She Blinded Me With Science

        The post today is a reprint from Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe blog used with Jeffrey's kind permission.  For those of you who don't know Jeffrey, he was one of the co-hosts of the 2011 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  He has a wonderful blog and I would encourage you to stop in and at least wish him Happy Holidays and a Super Prosperous New Year.   While you're there you might as well follow his blog.

          When I saw this post at Halloween I knew then I must reprint it here.  Thanks Jeffery!

She Blinded Me With Science

Dreams are curious things. We have our aspirations, our goals we set forth to accomplish and make some aspect, or all aspects, of our lives better. We have the full-on R.E.M. dreams, where our brains process information that they’ve accumulated over the course of the day, usually in fragments that may not make much sense to us logically as opposed to when we’re awake.

And then there are the waking dreams, the images that are with us right when we come out of sleep. Some of these mental pictures escape our memory within a matter of seconds. Other times they stick with a person. However, I’m fairly certain that author Mary Shelley must have written down perhaps her most famous waking dream. If she hadn’t, we wouldn’t have one of the most famous monsters around, and I’d be short a Rock’N’Fright Tuesday post.

What Mary Shelley did for literature, particularly horror and science fiction, is something not many others can compare to. The birth of her monster, Frankenstein, is pretty much pinned under the label of pop culture phenomenon. Countless scores of people have gone back to interpret the Frankenstein Monster legend, including author Dean Koontz. But you know what? Nobody can hold a candle, or perhaps a mob’s torchlight, to Mary Shelley.

The dream came to her in the year 1816. In her words, she says, “I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.” This is a quote from Spark, 157, in Mary Shelley’s introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, and the source has been noted by Wikipedia, where I found the quote. (I think I’ve sufficiently cited my sources here.)

Study that quote for a moment. Go ahead and absorb it. I’ll wait for you. Done yet? Okay, let’s continue.

Shelley must have understood the importance of this particular dream. It’s my guess that it might have at first startled her, but then she quickly must have understood the importance of the information presented to her. Why else would she have bothered to remember as much of the dream as she possibly could? Quite the argument for dream journals, wouldn’t you say?

Now Mary Shelley’s famed monstrosity is a Halloween staple. But the bigger thing we have to keep in mind, beyond the mere representation of a child’s costume, is that she dared to dream and ask questions others wouldn’t have ventured. And like I said earlier, she did so by aptly turning science into a grim facet of horror.

For that reason, I dedicate my post to such an incredible author.   And don’t ever stop dreaming. Without dreams, we are nothing.

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The Wonderful Bicycle Machine

Image via Wikipedia

           My dreams have often inspired stories, songs, and poetry.  This has been the case going back to my school days.  I was fascinated by dreams as a small child and as years went by I would sometimes write down a record of the dream in some form.


            In this post I present a poem that was inspired by a dream I had on Tuesday morning of June 11, 1968. This would be during the summer prior to my senior year in high school.   I first wrote down the dream in detail in my dream journal.  Then, not long after I had this dream I composed a poem based on this dream which apparently had left a big impression on me at that time.


            The poem is filled with surrealistic imagery as one might expect since it has been derived from the surrealism of a dream.  Read the poem and see if you can visualize what is being said.  Also, look for symbolism in the images and the references that are made.



    The Wonderful Bicycle Machine

Prologue at the rear of the old hotel:

          Cardboard boxes sank into the quicksand.
           Mike said, "666 boxes sink every hour.
           (Don't step into the quicksand.)"

The Bicycle Race:

            A huge celebration was occurring in town
            Over the week-end and during the week--
            Fun and games for all to enjoy,
            And sports events galore.
            I tried my hand in the volleyball game,
            But the ball was out of my reach.
            So I tried something better--a bicycle race
            From here to who knows where.

            Waving a flag of yellow and green,
            They signaled the start of the race.
            I hopped on my wonderful bicycle machine
            And pedaled into first place.

            Superhighways stretched before me
            As far as my eyes could see--
            Lay stretched before me
            And wound all around me
            To where dirigible changes to hearse,
            And the story of the FBI is revealed to the nation on television.
            I was carried away from the stream of the race
            On a nationwide tour by highway.
            I did not enter a highway of Volkswagons
            On leaving New Jersey.
            A sign said city "C" in Maryland.
            I headed for city "W"
            To carry me back to West Virginia,
            Where I would sleep at last.

