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Comments invited about dreams related
Quandarius
Explorer
I always understood the word banter to mean light-hearted mutual ribbing (repartee), and it's strange for me to see how it's used here. Anyway, the thread I'm starting is serious enough, even though I feel that it must be put under such a heading. It's about dreams that have arisen over the years, from childhood onwards. They have puzzled (and sometimes worried me). The worry has passed, but I do sometimes wonder what they meant (I'm certain that they did have a meaning). Some of them certainly seemed to have a bearing upon my spiritual path (such as it has been) in general. If anyone can offer some light upon any of these dreams (and, even better, all of them), I should be very grateful. I really and truly don't mind if, in any comments upon a dream or dreams, the respondent shows that he or she thinks that any dream (or indeed, all of them) reflects badly on me. Do feel free to say what you think. Here goes, then:
DREAM 1. When I was about the age of six, there was a very strange dream. Now, though it must have been deeply significant, I do not know what it signified. Many are the times that I have wondered what its meaning could have been. The dream was as follows: I was in a very green park — one that I used to frequent as a child. In this park were children’s rides and other amusements. There were also large expanses of greensward. On one of the stretches of grass, and at some distance away, were about a dozen young girls, all in lacy white dresses. They may have been nymphs, but it seems more likely that they were girls of about fourteen years of age. They were dancing on the grass. Suddenly, they all disappeared, and I felt a sense of great loneliness. (In much later years, the similarity of the white dresses, worn by the girls, to May blossom, has been noted; also the contrast of this blossom with its green background.) The scene then changed, and the view was of the amusement rides in another section of the park. One of these roundabouts was called (because of its shape) the ‘wedding-cake’. As I watched this roundabout, with my gaze fixed mainly upon the big, iron globe that, turning, turning, turning, sat atop the centre, I awoke. Even though I was so young, it seemed to be no ordinary dream. Upon waking, I lay still, and wondered at its strange, haunting and rather sad atmosphere.
DREAM 2.The most striking dream was when I was about thirty years of age. Probably, this was around the time that I started reading books about Buddhism. It was certainly after my abandonment of Christian belief. What the outward events in my life were at the time is not certain, but as regards my intellectual life, there would certainly be a keen interest in religion and philosophy. In the dream, two Roman Catholic priests were pursuing me along a dirt track. In order to hide from them, I went into a Catholic Church, which stood at the end of this track. While I was hiding behind one of the pews, great quantities of Catholic-type stone imagery were seen. These images were the kind that may be seen in graveyards and in Catholic churches. They were all on a conveyor belt, which took them up the central aisle (the nave) to the altar. There were angels, crosses, saints etc., all in masonry, and, via this belt, proceeding to the altar, there to be tipped off the belt and deposited on or behind the altar, smashing as they fell. As I watched, a voice spoke ‘from Heaven’. It spoke in an unknown language. The voice was very authoritative and awesome (numinous). Then, I awoke.
DREAM 3. A dream, which gave much food for thought, came when I was a regular attender at a meditation group under the direction of a very able and powerful teacher: I was walking along a road that, seemingly without end, led over desolate, moonlit moors. I did not want to travel any further, and decided to rest. I left the road, and, completely naked (as I then found myself to be), lay down on the grass to rest, and looked at the lonely, moonlit road, which, for mile after mile, stretched over the moors. From a reading of some of C.G. Jung’s writings, it may be understood that dreams of a lonely journey indicate a journey of development or self-discovery. Therefore, this dream would not seem to be auspicious, for in it, after leaving the road in order to rest, there was no evidence of any desire to continue my journey.
DREAM 4 One dream, which did not seem to be particularly auspicious, occurred after a meditation practice. In it, a dark lake was seen. Out of the lake, the figure of a woman arose. It was not any particular woman, but universalised, be-robed Woman — the archetype of all women (a bit like the statuesque female that Paramount Pictures used to show when a film was about to start). On seeing this, I awoke in a state of great fear.
