
3.describe changes in dreaming due toneurological
conditions or physiologically construed sleep
disorders(e.g., parasomnias);
4.consider how cognition, affect, or dreaming
areassociated with physiologically defined sleep stages; and
5.explicate relationships between dreaming and
neurotransmitters or otherbiochemical agents. Manuscripts
will undergo full peer review, and thespecial issue is
scheduled for publication in early 1998.
If you wish to submit a manuscript (up to 8000 words,
excluding references), please contact:
Tore Nielsen, Ph.D., Dream & Nightmare Laboratory,
Hopital Sacri-Coeur,5400 boul Gouin Ouest, Montrial, Quebec,
Canada H4J 1C5,
514-338-3350(tel), 514-338-2531 (fax),
nielsen@ere.umontreal.ca
or
Roseanne Armitage, Ph.D., Sleep Study Unit, University
of TexasSouthwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry
Hines Boulevard,Dallas, TX
75235-9070. 214-648-8758 (tel), 214-648-5444
(fax),armitage@utsw.swmed.edu
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Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose: A dream is a scripture,
and many scriptures are nothing but dreams.
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THIS MONTH'S FEATURES:
NEWS
- 1996 Planetary Dream-In, 20-21 December
- A Long Winter Night's Dream
- New Version of Alchera Dream Software
- Revised Announcement, Dream Studies Program
- RecallAnyDream Telephone Service
- A Dream Meeting in Paris
BOOK REVIEWS
- Internet Dreams
- Archetypes and Strange Attractors
- DreamScape
RESEARCH and REQUESTS
- Dreams of Winter
- Psychic Dreamers Sought
WEB SITE UPDATES
- Lucid Dream Paintings
- Dream Inspired Mandalas
- Dream Keeper, Safe Haven for Dreamers
- Discovery Channel Dreams
- DreamGate Gets a Face Lift
ONLINE EVENTS
- PowWow Get-togethers
- IRC Get-togethers
DREAM CALENDAR
- December-January-February 1997
================================================
NEWS
================================================
===============
1996 PLANETARY DREAM-IN, DECEMBER 20TH - 21ST
===================
As part of the discussion to form a World Dream Congress,
ONIROS, a French dream-study association, proposed to
organize a planetary dream each Winter Solstice, beginning
in 1996 on 20-21 December. If you'd like to participate,
here are the instructions: To succeed in inducing the
1996 "Planetary dream", participants are advised to follow
the usual rules of dream incubation (intentionally inducing
specific dream contents) :
1. During the day and before going to bed : getting
deeply impregnated with the planetary dream's call.
2. Just before falling asleep :
- immerse yourself into this Aboriginal painting,
visual medium for the dream;
- induce the dream with a sentence like :
"Tonight I will dream of the Law".
3.When waking-up, write down your dream as accurately
as possible whatever its contents.
4. Send the story of the dream as soon as possible, and
before the end of the year :
- by e-mail : oniros@club-internet.fr
- or either by snail-mail : ONIROS, BP 30, 93451
Ile Saint-Denis,France.
Design of the Planetary Dream -- All the dreams sent with
names will be made available on the web as we receive them
along, to make a special electronic report, the dreamlike
world, the 20th 21st December 1996 issue. The "Planetary
dream" will then be composed in two steps by a committee of
judges belonging to the international dream related network
(ASD, EASD, ONIROS, etc.) Following the rules of the
contents analysis method, this committee's work will be :
1. In each dream to choose the dreamlike episode that best
fits the induced subject. 2. For each dream to formulate the
induced "Value/Law", whether implicit or explicit. 3.
To summarize the "Values/Laws" collected. A first synthesis
will be made out of dreams sent through e-mail, then
released on Internet. The definitive composition
-integrating dreams sent on paper too- will be published on
Internet, and in the Oniros journal in the course of
the first half-year 1997. N. B. - In order to give
credibility to the "Planetary dream", the induced dreams
should be sent with name, date, time, and complete address
(real and/or electronic) . For more
information, visit
http://www.mnet.fr/freecyb/ONIROS/PLANETARY.HTM
======A LONG WINTER NIGHT'S DREAM ==============
The Women's Dream Quest, created by the Reverend Dr. Lauren
Artress, offers women the rare opportunity to spend the
night in the sacred space of Grace Cathedral in San
Francisco. The evening includes small and full
group activities, singing, ritual and walking the
labryrinth, a full-scale model of its twin in Chartres
Cathedral, France. For more information on this event, to be
held from Friday, 3 January 1997, 7:00 -m through
Saturday, 4 January, 11:00 am, contact Veriditas, The
Worldwide Labyrinth Project, 1100 California Street, San
Francisco, CA 94108. Telephone 415-749-6356, or Fax
415-749-6457.
=========NEW VERSION OF ALCHERA DREAM SOFTWARE AVAILABLE
====================================
A month after the first release, Harry Bosma now has a new
version of Alchera ready at his homepage. Some of you may
know this freeware program by the former name of Dream Guard
the name was changed to Alchera, which is the Aboriginal
word for the Dreamtime. Alchera does two things, it can
store your dreams and it lets you work with characters and
locations in dreams. The advantage of Alchera over a normal
wordprocessor is that it gives you faster access to
particular dreams. All dreams are listed by title and
ordered by date and time. A webstyle search interface
enables you to do quick searches. New to this public version
of Alchera is the ability to work with characters and
locations. You can add known characters and locations to
their own lists, make notes about them and also code them
according to the Hall/ Van de Castle scales. Coding known
characters and locations will significantly reduce the work
for coding individual dreams, because you only need to check
which characters and locations appear in them. But unknown
characters and locations can be coded easily too. As soon as
you have coded your first dream, you can admire the results
in a nice piegraph as well as in a bargraph that compares
your results to those of the average male and female
dreamer. Already in development is a facility to generate
graphs on timeseries to make changes over time visible. He
is also thinking about adding a few more scales and having
Alchera code automatically.Take a look at Harry's homepage
for more info and a few screencaptures:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/alchera/index.html
=========== REVISED ANNOUNCEMENT -- DREAM STUDIES PROGRAM IN
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA ====
Dream Studies Program at Twin Lakes College of the Healing
Arts offers an in-depth training in dreamwork for both
personal and professional applications. Our 200 hour program
is designed as a progressive multi-level training that will
prepare students to work professionally with dreams.
Throughout the course, students will be engaged in the
process of exploring their own dreams as a foundation for
working with the dreams of others. Training is oriented
towards Jungian based dreamwork, as well as recognizing the
many ways in which various cultures utilize dreamwork as a
valuable resource for physical recovery, emotional and
mental balancing, as well as spiritual exploration and
guidance. Our client centered model of training also attends
to the issues of professional ethics and scope of practice.
A Dream Studies Certificate will be awarded upon
the successful completion of this program.
The Dream Studies Program is for:
personal exploration of dreams, people who want a
professional practice in dreamwork, professionals who want
to integrate dreamwork into another practice of the healing
or educational arts - such as body work,counseling,
acupuncture, hypnosis, teaching, aromatherapy, chiropractic,
nursing, psychotherapy, and traditional western medicine.
Begins with: Level 1: Personal Dreamwork,
10 Wednesdays 6:30 - 9:30pm Jan.22 - March 26
- also offered -
Tues. 9:30 am - 12:30pm, Jan. 21 - March 25
Tuition: $255. Where: Twin Lakes College of the Healing
Arts, 1210
Brommer St., Santa
Cruz, CA 95062. (408) 476-2152.
Call the office at (408) 476-2152 for brochure and complete
information.
========RECALL ANY DREAM TELEPHONE SERVICE ====
On Dec.20th, Entratainment(tm), a telephone mind research
service presented in the form of entertainment was launched.
RecallAnyDream(tm) is the first application of Jonn
Ireland's B.A. Honours thesis (University of Regina),
which is a study on accessing the unconscious during
wakefulness. A new technique has been developed that allows
a person to recall/relive any dream and find their own
meaning in a matter of minutes. This is an 800# and 900#
service. however, there is an introductory special.
Available for Canada, USA, and INT'L.
For more information, visit:
http://www.entratainment.com
==== A DREAM SHARING MEETING IN PARIS ====
>Soir‚e Rˆve au CyberZinc
Dream Evening at CyberZinc
> Qu'ils soient ordinaires, lucides, ou r‚p‚titifs,
Whether they be ordinary, lucid or recurring
>Venez jouer avec vos rˆves Come play with your dreams
> Pour les raconter, d‚lirer et les comprendre ensemble.
Retell, rave about and understand them together
>Soir‚e organis‚e par Le Temps du Rˆve, Freecyb et Oniros.
Evening organised by The Time of The Dream, Freecyn and
Oniros.
> Le 9 janvier … Montpellier
January 9 at Montpellier
>au Cyberzinc, 4, rue Bonnier D'Alco. 34000 Mtp
(above is a street address MtPellier or some such is I
think a suburb of Paris)
>(cybercaf‚ entre la place de la pr‚fecture et la rue de
l'universit‚).
cybercafe between Prefecture Place and University street..
> Entr‚e Libre … condition d'ˆtre munis de quelques rˆves et
cauchemars personnels ou vol‚s.
Entry free on condition of renumeration in several personal
or stolen dreams and nightmares..
> Un stand Freecyb est pr‚sent : publications sur le
rˆve, le
>chamanisme , les enth‚ogŠnes, les ‚tats modifi‚s de
conscience,
>diff‚rents modŠles de
> mind et dream machines.
There is a Freecyb stll: publications on the dream,
shamanism,(entheogenes?), modifidied states of
consciousness; different models of mind and dream machines.
> Voici une s‚lection de liens autour du rˆve.
Here is a a selection of links on the subject of the dream:
> Oniros . … la Libre Donn‚e
Dream Study to the Given Freedom...
http://www.mnet.fr/freecyb/ONIROS/index.html
(Victoria Quinton, Trans)
===============================================
BOOK REVIEWS
===============================================
Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths and Metaphors
Mark Stefik ISBN 9-780262-193733
$24.95
Mark Stefik has written an intriguing new book, exploring
the place where "ancient myths meet modern networks".
Included is a whole chapter dealing with dreams on the
internet, complete with a verbatim transcription of one of
Jeremy Taylor's on-line dream groups. From the inside cover
of the book jacket: "Carl Jung and others maintain that our
dreams speak to us in terms of archetypes and symbols. These
symbols are often universal, and they reveal much about our
common humanity and how we see ourselves. these symbols also
appear in our patternsof speech, reflecting in our choice
of metaphor how we shape our understanding of things. The
Internet, the emerging embodiment of the modern information
infrastructure, is now entering our social consciousness. So
what metaphors do we use in talking about it and thinking
about it? The 'information superhighway' metaphor...gives
only a limited sense of what the Internet is and what
it could be. Mark Stefik explores some of the most
provacative writings about the Internet to tease out the
deeper metaphors and myths. He findsfour persistent
metaphors -- digital library, electronic mail,electronic
marketplace and digital world. These metaphors are based on
ancient myths and archetypes that have influenced human
thinking for thousands of years: keeper of knowledge
(digital library), communicate or (electronic mail), trader
(electronic marketplace), and adventurer (digital world).
Recast in the setting of high technology, they are
still powerful guides, capable of refreshing our sense of
direction and purpose in creating the Internet."
Archetypes & Strange Attractors: The Chaotic World of
Symbols
John R. Van Eenwyk (Olympia, WA)
ISBN 0-919123-76-7.
How can we deal with the chaos that inevitably infects our
lives? Perhaps more to the point, shouldn't we strive to
eliminate it? Isn't chaos a sign that things have gone
terribly wrong? Not necessarily. Carl Jung believed that
psychological development proceeds according to the
influence of symbols in our lives. In stripping us of our
old points of view so that growth can occur, symbols
invariably feel chaotic. That's Jung's theory, but until
recently there was little in the hard sciences to back him
up. Now, with the advent of chaos theory, there is new
support for his perspective. In accepting that chaos can be
creative as well as destructive, we are challenged to
revision our basic notions of psychic health and to enter
into a new dialogue with the forces of change. JOHN R. VAN
EENWYK, Ph.D., is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute in
Chicago. He is a priest in the Episcopal Church and a
clinical supervisor at the Medical School of the University
of Washington. He has lectured internationally on the
subject of this book and on the treatment of torture
survivors. Review Provided by INNER CITY BOOKS -- Studies in
Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts
Box 1271, Station Q, Toronto, ON M4T 2P4, Canada
Tel.: 416-927-0355 Fax: 416-924-1814
E-mail: icb@inforamp.net
http://www.inforamp.net/~icb (text only)
http://www.bookworld.com/innercity
DreamScape: Personal Interactive Dream Analysis System
Nicholas E. Heyneman ISBN 0-684-81917-1 $19.95
Like to try a unique new way of working with your dreams?
Then check out Nicholas Heyneman's book, "Dreamscape", now
including dreamworking software for both Macs and IBMs
(Windows 3.1 and 95). The software package includes a dream
journal and "dreamscape", an interpretive device allowing
the dreamer to select primary dream components as a
starting point for deeper work, rather than conclusively
analyzing the dream. he book, while designed to work in
conjunction with the software, can stand alone on its own
merit as well. The material is organized on
the basis of symbols, and these symbols are classified into
broad categories of emotional and psychological experience
which is practical, user-friendly and thought provoking.
================================================
RESEARCH and REQUESTS
================================================
========DREAMS OF WINTER SOUGHT ===============
Winter means different things to different people in
different places. I am looking for stories of Winter Dreams
to help me to write a dream sequence for my opera. Here's a
little summary: Once or twice a year, savage blizzrds strike
this part of the world (western Canada) dumping metres of
snow, shutting down cities and often accompanied by strong
winds and plummeting temperatures. It is not unusual to get
stranded in a blizzard -- I've heard of people at dinner
parties inside the city of Winnipeg not being able to leave
for thirty hours! In rural areas, snow drifts quickly,
covering roads and making travel impossible.
Temperatures hover around -30C. Woe to the lonely traveller
who is trying to drive the trans-Canada highway through this
weather -- they are often people who come from more stable
climates, and if they drive off the road in zero visibility,
freezing to death becomes a realpossibility. Our dreamers
are stranded in a blizzard at a roadside Husky Station;
-- a lonely outpost on the highway, right in the middle of
the treeless prairie. Normally this place functions as a
coffee shop, convenience store, a bus depot, an emergency
auto repair facility -- you get the picture.