Epilogue across the street from the old hotel:

            I ended up in Gatlinburg,
           Which was partly in Nebraska
           Til destroyed by the Great Flood of '55,
           Making it what it is today.
           "I'm glad I'm here; I'm tired," I said,
           As I passed by crowds and jewelry stores.
           Then Mike reappeared.  "You're tired," he said,
           "That's what you get for being a smart aleck!"
           It surprised me more than Death itself
           When Mike joined the crowd that was crossing the street.

             
         Care to hazard a guess as to what this poem (dream) is about?   Does the poem clearly portray to you what happened in the dream?    Have you written any dream inspired poetry?

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To Remember or Not To Remember?

Art by Ada Zdanowicz

        How many times have you heard someone say or you yourself say:  "I don't dream." or "I can never remember my dreams."?

         Though it is not uncommon to not remember dreams, studies show that everyone dreams during sleep and dreams frequently throughout the sleep cycles.  Sleep research studies have indicated that sleep deprivation can lead to serious physical and mental consequences including confusion and hallucinations.  In essence, if we are not permitted to dream during sleep our minds will begin to "dream" in wakefulness through what is termed lucid dreaming.

          Some of us prefer not to remember our dreams and possibly create a subconscious mental block that makes us believe we have not dreamed.  Yet research indicates that even those who consider themselves to be non-dreamers will show changes in brain activity during certain sleep cycles that suggest dream activity is occurring.

           Remembering dreams can be achieved through self-training which requires time in the morning that most of us are not willing to set aside.   We are too busy trying to get ready for the day ahead, eat breakfast, or whatever it is we do in the morning.  However, if dreams are not remembered immediately they will typically be forgotten very quickly.

           Keeping a pen and notebook close at hand can help dream memory training.  One should write down their morning thoughts that may be related to something they were dreaming.  If there are any dream memories write those down as well.  Focusing on these memories for a few minutes might begin to evoke the memories of what had been dreamed prior to awakening

        These actions may allow one to begin to develop a greater consciousness about what they might have dreamed.   However we typically don't have the patience or put aside the time to develop dream memory.  A drive to develop dream memory must be present.  It is a discipline that must be practiced on an ongoing basis in order for remembering ones dreams to become easier.

          You do dream whether you remember or not.  People who don't remember dreams may have had a traumatic childhood memory that has created a fear of remembering dreams; may be trying to repress troubling thoughts that recur in their dreams; may have merely conditioned their minds not to remember; or any number of other reasons.

          If you want to remember your dreams but can't, it might require extensive self-examination or even analysis by a professional such as one trained in psychology or sleep study.  Remembering your dreams is not crucial to getting by in life, but it can be enlightening to study them to try to understand what they are telling you.   If you are not experiencing dream recall, you might be missing some important messages that your mind or body are trying to tell you.

         Have you ever kept or do you now keep a dream journal?   If you are one who believes you don't dream, can you recall a time when you did or do you remember a traumatic dream event that frightened you a great deal?   Have you ever experienced hallucinations due to sleep deprivation?





       

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A Recycled Blog Post With Additions

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

       In this post I offer a shortened version of "The Creature in the Recycling Bin" which appeared on my Tossing It Out blog.   To it I've added details that were left out of the original account.   


        I threw some aluminum cans into an empty black plastic bin in my back yard.   After dropping the bag into the bin,  I turned away to walk a few feet when I heard what sounded like a muffled explosion and a whoosh.   I turned and saw that the recycle bin was gone.

       From previous experience I knew that the bin had shot up like a rocket and had flown over the house into the front yard of my house.   I ran upstairs to the master bedroom to look out upon the front yard which was actually the front yard of my mother's house in Tennessee.
     
       Unable to see the bin in the yard from the bedroom window, I went outside to look for it.  My conclusion was that a strange creature had been inside the bin and caused it to fly up like it did.  This made me afraid, but also concerned that someone could have been injured by the flying bin.

        As I walked around the yard I recalled the previous times that this had happened.   My mothers older model Lincoln Towncar was parked at an angle near where the trashcans are normally placed on trash pick up day.  I knew that the car had died in that spot and apparently George had not yet been able to move it or get it running.