DREAM 5 This dream came when, for personal reasons that will remain private, I had ceased attending a meditation group that I had attended for several years, during which (thanks to the influence of the teacher, I am sure), many realisations arose. It was not my own dream but one that came to my wife. She dreamt that together, she and I were climbing a hill. I turned around, and started to go down to the bottom of this hill. An infants’ school stood at the foot of the hill, and children were thronging about in the playground. In this dream, someone said to my wife, “Well, he had his chance.” Of course, this dream could have meant anything (that is, if it meant anything whatsoever). However, if this really was authentic commentary on my spiritual life, then it did not augur well. This was at a time when all the former realisations had ceased, and I was feeling that I had wasted a very valuable opportunity offered by the meditation teacher that I knew. Now, I am aware that even to think that someone else’s dream may have some reference to oneself would seem to be very egocentric, but even so, it did seem to fit, and fit rather well, with what has happened in real life. Also, by that time, I had experienced enough strange mental phenomena for me to think that my perception might be reasonable. Besides, it seems conceivable that such a dream, experienced by my wife, might reflect a deep perception on her part that a significant fact needed to be pointed out to me.
Feel free, anyone, to comment as you please if you feel that you understand something in these dreams or in any one of them. I should be very grateful for any input, and I thank any respondents in advance.
DREAM 1. When I was about the age of six, there was a very strange dream. Now, though it must have been deeply significant, I do not know what it signified. Many are the times that I have wondered what its meaning could have been. The dream was as follows: I was in a very green park — one that I used to frequent as a child. In this park were children’s rides and other amusements. There were also large expanses of greensward. On one of the stretches of grass, and at some distance away, were about a dozen young girls, all in lacy white dresses. They may have been nymphs, but it seems more likely that they were girls of about fourteen years of age. They were dancing on the grass. Suddenly, they all disappeared, and I felt a sense of great loneliness. (In much later years, the similarity of the white dresses, worn by the girls, to May blossom, has been noted; also the contrast of this blossom with its green background.) The scene then changed, and the view was of the amusement rides in another section of the park. One of these roundabouts was called (because of its shape) the ‘wedding-cake’. As I watched this roundabout, with my gaze fixed mainly upon the big, iron globe that, turning, turning, turning, sat atop the centre, I awoke. Even though I was so young, it seemed to be no ordinary dream. Upon waking, I lay still, and wondered at its strange, haunting and rather sad atmosphere.
DREAM 2.The most striking dream was when I was about thirty years of age. Probably, this was around the time that I started reading books about Buddhism. It was certainly after my abandonment of Christian belief. What the outward events in my life were at the time is not certain, but as regards my intellectual life, there would certainly be a keen interest in religion and philosophy. In the dream, two Roman Catholic priests were pursuing me along a dirt track. In order to hide from them, I went into a Catholic Church, which stood at the end of this track. While I was hiding behind one of the pews, great quantities of Catholic-type stone imagery were seen. These images were the kind that may be seen in graveyards and in Catholic churches. They were all on a conveyor belt, which took them up the central aisle (the nave) to the altar. There were angels, crosses, saints etc., all in masonry, and, via this belt, proceeding to the altar, there to be tipped off the belt and deposited on or behind the altar, smashing as they fell. As I watched, a voice spoke ‘from Heaven’. It spoke in an unknown language. The voice was very authoritative and awesome (numinous). Then, I awoke.
DREAM 3. A dream, which gave much food for thought, came when I was a regular attender at a meditation group under the direction of a very able and powerful teacher: I was walking along a road that, seemingly without end, led over desolate, moonlit moors. I did not want to travel any further, and decided to rest. I left the road, and, completely naked (as I then found myself to be), lay down on the grass to rest, and looked at the lonely, moonlit road, which, for mile after mile, stretched over the moors. From a reading of some of C.G. Jung’s writings, it may be understood that dreams of a lonely journey indicate a journey of development or self-discovery. Therefore, this dream would not seem to be auspicious, for in it, after leaving the road in order to rest, there was no evidence of any desire to continue my journey.
DREAM 4 One dream, which did not seem to be particularly auspicious, occurred after a meditation practice. In it, a dark lake was seen. Out of the lake, the figure of a woman arose. It was not any particular woman, but universalised, be-robed Woman — the archetype of all women (a bit like the statuesque female that Paramount Pictures used to show when a film was about to start). On seeing this, I awoke in a state of great fear.