On nights when winter turns ugly, its sanctuary, with heat,
food and stories of past horrors for the survivors that
straggle in. Our dreamers are largely people from other
places, passing through to get to Vancouver or Toronto,
not thrilled at the prospect of being stuck in an outpost
such as this. On the other hand, its a wonderful feeling to
realize that you are stranded -- a strangely liberating
feeling. As the evening progresses, they start to become
resigned to their fate, and to let down their guards a
little. Eventually, they fall asleep and start to
dream.....If you'd like to share your winter dreams, send
them to Bill Spornitz, spornitz@mbnet.mb.ca
============PSYCHIC DREAMERS NEEDED ===========
Dreamers Needed for Psychic Dreaming Project -- I will have
a test group of twenty people, possibly more. Dreamers will
record dreams or dream fragments upon waking, and will then
see if anything happens in their waking life which
corresponds to their dreams. Contact Lori Makin-Byrd,
makinbyrd@hotmail.com.
================================================
WEB SITE UPDATES
================================================
======== LUCID DREAM PAINTINGS ===============
Epic Dewfall has created a beautiful site blending images
from his own dreams with his own poetry. As he says: "I get
ideas for my paintings from lucid dreams. About once a
month when I'm dreaming, I will realize I'm dreaming, and
when I do, I then walk around in the dream looking at
art on the walls. I usually find many paintings on every
wall. By the time one of these lucid dreams ends, I usually
have one or two good paintings memorized. I always recreate
them in pastel on 12 by 18 inch paper. I've been doing this
as a hobby since 1986. You can view about one third of my
collection at my personal homepage"
http://www.synapse.net/~lucid/
======= DREAM-INSPIRED MANDALAS ===============
Mandalas can be appreciated by the viewer as a work of art,
or as a reflection of an inner process, and can be used by
the creator as a tool for connecting with the dream in a
right-brained, intuitive way. Bruce Jones has used his
dreams as a source of inspiration in drawing exquisite
mandalas, which you can view at his website:
http://www.sunflower.org/~bruce4j/mandalas.htm
========= DREAM KEEPER, SAFE HAVEN ==========
Dream Keeper describes itself as a "safe haven for
dreamers", where you'll find dreams, poems, stories and
dreamer's contributions to the collective whole.
Http://members.aol.com/dreams4all/index.htm
============= DISCOVERY CHANNEL DREAMS ======
The Discovery Channel ran a 3-hour series on dreams a few
years ago, and now they have a website which is designed as
a teaching aide for school children, and includes
information on Hopi Dreams.
http://school.discovery.com/fall96/programs/powerofdreams-sa
credsleep/
============= DREAMGATE GETS A FACE LIFT ==========
New Easier Access!
DreamGate, the organization run by Richard Wilkerson to
support communication in Cyberspace and long time
contributor to bring dream groups and individuals online now
has a easier front index to the projects and programs
supported in Cyberspace and beyond.
www.dreasmgate.com
================================================
ONLINE INTERACTIVE and REALTIME EVENTS
================================================
The Oneiro-Network's PowWow Gettogether
Friday, January 10, 1997.
At 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time. 0400 UTC/GMT.
For more information, visit...
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2357/events.html
Or contact Rob Childress
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The Oneiro-Network's IRC Get-together
Monday, January 20, 1997.
At 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time. 0400 UTC/GMT.
On the Undernet, in channel #Oneiro-Network.
For more information, visit...
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2357/events.html
Or contact Rob Childress
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Do you have an event you would like listed here?
Send a message to Rob Childress
Include the Date, Time, Name, Description, and Contact
Information.
================================================
DREAM CALENDAR
================================================
20-21 Dec Worldwide
========== Planetary Dream-in 1996. For more
information, visit ONIROS'
website at: http://www.mnet.fr/freecyb/ONIROS/PLANETARY.HTM
or see the article above in Global Dreaming News.
09 Jan Paris
========= Dream Sharing at the Cyberzinc
The Time of The Dream, Freecyn and Oniros sponsers.
Montpellier: au Cyberzinc, 4, rue Bonnier D'Alco. 34000 Mtp
cybercafe between Prefecture Place and University street
http://www.mnet.fr/freecyb/ONIROS/index.html
10 Jan Cyberspace
========== Oneiro-Network's PowWow get-together, 8:00 pm
PST, 0400UTC/GMT.
15 Jan USA: Portland, Oregon
========= 6-week course in Contemporary Dreamin
Interpretation, Wednesday evenings. Taught by Gillian
Holloway. For more information, contact Portland Community
college, 503-414-2009
20 Jan Cyberspace
========== Oneiro-Network's IRC Get-together, 8:00 pm
PST. 0400 UTC/GMT.
22 Jan-26 Mar USA: Santa Cruz, California
======== Dream studies program at Twin Lakes College of the
Healing Arts. Level I: Personal Dreamwork, 10 weeks. Call
the office at 408-476-2152 for more information.
24-26 Jan USA: Riverside, California
========== A workshop with Jeremy Taylor. Contact Joan
at 909-686-1226 for more information.
28 Jan USA: Olympia, Washington
========= Dreamwork for Personal Growth. Facilitated by
Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. To register, contact Evergreen
College, 360-866-6000.
4 Feb to USA: Altamonte Springs, FL
11 Mar ==== The Spiritual Practice of Dreamwork
Led by Jeanie Benedict Raffa and Mickey Bright Griffin, 6
Tuesday evenings at the Jung Center, 427 Whooping Loop,
Suite 1881, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701. For more
information call Mickey Griffin at 407-629-2083
9 Feb USA: Concord, Massachusetts
========= Monthly Dream Council, 7-9:30 pm, facilitated by
Nancy Gazells. Call 508-369-2634 for more information.
28 Feb USA: Concord, Massachusetts
========== "The Hidden Gifts of Strangers: Using Dream
Images of "The Other" to Move us Towards Wholeness."
Presented by Nancy Gazells, 7:30-9:30 pm, at the
Dreamwheel, 191 Sudbury Road in Concord, MA. 508/369-2634.
qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp
Djuna Barnes in Nightwood: Dreams have only the pigmentation
of fact.
qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp=qp
==========================================================
==========================================================
== D R E A M S ==
==========================================================
==========================================================
DREAM SECTION INDEX
===================
D R E A M S SECTION EDITORIAL BY BOB K. (For ED V3N11)
Birth of Hope & New Beginnings
FEEDBACK FROM THE DREAMERS
-E-mail on Alt.Dreams and ELECTRIC DREAMS
COMMENTARY ON DREAMS FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
From a Previous Dream: Bank Problem" by RE
-a Poem: Guilt Deposits by Island Inspired by Dream "Bank
Problem" by RE
From a Previous Dream: "The Free Gift" by GD
-a Poem: Charleston Chew by Island Inspired by Dream "The
Free Gift" by GD
NEW DREAMS
PRECOGNITIVE/FUTURE DREAMS
[Stories from past experiences, or send them in before it
happens, if you can]
**Island shares some older dreams, and how they related to
current as well as later developments in her life.**
**Dream: Buried Under Snow by Island (75.12.01)**
==Commentary by Island on Buried Under By Snow==
**Dream: Farmer s Market on 14th Street by Island
(87.09.12)**
==Dream Reflections a Decade Later by Island (9610xx)==
**Dream: Dying Geishas by Island (88.02.10)**
**Isis and Island share some thoughts on the relationship
between Dreams and Waking Reality, and how they related to
current as well as later developments in life.**
==E-mail 1 by Isis==
==Response by Island==
==E-mail 2 by Isis==
REPETITIVE DREAMS
[Significant by nature]
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
[Your stumpers may not be so mysterious to others]
==========================================
LINKS TO STAGES OF LIFE
BIRTH [Starts]
**Dream: Maggie s Dream by Maggie (961213)**
==Commentary by Brien (961215) on Maggie s Dream==
==Commentary by Rosalie on Maggie s Dream (961216)==
==Commentary by Narcissus (961216) on Maggie's Dream==
CHILDHOOD [Early development]
ADOLESCENCE [Maturing, testing]
**Dream: SYLVIA AND SHIMMERY by D. S. (961217)**
ADULTHOOD [The main event for most]
**Dream: Jail Dream/Gestalted by Eugene Marks (961206)**
==Commentary by Eugene: GESTALTING MY DREAM==
==[Eugene shares some tips and lessons learned:]
GESTALT DREAM WORK (FROM CLAUDIO NARANJO'S I AND THOU)==
OLD AGE [Wisdom, Approaching the Journeys end]
DEATH [Endings]
**Dream "Grief" by A.M. Used (961119)**
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD [Beyond our terrestrial limits]
==========================================
==========================================
ANIMALS [Basic Instincts]
This month brings us spiders and water creatures:
**Dream: Insects by Vince (961221)**
Island Dream Series: Bathing in Fish Dreams/
Thoughts and Poems
**Dream: Sizzled Fish by Island (79.10.28)**
**Dream: It all begins with Taw by Island (80.06.08)**
**Dream: Leviathan on 42nd Street by Island (80.12.09)**
**Dream: QueenFisher by Island (81.10.20)**
**Dream: Arrows of Misfortune by Island (82.03.06)**
==Commentary by Rosalie on Islands Fish Dreams & Response==
AGGRESSION [By us or against us- crossing others paths]
**Dream: They re Coming To Get Me by Vince(94????)**
**Dream: Dino s Dreams and Inquiries by Dino (961124)**
BATHROOMS [Maintenance, Cleansing and Elimination]
BRIDGES [How we get across an obstacle or go from here to
there]
CELEBRITIES [The well known - famous and infamous]
DISCOVERY [New insights and unexpected developments]
DRUGS [Healing or Hurting?]
EATING [Getting nourishment for maintenance, growth and
pleasure]
ESCAPE [Get me outta here!!!]
**Dream "Fire" by Alissa (961204)**
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on "FIRE" by Alissa==
**Dream: The Magical Little Man by MarkM (961224)**
FEAR [What scares us]
See Fire by Alissa in the ESCAPE section of this issue.
FOOD [The source of our physical nourishment]
-In many dreams we are preparing or eating the food
(nutrition & energy), in some dreams we are dealing with
growing the food as in this months:
**Dream: Harvesting Granny's Garden by NRB (961220)**
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on Harvesting Granny's
Garden==
GIFTS [Offerings from others]
HOBBIES [Our interests and desires]- COLLECTING THINGS
HOSPITAL [A place for treatment, healing and repair]
HOUSE [Where our lives take place]
HOTELS [Temporary Dwelling or Special Event location]
JOURNEYS [Missions away from our home base -explorations]
LOST [Disorientation or abandonment]
LOTTERY DREAMS [Sudden Wealth - Randomness favors the
dreamer]
NUDITY [What you see is what you get]
PERFORMERS [Entertainers]
POLITICAL SCENE [Public issues through positions of power]
RELATIONSHIPS [Other parts of ourselves]
RELIGIOUS RELATED [The Ritual and the Spiritual]
SCHOOL THEMES [Learning and learnings trials]
SOLUTIONS [The answers to problems or quandaries]
TORNADOS [Pretty well defined destructive power of nature]
TRAPPED [Temporarily helpless- Sometimes we are paralyzed or
imprisoned by jobs, relationships or expectations]
-See the JAIL DREAM by Eugene Marks in the ADULT Stage
section.
**Dream: Gnawed Knees (96.10.15) by Island**
WORKPLACE [Where we make a living]
WRITING & WRITERS [Communication and creativity]
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
DREAM SERIES
See ANIMALS sections for-
***Dream Series: Bathing in Fish Dreams/Thoughts and Poems
by Island***
**Dream: Sizzled Fish by Island (79.10.28)**
**Dream: It all begins with Taw by Island (80.06.08)**
**Dream: Leviathan on 42nd Street by Island (80.12.09)**
**Dream: QueenFisher by Island (81.10.20)**
**Dream: Arrows of Misfortune by Island (82.03.06)**
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
D R E A M S SECTION EDITORIAL BY BOB K. (For ED V3N11)
Birth of Hope & New Beginnings
Welcome to the Dreams Section of ELECTRIC DREAMS, Volume 3
Number 11. This month we come to you at Christmas-time when
Christian religious ceremonies celebrate the birth of the
savior, the beginning of salvation. It also coincides with
the secular end of the calendar year period where the old
man time worn out figure of the expiring year gives way to
the fresh new innocent baby time of the new year. In
commercial terms, it is the high season for many businesses
as a relatively small period of time generates a
disproportionate amount of revenue equivalent to many months
during the rest of the year.
It is a season of hope and a time of reflection as we review
our achievements and think about our goals for the next
year. We reflect on where our lives have brought us and
where we want to go. We stop briefly to evaluate if we are
forging a worthwhile path or riding with the proper tide.
We wonder if the road we have taken is the right one, and
how long we can continue without changing course.
Where are our ideas and ideals leading us? Where is our
attention focused on? Where is our energy directed to? In
response to these concerns, some of our dreams come to our
assistance. If we only listened more closely, there is much
we could learn. Part of our mission at Electric Dreams is to
sharpen those dream related skills, and we hope this issue
will move us forward in that direction.
This month we have some special features from Island
including a Dream Series, Dream Comment exchange, Dream
Creativity Poetry messages, A study in Dream Precognition of
sorts, and a sharing of Dream related quotes. Thank you
Island for taking the time to share your Dreamwork and
Dreamplay with the Electric Dreams community.
We also have a couple Dream Gestalt-work examples from
Eugene Marks - working on his own dreams and sharing one of
the powerful techniques for revealing messages embedded in
dreams.
Maggie s Dream generated a trio of comments within a day - a
record of sorts, and an indication that it strikes a chord
somewhere.
Thanks again to those who freely share their dreams (which
reminds me to remind you to check out Nutcracker s Dreams on
the Electric Dreams Web Site), those Ed-Core members who
contribute thought provoking commentary, to all our readers,
and to the ED Staff specially Richard Wilkerson who has
nourished Electric Dreams with love, care, and laborious
effort to be the resource it is today. Hopefully the shared
dreams help teach by example the universality of issues we
deal with and we all learn a little more with each issue,
and share a little more with those whose lives touch ours.
