“Nothing happens unless first a dream.” – Carl Sandburg
When I was young I remember having recurring dreams. There are two that I still occasionally have and one that vanished and never returned during my teen years. But even the recurring dream that no longer visits my nights was so poignant that I have a vivid memory of it. Night after night these dreams would capture my sleep and reenact the same drama from beginning to end. It was the same feeling to return to the familiar setting and subject of the dreams that you would experience by returning to some sacred yet secret home. They would start like a black theatre curtain rising at a play you have seen multiple times.
Images, thoughts, emotions and even sounds of dreams of the unconscious mind, will not be fully understood. Maybe that makes them close to divine revelations.
I have been plagued in the past with periods where I experienced bad dreams, suffering in the night, visited by known and unknown personal fears, longings and doubts. Feelings that all I know cannot be true and should by now have been vanquished from my soul and mind. Yet, in the night, they visited me and tormented and taunted me, causing me to wake with a sense of hopelessness. With a dry, chalky mouth.
I do not remember the dreams, only the way that I am left to feel. Sometimes I believe I must have a dream catcher living at the edge of my waking world. At my first waking, the bad dreams caught in the webbing, are turned to dust, with only a vague recollection of feelings of distress remaining. When I look to reasons why I would have such dreams, I believe that they usually meant that there was something in my life that I was not acknowledging, something causing stress and needing correcting. I relate it also to small traumas that I was dealing with.
Despite having bad dreams, I do not fear the nights. I feel that I am doing battle there in my subconscious, and maybe winning the battle one night at a time. The dreams dangle me from branches over dark recesses of the psyche. But I seem to always have the strength to hold on till the morning arrives, even if it makes the morning arrive before the alarm goes off. Dreams allow me to look my demons in the eye, my mind’s eye. Are they trying to convey a message to me? Prodding me to understand something about my life? My purpose? Recognizing the demands on my unconscious that the dreams are whispering will help me make some practical progress in my life’s condition.
I have heard of some people that believe that bad dreams can overtake their night if they consume certain food or drink before sleeping. I even read a theory that dreams are like the minds version of a computer program, and it is “cleaning” the junk out of our memories. I kind of like this explanation.
Judaism has a rite through which dreams that are disturbing can be reinterpreted to give them a positive spin. I need to find out how to do this ritual and then I will start performing the “hatavat halom” ceremony personally and make my dreams all good ones.
Share your dreams in the comments on this blog. It can be therapeutic and I will perform the “hatavat halom” ceremony for you when I learn it.
One of the best dreams written down can be found in the bible. The “Jacobs Ladder” dream is found in Genesis 28:11—19. This painting is “Landscape with the Dream of Jacob” by Michael Willmann (1630-1706)
When I was young I remember having recurring dreams. There are two that I still occasionally have and one that vanished and never returned during my teen years. But even the recurring dream that no longer visits my nights was so poignant that I have a vivid memory of it. Night after night these dreams would capture my sleep and reenact the same drama from beginning to end. It was the same feeling to return to the familiar setting and subject of the dreams that you would experience by returning to some sacred yet secret home. They would start like a black theatre curtain rising at a play you have seen multiple times.
Images, thoughts, emotions and even sounds of dreams of the unconscious mind, will not be fully understood. Maybe that makes them close to divine revelations.
I have been plagued in the past with periods where I experienced bad dreams, suffering in the night, visited by known and unknown personal fears, longings and doubts. Feelings that all I know cannot be true and should by now have been vanquished from my soul and mind. Yet, in the night, they visited me and tormented and taunted me, causing me to wake with a sense of hopelessness. With a dry, chalky mouth.
I do not remember the dreams, only the way that I am left to feel. Sometimes I believe I must have a dream catcher living at the edge of my waking world. At my first waking, the bad dreams caught in the webbing, are turned to dust, with only a vague recollection of feelings of distress remaining. When I look to reasons why I would have such dreams, I believe that they usually meant that there was something in my life that I was not acknowledging, something causing stress and needing correcting. I relate it also to small traumas that I was dealing with.
Despite having bad dreams, I do not fear the nights. I feel that I am doing battle there in my subconscious, and maybe winning the battle one night at a time. The dreams dangle me from branches over dark recesses of the psyche. But I seem to always have the strength to hold on till the morning arrives, even if it makes the morning arrive before the alarm goes off. Dreams allow me to look my demons in the eye, my mind’s eye. Are they trying to convey a message to me? Prodding me to understand something about my life? My purpose? Recognizing the demands on my unconscious that the dreams are whispering will help me make some practical progress in my life’s condition.
I have heard of some people that believe that bad dreams can overtake their night if they consume certain food or drink before sleeping. I even read a theory that dreams are like the minds version of a computer program, and it is “cleaning” the junk out of our memories. I kind of like this explanation.
Judaism has a rite through which dreams that are disturbing can be reinterpreted to give them a positive spin. I need to find out how to do this ritual and then I will start performing the “hatavat halom” ceremony personally and make my dreams all good ones.
Share your dreams in the comments on this blog. It can be therapeutic and I will perform the “hatavat halom” ceremony for you when I learn it.One of the best dreams written down can be found in the bible. The “Jacobs Ladder” dream is found in Genesis 28:11—19. This painting is “Landscape with the Dream of Jacob” by Michael Willmann (1630-1706)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment