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 | "Awake, Perchance to Dream" | |
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| "No dream symbol can be separated from the individual who dreams it, and there is no straightforward interpretation of any dream. Each individual varies so much in the way that his unconscious complements or compensates his conscious ..." Carl Jung, 'Man and His Symbols' I had been wanting to write this book for a number of years but had always been blocked from it by the commercial pressures of writing newspaper and magazine articles. Having decided to take a year off to collect my notes together and get down to it, I threw myself into it with a will. Because I was collecting a lot of seemingly disparate material, synthesising it in a way that I have not seen done before, I got carried away by it. I was well into it before I had the dream. I won't relate the exact details as dreams are not transferable, the symbols chosen and the manner of delivery are peculiar to each dreamer. The essence of the dream was this: 'I had been invited to participate in a televised interview for the purpose of discussing this book. On the day of the interview I 'just happened' to mention it to a circle of friends over a lunch-time drink. I then set off for the studio with their congratulations sounding like music in my ears. I was somewhat surprised to see that the interview was being filmed in a refitted barge on a rush-banked, backwater. On announcing my arrival I was chivvied around the place by staff who were obviously less than impressed. Wandering around the passageways, I heard snatches of conversation and saw glimpses of behind the scenes activity. It suddenly came to me that I had allowed myself to be conned into making up the numbers of one of those 'edu-tainment' shows that moved around the country. Composed of more froth than substance, the format is to swing into town like a visiting circus and rustle up three would-be characters. These would then be trotted out before the cameras and a tame audience. The so-called interviewer asks a number of trite questions, aimed at making the subject look silly, then moves on without giving the right of reply. I did a swift about turn and blundered out with my face burning.' Getting out of bed, I re-examined what I had written so far. I was disturbed to see that I had been writing in the same tone of messianic zealousness that I was condemning. The Great All-Knowing Panjaradum had struck again! |
| Not all dreams have a meaning that is so immediately obvious, and some appear to be just a way of downloading the residual emotions of the days events. There will be times when a dream will continue to develop over a period of nights as further, daytime events are added to the pattern. This is one reason that a dream diary is essential if one is to make full use of them. Apparently meaningless dreams can be seen to be part of an ongoing story when viewed in context with later instalments. Another reason for keeping a dream diary is that it helps one to become attuned to what is occurring below the surface. As you practice the habit of recording dreams, so it become easier to remember them on awakening. Instead of losing a third of our lives in blank unconsciousness, we begin to reap the benefit of the mind's night-time cogitations. Everybody dreams, several times during the night, so do not be discouraged if you have been one of those persons who does not remember them. A regular sleep pattern combined with the desire to recall dreams, is sufficient to start the process working. Persist with the intention even if it takes two to three weeks before you start to get results. |
| Much has been written of guided dreaming. The theory appears to be based on the belief that, by consciously changing the direction and ending of a dream, one can sow seeds in the inner mind, that will blossom in the outer mind. Maybe so; this is a facet of the work about which I have strong reservations. Accepting that dreams are an attempt to bring information into consciousness, often having a content that we have previously attempted to suppress, it seems rather self-defeating to change the message to something that we want to hear. If, figuratively speaking, both minds are sitting down to discuss material that has come to light, it seems that a more pertinent role for the outer mind is to decide how to go about accepting the information. Repressed material that has been deliberately kept from consciousness will often have a high emotional loading associated with it. It is very possible that it was banished to the caverns because it is the record of a traumatic event that occurred earlier in one's life. Suppressing awareness of it does not disarm it. When it comes to light it is the responsibility of the outer mind to acknowledge that the original incident took place when one was younger, and less able to deal with it. It can now be viewed and integrated into a more mature personality. Something buried does not go away and, if not dealt with, can be uncovered at an inappropriate time. One has to accept that whatever happened, did happen, before they can come to terms with it and thereby handle it. One of the daftest expressions is, "I don't believe that this is happening to me." Refusing to believe that it is raining, never prevented anyone from getting wet. Unless one accepts that fact, they are unlikely to come in out of the rain. |
| Having a history of being judgmental about myself and others, I have worked hard to find ways to negate the habit. One method is to listen to what is being said with total suspension of judgement for the duration. Until I have had time to mull it over I try to accept that what I am being told is as true an account as the teller can give. There have been a considerable number of times when I have had my mind widened, and improved my way own of going about a particular matter. Our point of view is only a single facet of the truth. The verb, to see, has several meanings that are quite distinctly different, yet indicate the profound influence of our minds upon the external world as we perceive it. To 'see' can mean that one literally visualises something, and can also mean that one comprehends, has an understanding of what is seen. The idea is that one comprehends after visual inspection. So often we think we understand without the necessity of looking. If 360 people sit in a circle around an object, each person will have a separate point of view that influences the way in which they 'see' the whole object, shaping their mental point of view in regard to it. Now let each person change places with their nearest neighbour in the circle. Geographically speaking, the visual view has only changed by one degree, yet each could be surprised at the differences in their expressed views. We seldom 'see' anything with fresh eyes; with an open mind. You may have seen a crystal of slender towers that caught the light and scattered it in all the colours of the universe. Your neighbour may have 'seen' only an unusual rock that reflected the light into their eyes in an annoying way. Neither view is inherently wrong, they are just different. |
| It is when we fail to develop the ability to make our viewpoint flexible that it traps us; narrowing our outlook and thereby narrowing our lives. In part, our viewpoint forms the walls that protect us from that which we do not wish to see. Walls without windows form a cell. We are imprisoned by our own defences. It is the breaking down of those enclosing walls that is symbolised by the tarot card known as The Lightning-struck Tower. Let's use the analogy of a magnifying glass. A modern person may see it as a useful tool. They may be interested enough to study its properties, learning of the physical laws that describe how it bends the light, focusing it at a set distance that is predictable from its size and shape. Should he lose it, he may pause to wonder how, then life would move on. If a primitive man were to find the lens, it could become a close-to-centre focal point of his life. He could see it as the Eye of God, with which he could make fire. The fire that warms his family and cooks their food; the fire that drives back the beasts and other demons of the night. Under the circumstances, his is a valid viewpoint, but one that carries its own dangers. If he believes that the talisman contains greater power than he, and is also a mark of the god's favour, then he is in desperate peril if it becomes lost or broken. Locked as he is, into his own inflexible viewpoint, his psychic world could shatter. Symbols have powerful effects in encouraging or barring progress to self-awareness. We must always bear in mind that they are a means to an end; that the purpose is the journey itself. |