In doing so we are expanding the realm of Dream Awareness
and attention to those messages from that other mysterious
dimension of ourselves we tap into every day and night.
Not all categories have related dreams every month. Does a
category trigger images and emotions from previous dreams?
Tell us about them.
Happy Holiday Season to all Dreamers, and Best Wishes for a
prosperous and bountiful dream of a year.
Bob Krumhansl
===========================================================
FEEDBACK FROM THE DREAMERS
Sub: ALT.DREAMS & ELECTRIC DREAMS
From BobK to DG:
I have just been scanning the Oct/Nov posts to ALT.DREAMS
and notice that you have quite a few dreams. I haven't been
following the newsgroup for around a year. Would you like
to contribute any to the next issue? You might get
comments from a different audience than ALT.DREAMS.
Date: 96-11-24 19:40:05 EST
From: DG
To: BobK829887@aol.com
I'm not really posting my dreams in an effort to get
comments or interpretations. I don't mind getting them,
but it's not why I'm posting to alt.dreams. (I'm not sure
exactly why I am--probably just because I like reading
other people's dreams, so I imagine someone else might like
reading mine, and because it might encourage some other
people to post theirs.)
I'm not sure my interest in dreams is the same as that of
most of the people who read Electric Dreams, so I'm
probably not really the kind of person you want
contributing.
DG
Date: 96-11-25 20:40:22 EST
From: BobK829887
To: DG
Thanks for your reply DG. The last issue just went to our
main editor this Sunday. Have you ever seen one? Most
contributors send dreams in for love of dreams just like
your postings to alt.dreams. We are not commercial so
there is no cost to readers or payment to contributors (yet
anyway). The difference is that the audience is almost all
highly "into" dreams (around 600 "subscribers"), and those
that get commentary get high quality commentary- No
guarantees though. It's neat reading the dreams which are
organized into categories where possible, and learning from
others insights and experiences. Don't feel that yours are
not "good enough"!
The issues are archived and freely available for the
downloading from our Web site. Current issues are monthly.
It started out as a 4 to 6 page biweekly around four years
ago just sharing dreams, and has evolved into a dreamers
toolkit of 60 to 100 pages on a monthly basis. We would
love to include some of yours. The main difference is that
you have a longer time lag in everyone seeing your dream,
and there are no "Get Rich Quick" or smart-ass reply
message threads to wade through. Unlike the newsgroup where
messages scroll off into never-neverland, the issues live
on. I think both forums are valid and have their place. We
do have a Library of Congress registration and issues are
being sent there also.
If you still don't want to share your dreams with Electric
Dreams, I will understand. I'll send you a copy of the
latest issue as soon as it comes out in the next few days
so you can see what we are and do.
Thanks again.
Bob K.
====================================================
COMMENTARY ON DREAMS FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
From a Dream: Bank Problem" by RE
I was flying through Paris and had left myself just enough
time between planes to settle a certain bank account
problem.
As I approached De Gaulle, however, I was no longer flying,
but rather skateboarding very fast down a wide, deserted
street. When I skated into De Gaulle, it was no longer an
airport but rather a zoo.
I lost the skateboard & walked through the zoo. Animals
started coming up to me & trying to grab food out of my
hands & out of my backpack. At first it was all fun &
games. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but I was feeding the
animals & began to play with a koala, swinging him around
in circles by his paws.
But then the animals started to scratch & grab for the
food. Somehow a baby tiny gorilla got caught in my
backpack, scratching away all the while. I tried to pull
him out gently, with a little help from the parent tiny
gorilla, but when we finally got the baby out, his leg was
hurt. The parent tiny gorilla scolded me for playing with
the animals & giving them food. I knew he/she was right & I
felt very sorry.
So I got back on my skateboard & hurried to a nearby phone
(pointed out to me by the parent tiny gorilla). I called
911 but they informed me that they did not handle animal
emergencies. I called around to get the zoo emergency
number, but no one could help me. Feeling very guilty
about the plight of the tiny gorillas, I got back on my
skateboard & hurried to take care of my bank problem.
-Poem: Guilt Deposits by Island Inspired by Dream "Bank
Problem" by RE
Flying, skateboarding, walking
between airports, a deserted street --
a zoo looms quite suddenly in Paris.
Animals grab my burdens.
Rewarded with food --
ambivalent at best --
I circle a koala bear
in the air by its paws!
Grabbing intensifies.
They must be starving.
My gorilla pa scolds me
for I hurt that gorilla child
all mingled with my burdens now,
leg wounded while teasing him out.
Numbers are no help for animals.
An emergency now hangs in the air.
Guilt deposits on my backpack --
My skateboard, once lost, now found,
and I skate away, bent on caring
for a Parisian bank account.
Island
-----------------------------------------------------
"The Free Gift" by GD
I was out shopping for hair gel b/c I was in some sort of
play and had to be able to get my hair out of my face --
sorta sticking up straight from my head, but it couldn't
look stiff--it had to look natural. and I went to this hair
gel store thing. it was huge-- all white inside with this
big circular counter where the registers were. and the
sales person told me they had just the thing and brought me
this big bottle of yellowish liquid. I told him i'd take it
and he said they were running a special and every one who
bought something got a free gift. so he took me to the back
part of the store where there was this tank like thing--all
metal and circular with knobs and gadgets coming off it. it
was also like 10ft off the ground. and he climbed a ladder
and dunked a dixie cup in and came back down with it and
handed it to me. in it was about 3 in of water and these
eel things. they were only a couple of cms each and had
ugly faces and sharp teeth. and I didn't know what to do
with this, but I took it. then I went to the register to
pay and he put my "gel' into like 4 paper bags and I kept
telling him that I didn't need a bag and then he got all
upset and stormed off. another sales person came to help
but told me I was getting the wrong thing. she then dragged
me all over the store looking for the right thing which we
never found. but for my trouble I was entitled to another
special gift. since I already had these evil eels (which I
still wasn't sure what to do with) I tried to decline, but
she insisted. she left me at the register and came back a
couple of secs later with this lizard. i'm not sure how I
knew it was a lizard, but I did -- it was totally smooth
and kinda shiny white with black spots (holstein cow like
spots) and it was shaped like, and she was carrying it like
it was a koala bear--same face and body and feet shape
except it wasn't fuzzy and it had a long sharp tail. it was
also pretty big. I remember thinking that it was way bigger
than max (my cat). and how were they going to get along?
she put this lizard in what looked like a cross between
max's little cat carrier and a mouse/gerbil cage--clear
plastic, little water bottle etc. and it was pretty
scrunched. and she handed me that and the original bottle
of yellow liquid. and I was trying to juggle that and the
eels. but I was thinking that maybe I could deal with the
eels by feeding them to the lizard...
but I got into my car and was somehow holding all this
stuff on my lap. and it was really snowy and icy out and
driving was more like skiing than driving--going back and
forth across the road to slow myself down. and then I was
going down this steep hill and at the bottom was this
search party and so to slow myself down so I wouldn't hit
them, I turned the car sideways. and I stopped
at the bottom and there was this cop buried up to her
shoulders in snow and ice and she was searching. somehow
I'd gotten the impression that some child was stuck in the
snow. and I asked the cop wasn't she cold and she said no,
it was all part of her job or duty or whatever. and then
this little girl, who was eating a candy bar-a Charleston
chew, I think, one of the long ones-came over and told the
cop to look to the left. apparently she had lost her doll.
and so I started to drive home and I still hadn't figured
out what to do with the eels or the lizard.
-Poem: Charleston Chew by Island Inspired by Dream "The
Free Gift" by GD
Get your hair out of your eyes!
Look natural! Play that role! Find gel!
Freebies for the buyer of that vessel
of yellow liquid...I'm sold.
Four paper bags? Come on --
wh'dya take me for, an idiot?
He storms away,
and I must deal with these eels --
delivered in a Dixie cup dipped
in a huge vat, high up on a ladder,
he climbed, he climbed --
all that machinery on top --
Now here they are,
ugly faces, sharp teeth, and all --
Go stuff yourself with your bags of paper --
I don't need them,
just get me to the register on time.
Don't tell me I don't have what I ve
come for? Look natural!
Play that part! Find gel!
I'm dragged through the store,
searching for gel -- for jail! But I never
find it (thank who?) -- what is this?
A consolation prize? Poor lizard (I guess?)
Holstein or dalmation, unleashes a tail,
I think of my cat, oh, no -- will they
mix, but s/he's scrunched inside
a house not quite the thing --What? You're handing me a
vessel filled
with yellow liquid? Again? Hey, come on!
I can take a hint! Let me out of here!
Purr myself in my car -- what to eat,
who eats who? Lizard, eels, or cat?
weaving in snow and on ice,
from this road to that,
must slow myself down
-- you take the high ladder,
I take the low road -
and at bottom, searching --
now searching myself for the little girl,
buried in snow to the shoulder,
eating her Charleston chew
She'd lost her doll but looking to the left
I policed myself to find her -- rather,
the little girl, she unstuck the cop,
not cold -- but why?
Duty, duty, duty, calls, calls --
Drive the road to home, all in confusion,
what to do with the ills, the lizard's tale?
Hair flowing now, no gel, au natural...Island
NEW DREAMS
PRECOGNITIVE/FUTURE DREAMS
[Stories from past experiences, or send them in before it
happens, if you can]
**Island shares some older dreams, and how they related to
current as well as later developments in her life.**
**Dream: Buried Under Snow by Island (75.12.01)**
Dreamed while taking an afternoon nap with Daniel that he
and I are in the middle of a forest, all covered in snow.
There is a bench. Standing near the bench, I think, are
family, perhaps my parents. A doctor, perhaps, too? Dan
sits on the bench, covered in chains. I kneel down next to
him and spend considerable time freeing him from the chains
until the skin on my hands is torn, and my hands are
bleeding. When Dan is free, he walks away from me in the
snow, and disappears. I call out to him many times, but he
never turns around. I finally am buried under snow. Then I
am lying on a bench for a long time, chained to it by
invisible chains. I cannot move, and I cannot speak. Yet
what I feel inside me are screams of anguish that I want to
articulate. It is like torture that I experience over a
very long period of time. A man, a doctor friend, walks up
a stairway with me, then on a higher stair than my own, and
says goodbye on friendly terms. The metal stairs are like
those found in institutions of one kind or another. An body
of people sit before me. I am being singled out for
attention in some way. I have a huge smile on my face,
seem beautiful, but behind the mask, no one sees the
distorted, disfigured, face I possess: the face of a
monster. I see it, as in a mirror. I realize that the face
behind the mask is an accurate record of the pain and
hardship experienced on life s path. I feel that my outward
appearance betrays me.
==Commentary by Island on Buried Under Snow==
This dream was dreamed when I was 27 years old. Prior to
this many years had passed before I had recalled even one
dream. I woke up from this dream, tears streaming down my
face, and my husband of seven years asking me repeatedly
what was the matter, what had I dreamed to have disturbed
me so deeply? I remained strangely silent about it because
characteristically I at that time had not had many private
thoughts, sharing everything with him. I did not even
record this dream at the time: but it was a dream I would
never forget, and I had repeatedly gone over the dream in
my mind detail by detail so that it remained committed to
memory. Several years later, having moved to the "neutral
zone," I wrote the dream down.
When I dreamed the dream, several realizations struck me
immediately. One was, the dream was profoundly important to
me and my life. Two, the dream flung a door open to the
future, and there it was before me. It was not a pleasant
picture, either. I would go through much hardship. I
did not know why I had this dream, but I knew deep in my
bones that it was a dream I could not betray, for it was my
destiny. But how it would evolve so, that I could not even
begin to fathom.
To explain how future events fulfilled the dream would be
to write an autobiography, but the dream was fulfilled to
the letter by 1986.
In brief, my ex-husband, a Vietnam-Cambodian vet, was given
to psychotic bouts of violent abuse. Following an evening
where he went through the house and literally smashed to
smithereens every piece of ceramic art I had made, and
furniture I had spent months refinishing, followed by
cutting the telephone wires and then the car wires,
followed by an admission of a two-year affair, then a blow
to the mouth, and promises to kill me, I woke up the next
morning miraculously facing a dawn. I barely escaped with
my life. Even after I moved out, he physically
wrecked the apartment I moved into, and he left a note
wrapped around a knife that said, even though I was not
there at that time, I would be there the next. That week I
moved to New York City alone. This was following seven
years of my supporting him financially and emotionally
until he had freed himself from the chains in the dream.
This horrible night occurred several weeks following my
having dreamed that dream.
The other details of the dream were fulfilled in the years
ahead. And then the phrase, "on a higher stair than my
own," was fulfilled November 6th, 1994 when the good doctor
referred to committed suicide. I had seen him last in 1989,
a few years after he had singled me out at a teaching
university to demonstrate to a student body a treatment
plan. I had become very ill because of a bacteria which
lived in my mouth that had so deteriorated, they claimed it
was the mouth of an 80-year-old. I was 38 at the time.
Everyone saw me with most my teeth removed during part of
the treatment phase. Not until the fixed bridge was
completed did I become "beautiful" again. The mask, of
course, is the bridge. Remove the bridge and you have the
face of a monster.
There were other dreams to follow that continued to light a
very dark path. Certainly other dreams as significant as
this one, including a series of dreams with a repeated
theme. But I share this one as being the most significant
because it took me and my life by storm. And when the storm
was over, everything in my life had changed.
----------------------------------------------------------
**Farmer s Market on 14th Street by Island (87.09.12)**
Dream I am at the Farmer's Market on 14th Street and
talking with this farmer at the close of day about some
project, joint effort, that we're to do. It has to do
with fresh produce and putting it into a word processor.
There is a sense of hurry or rush or lack of time, and I
have the fear I would not be able to get it done. Then I
go to D'Agostino's. Someone, I think R__ M__, tells me
to get herring fish with some kind of sauce. Sour creme?
I am just about to forget as I am leaving but find the
corner of the store after a little searching which sells
fish. I am surprised because I have never seen this spot
before. Several kinds of fish lay parallel in horizontal
rows, and the herring is in the middle. I had never seen
herring before and realize how little I know about fish.
==Dream Reflections a Decade Later by Island==
Remember the day when I stumbled upon the Farmer's Market
at 14th Street? Or Union Square. The Square was not dwarfed
by the produce, booths, and trucks, all arranged in a semi-
circle at the north end of the park. Trees towered above
the incongruent street life below where city sophisticates
mingled with farmers. Then a bit of sky before the high
rises lopped off any further view, just beyond the market
itself. And I -- farmer or sophisticate? Neither? Both?