        This was the end of the dream that I remembered before waking up, but there were many events that had occurred prior to this recycle bin incident.  Earlier in the dream I can remember parts of an entire sequence and history of dream memory having to do with my friend Rick who had put on a large outdoor concert where someone had gotten killed.  I remember a lengthy sequence of being at the concert when the killing happened.  


     Later I read about the concert tragedy in the local paper.  Since that concert had gotten cancelled after the person had been killed, it was being rescheduled.  I found more information about the rescheduled concert on the internet, read about it on Facebook, and then spoke to Rick's wife about it on the phone.

       At another point in the same dream my friend Fred and I were looking for something that had been lost.  We heard that someone was going on a trip.  There were so many intricate details of these and other things that were happening in the dream (dreams?) that I now cannot remember.


        However I am aware that the actual act of dreaming took place in a far shorter span of time that the events depicted in the dream would have taken place.  As was discussed in my previous post this could be an example of distorted time perception in the mind of the dreamer or multiple levels of thinking in the dream time. 


       And yet I had a memory of a complete history of events as though I had actually lived through them all.   Had these memories all come from a protracted dream that had been occurring throughout the night?  Were the memories distillations of real life recollections reconstituted into a new dream life interpretation?   Is it all something like deja vu?

       Here is a dream-like music video which features my friend Rick who also was featured in my dream.  Rick plays the part of the guy sitting by the window.  "My Sittin' Window" is a nice song by a group called Blue Moon Rising.

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Multi-Level Dreaming?

Image via Wikipedia       I am on a road tour with a show and arriving at a new motel.    A man attempts to abduct my wife and I, but sometime during that event I kill him and hide his body.


       After parking the man's car in the motel lot I realize that there are some things I have left in it, but I can't go back to it since it is now evidence for a crime.  Yet somehow I am able to retrieve a metal cash box in which I see many coins.  Later I am putting  the box in my van when some other people from the show start questioning me.


         Then, we are driving.  Our caravan of vehicles must cross a large bridge where we are required to have a police escort.  I balance a large stack of broken down cardboard boxes on the cab of a truck that I am driving.  I precariously perch myself on top of these boxes and somehow manage to start driving the truck without being in the cab.  The boxes begin to shift and slide from under me falling off the truck.   As I get off the truck cab to gather the boxes, I see a large semi truck approaching rapidly from behind me.   It manages to avoid collision and passes.  There are now many vehicles driving by and my stopped truck has become a hazard.  My police escort starts becoming impatient and I quickly toss the boxes in the back of the truck.

Image via Wikipedia
         I begin driving again but now I'm in an older model car.  We are passing through an area where there seem to be many businesses.  I am surprised that my car radio is picking up KFI, a Los Angeles station that I often listen to, even though I'm over a thousand miles from L.A..  I decide it must be online radio.  They are playing beautiful classical music and I am surprised since it is normally a talk station.   I wonder why they don't play this music on the air in L.A.

        The above account does not even begin to include everything that happened in this dream, but this is as much as I can remember in any specific detail.  The events of this dream happen in a motel room, in a warehouse type environment, in a performance venue, on the highway, and other places involving many different people from my past and others whom I don't recognize.

        Upon awakening I begin pondering my dream and wonder how exactly the dream was constructed.  Was it a very long dream with many components?  I look at the clock and notice that during the dream I had only dozed for a few minutes since the last time I had been awake. Still the dream seemed to have lasted hours and over a period of more than one day.

         Then a thought comes to me.  Perhaps I was having many dreams occurring at once?  If this were the case I wonder how does our dream mind process the information?  Is it coming all at once on different mental levels?  Or is the dream actually as long as it seems, but sped up with rapidly assimilated information bombarding our brains and remembered as though having occurred in real time?

         Our dream perception may come in the same way as when we are awake.  During consciousness we experience our environment on many levels of sensation based on all of our senses as well as the layers of memory and recall which involve literal and symbolic interpretation.