DREAM 5 This dream came when, for personal reasons that will remain private, I had ceased attending a meditation group that I had attended for several years, during which (thanks to the influence of the teacher, I am sure), many realisations arose. It was not my own dream but one that came to my wife. She dreamt that together, she and I were climbing a hill. I turned around, and started to go down to the bottom of this hill. An infants’ school stood at the foot of the hill, and children were thronging about in the playground. In this dream, someone said to my wife, “Well, he had his chance.” Of course, this dream could have meant anything (that is, if it meant anything whatsoever). However, if this really was authentic commentary on my spiritual life, then it did not augur well. This was at a time when all the former realisations had ceased, and I was feeling that I had wasted a very valuable opportunity offered by the meditation teacher that I knew. Now, I am aware that even to think that someone else’s dream may have some reference to oneself would seem to be very egocentric, but even so, it did seem to fit, and fit rather well, with what has happened in real life. Also, by that time, I had experienced enough strange mental phenomena for me to think that my perception might be reasonable. Besides, it seems conceivable that such a dream, experienced by my wife, might reflect a deep perception on her part that a significant fact needed to be pointed out to me.
Feel free, anyone, to comment as you please if you feel that you understand something in these dreams or in any one of them. I should be very grateful for any input, and I thank any respondents in advance.
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Comments
It's the Buddhist take on dreams.
My personal experience of passive dreams is:
1) The ones that are vivid may be important;
2) The images / feelings are crucial - new things do not materialise, your brain seems to work with the images it has and what those images / feelings may mean to you personally;
3) They will arise based on things that are going on around you at the time and need to be interpreted with this context in mind;
4) Write them down as they occur and compare to a diary of your life - begin to put together the images / feelings to meanings - it's sort of like decoding the subconscious language of your mind - the more you practice, the better you will do.
Active dreams:
(if the visions are as a result of practice such as lucid dreaming / scribing / trance walk etc)
These are complicated - though there is no inherent danger in the practice, it should be conducted under the supervision of someone experienced as there are side effects.
In some traditions, deities / familiars and such are employed as gateways and guides - the processes are complicated and can result in shocking results and sometimes in a (temporary / perhaps subjective) merging of states of consciousness - you want to be with people you know and trust when a wood imp materialises into waking view on a moonlit evening...
Visions:
You know if you have one of these - they're the ones that come true down to the letter - the people, the dialogue, situations that you could not know or see - these require action (not always the most immediately perceived or preventative action) but action none the less.
There is no middle ground with this category - you know if you're having these and you'll know what they mean.
On visions, I was referring to actual sight of exact future events or current events in a location not local to the person experiencing the vision - pre-sight I suppose.
These are all just one person's take based upon studying his own dreams.
1) The grassy park represents a natural type of environment and enjoyment. The girls likely have something to do with emotions, that they were dressed in white represents purity, and that they were off in the distance shows some type of longing for what they represent. This scene was then replaced by amusement parks and wedding cake, I think this means that the previous more natural/spiritual view of the world was replaced by a pursuit of amusement and a desire for a mate.
2) A road represents your life path, that it was dirt likely means that it was undeveloped in some way. Being pursued by priests I think means you felt pressure to be a certain way. You escaped into a church may mean that maybe you did what was expected. Then you saw all the stone (read lifeless) iconography moving along a conveyor belt (mass produced/not genuine) then breaking apart (your Catholic views unraveling) to be replaced by a more direct and personal contact with the divine.
3) Again walking along your path in life. Moors are a way of representing sluggish slow movement, maybe depression? The moonlight is indicitive of looking within, intuition, in general things to do with the inner world.
4) Water and often women represent feelings. That it was a dark lake I think means feelings hidden to you. When some aspect of those emotions arose it evoked a feeling of fear.
5) I think this represents your wife's view on your abandoning a spiritual path. Your wife probably has good insight and may be right but I don't think you should read anything more into it than how your wife feels about your choice.
Have you ever seen Alex Grey's painting of Sophia?
Check it out if you haven't.
Member
About your dream four.
Have you ever seen Alex Grey's painting of Sophia?
No, I had not seen that before, though I looked it up and have now seen it. That's very interesting, and thanks for the hint. The woman seen in the dream may have represented wisdom. If it did, why should that have caused such a strong feeling of fear, though? Maybe because it would be a threat to ego?