Either/or?
How overwhelming it all was to me. Delirious with joy, I
toured each booth ever so slowly, examining all fruits and
vegetables displayed in the open air. Their colors, shapes,
smells made me want to drown myself in the experience. I
never wanted to leave this haven. Never wanted to go back
and enclose myself in my apartment, a sardine among so many
others.
We were all strangers to each other, and yet there were
times of amazing comraderie I knew I would rarely, if ever,
find in any other city or town. My life was saved by
another stranger who occupied the same building. And yet
again, my life was spared by a stranger who held a knife to
my throat. With a dramatic change of heart, he proclaimed,
"I ll let you go. I ll let you go. But don t do anything
foolish," as he pushed me inside an elevator while he ran
outside. Those enlightening moments -- reminding me of
Blanche s outburst in Streetcar -- sometimes there is
God so suddenly -- kept me tethered to this city. Yet I had
been so starved for a touch of home. Wide open skies with
billowing clouds that I could name fantastically, a starry
night, and rolling green pastures, with cows dotted here
and there, chickens scratching in the dirt, or even hogs
wallowing in the mud. Manure and hay. I wanted that
desperately. Too I wanted to be bored for a long while. I
wanted to drift, shorning myself of all striving. No more
marches toward oblivion. Tired now and approaching forty,
alone, I wanted the pattern of my life to change.
Though I didn't grow up on a farm, my ancestors were all
farmers. That all changed with my parents, except Daddy did
row a home garden from time to time in the back yard. I ran
to the city for a hiding place from an ex-husband s violent
outbursts in response to a war where all he looked on was
horrible, finding myself transplanted now for at least a
decade, becoming more and more rooted here, dwarfed by
buildings buried in concrete. Few trees thrived in colonies
except in parks like the ones on 23rd, 14th and Gramercy.
The tree whose roots reached up to my third story window had
been recently cut down. But growing on the side of the East
window was another tree whose leaves were gold one afternoon
to the amazement of my weary eyes and depression-ridden
body. I raced out to see if the setting sun actually caused
an optical illusion, but not so. The illusion never again
appeared. I decided it must have been a vision of some kind.
Of course there was Central Park, but it was a good distance
from my apartment, and I never made the time to go there.
Sad to say, unless I was jogging around Gramercy and along
the East River, I allowed myself to experience very little
of nature. And then came along the demolition crew, and the
run along the East River was not possible for years because
of work on the East River Drive to accommodate the
burgeoning streams of drivers. On the weekends I had no way
outside of the city unless the rare chance occurred that
someone included me in their plans, for which I was always
ever grateful. In New York City, I was as dead, or dying, as
I assumed the people I came in contact with to be.
But here, on 14th Street, quaint farmers with various
accents and independent ways pulled up in their trucks to
unload their produce at the break of dawn. Ultra -
sophisticated crowds milled about, scrutinizing everything
before buying, while I with very little money to spare had
to choose carefully just what to cart home with me. Chalking
all discretion to the winds, remember how I would pack huge
bags anyway and tote them home, not even minding how heavy
they were, across Fifth, Madison, Park, Lexington, then up
to 28th? I do not recall how many times over the years I
actually made the trek before actually meeting Rob. Until
that date with destiny, though, I secretly eyed the farmers,
sidled up as close as I could without discovery to hear
their long, relaxed conversations, and wondered, could that
be my life? -- ignoring the very real and startling fact
that some of their conversations whispered of the boredom,
despair, and frustrations common to everyone.
Here in the mid-eighties, with the discovery of the 14th
Street Farmer's Market, it seemed possible that there were
other areas just like that sprinkled throughout the city.
The Farmer's Market filled me with hope and a feeling of
life, raw life, blooming, flourishing in the midst of
people s attitudes sometimes as canned and artificial as the
food displayed on grocery shelves. Strangers who do not give
the impression of ever feeling anything, seeming to feel
rather indifferently about everything. No feeling, no values
-- I ultimately decided, so upon what was each castle in the
air being built? Turning to question my own values, instead
of busy-bodily trying to discern the values of others, I
began to ask myself, What am I really doing here in this
dying city? Soon I realized, I am the arid desert, the
stranger to myself.
The city at that time was dying in pockets, like the
Village. And, though not yet ubiquitous, through this
pandemic I confronted my own face of death daily, it seemed,
in the faces of loved ones. The years spanning 1986 to 1989
would become pivotal. In the Spring of '86, I suddenly
abandoned a career I had cultivated for eight years, without
caring what I did next. Events, like burning bushes, seized
me. Rage turned outward to a longtime friend, R__ M__, the
man who I dreamed a year later would suggest to me to buy
herring at D Agostinos. The year before, October of 86, he
was indifferently cruel to me. I felt betrayed and leashed
out at him. Through the years I had experienced similar
bouts of rage over the perceived cruelty of others, but the
most I had ever done about it was to turn the pain inward,
then live with it. I resigned my job on the spur after that
episode. Another job turned up a few months later and,
though only part-time, it gave me the breathing space I
needed to explore just what I wanted to do with my life.
My exploration began with renovating my apartment until it
was in total shambles: like a female Samson (Agonistes? --
recalling Milton & the grocery store), I literally pulled
the place down by any available rafter, then could hardly
find an inch of order anywhere in my effort to change that
ugly pattern of my life. All to no avail. Nothing changed.
My desperation mounted while I lopped, chopped and, rather
than remember -- dismembered.
Late that summer, nearly a year following the dream, I
began, I suppose, my joint effort with the farmer to feed
produce into a word processor by way of transcribing the
fructifying stories men told about themselves who were at
risk for AIDS -- gay men who may or may not be alive before
too many years had passed. The old blind Milton and
misogynist who dictated his works, like Samson Agonistes, to
his wife and daughter, recalls these gay men (though they
were themselves not usually haters of women) whom I never
saw as they told their stories. Those early interviews were
absolutely electrifying to me, overthrowing all notion of
gay as "effeminate," or "less than." Rather, what was being
traced out for me were men who in the Jungian tradition and
without even knowing it were caught up in the process of
individuation. Coming out, coming through, in droves,
claiming who they were and living it, despite all
objections, all obstacles, all violation of others edicts as
to what was morally right or wrong. Brilliant, talented,
gifted men who showed more depth, more courage, and more
love toward one another than just about any heterosexual
man, or couple, I had ever encountered. Their shadow side,
as well, was not to be believed because capable of and
playing out any inconceivable inhumanity as well. Before me
was splayed out in an Americanized version something
reminiscent of the vastness of soul Dostoevsky wrote about
in The Brothers Karamazov and was shocked to surprise to
realize these nearly 300 men have much to teach humanity
about the meaning of the word, humanity -- suddenly
propelled from adolescence to adulthood. Then came another
dream, sixteen months following my rage directed at R__M__.
**Dream: Dying Geishas by Island (88.02.10)**
Dream of R__ M__. First he is teaching me and then he is
working with my legs; I think explaining away the pain I am
actually experiencing. In the meantime he is doing this
with the awareness of having survived World War III.
Another city is involved as well. Some man, R__, in a
cave? In the middle of the city that reeked of death. The
feeling reminds me of a feeling in a movie I had seen about
the dying geisha subculture. A feeling of total alienation,
but more than that. Like being a pariah in that city. While
sitting in the burnt out, abandoned cave, alone, R__ looks
up. A bird suddenly brushes its wings against R__ lips,
as if in a kiss. R__ thinks that it is very lovely and
nice, but a freak of nature and not to be reexperienced. I
realized that hope for him was dead. But I insist that the
bird could fly by and brush its wings against his lips
again.
Herring -- the most preyed upon fish in the ocean. Would
they be the most prayed for...
So still in horizontal rows, caught by surprise, the fishes
lie, her ring at the center of the bone yard.
----------------------------------------------------
Dream symbolism in "waking reality"? (E-mail 1) (961012)
From: Isis
Hello all,
I am quite new to this list, but have had a lifetime
interest in dreams, and have maintained a dream diary for
the best part of eight years. During this time I have
noticed that water plays a significant part in my dreams,
including flash floods, tidal waves, rivers out of control,
etc. These dreams usually correspond to times of emotional
upheaval in my life. (This is pretty much a standard
Jungian observation, is it not? Water=emotions.)
This year there have been two occasions when I have felt
completely overwhelmed, emotionally. One was the suicide
death of a close friend, in January, and the other was the
inter-state transfer of a close colleague at work.
And this is where it gets interesting: on both occasions,
these experiences were accompanied by REAL floods in my
home town of Tamworth. Now, floods are not a usual
occurrence in this town. In fact they are very rare.
Have any other readers of this list had similar
experiences, where the outer world has so perfectly
corresponded to the inner?
It was quite amazing, and also strangely comforting.
Looking forward to hearing from you all,
Isis.
Response to Isis s question by Island:
When I read the question posed by Isis, Have any other
readers of this list had similar experiences, where the
outer world has so perfectly corresponded to the inner? --
the old lump sat heavy in my throat -- I really didn't want
to respond. Though my experiences were comforting, they are
also quite bitter in retrospect to recall, but I had
wondered from time to time when the question might
eventually be posed?
The question was preceded by a comment, This year there
have been two occasions when I have felt completely
overwhelmed, emotionally. One was the suicide death of a
close friend, in January, and the other was the inter-state
transfer of a close colleague at work. And this is where it
gets interesting: on both occasions, these experiences were
accompanied by REAL floods in my home town of Tamworth.
Now, floods are not a usual occurrence in this town. In
fact they are very rare.
One of my experiences, where the outer world seemed to
mirror the inner, back in 1988: I visited my brother, when
we had the only real quarrel -- and it was a whale of a
quarrel -- of our lifetime, just before I was to return
home. I remember trying to patch up things, comforting him
as we sat on his bed together, but the next morning, his
anger hardened, and I left for the airport alone,
without even a "goodbye." I remember waiting for the cab
just before dawn, and the winds whipping around me, the
leaves from trees falling, circling, and a cold, cold chill
pierced me to the bone. I reflected then, "The very air
feels so ominous -- I don't believe I have ever felt such
an evil wind" -- surprising myself by the term, "evil."
Once I returned home, I recalled often those strange
moments where I stood alone, in the elements, awaiting a
cab. Sixteen months later, my brother was murdered. I had
not seen him since.
Just this past October, I went home to visit my Mother as I
had frequently done throughout her seven year protracted
illness with multiple myeloma, discovered at the time of
her son's -- my brother's -- murder. On that visit, 150
mile an hour winds -- a hurricane whose name I refuse to
recall -- swept through the city, uprooting huge trees.
While she sat huddled on the couch near the wall of glass
allowing us to look out on the storm, I became mesmerized
by those winds causing a row of trees in the back yard to
bend their trunks in the storm, nearly crashing against the
earth with each shifting wind, as if those winds contained
the force of oceanic waves, now striking against giant
boulders below. I remember feeling how it was almost as if
these very trees were now animated, pleading with some
strange, unknown God whose commands seemed issued from a
vast distance, and their voices -- when I dared step out
into the storm, the fury of voices battered and nearly
drowned me. Stinging rain, debris, twigs and limbs flying
through the night air -- confused, profound in their
misery, startled from their quiet sanctuary of earth and
grass, to be randomly uprooted, sacrificed to some unknown
God, more fiercely powerful than I had ever imagined
before, whose strident voice would not be silenced. I knew
then that it would be the last time I saw my mother alive.
It did seem fitting, considering what I had seen her live
through -- for years she had braved a terrible storm.
The growing awareness for me is that, after nearly two
decades of recording my dreams, dreams are no longer so
compartmentalized -- before, it was --there are my dreams,
hiding over there in that dark corner, and here's my real
life, lived during high noon. Now it's sometimes as if the
dream world is rooted squarely in my earth, waiting to be
uprooted by an oncoming storm. Sometimes I get blurry-eyed
trying to distinguish the difference...
Island
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Outer World Mirrors Inner (E-mail 2) (961017)
From:Isis
To: Island
Island,
Great post!
Yes, these type of experiences can be a bit unsettling,
but, as I noted, they are also curiously comforting.( Not
sure why - perhaps it's confirmation that all this dream
work is worth it??)
Have you read the book "The Waking Dream" by Ray Grasse?
Quest Books. ISBN 0-8356-0749-?6. It deals with these very
subjects. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is
*great*.
I am also finding that my "waking life" and my dreams are
beginning to "mesh" more. I've kept a dream diary for eight
years now.
I've found that the reverse is true also: sometimes I can
actually predict what my dream content will be on a given
night/s simply by analyzing my emotional state for that
day. Of course, it doesn't always work out. But often
enough ...
Anyway, it's all very interesting, isn't it?
Bye!
Isis
---------------------------------------------------
REPETITIVE DREAMS
[Significant by nature]
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
[Your stumpers may not be so mysterious to others]
==========================================
LINKS TO STAGES OF LIFE
BIRTH [Starts]
**Dream: Maggie s Dream by Maggie (961213)**
To Bob, in Electric Dreams.
(and the first time I've posted)
This is a dream which has haunted me for a long time. It
isn't recurring but something about the dream itself seemed
so significant that I can recall it clearly even though I
dreamed it some years ago.
I am walking along a tow path with my lover. I am aware
that I have a husband, who is extremely jealous, at home
and so I feel oppressed by both time and conscience all the
way through the dream. It is evening time, quickly moving
towards night, and I know my husband will begin to suspect
I am not just out shopping...
I am carrying a baby, and I have by the hand a second,
older child. We are somehow enticed by the lover figure,
who walks on in front. At some point we pause by the water
and watch the reflection of the moon in the water. We begin
to throw stones at the reflection, disrupting the calm of
the water - it's a kind of game. There's an atmosphere of
fun for a while, and then it turns serious. During this
time I have handed the baby to my lover, presumably to have
both hands free for the stones. Suddenly, he calls: Watch!
And then he throws the baby on to the moon's reflection
instead of a stone. I watch in panic and horror as the baby
sinks. Now I know I'm done for, I think... No one jumps in
to attempt to save the baby - there's a feeling of the
impossibility of finding it, the water is so black and the
place itself dark with a sense of hopelessness.