          Think about this for a moment.  During any period of time you are thinking and sensing many different things at once.  All of the five senses (or the senses you are capable of receiving) are at work and you are aware of all of them, either consciously or subconsciously.  You are cognizant of conversations and events happening around you and still may be daydreaming or thinking of something unrelated to your present surroundings at the same time the rest of this is occurring.  If every single bit of information received by the brain at any one second were separated into single sensory moments, each second could conceivably have the equivalency of an hour or more worth of data if compiled in linear time.

          This could be the reason that there are moments when "our life passes before our eyes".  All memory is piled up at once and the mind reads and organizes the entire bank of data.  The mind interprets the compilation of stacked up memories into a timeline which is easier for us to understand.

           Perhaps this is the way dreams work.  In a few minutes or seconds of dream time we sense many things at once, but the mind subdivides the dream events and sensations into a time perception that seems more reasonable to us upon recall.

           Have you had what seemed to be long complex dreams in a very short span of real time?   Have you ever stopped to concentrate on your thoughts and senses to see how many things you were aware of and performing at one time?   Isn't the human brain an amazing instrument?

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Tryptophanic Dreams

Image by Elizabeth The Queen Of All Things via Flickr

Happy Thanksgiving !

         Many of us in the United States are going to be eating a lot of turkey for Thanksgiving.  In fact we're going to be probably eating a lot of turkey and other foods over the upcoming month or so as we engage in holiday festivities and visits with friends and relatives.

         And after a festive holiday feast what could be more inviting than a nice nap.  The phenomenon of sleepiness after eating a big turkey dinner is often attributed to a high level of the amino acid known a tryptophan.  Once ingested, tryptophan converts into a chemical known as serotonin which contributes to our sense of well-being and happiness.  This feeling allows for a greater inclination for a restful, peaceful sleep including the stimulation of dreams.

       In reality our being overcome by drowsiness is probably more caused by the carbohydrates that we have ingested in the form of potatoes, stuffing, desserts, and other foods that are sugary or convert to sugars once digested.  The tryptophan certainly aids in causing us to become sleepy, but is not the real culprit.

        We should eat a properly balanced diet on a daily basis and get adequate exercise.  However on Thanksgiving there's nothing much better to me than piling my plate with plenty of turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, a decent dose of vegetables, and a lot of stuffing.

        Personally, I love oyster dressing and always make a small casserole dish of it for me and whoever else wants it.  For the majority of our crowd though, I make a tasty fruit and sausage dressing that everyone raves about.  It's a carb laden dish that's sure to put anyone into a relaxed stupor after eating a few helpings.

        As I grow older, I tend not to eat as much as I used to, even on Thanksgiving.  Also, there may be something to my mother's claim that after cooking all morning one doesn't feel quite as hungry once dinner is served.   A little test nibbling now and then during the preparation also has something to do with it I'm sure.

         Having wakened early to start the meal and then filling up on carbs and the tryptophan in the turkey, I'm always receptive to a nap on Thanksgiving.   After all, I think I deserve it.  While my wife's family visits, watches television, plays games, and eats more, I usually head upstairs for a brief nap.  And I know I'm not the only one.  I've caught a few of the others dozing now and then on the couch or in one of the other bedrooms.  It's all good.  It's a holiday.

        So next time you're having a feast, remember it's the carbs that cast the spell of drowsiness over you.  Eat hearty and enjoy the good food and family time.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving and sweet tryptophanic dreams.   The serotonin will make you feel better.

          Do you usually take a nap after your Thanksgiving dinner?  Have you ever taken tryptophan or serotonin supplements?  Where do you go for Thanksgiving?   

       

The Leaf Blower Man

Art by Ada Zdanowicz at CollagePodge

       
            In a recent post I discussed how my dreams usually do not seem to take place at an identifiable time of day.  Here is a dream that I had a few days after that post appeared on A Faraway View.

          Keep in mind that I had recently attended BlogWorld at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  I had also recently taken a trip to Tennessee, where the autumn leaves were falling and I had been thinking about using a leaf blower to round up some of the leaves in my mother's yard.  During that trip I had helped my sister move from Phoenix, driving a rental truck with her household goods and staying in motels along the way.

         This is what I recall of a dream on Sunday morning November 6, 2011:

         Many things happen early on in the dream-- some related to BlogWorld and people I know.  At one point I am staying in a motel or apartment complex.  I have a room there, but I go to visit an old friend from Tennessee who also has a room at the same place.  