The dream ends soon after this point, still in the vicinity
of the tow path, with a confused mixture of anger and
horror and doom and terror. The lover figure is totally
unrepentant and uncaring.
I wake up, and some of the emotions in the dream stay with
me for a long time, even though they bear no resemblance to
my life at present, or in the past.
Maggie
==Commentary by Brien (961215) on Maggies Dream==
This dream seems to suggest a natural progression and/or a
quest for equilibrium. If it were my dream I would wonder
what it was that I have found myself 'between'. The lover
and husband. The baby and older child. Unconscience and
conscience. Dark water and bright moon. Playfulness turned
to serious.
Thinking and feeling. Did I 'throw a new idea' into the
still unconscience to break the monoutony? Was there a 'new
idea' that 'would not float'? Or did I give the
responsibility of this 'new idea' to some 'other' only to
have them use it in some way that caused the early 'death'
of it. Being in the middle...that s were I would start my
journey or maybe that s were all journeys begin and
end, in the middle, knowing love but feeling the sting of
betrayal, giving birth and knowing death is always at hand,
having freedom and being bound by choice.
I would have to disagree with you Maggie, I think it bears
a great deal of resemblance to your life, after all, it is
your dream.
Brien
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
==Commentary by Rosalie on Maggies Dream (961216)==
Hello Maggie,
What an absolutely wonderful archetypal dream. Perhaps it
bears no resemblance to your present life, but it bears
resemblance to the life of every psyche everywhere. It is
not only an archetypal dream, it is a mythological dream.
If you keep this dream alive in your imagination, I am
sure that at one point, its meaning will be perfectly clear
to you. Keep it "like a picture of the wall of your living
room" to look at again and again throughout your life.
>
>This is a dream which has haunted me for a long time. It
isn't recurring but something about the dream itself seemed
so significant that I can recall it clearly even though I
dreamed it some years ago.
>I am walking along a tow path with my lover. I am aware
that I have a husband, who is extremely jealous, at home
and so I feel oppressed by both time and conscience all the
way through the dream. It is evening time, quickly moving
towards night, and I know my husband will begin to suspect
I am not just out shopping...
If this were my dream I would suspect that even
though at present my husband is my whole life, i.e. I have
invested all my dreams, loves, hopes etc in this
relationship, there is a far greater love that calls me
onward, and that my husband is only one expression of that
love and call to love.
>
>I am carrying a baby, and I have by the hand a second,
older child. We are somehow enticed by the lover figure,
who walks on in front. At some point we pause by the water
and watch the reflection of the moon in the water. We begin
to throw stones at the reflection, disrupting the calm of
the water - it's a kind of game.
Again, if this were my dream, I would ask myself,
"who are these children?" Are they biological children, or
are they children of my own creativity?"
If this were my dream, I would ask, "what does it
mean that the Moon energies that have to do cycles, with
darkness, with fertility (as opposed to Sun energies with
have to do with pure spirit, intellectual pursuits, linear
thinking)are disturbing the waters of my clear, calm ,
peaceful, emotional life.
> There's an atmosphere of fun for a while, and then it
turns serious. During this time I have handed the baby to
my lover, presumably to have both hands free for the
stones. Suddenly, he calls: Watch! And then he throws the
baby on to the moon's reflection instead of a stone. I
watch in panic and horror as the baby sinks. Now I know I'm
done for, I think... No one jumps in to attempt to save the
baby - there's a feeling of the impossibility of finding
it, the water is so black and the place itself dark with a
sense of hopelessness.
The lover who entices is also the lover who kills.
Eros and Thanatos are two sides of the same coin. The
ground of our being is love, but is also a killing ground.
What is most awesome is also most fearful. If this were my
dream, I would allow my imagination to feed on this image
so that when I find myself caught between fear and awe,
between attraction and repulsion, between abandonment and
horror, I would have the strength to live the tension and
negotiate a middle ground between the two. Peace and calm
me be safe, but it is also deadening. Living to the full
involves great risk and conflict, but in the end, it is the
only way to be truly alive.
>
>The dream ends soon after this point, still in the
vicinity of the tow path, with a confused mixture of anger
and horror and doom and terror. The lover figure is totally
unrepentant and uncaring.
>
>I wake up, and some of the emotions in the dream stay with
me for a long time, even though they bear no resemblance to
my life at present,,or in the past.
>
>Maggie
Thank you Maggie for this dream. I was a real gift to me
and it has helped remind me how I prefer the security of
safe ground to the turmoil of the tow path of love which
guides and goads me toward creativity or destruction.
Only if I am brave and take charge will the fear and guilt,
the anger and horror subside and become transformed into
inner strength and a sense of purpose.
Rosalie
>
==Commentary by Narcissus (961216) on Maggie's Dream==
What a powerful dream! Since the dreamer states that the
dream bears no resemblance to present or past life, let's
move immediately into the metaphorical level.
> I am walking along a tow path with my lover. I am aware
that I have a husband, who is extremely jealous, at home
and so I feel oppressed by both time and conscience all
the way through the dream. It is evening time, quickly
moving towards night, and I know my husband will begin
to suspect I am not just out shopping...
I'm presuming here that the dreamer doesn't have a husband
or a lover. If the dreamer has no literal "husband," then
I'd immediate look to her father or to God as being the
metaphorical "husband." In this sense, I'm looking at the
husband as the man to whom I'm obligated, the man who sets
the rules, the man I love(loved).
So where does the lover fit in this? Well, let's give an
example. Let's say that daddy thought I should grow up to
be a physician, but my first love has always been music. I
feel guilty whenever I'm playing my music because I'm not
following the life-path set for me by my "husband."
> I am carrying a baby, and I have by the hand a second,
older child. We are somehow enticed by the lover figure,
who walks on in in front.
I note w/ interest that we're walking on the tow path and
I'm being towed (enticed) by my lover.
>At some point we pause by the water and watch the
reflection of the moon in the water. We begin to throw
stones at the reflection, disrupting the calm of the water
- it's a kind of game. There's an atmosphere of fun for a
while, and then it turns serious. During this time I have
> handed the baby to my lover, presumably to have both
hands free for the stones. Suddenly, he calls: Watch! And
then he throws the baby on to the moon's reflection instead
of a stone. I watch in panic and horror as the baby sinks.
Now I know I'm done for, I think... No one jumps in to
attempt to save the baby - there's a feeling of the
impossibility of finding it, the water is so black and the
place itself dark with a sense of hopelessness.
In my dream the baby was fathered by the husband. It's the
more recent consequence of my relationship w/ the husband.
The lover, jealous, recognizing my bondage to the
husband, tosses the baby into the water of my emotions.
This is a very, very powerful and disturbing image. In my
dream it's a wake up call to observe my spiritual life.
While to have this experience in waking life would be an
unremitting horror, in dream life the images can have very
different meanings.
I would try to experience the dream from the perspective of
the baby. How does s/he feel about being thrown in the
water? How does it feel to sink into the water?
The moon is often a symbol of the feminine; water, of
emotions and the unconscious. Somehow what I've created w/
my masculine side is being given back to a reflection of
the feminine.
The dream ends soon after this point, still in the vicinity
of the tow path, with a confused mixture of anger and
horror and doom and terror. The lover figure is totally
unrepentant and uncaring. If the lover is really a guide
and really cares for the dreamer, then at some level the
lover knows that throwing the baby in the water was the
"right" thing to do. Try to experience the dream from the
perspective of the lover to know what motivates him.
Once again, while the literal drowning of a child is
unforgivable, in the dream, the "child" is a product of my
imagination. The lover may know that some product of my
imagination has to die if I am going to continue in my
spiritual growth.
Or, conversely, the lesson may be that I cannot blindly
follow the lover because he will kill what I love.
I hope these thoughts are of use to you. I can be reached
at Koteen@erols.com if you want to discuss the dream
further.
Narcissus
CHILDHOOD [Early development]
ADOLESCENCE [Maturing, testing]
**Dream: SYLVIA AND SHIMMERY by D. S. (961217)**
The night time sky filled with clouds as a young,
sandy blonde haired girl sat on a huge, Wedgwood blue and
white striped couch in her small living room. It was ten
p.m. and she was getting tired. Her mom and dad had went
out to dinner and a movie, it was their first night out and
her first night alone. It had been a long time since her
parents had spent an evening alone together.
She was old enough now to stay by herself, I don't
need a baby-sitter. I'm twelve years old and that is too
old to need someone else. They trusted her to be alone and
she was so proud that she had gotten her way this time.
All the lights were off except for the glow of the
television, it was perfect. The movie just started getting
interesting. She started to lie down and as she did she
pulled the white sunflower cozy throw around her. I'll
just lay here and get comfortable.
CRASH! She awoke with a start. What was that, she
thought as her heart raced and struggled to breathe. She
got up slowly from the couch, still clutching her blanket
she peered around the room. She walked slowly, cautiously
around the room to the bedroom where she thought the noise
had originated.
She turned on the hall light so that she could see.
Nothing. She walked to her bedroom door, turning the brass
handle knob slowly, the door opened. She reached to turn
on her bedroom light but a glow was coming from her back
wall. What is that? It's orange and yellow, and ... She
watched silently as the big white wall faded into nothing.
It disappeared and left a view of a bright and sunny
countryside. There were green hills and brown valleys with
a stream crossing as if someone
had painted a picture. There was a small town to the left
that had white smoke billowing over it.
She walked into this new place slowly, trying to
figure out if this was a dream, however, the grass was
real. It was wet with fresh morning dew and it squished
when she walked on it. She walked to the small creek and
began following it. The creek rippled and splashed as it
turned the corner of the riverbed. Large tree branches
filled with bright green and yellow leaves casted a shaded
sky over her head. The bushes were a strange shade of
purple. I haven't seen purple bushes before.
Poking her head through a particularly tall purple
bush, she looked straight into a pair of eyes shining a
bright blue-green swirl. "Oh, my! she exclaimed under her
breath. "Who and what are you?" She blurted.
"I am Shimmery," he puffed, as a cloud of white smoke
billowed from his oversized nostrils and hovered like a
halo over his huge golden head. "Who might you be?"
"I am Sssylvia",. She answered staring at his huge
eyes. "I was in my house when all of a sudden I was here.
I think I am lost."
"You shouldn't be frightened because I can help you
find your way home. I am a Stargazer dragon. I am from
the House of Golden Kindred. I can read the stars." He
stated matter-of-factly. "I can help you find your way
home. Tell me, where do you live?"
"Well, its kind of hard to describe. I don't think I
am in the right city or town. I am from Chicago, Illinois.
Where are we?" She asked looking concerned.
"We are currently in Straw Valley Providence. I am
sure we can locate this Chicago. I've never heard of it
but I will check out my maps."
Sylvia followed the golden dragon until they reached a
mountain with a chain of trees surrounding the mountain
like a necklace. A big yellow leafed tree partially
blocked a hole in the mountain, this was an entrance.
"This is my home, please come in," Shimmery invited
as he gestured toward the cave. Sylvia hesitated a moment
and realized that she was better off with a friend than
alone and followed him into the cave.
The cave opened up into a long tunnel. The wall was
lined with a row of burning candles to light the way. The
glow casted shadows that made the cave appear grand.
Sylvia followed Shimmery down the corridor until it opened
into a huge cavern. The walls were decorated with colorful
curtains that cascaded down to the floor. In the middle of
this room was ten huge chairs sitting around a large walnut
table, a huge throne like chair filled with lots of pillows
sat at the head of the table. A royal blue rug was the
only decoration on the floor.
"Oh, my! " Sally whispered as she stared at the room.
This looks just like my dining room at home. "This is
grand, Shimmery."
"Well, Thank you." He swung around and eased into the
throne to look at Sylvia. "Do you want to sit down? I'll
look at my maps if you are ready." Shimmery reached up
into the air and pulled a large sheet down from the
ceiling. It was his maps.
Sylvia walked over to the chair nearest Shimmery and
sat down. She followed the dragon's huge finger as he
traced around the figures, stars, and planets on the map.
"Aha! I think I may have found a way for you to get
home.
"You really think so!" She exclaimed smiling.
"We will have to go back to your origin of
transportation."
"Huh?"
"Where you first came here. We can find your way back
home, there."
Shimmery put his maps away and started gathering some
supplies. "You might need some food for this trip. I
would hate for you to get hungry." He filled the bag with
small cornbread cakes and a small blue bottle of water.
"There, I think this will help if you need it."
"Thanks, I hope I won't need any of it." Sylvia took
the bag offered by the dragon and tied it around her waist.
They left the warm cave and headed back the way they
had traveled. It didn't take them long to find the river.
They followed it downstream towards the purple bushes.
Neither one talked. They just concentrated on the terrain.
"Here, we are. I remember this green and yellow
tree." She informed Shimmery.
"Great! I am happy you have found a familiar
landmark. Now, let me get set up."
Shimmery settled into a stooping position. He slowly
eased his large frame onto the damp grass. He set his head
on top of his two hands and stared.
Sylvia, curious of the dragon's actions settled beside
him into the same position. She laid her head on her hands
too. She soon became very sleepy. The fresh air and the
sounds of birds chirping seemed to lull her to sleep.
CRASH! She awoke with a start. What was that?
"Oh, Hi honey. We're sorry. We didn't mean to wake
you." Her mom's high pitched voice stated. Mom and dad
were standing in the hallway, dripping water everywhere.
"You must have slept right through the thunder storm.
Weren't you scared?"
"I didn't even know it was raining," Sylvia sat up
from the couch and looked around. She ran over and grabbed
her mom around the waist and gave her a big hug. "I'm so
glad that we're home."
Her mom, brow furrowed looked down at her, "What do
you mean we're? Are you okay? Did something happen?"
"Mom, I'm fine now. Nothing, really happened."
"Oh, honey. I'm so glad that you are growing up."
"Yeah mom. I'm so grown up."
ADULTHOOD [The main event for most]
**Dream: Jail Dream/gestalted by Eugene Marks (961206)**
Dear Bob,
Thanks again for letting me share some of my dreams with
you folks last month.
Here's another dream that I've had recently and have
gestalted. I'd like to share it on Electric Dreams this
coming issue. It will give folks a tool by which they can
better understand their own dreams. (see attached file)
Also, I have comments that I'd like to share, either on
Electric Dreams or else directly with Facts, the person who
dreamt the dream called Gifts in the latest issue. Perhaps
I should do both. What do you suggest?
Eugene
==
Subj: Re: Gestalting a Dream
Date: 96-12-07 02:05:42 EST
From: BobK829887
To: Eugene Marks
Thanks again Eugene. Education and networking are two of
the areas we thought ED could help with and you are
contributing on both fronts, along with creative insight
from your unique journey in the world of waking reality.
We haven't had a Gestalt approach article or commentary for
a while, so it's also timely. I'll contact Facts about the
one on one. Most folks not only don't mind, but are
thrilled about sharing and exchanging at a deeper level.
However, there are some who don't mind posting to
ALT.DREAMS under their E-mail address which lists their
name, or spill their guts about self, family, friends, and
work on a web page, but are shy or afraid about sharing in
ED. Go figure. If you decide to share a portion or all of
your exchange to be with ED, I think it would be great.
When the issue came out on a more frequent basis there was
more give and take, but on this monthly cycle the immediacy
issue takes a big hit. The dreamwheels are a good
alternative to joining in on a small group for a limited
amount of time from anywhere on the net. Great for cold
winter nights.
I've got your site targeted for some surfing tomorrow! By
the way, I ve enjoyed your comments on ALT.DREAMS. I've
been primarily a lurker for the past year and a half after
spending quite a bit of time and effort there. It really
seems to ebb and flow, with dedicated seekers and bearers
of dream wisdom and dream knowledge drifting in and out,
and themes continually repeating as newcomers are energized
by the great DREAM conversation.
...
Bob K.
===========================================================
**EUGENE'S JAIL DREAM**
I'm in jail for the weekend, from Friday till sometime
Sunday. I'm here as a special case and am not being
treated like the other prisoners. I even have my own
mattress, a king sized one, which they bring down each
night and put in the cell for me.
The second night, I find the cell returned to its usual
state, with three small cots crowded into it. I ask the
jailors, and they tell me that I'll have to share the cell
tonight and that my mattress is safe upstairs.
Some woman who works here asks me if I've called parole yet
about probation. I have to do so before I can get out. Up
till now, I've been relaxed, but now I'm speeded up,
worried about getting out of here on time. I'm unclear as
to how to get in touch with parole. I try all the public
phones that are here, but none of them can connect me with
parole. I ask the folks who work here for help too, once
asking a young woman, an art therapist. I finally find out
how but haven't contacted them by the time I wake up,
needing to take a leak.
I go back to sleep now, and I'm back in the jail. I have a
plate in my hands now with a sweet roll on it. I'm looking
for a place to sit down and eat it. I'm hesitant to sit
with the workers on their break in the coffee room. I'm
not a worker. I'm a prisoner. I see a woman who works
here start to get up from the table. Her shift must be
over. I feel okay about taking her seat now, although I'm
waiting until I'm sure she's gone before I finally sit
down.
==Commentary by Eugene: GESTALTING MY DREAM==
For me, the main aspect of Gestalt work is giving each of
the elements of my dream a voice. I also look for
unfinished situations and conflicts. I try to understand
too how my dream is a relevant and meaningful picture of my
present life situation. Usually when I've done all this,
when I've listened fully to my dream, it has become crystal
clear and illuminating.
I'm Eugene's jail. I'm like the one he was in when he was
young and crazy and in the Air Force. I don't quite know
how to relate to him, what with him bringing his own
mattress and all. My job is to hold him, to contain him,
to keep him from busting loose before he's ready. He may
think he's ready. The I Ching may think he's ready. I
don't know though. Maybe he is ready, or will be soon, but
that's up to the folks in parole.
I'm Eugene's weekend. I'm usually a time to relax and
enjoy life, a time to bust loose, at least temporarily.
Eugene is certainly spending me in an odd way. Maybe his
work with dreams on the web is too important for him to be
here in the jail during the week. Maybe he has to come
now. Maybe I am the appropriate time for him to be here.
I'm Eugene as a special case. I'm not a criminal. I'm not
here for punishment or to keep myself away from society.
I've put myself here for containment, so that I'll have
time to reflect before I bust loose again. Sometimes in my
past, I haven't looked before I've leapt.
I'm Eugene's mattress. I'm the one that he sleeps upon at
home with his wife Aspen. I'm their marriage bed. I'm all
their shared love and lust. I'm glad he takes me with him
when he goes off alone to jail. I'm glad he stays
connected to all that I mean.
I'm Eugene's cell the first night. I house Eugene in
privacy, offering him space to be himself. I'm much like
his bedroom at home, the sleeping part anyway. The only
things missing are Aspen and the cats--and all the loving
touch.
I'm Eugene's cell the second night. I'm similar to that
cell he was held in, when he was in the military in New
Mexico back in the fifties. I usually house two or three
men at once. For Eugene, I'm like being in the military
all over again . I'm especially like boot camp, with
everyone's bed and being crowded together into one small
space.
I'm the woman who tells Eugene that he has to contact
parole before he can leave here and go on with his life.
He seems to be taking this a bit lightly, not bothering to
learn the rules. He seems well intentioned though. After
all, he did put himself here.
We're the parole folks. We're here to see if a prisoner or
special case is ready to be released. He should have a way
to support himself, a place to stay, and someone to help
him restart his life. We're waiting for Eugene's call.
It's up to him to find us. The main thing that concerns us
about Eugene is that he works all the time, writing and
helping folks with their dreams and their lives, but makes
no money from it and has found no other way of earning a
living. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.
We're the public phones. We hook people up to other people
and services. We can't really help Eugene now because his
problem and his solution have no public, that is
collective, solution. His solution has to be unique,
coming from his center, deep within himself.
I'm the art therapist in the jail. I'm a young woman, much
like Eugene's daughter Ariana, who sometimes gets him into
drawing while they're sharing dreams. By encouraging folks
to draw and paint and sculpt, I'm encouraging them to give
free expression, without conscious thought, to the feelings
and images that are laying beneath the surface of their
consciousness. Eugene has all the answers within himself.
Whenever he draws or paints, he always learns something new
about himself.
I'm Eugene's plate. He uses me to put his food upon,
whatever he want to take in that will nourish and sustain
his life. I have a sweet roll upon me now, dessert, a bit
of sweetness that he deserves.
I'm the coffee room. I'm a place where workers can come to
relax after working hard. I'm that bit of the weekend that
can exist within the jail called work. The right to relax
within me has to be earned. I'm only for those who work
here. Any one else is just a guest, a special case.
I'm work. I'm what people do in order to earn the money to
pay someone else for what they need. For Eugene, I involve
selling his time and his ability to stay always in the flow
for money. I also involve being able to put food on his
plate.
I'm the feeling of being one down. I'm the feeling people
that have when they think that others are better or deserve
better than they. I'm the feeling that comes when a person
can't support himself. (The I Ching describes it thus:
"If, owing to weakness of spirit, a man cannot support
himself, a feeling of uneasiness comes over him; this is
because in shirking the proper way of obtaining a living,
he accepts support as a favor from those in higher place.
This is unworthy, for he is deviating from his true nature.
Kept up indefinitely, this course leads to misfortune."
(Hexagram 27, line 2, Providing Nourishment)) That's the
misfortune of needing to go directly to jail, without even
passing Go and collecting the two hundred dollars.
On the other hand, I'm the act of Eugene taking his place
at the workers' table. I'm what happens when he finally
realizes that he has to accept whatever honest work comes
his way. I'm the feeling that he'll have then, as he sits
down, that's he's part of all the folks out there, working
to keep it all going.
There is an unfinished element in my dream. I still do
need to contact parole and accept probation. I know how to
do so now, at least within my dream, but I still need to do
it. I think contacting parole has to do with the closing
scene of my dream, in the workers' coffee room. Probation
has to do with me being a worker myself, with earning my
own living, doing whatever I need to do in order to feel
good about sitting down to eat with the other folks.
My dream is certainly an accurate picture of my present
existence. I don't need to continue in my present
precarious financial situation. I just need to accept
probation, which, for me, means accepting whatever work is
offered. From my earlier dream of peace, prosperity, and
busting loose (see above), I know I'm going to make it.
Eventually, I'm going to be able to do exactly what I want
to do and still support myself. I am not like the other
prisoners here. I'm not going to be a wage slave for long.
I am a special case. I've put myself in the jail. I'm
holding myself back from busting loose, afraid still that
I'll fail if I do. I just need to find a way to support
myself here and now, so I can feel free in the workers'
relaxation room.
Several days after having this dream, an old friend turned
me onto a job where she works. She cooks for fifty or so
kids at the Buddhist Preschool here in Boulder. The guy
who had been cleaning the school retired. Would I take the
job? I said yes. I've actually been working there for
two weeks now. I don't mind cleaning up after the kids,
although I certainly wouldn't like cleaning up after
adults. In a sense, this job is my probation. By
accepting it, I'm showing that I can contain myself, that I
can accept a structure to my life. I can accept having to
be somewhere at a certain time and doing something I
wouldn't ordinarily do except for the money. I'm still
going to bust loose soon.
[Eugene shares some tips and lessons learned:]
GESTALT DREAM WORK (FROM CLAUDIO NARANJO'S I AND THOU)
When you wake up in the morning, write down the dream with
the greatest possible detail.
Look in the dream for unfinished situations or anything
that you have been avoiding and finish the story in the
spirit of not avoiding.
Say the dream aloud as if the action in it were actually
happening in the present and be aware of yourself and what
you are feeling while you do so: e.g., is the intonation
of your voice compatible with the reactions you are
reporting? What is your breathing doing? etc.
Go over your dream once more, still in the present tense
and contemplate it as a picture of your existence: Does it
make sense?
List the elements in the dream: human characters, animals,
objects, elements of nature (wind, earthquake, fire, etc.)
Act out the completed dream story from the point of view of
yourself in it, placing special emphasis on the avoided
situation (falling, dying, being caught, etc.)
Play each of the other elements, give them a voice and let
them speak for themselves and of their wants ("I am a hard
rock, a very old rock polished by the centuries." I am the
wind, powerful, free, invisible, uprooted." etc)
Look for the pairs of opposites and engage them in
encounter. In doing this, you may want to write down a
sketch and then play it to the best of your dramatic
ability. While giving words to your characters, (including
yourself) do not just make up situations, but try to
impersonate them, enter the situation and honestly express
your reactions in each role.
While doing all this, be aware!
Did you get the message, your dream's message, your
message, yourself?
OLD AGE [Wisdom, Approaching the Journeys end]
DEATH [Endings]
**Dream "Grief" by A.M. Used (961119)**
It was a summer day. The sun was shining and a gentle
breeze was blowing. I was in a house staring out through
an open door at the scene playing out before me. I looked,
mainly out of curiosity, but felt embarrassed in doing so,
not unlike a child peeking out from behind it's mother's
skirt. What I was looking at was a dead man lying on a
table in the middle of a field (though I don't recall the
table, it may have been invisible).
The picture I got from my perspective was a man lying on
a table amid blue skies, white fluffy clouds floating
aimlessly by and a newly mown wheat field. The sun beat
down on the dead man, but he appeared to me to be floating
on cool blue ice. Taking a closer look I see a hay wagon
next to him with all of his friends on it who have come to
pay their last respects. One by one they get off of the
wagon and leave, until the man is left there, alone. Back
in the house I am brought back to my own reality. This is
a house of death. My own (baby) brother lay on a table,
dead, before me. He is just a shadow of his former self
and looks more like the child he used to be rather than the
thirty-five year old man he was. He is now shorter by at
least two feet and weighs less than a hundred pounds. As I
stand there frozen in the moment, a tall, thin man in a
dark suit enters the room; my room. He walks to the other
side of the room and starts banging his head against the
wall. Then he lets out a cry so piercing, so heart
wrenching, you'd think someone had stuck a knife into you.
Shocked, I stumbled backwards, caught up in his grief now
as well as my own. I put my hands out behind me reaching
for something to hold onto. I start to sob, that first cry
of loss, the kind that leaves you gasping for air with face
contorted, as your world comes crashing down around you.
After what seems an eternity, I literally pound myself in
the chest with my fist as I struggle to breathe. The man
is still wailing when a woman enters and tells him he's
disturbing the others. She leads him away. I look at my
brother. He looks like a mummy, wrapped in a sheet with
his face exposed. After regaining my composure, I pull my
brother across the table to me by pulling on a loose corner
of the sheet. He almost looks like he's been prepared for
a Hindu burial ceremony, although I believe they burn their
dead. As I pull his body across the table I marvel at how
light he is, like a small child. Well, rather than wait
for someone to come help me with him, I begin by myself to
put him in a body bag. As I do this I see his dress pants
lying over the back of a chair. I pick them up. His
wallet and some dollar bills are peeking out of the
pockets. I cry as I put his belongings into my purse.
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD [Beyond our terrestrial limits]
==========================================
==========================================
ANIMALS [Basic instincts]
This month brings us spiders and water creatures- enter the
menagerie:
**Dream: Insects by Vince (961221)**
From Vince,
I dreamt following the other day :
I'm in a forest and see a stone, euh dunno how to say it
(me maternal language is Dutch, anyway i'll try). The
stone, right. I see a stone baptismal font. I walk to it
and see clear water. Under water are grey fatbodied
spiders, and they are fast. I go closer the spiders shoot
out and crawl under the tree leaves on the ground towards
me. I can't see the spiders but I do see the traces they
make under the tree leaves. All heading towards me. When
they get close enough I wake up.
What does this mean ?
I'm afraid of spiders but I always let them live, I let the
m live in the house to kill the mosquitos and flies. Anyway
funny.
Vince
--------------------------------------------------
Island Dream Series: Bathing In Fish Dreams
Some time ago I brought together a slim series of dreams I
had had through the years where the image, fish, was a part
of the dream. I brooded over this dream sequence at length
and am not done brooding. In the process I discovered I
could take as short, or as long, as I like, for try as I
might to interpret them, I did not understand them.
Brooding over them appealed to me immensely because I also
realized I had formed the habit of becoming somewhat of a
"bather" once I had had a dream and reflected upon it. That
is a term Dickens applies to guests he called "bathers" who
were invited to a party inà Our Mutual Friend. They just
bathed through the sea of people, dipping here and there,
without authentically relating to one another. And so I had
done the same with most dreams dreamt.