         Apparently it is getting late and I don't want to return to my room.  My friend invites me to stay in his room.  I accept the offer but then am concerned when I see there is only one bed.  I begin to find a reason to leave.  


         At this point the man in the room is no longer my old friend, but a guy that I met at BlogWorld.  My wife is now with me and there are two rooms with one bed in each.  My wife and I go to bed at which point I start to make amorous advances toward her.  She says that I should have told her earlier that I wanted to engage in this activity.


          I suddenly realize that I've left a briefcase containing a great deal of money in my van that is in the parking lot.  I jump out of bed and go outside to find my van.   


          It is dark outside--a strange gray black charcoal darkness that does not necessarily look like night, but I assume it is since I had previously started to go to bed.  As I reach the sidewalk from a walkway which leads to the door of the room, I see to my right in the dim light a man with a leaf blower.  He is about fifty feet from where I am and operating the leaf blower.


         I go to my left where there are bushes and vegetation along walk.  The walkway looks dark and foreboding.  As I am walking I fall down to my right onto the grass.  As I lay there some unseen thing seems to fall upon me and make me feel trapped so that I cannot extricate myself.  I call out "help help", hoping that someone, perhaps the leaf blower man, will hear me and rescue me.  No one comes to help.  I panic and I begin screaming loudly. 

        My audible screams wake me up.   My wife is startled by my screams and in her concern asks me what is wrong.  I am troubled for a while as I reflect upon this dream.   In my vexed state I cannot sleep anymore. Since it is nearly time to get up anyway, I go into my writing office and record the dream for this blog post.

         I rarely have dreams that upset me to the extent that I wake up screaming or in some state of intense fright.  In most cases I calmly awaken from a dream in a reflective state of mind.   Nearly every time I have awoken feeling as I did with this dream it is due to a feeling of being trapped or confined to a tight space.

         Could the dream be affected by a physical event going on within me?   Is there something that I am extremely worried about that is symbolized by the feeling in these dreams?   Have you had a dream such as this?    Do characters in your dreams sometimes start out as one person and then transform into another?


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Guest Poetess Yvonne Lewis Visits

         Today we have a guest post by Yvonne Lewis from Welcome to My World of Poetry.  The spider artwork is by Ada Zdanowicz.   

"Spider" by Ada Zdanowicz

DREAM ON

All around the house is jet black night,

It steals through the window pane.

My head touches my welcoming pillow,

And off to the land of dreams again.

My family know of my nightmare.

It happened many years ago.

I have an irrational fear,

That many have I know.

You see I detest spiders.

I've been told they'll do no harm.

But the speed they run across the floor.

Dosen't add to their cunning charm.

How well I remember the night.

I lay peacefully asleep.

One dropped from above my bed.

On my body it did leap.

It's a nightmare I re-live.

Over and over again.

I scour the floor and ceiling,

To ensure it dosen't occur again.

It's  become a nightly ritual,

Especially now I live on my own.

I know they're good for something.

But I wish they would leave me alone.

Copyright Yvonne Lewis:

        Thank you Yvonne!  And remember to visit Yvonne's blog to say hello.   You too can have a guest spot on my blog.  Just let me know and we'll set it up.

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Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Art by Ada

           Have you ever noticed what time of day it is in your dreams?   Is the time setting even identifiable as an actual time of day or is in a twilight zone of dream time?

            I can recall a few dreams which I know were nighttime settings.  For one thing it was dark.  Also there was some factor that indicated to me that it was night.   These dreams always have to do with something frightening or ominous.

           In the night dreams I can often see something awful happening in the distance.  There are lights in distant buildings that tell me that it is night.  Sometimes the setting seems to be during a time of war and other settings seem to be usually a vague disaster or crime.  Though I feel a sense of dread or even a fear, I am not terrified to extent of waking up.  The feeling is more like one that I might have while really getting into a scary movie and suspending all disbelief to the extreme.  It's an almost theatrical fear bordering the edge of the real thing.

           The majority of my dreams seem to be occurring in a sort of daytime setting.  I don't recall ever actually seeing the sun or even the day time sky in these dreams.  In a sense these dreams seem to take place indoors on a movie sound stage.  In fact my dreams are almost like movies--movies that make little logical sense.  But they hold my interest and are usually rather entertaining.