Trying my best to squeeze some meaning from the dreams
themselves, the first dream seemed especially enigmatic,
and I found myself returning to it time and again.
Realizing I could write extensively on that one dream
alone, yet without coming any closer to an "aha"
experience, one day I sat down and engaged in intense
dialogue, not with the dream images, but with the dream
maker, for lack of a better word, but dream presence might
suffice.
I had a deep conversation with the whole of the dream, and
not its many parts, and wrote that conversation down. Even
I still do not fully grasp what I mean by conversing with
the dream presence, but the poem that was birthed actually
convinced me that getting to the guts of a dream is
difficult, but rewarding, work.
I again attempted to go through a similar process with two
more dreams from that sequence. I had the conversations
within the last year, though the three dreams were dreamed
around 15 years ago.
**Sizzled Fish by Island (79.10.28)**
Dream of the Scottish moorlands, or something similar.
Virgil Smith lives alone in a mystic house that overlooks
the land. He is approaching death and knows it yet is
accepting of it. He tells me of earlier, happier times. I
pull out a wine bottle with dark, red wine. He explains he
made the wine himself from grapes years ago. He pours me a
glass, but takes none for himself.
When I finish my first glass, he pours me another and again
refuses to partake. He tells me of catching fish and
frying them on an open fire. A maid or serving lady hired
to care for him is pressing him to marry her, and he is
considering it with reservation. He isn't sure if she is
after his land holdings or if she really loves him.
Why pour a glass of wine yet not drink?
Your death is close at hand,
or has passed, like the luminous cloud
of mist I see rising
beyond the horizon when
soon breaks a deluge.
The wine is dark, dark red.
So inviting, I drink.
You have offered me a full portion.
Not once, but twice.
I do not understand.
Why do you not drink the wine
of the grapes you pressed years ago
with the bare, calloused soles
of your feet?
Is your death close at hand, or has passed?
You catch fish for us to eat.
Spawned in a wine dark sea.
Bake them on an open fire.
Hearts desire in flames, I eat,
my heart flung on a pyre.
And eat until I have had my fill.
You press me to marry you.
I am the grapes pressed for the wine
poured red, red in a crystal glass.
I drink alone, and drink myself dry.
I hang from the vines of myself.
Am I your serving lady, or maid?
Or is it your land I m after?
You ask yourself, not once, but twice.
No. I whisper, but am not heard.
I am the bare earth,
catching each drop as it spills
from your wine glass filled to the brim
into the wine dark sea of myself.
**Dream: It all begins with Taw by Island (80.06.08)**
Dream that Mother, Daddy, the kids and myself go grocery
shopping. When we first enter the store, it is like a mad
scramble for we go off in several directions. I believe I
comment at the onset on an item to get off the counter but
am ignored. Mother and I stop at a fish counter. Mother is
on the side opposite to myself so is highly visible. We
scrutinize seven fish very carefully and for a long time.
At least three appear short, but bulging on each side as if
they have a lot of meat on them. Two are very long and
lean, almost flat in appearance. I do not recall about the
other two. We discuss purchasing them and eating them.
Following the meal, we wrapped them as leftovers and store
them.
We have arrived.
My father, my mother, my brothers.
Did it not take some doing?
First comes the meeting of minds.
Next the birthings.
Last the mending of nets
with the awl so we will not
slip through before our time
is done under stranger suns,
haunting moons.
All so different.
Is that not strange, since family?
The precise word is, immediate --
not distant, a galaxy or stare.
Is that not fitting in an instant age?
So instant, so immediate, comes death...
Yet we arrive with such enthusiasm
for life s multitude of choices
that we scatter ourselves:
so many marbles rolled onto linoleum
bright and shiny
that a family could eat upon it.
It all begins with Taw.
Next the mad scramble.
What to purchase? Who would know
so early that the counter itself
is valuable? Not things sitting shiny
upon it.
How I wish to count
every moment as precious!
I am ignored.
Mother and I shop,
our steps growing more tentative
as we steal time to reflect upon
a school of fish, caught in the net,
glistening on the fish counter.
Seven arrest us: two flat like disks,
long and lean; two bulging
-- fat and juicy.
Three remain in shadow.
Shall we buy, shall we eat seven fish?
So much time passes on the counter
considering what to be done.
We talk about buying, we talk about eating and,
after, the remains are wrapped for storage
to be digested later.
What becomes of our human remains?
Do fish eat us in the process?
I, lives yet to ponder,
deaths yet to undo me further,
remain unschooled;
undone.
**Dream: Leviathan on 42nd Street by Island (80.12.09)**
Dream I am with mother. I have been to the 42nd Street
fish market and purchased a huge fish. I am real excited
about preparing it to eat. It has been baking in the oven
for some time and is becoming almost over baked. I ask them
if they have been to the fishmarket and they have to think
real hard about it, so I know they must not have. On the
top of a kitchen shelf is a huge bin of a red tomato sauce
that would have been thrown away. Suddenly I realize that
the almost over baked fish is going to be cooked in that
red sauce. I tell mother. She objects. I respond, "How
do you know how it will turn out?" and go on with my plans.
Bought Leviathan on 42nd Street.
Mother was with me. What a surprise.
Bought a whale of a lifetime,
watching peep shows and winos,
bleary-eyed from too much drink.
Pimps in their suits looking fit to kill:
Whoring around, redheaded Sheila beckons
on every street corner, her skintight leggings
begging for the slaughter of soul before
a lifetime of curses, rip roaring tide drunks
have had their fill, then rolled...
Leviathan sinks: Raging, terrified,
spews out Armegeddon from the deeps.
Waters do not contain her and so
an Island debunks that myth of Paradise --
Four children and parents on 42nd
Street. Will you buy Leviathan?
Will you possess her now?
They return from the blackness of the whale's belly,
without reply -- do not enter the market
to barter their share -- a curse on all their houses!
Four children plus Mother and Daddy.
Too much heat applied! Too much heat! Fires, rapes,
beatings, infamy, murder, paralysis --
no air, no air -- recriminations
and tears fall everywhere. Leviathan
shrinks, now diced up for consumption: no
life's blood flows through her, oh! slow bake my inner
oven knows no thermostat nor time.
I go forth, Mother's objections duly noted,
I go forth, brazen, a red sluice, blood so thin,
bones so brittle, meat so dry, so dry.
Go forth to life anyway, the nightshade
variety -- shelved in a bin? Love's apple
squeezed to the pulp, advertised, canonized,
embraced, adopted by all, though objections
are raised -- not torn curtains or a show
of hands -- because a poisonous brew
erodes Leviathan -- now divvied out,
made mincement, then eaten in tiny bite
sized pieces -- whale's flyting, a fishhook
and net, yet I am so curious then,
how will it go? Those waves of death?
**Dream: QueenFisher by Island (81.10.20)**
Dreamed but recall few details. I see a mother and
daughter go on stage, and in the middle of their act, or
perhaps as their finale, I see them both metamorphosize
into two beautiful fish. The fish are most colorful, with
large faces. The lighting is flawless. A sense of gold
and deep turquoise. Each swim in the atmosphere in a sort
of dance with their heads and arms only, like Egyptians.
One, I think the mother, is higher than the other. It is a
wonderful spectacle.
Like the QueenFisher she froze
having rent stage and sky.
Makes her entrance some time before,
rises and falls to meet some moment
but does not know why.
Above the various schools of fish,
buried beneath wooden planks, concrete and dung,
frozen beneath a deeper ice
as yet uncut by a jeweller's tongue
she sings for her worshippers,
while the waters sweep round her,
relinquishing her melody,
to wind around fish, throat and placenta --
The ore spills
from her fins
having thrashed the air
onto a hard wood floor.
An umbilical cord protrudes
from a navel that will not turn in.
Only there is reality,
but she would not remain.
Out of her element,
cushioned by the air she kneads,
gills aerating her through space,
as she ascends, higher higher,
caught in a web
still being spun by Three Fates --
spun, measured, and cut --
whose destiny is handless.
The Mother of someone,
spellbound,
does her quiescent dance,
gills barely moving,
now forms arms of the cross,
or Shiva, as Mary looks on.
In that moment,
rising below her for all to see
her progeny, one daughter,
now wearing her mask.
I do not know what is behind
that twisted, toothless smile.
Soon the Mother will die
as Death is an impatient watchman.
But they are beautiful, the two.
Gold and turquoise sprout
from heads
and handless arms.
Moon-faced tears drift through air,
birthing dandelions below.
Would they dive to the source
and thrive, then dive again
to deeper terrain.
But Mother and daughter,
no matter how beautiful, or rare,
are cold blooded fish; do not feel
their own tears at all.
**Dream: Arrows of Misfortune (82.03.06)**
Dream I am on a ship looking out into water and have
successfully finished a kind of target practice in the
water. Now the real test comes. A beautifully
multicolored school of fish surface; however, they are a
disguise for Indians who have used the fish as masks. I
draw my bows and arrow and proceed to shoot but do not kill
the fish and miss the mark.
My ship glides smoothly over the waters
So safe am I aboard
Waters so clear, so calm, so deep
I dare not dive, I dare not leap
for I would drown, drown, I know --
sinking deeper into a watery abyss
that knows no bounds, where no one has been --
not to those depths below
Surrounded am I by multicolored
fishes -- oh, look, they surface, ocean's delight!
My ship, she enjoys what she sees.
Elusive the fish, rainbows school us,
guiding me towards waters tumultuous.
Colors promise, then deliver me to
an ocean of despair, raging waters below.
Who could know?
I raise my bow and arrow: before
my heart grew weary, could not hold fast
to dreams of peace, of gladness for nothing
is what it seems. My right arm draws back,
yet I cannot loose the arrow, cannot let it sing
in flight: those Indians with their masks emerging,
ominous, enticing, they mock me: I
want to cry out,"Just Who Are You?" but dare not.
Island
==Commentary by Rosalie on Islands Fish Dreams & Response==
These are E-mails received from Rosalie on the fish dreams
submitted. She asked for comments on how I experienced the
writing of this (E-mail). I stayed up all night writing
about it, posted it to Rosalie and the Electric Dreams
staff, then later, when I tried to locate the file, I
learned I had lost it altogether. The reason for that being
I had been doing my work outside on the patio on the
MAC, then converted the file, I thought, and housed it on
my DOS hard drive, deleting it from the MAC. Obviously I
never converted nor ended up housing it.
I mean by conversing with the dream presence, but the
poem that was birthed actually convinced me that getting to
the guts of a dream is difficult, but rewarding, work.
Can you also say a little bit about how you experienced the
writing of this, i.e. did you feel immensely enriched by
working with the image of these three dreams and putting
them into poetry? Did your fears/apprehensions about death
change? Did your feeling about life change? Do you feel
transformed somehow because of this work! Or anything else
that you may wish to share. I hope you do not mind, but I
will keep your posting for future reference as it has much
to teach me.
Rosalie
(E-mail 2)
Date:96-10-06
Thank you for your enlightening posting on Dreams and
creativity. It has inspired me to dig up a couple of old
dreams that are about ritual and transformation and do some
dialogue work with them.
I noted that you were taking a poetry class at some time. I
also find that reading poetry and doing dream work go well
together. Of course, the great poets already knew that!
You wrote: , Do you feel transformed somehow because of
this work! -- >certainly. But at the same time, I also feel
I am slowing, but surely, coming home. To change and to
come back where we first started, and know the place for
the first time! That is what I like about dream work. It is
not about change as orchestrated by those who think we
*should* constantly change and grow, but rather it is about
change which brings us home to what is best (and buried)
within ourselves. As Hillman so aptly points out, "Dreams
are for imagination, not for interpretation). You have
demonstrated this very well in your two postings. Thanks!
Rosalie
> >Yes, the process was immensely enriching. I just hope I
can repeat it with other dreams... > > > >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart. . .
>>Rainier Maria Rilke
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AGGRESSION [By us or against us- crossing others paths]
**Dream: They Are Coming To Get Me by Vince(94XXXX)**
Another dream I had a couple of years ago (yes I still
remember) I dreamt that following :
I see a shinny pistol and someone wants to kill me. He
takes a silver bullet, heats it up with a flame and then
shoots me, I wake up.
What do you think, I need a shrink ?
Vince
**Dream: Dino s Dreams and Inquiries by Dino (961124)**
>Hello!
>
>I'm glad to have found your e-zine and web site! I've
been interested in dreams for about 1 year now. My
interest started when I basically stopped dreaming. I
guess I took my dreams for granted before that. I cant
>understand why it happened, and/or is still happening.
I'd appreciate it if you could E-mail me (or let me know
where I can find) some information on the stages of sleep,
and matters which may cause someone to generally slow down
on the number of dreams they experience.
>
>The dreams I occasionally have are of a very violent
nature and involve people who I know. Often they are
attacking me, or hurting me in some other way.
>
>I've been suffering from some insomnia too.
>
>Lastly, I'd love to be able to have conscious dreams and
try to take control of one, just for the experience. I've
heard it is possible and was wondering if there was an
inexpensive way to do it.
>
>Thank you very much in advance and have a nice day!
>
>Dino M
BATHROOMS [Maintenance- Cleansing and Elimination]
BRIDGES [How we get across an obstacle or go from here to
there]
CELEBRITIES [The well-known both famous and infamous]
DISCOVERY [New insights and unexpected developments]
DRUGS [Healing or Hurting?]
EATING [Getting nourishment for maintenance, growth and
pleasure]
ESCAPE [Get me out of here!!!]
**Dream "Fire" by Alissa (961204)**
My little daughter penny and I are on a visit to a farm.
I leave her with the family while I walk in the fields.
I come to a large garbage can near fences. I keep
walking. I look back and see that a flame has come out of
the can, the wind whips is, suddenly it ignites the fence
and spreads along the fences to the house. I see the old
farm buildings in flames and people running.
I race back toward the farmhouse looking for Penny. I
see one child after another - there are many children in
the farm family - but I do not see Penny.
Then I see her still on the porch, bobbling up and down
and realize she s on a little pointed wooden rocking horse.
She looks tiny and vaguely troubled, no understanding what
is happening. That end of the building is not on fire yet.
I yell to her and race to pick her up and run with her to
safety.
The woman is herding her children along, lovingly
cheering them up, encouraging them to be brave and string,
to walk briskly, as we all take to the road to get away
from the fire. The buildings go up in flames.
Carrying the youngest in her arms, the woman is slim,
dark haired, string, courageous, dauntless -- a young
"Mother Courage". Her appearance is a cross between a
Margaret Bourke- While foto farm mother, and a college girl
in worn ragged clothes that she wears with grace. (a very
real, specific, intelligent, energetic, resourceful woman
-- all in very real color and full of emotion)
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on "FIRE" by Alissa==
I will keep my commentary short.
In my dream, the fire is my anger. No matter how much I
love my daughter, there a still times when she angers me,
still times I long for the freedom of my own maidenhood.
Yet these desires are so unwomanly, so unmotherly that I
quickly dismiss them from my consciousness (throw them in
the garbage) and return to the duties of motherhood.
The missing child in my dream is not just my daughter, but
the child I was. I'm having trouble finding her in the
midst of all my responsibilities.
"Mother Courage" is the mother I wish to be. It's the best
of me. How wonderful that she lives w/in me waiting to be
realized. The youngest she carries in her arms is also
me. I can rest in her arms when I need to replenish myself
w/ her strength.
Narcissus
**Dream: The Magical Little Man by MarkM (961224)**
I had a dream that a magical little man came and visited
me.
I knew that to attract him, I was to go to the window and
call out his name, but I can't remember now what the name
was. My dad told me how to call the little man (the
implication was that Dad had summoned him as a child). Dad
said he would fly in the open window, and you would ask him
to make one wish come true. Some wishes he could make come
true, but some he could not.
When I called the magical little man, a lot of my family
members were around, including Dad and one of my sisters. I
whispered my wish in the little man's ear -- could he
please make the criminals stop tormenting me? I said I
wasn't sure if he could do it or not -- and he agreed it
would be tough to do. The implication was that he was
powerful, but not that powerful.
Later, I was alone in my dream. I called out the little
man's name again, and he came to see me. He seemed puzzled
and asked why I called him again. I didn't have a request
for him this time but told him I just wanted to see him and
would call him again from time to time, once a week or once
a month, so we could talk. He seemed impatient. We walked
outside into kind of a bombed-out dreamscape and talked a
little about his training and about how he was responsible
for the people in this one area. Finally, I gently shook
his tiny hand, and he flew off. I felt very alone. That was
the end of the dream.
---------------------
(It really bothers me that I can't remember the little
man's name. He
definitely had a name in the dream.)
Mark
FEAR [What scares us]
See Fire by Alissa in the ESCAPE section of this issue.
FOOD [The source of our physical nourishment]
-In many dreams we are preparing or eating the food
(nutrition & energy), in some dreams we are dealing with
growing the food:
**Dream: Harvesting Granny's Garden by NRB (961220)**
I was sitting outdoors in a little garden. Granny's Garden.
Vegetables, fruits, flowers. I was sitting at a little
table, typing something which I had written. A story? Many
pages.
When I finished typing, I got the idea to weed the garden,
which I did. It was muddy. I think I was barefoot and
didn't mind the mud.
There was a huge eggplant growing there. I thought, "Since
I'm weeding this garden, I might as well pick the eggplant
and the other ripe vegetables." It was *my* garden. I was
about to do that when I woke up.
==Commentary by Narcissus (961223) on Harvesting Granny's
Garden==
Another opportunity for Freud to have a field day! I see a
lot of sexual and creative energy in my version of this
dream.
> I was sitting outdoors in a little garden. Granny's
Garden. Vegetables, fruits, flowers. I was sitting at a
little table, typing something which I had written. A
story? Many pages.
I'm sitting in a place of fertility, creating the story of
my life. I'm in the place of my ancestors.
> When I finished typing, I got the idea to weed the
garden, which I did. It was muddy. I think I was barefoot
and didn't mind the mud.
As Hillman points out, mud in dreams is often associated w/
fecal matter, which in turn is associated w/ personal
productivity. This fertilizer is what we produce. We came
from the mud and will return to the mud.
Weeding is an interesting symbol in this context. In my
dream, the profusion of life has called for me to remove
unwanted growth. In my natural state, I don't mind the
dirty work.
> There was a huge eggplant growing there. I thought,
"Since I'm weeding this garden, I might as well pick the
eggplant and the other ripe vegetables." It was *my*
garden. I was about to do that when I woke up.
I love the dreamer's ownership of the garden. I've now
inherited it from Granny.
To me the eggplant is a masculine symbol. It could be
grandpa, or it could be grandma's masculine side, or it
could be - and probably is - both.
I'm ready to pick, to harvest, what's nourishing in the
garden of my ancestory when I wake up. Why did I choose
this moment to stop? What do I fear will happen when I
harvest the garden? How will it affect my story?
This is a wonderful dream. Thanks for sharing it. If you
want to discuss it further, I can be reached at
koteen@erols.com
Narcissus
GIFTS [Offerings to or from others]
HOBBIES [Our interests and desires] - COLLECTING THINGS
HOSPITAL [A place for treatment, healing and repair]
HOUSE [Where our lives take place, our bodies, aspects of
ourselves]
HOTELS [Temporary dwelling or Special Event location]
JOURNEYS [Missions away from our home base- explorations]
LOST [I don t know where I am or where to go]
See SYLVIA AND SHIMMERY by D.S in the ADOLESCENCE section
LOTTERY DREAMS [Sudden Wealth - Randomness favors the
dreamer]
NUDITY [What you see is what you get]
PERFORMERS [Entertainers]
POLITICAL SCENE [Public issues through positions of power]
RELATIONSHIPS [Other parts of ourselves]
RELIGIOUS RELATED [The Ritual and the Spiritual]
SCHOOL THEMES [Teachers and Tests, Remembering &Learning]
SOLUTIONS [The answers to problems or quandaries]
TORNADOS [Pretty well defined destructive power of nature]
TRAPPED [Temporarily helpless- Sometimes we are paralyzed
or imprisoned by jobs, relationships or expectations]
-See the JAIL DREAM by Eugene Marks in the ADULT Stage
section.
**Dream: Gnawed Knees (96.10.15) by Island**
Dreamed vividly a nightmare with a positive ending. I am in
a house owned by a man, in his fifties or sixties. To the
back of the house is a shopping mall. In the mall there is
a store at the end that sells computer & related books. The
front of the house leads onto a busy highway, but a high
wall separates a row of houses from that highway. My sense
is the people that mill about are indifferent to the pleas
of others, or would otherwise distort any call for help.
Two other women, plus myself, are visitors. I have brought
a few items with me, including a hardbound book of Yeats,
but what I have brought seems really rather incidental. I
assume that we are going to eat dinner soon, and he gives
me no indication that this is not so, until a horrendous
scene unfolds.
I stumble upon what happens after the fact. He has raped
and begun to deliver huge bruises and tears to the knees of
especially one woman with his teeth. Sort of a menage de
trois, and they are both most unwilling victims. Never once
did it occur to me that I am in some way going to be
included in this scenario, but the sinking feeling that
registers in the pit of my stomach -- the feeling of being
trapped, helpless, in a situation where innocent women are
brutalized before my very eyes -- just drives me wild in my
mind, though nothing about my demeanor betrays that.
Neither is it clear to me what this man intends my role to
be -- why am I there -- nor why I am left unscathed.
So I go on with business as usual, and ask his permission
to go to the computer store because I need to purchase
something there: what, I don't know. I also ask when we are
to eat, and he indicates we will eat soon. Both of the
women are prostrate on the floor, tangled up together,
barely able to speak. But the hour falls after 9 pm, and I
realize there is no way this man is going to allow me to
leave his house.
Then there comes the moment when he accidentally leaves
himself open to attack. I had already discarded the idea of
suddenly running out of the front of the house and
screaming to the top of my lungs for help because, in my
mind, as I imagine the outcome, the scenario of the
indifference of his neighbors becomes clear. So I gave a
slight signal to the two of them, as if now is our chance,
and I dive into his physical body, pinning him against the
floor. They are fairly passive, and I see immediately that
I am going to have to apply all my physical force to
"arrest" this man. But they muster enough courage to bind
his arms, while I with my teeth tear into his chin until he
bleeds. I surprise myself with that action, but I want to
convey to him that I mean business and, too, I am filled
with a sense of terrible injustice.
The man is brought to justice and sentenced, perhaps even
given the death penalty. Some years later, I am in a room
of a home, and I'm looking around the rather luxurious
surroundings. The two women involved in this earlier event
were both there. Apparently we remain good friends through
the years. One of the women has a son about six years old
by her side and seems quite content. The other woman seems
fully recovered as well.
I decide to go revisit the home of this man. I note in my
visit that absolutely nothing has changed. Even everything
that had been brought into the house that terrible night
remains, left behind, including the hardbound book of Yeats
I had brought years earlier, a fact that annoys me but that
I am most willing to have happened, considering the
outcome.
The feelings I experience of actually walking through that
house are most complicated and cannot be described, but I
feel the unchanged scene to be very fitting, that nothing
would change inside that house: a frozen moment in time.
WORKPLACE [Where we make a living]
WRITING & WRITERS [Communication and Creativity]
Check out Harvesting Grannys Garden for a Writers Garden
dream under the FOOD listing.
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION
DREAM SERIES
See ***Dream Series: Bathing in Fish Dreams/Thoughts and
Poems by Island*** under the ANIMALS section.
========================================================
------------------------------------------------------
Sub: Favorite Dream Related Quotes by Island
==============================================
------------------------------------------------------
More thought-provoking DREAM RELATED QUOTES from Island
**
Here are a few writers and thinkers remarks about dreams in
their works. I have cited the actual work where known. If
anyone has other quotations to share, I would certainly
love to see them.
They are a reminder to me that the creative mind is the
dreaming and remembering mind. My favorite one is Arthur
Miller in After the Fall.
Arthur Miller in After the Fall: I dreamed I had a child,
and even in the dream I saw it was my life,and it was an
idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept on to my lap
again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could
kiss it, whatever in it is my own, perhaps I could sleep.
And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible . . .
but I kissed it. I think one must finally take one's life
in one's arms.
Alfred Lord Tennyson: Maybe the wildest dreams are but the
needful preludes of the truth.
Lord Byron in The Dream: Sleep hath its own world, // And a
wide realm of wild reality. //
And dreams in their development have breath, // And tears,
and tortures, and the touch of joy.
H.D. Thoreau: Love is an attempt to change a piece of a
dream-world into reality.
Bob Dylan, quoted in Robert Shelton, No Direction Home: I
am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think
nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things
are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.
DH Lawrence: I can never decide whether my dreams are the
result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my
dreams.
Goethe: These whimsical pictures, inasmuch as they
originate from us, may well have an analogy with our whole
life and fate.
Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past: If a little
dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less
but to dream more, to dream all the time.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Language of the Dream/Night is
contrary to that of Waking/the day. It is a language of
Images and Sensations, the various dialects of which are
far less different from each other, than the various Day-
Languages of Nations.
Tennessee Williams in Camino Real: You said, "They're
harmless dreamers and they're loved by the people." "What,"
I asked you, "is harmless about a dreamer, and what," I
asked you, "is harmless about the love of the people?
Revolution only needs good dreamers who remember their
dreams."
Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose: A dream is a
scripture, and many scriptures are nothing but dreams.
Djuna Barnes in Nightwood: Dreams have only the
pigmentation of fact.
August Strindberg in A Madman's Defense: I dream,
therefore I exist.
Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own: Yet it is in our
idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes
comes to the top.
George Orwell in Coming up for Air: In every one of those
little stucco boxes there's some poor bastard who's never
free except when he's fast asleep and dreaming that he's
got the boss down the bottom of a well and is bunging lumps
of coal at him.
WH Auden: Learn from your dreams what you lack.
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To all Electric Dreamers and those whose life are touched
by them - Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year! See you in
1997. ED Volume 4 looms on the horizon!
Hasta La Vista! - Bob Krumhansl
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January 15, WED deadline for submission FOR ED 4-01
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ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION
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Subscriptions:
The Electric Dreams E-zine (issn 1089 4284)is *free* and
distributed via email about once a month. You can have
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In the BODY of the e-mail put only
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In a short while you will receive a welcome letter and
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SUBMITTING DREAMS and Comments about Dreams: EASY!
Electric Dreams will publish your dreams and comments
about dreams you have seen in previous issues. If you can,
be clear what name you want or don't want. Most people use
a pen name. Please include a title for your dream. Email
to: Bob Krumhansl
===============
SUBMITTING NEWS and Calendar events related to dreaming. We
usually have a deadline at the 15th of each month. Send all
events and news to Peggy Coats
SENDING IN QUESTIONS, Replies and Concerns about dreams and
dreaming. We don't pretend to be the final authority on
dreams, but we will submit you questions to our network and
other Internet networks. Also, you are free to post special
interest requests. Send those to Victoria Quinton
JOINING DREAM GROUPS sponsered by Electric Dreams. If you
are interested in joining a group to discuss your dream
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JOINING DISCUSSIONS ON DREAMING. Electric Dreams in
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In the BODY of the E-mail put only:
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Attach your own web page to Electric Dreams. Do you have an
idea for a dream page, but no web site? Send that page to
Matthew Parry. If you need help with creating the web page,
contact Matthew for about classes.
ELECTRIC DREAMS HOME PAGE ON WEB:
Thanks to Matthew Parry:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
From here you will have access to information about
Electric Dreams, back issues, FAQ and other online dream
resources.
NEED A COVER for your issues of Electric Dreams? We now
provide them and you can download them at
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
or, if you have a black&White printer, you can in Netscape
choose the "Print..." option while on the page you wish and
get B&W copy that is adjusted to your paper size.
Backissue covers are available at:
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s.html
or if you can't get through there, send your browser to:
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CURRENT ISSUE OF ELECTRIC DREAMS ---- URL:
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available on Dan P.'s BBS:
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Thanks to ONIROS for mentioning ED in your Magazine in
France!
Thanks to Compuserve New Age Forum for ED info Posts.
To access the New Age B Forum From CompuServe Information
Manager 1.4 :
1) In the CIM program, pull down the Services menu
2) Select Browse
3) On the Main Services Menu, click the Home
/Leisure icon
4) Then, Click: Special Interests icon
5) Then, Click: Religion option
6) Then, Click: New Age B Forum option (also
referred to as NEWBAGE)
7) Then, Enjoy.
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