          Night?  Day?  Some ambiguous undefinable dream time?  Does it matter which?  I wonder if there is any significance when the time is identifiable or specified.   Unless the time setting has a specific bearing upon the dream story, I don't think the time means anything in particular.

          In a dream I may find that I'm late for something, but I don't ever recall knowing what time it is during the dream or what time I'm supposed to be somewhere.  The time itself never seems to have any importance, only the dream activity.  The state of being late, the anxiety of trying to get somewhere on time seems to be the main factor of the dream.  Feelings seem to trump specific details.

           Since dreams for the most part do not rely on any tangible fact or accuracy of time and space then the dream state is probably more a sensate realm of feeling and emotions.  The visual aspect of dreaming is merely symbolic cuing triggered by those feelings, releasing memories of our experiences and the perceptions of things we know.

            Do you usually associate your dreams with any particular time of day?   Do you find "dream nighttime" to be frightening?   Is the concept of light or dark noticeable in your dreams?



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Dreamland of the Lost

        What have you lost in your dreams?

          The theme of losing something can be common in dreams.  I'm not talking about losing your way or being lost--that's a different topic for another blog post.  What I am talking about is actually losing something or someone in the dream and you spend time looking for what has been lost or worrying about it.  A dream like this can create apprehension and cause you to awaken in a state of uncertain anxiety.

           For now I'm going to focus on the dreams where we have lost a loved one--a person or a pet.  I see two primary meanings in these types of dreams.

           The first relates to fear of losing someone.  Perhaps there has been a recent event that you've heard about that involved a disappearance or a death.  It's natural to have concerns for loved ones and we will often relate stories about this type of loss event to those we cherish.  A dream of this nature may cause us to awaken with feelings of immense sadness.  Dreaming of death or inability to find a loved one can be the subconscious rendering of the what-could-happen scenario or the fear that the worst imagined thing could happen in our lives.  This may be an inner mind rehearsal for a worst case scenario.  The element of fear is the one that would most commonly apply with dreams of the loss of a pet.

          The other loss interpretation could be a more abstract realization that we are out of touch with or have lost contact with someone we care about.   If the dream is about a family member or someone we encounter on a regular basis the dream may be triggered by an estrangement that has come between us and the one who has become lost in the dream.  This dream is a reminder that we need to patch up any difficulties or start developing better ways of communicating with this person.  In our waking lives they have become emotionally lost to us which later could translate into a physical loss in dream life.

          When we dream that a friend or relative is lost it may be a sign that we have been out of contact with that person.   Once again this dream is a reminder that we need to take action before that person really is lost to us through some kind of separation or even death.

            Any other interpretations are dependent on the dreamer's personal symbology.  Being lost could have religious connotations, be related to substance abuse, or some other distinctly personal circumstance of the dreamer and the dream subject.

           The main observation to make upon waking from a dream of loss is how the dream made you feel.   Were you sad, remorseful, or puzzled?  How did you feel in the dream as opposed to your feelings upon waking?  Your emotions will be the best guide on finding the meaning of your dream.

           The important thing to do is heed the warning or hear the message that your dream is conveying.  Hug your spouse or kids and tell them you love them, patch up disagreements that you may have had with a person who is special to you, or call someone you haven't contacted for a long time.  Pet your dog or play with your cat.  Assuage the fears that you may have.  Solidify your relationships.  The dream is telling you something you need to hear.

            Who has been lost in your dreams?   Did you find them?   Can you relate the dream to something in you waking life?




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Dream Code

Art by Ada

         In my dream I was trying to copy and paste a code to my blog.

         These days it is not unusual for me to dream about blogging since it is activity that takes up a good bit of my time and something that I frequently think about.   I typically dream about activities that are part of my normal life although the imagery might be quite abnormal and confusing.

         In this dream about the computer language code, I was apparently having some difficulty in getting the code pasted onto the page I was working with.  Studying the code it appeared to me that it was different than when I had first seen it.  In a state of perplexity, I saw the code differently each time I looked at it until I eventually realized that this code was no longer usable.

         Dream imagery is like a code that needs to be translated before it can be clearly understood.  An image from one dream may mean something entirely different in another dream.  It is usually necessary to look at the entire context of a dream to better understand what a thing symbolizes.

          If you dream of a snake for example, the snake may represent uncertain fears, an impending trip, or just a snake.  Think about the image in context of things you have seen or thought about recently.  Then also consider how that particular image fit into what happened in the dream and how you reacted to the dream image.

          In my opinion, dream dictionaries are sometimes fun diversions and interesting contemplatives, but they are not all-encompassingly accurate.  A thing symbolized to me may mean something entirely different to you.

          When you are trying to interpret or understand your dreams you must decipher the code.  Every detail should be considered and each thing must be taken in proper context.  Especially for those who say they don't remember their dreams, think back and try to remember a detail and then try to relate that detail to another and another until you begin to see the entire picture more clearly.

           Think of a dream as a page of computer language code or text written in a completely foreign language.   At first what you see may seem a garbled mess, confusing and nonsensical.  But as you study more and learn the code you begin to see the patterns and understanding becomes clearer.

            Do you have recurring images in your dreams?   What in your dreams tends to make you afraid?  What dream imagery makes you feel a sense of peace or happiness?

   

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A Mystery Explained

Art by Ada

         Why have I created this blog devoted to dreams and things related?  Why not?  This is the subject matter and inspiration of my most intensely focused early writing experience.  It's a topic that is close to my heart and lives within me.   And dreams are a place where I live when I sleep.

          Which life is the real one?   Which dream is most meaningful in the end?  I yearn to learn the language of the subconscious mind and relate it fluently to others.  Can that be done?  

           How can I keep a blog about dreams sustainable?  For one thing, I have a file of recorded dreams that is large enough to keep a one-post-a-week blog going for years.  The dreams keep coming.  This morning I dreamed, yesterday I dreamed, as well as the day before and the day before that.  I'm confident that there are many more dreams coming that will be equally remembered.  Sleeping perchance to dream is something which I do not fear and even look forward to.

           I am a dreamer.

           This blog will probably have a limited audience, but it is a subject matter of wide interest.  I hope to go beyond my dreams and explore the dreams of others as well.  I will welcome guest posts from anyone who is interested in telling about their own thoughts about the topic of dreaming.  Poetry?  I'll consider that.  Stories or art?  Surrealism will be the focus here and if you have something to contribute I'll be very interested in your submissions to this blog.

            On this blog I will be featuring the artwork of Ada Zdanowicz, a very talented young artist who specializes in painting and collage.   Be sure to visit her website.   She will be happy to create artwork per your specifications.  She also creates custom video.  

            Do you have a dream that you'd like to tell us about?   Is there a topic about dreaming that you'd like to discuss?  Has any of your creative output been influenced by your dreams?  I look forward to hearing from you.

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I am a dreamer

           I dream.  We all dream according to sleep researchers.  I've heard it said that if you didn't dream then you would go insane.  Your mind would create dreams that would then be forced upon you by your subconscious.  Your hallucinations would become indistinguishable from your reality.  Your reality would be dreamlike.

           In a sense I suppose one could say our dreams are a form of controlled madness.  Not in a bad sense usually, but in a strange, often incoherent sense--even a lack of making any sense.  We see, we hear, we experience things good, bad, and indifferent.  Entranced for a while in sleep until our mind awakens us.  Perhaps we remember, perhaps not.

          My dreams are events seen at a distance as though looking through an ethereal telescope.  I have a faraway view of things that seem to make sense as I see them and yet don't make sense when I think about them.  The dreams are mysteries to be solved.  Or are they explanations that are delivered in a language I have yet to decipher?

          What do these faraway views mean--these dreams?  Why do we dream?  What purpose do our dreams serve?

            I see a faraway view clearly until I try to remember what I have seen.   It slips from memory quickly if I do not preserve it to my memory.  It must be written.  Few are the dreams that stay with my mind.  And if they stay why do they stay?

           I dream because I am a dreamer.   I want to remember sleep in my wakefulness.  I want to awaken my memory of a faraway view that I have seen.

          How about you?  Have you deciphered the language of your dreams?  Do you run from your dreams or do you try to embrace them and let them fill you with their mysteries?



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