Poetry, painting, music, writing can all talk about dreams or be inspired by them. Humans have looked for meaning in them as well as glimpses of the future. Physiologically they are just electrical and chemical actions going on in our brains. Are they controlled by the subconscious ramblings of our minds or just random electrochemical operations firing off whatever and whenever they want?
Beats me! I'm no genius! Sometimes they are pure entertainment and other times I try to figure out if there was a trigger that caused a certain subject, scene, or event to occur in the dream.
One of the most fun things that happens is I get to see old friends. One of my very best friends died in the summer of 1995 of a congenital heart condition. Every now and then he comes for a visit and sometimes we play music or just hang out or go exploring something. Last time he was helping me pick out an area in my huge concrete basement for a music room. At the far end of the basement (it must have been a couple of hundred feet long) was a restaurant and bar run by some other friends. I guess I didn't think much of it other than the convenience factor.
Sometimes my father comes to visit. He died back in 2006, but still hangs around in my thoughts and dreams. It's comforting in a way, now that I'm an orphan.
Of all the songs about dreams I think this is one of my very favorites.
Sometimes dreams come on the wings of an owl (Northern Hawk Owl) and depart just as quickly and in a haze. I remember what it felt like, but the details are gone.
A Matter of fact yet incredibly moving post
ReplyDeleteVery nice post...I go through themes in dreams...I have recurring situations and places that are so familiar, yet have nothing to do with anywhere I have ever been. My recurring nightmare involves traveling...trying to get to an airport, which is usually a kafka nightmare of impossible architecture, racing against time, escalators and lines and bureaucrats and then when it is too late, discovering that I have either left my passport or ticket at home. I wake up in a confused state...angry and depressed, then slowly realize it was that dream again. Last night, though, I dreamed about finding a group of people blocking the drive to my house with rocks...I woke up running to tell them off...that was directly related to a conversation I was having with my wife earlier in the car about something that happened 14 years ago!
ReplyDeleteJono--I have a friend who claims that if you ask for a particular dream (such as, you want to have your deceased mother come by for a visit), it will happen.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever done that?
John G. Thanks you!
ReplyDeletemicrodot, Have you ever read or seen the PBS adaptation of Ursala K. Le Guin's "The Lathe of Heaven"? about a guy whose has effective dreams that retroactively change reality?
My wife has recurring dreams about not being able to find her vehicle.
Sioux, I haven't tried it in a long time, but when I did I got mixed results. Now I just let it happen on its own, although the days events can trigger some things.
I have read that when you eat a meal with spicy food, or eat too much at night, you will have vivid dreams.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange to me sometimes to dream of some people that I have never seen, but when I look at them in the dream they seem so real. Then once in a while I have a dream, then later on, see the same thing in the news. When in France, once I dreamt about a horse winning a race. I looked in the paper and saw that a horse by that name was running. I played this horse as a “winner” and he won – I was totally amazed. Another time I dreamed that I was walking in the streets of Dakar, Senegal – where I had never been. Several months later a trip was offered to me, and it was in Senegal, and I did walk in the street in Dakar that I had seen months before in my dream. I certainly could not explain it.
As a teenager, I learned to control my dreams, but then I found that my dreams were much more interesting when I didn't control them at all. Now I only try to redirect the nightmares. In my dreams, I am terribly afraid of heights, and often have to cross great distances on, say, a little bit of wire over a thousand foot ravine. Why? No idea. And then I have this other recurring dream of relaxing with men who aren't my husband. Literally relaxing. Like, hanging out on the couch together. It's like every guy I could have possibly ended up with instead of him. My subconscious is like, "and this is what hanging out on the couch with ____ would be like, after twenty years of being together." Those dreams are boring in an interesting way. All of the men have beer bellies and fart a lot.
ReplyDeleteI think dreams are sometimes a tool for learning things from the subconscious. I have solved many problems in my dreams, from figuring out how to perform a task for a new job to understanding some relationships.
ReplyDeleteOnce I dreamt that I was in my parents' church and my mother volunteered me to give a sermon. I walked around the church corridors alone for hours trying to figure out what I could say that would make my mother happy without violating my integrity. When it came time for me to speak I realized I could not be honest with myself and others, and make my mother happy. So I left.
No rocket science there. : )
Ha - interesting stuff about dreams, from you and your commentators! I do think what and how we dream relates to what we experience in life. Dreaming is a brain's way of dealing with what's happening to us during the day.
ReplyDeleteWhen life gets really stressful for me, I tend to have very intense, vivid dreams...usually of having to move. Sometimes I recognize that I'm dealing with a lot of stress because I have a dream like that.
Love this post. I dream every night and sometimes see old friends as well. Not sure what they mean, but they're often more vivid than daytime reality.
ReplyDeleteI rarely dream, that I can remember, anyhow. I think that may be because I rarely get as much sleep as I need.
ReplyDeleteYour post was lovely.
Vagabonde, sometimes Deja Vu happens and I don't remember if it was a dream or reality.
ReplyDeleteSLM, your dream men seem very realistic. Read A Murder of Crows over the weekend. Very good!
Agi T,I'll have to see if I can make dreams work for me, too. I am impressed!
PP, using dreams to monitor your stress levels is very useful. Something else I should try and be aware of.
Donna, I have occasionally woken up unsure of reality for a bit. Weird, isn't it?
jenny-o, I think it takes a bit of practice to be aware of them and you can do that by getting enough rest. I have learned the art of napping which seems to help. You need your sleep.
Your dreams seem to be more interesting than mine are. Maybe. I seldom remember any details, even when I can recall that I dreamed. Could that be a result of the gray matter having been worn so smooth after all these years that there is no place for an idea to stick?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember many of my recent dreams, as I have been sleeping fairly deeply. It is usually just as I wake up in the morning that the dreams are most vivid. I often experience dreams as a movie, with opening and closing credits, and I realize as I am dreaming it that I have directed/performed in and written much of the "script". My sister and father visit me in my dreams as well. Sometimes it is enjoyable sometimes it is very sad, and a few times it has been very disturbing to me to be with them in my dream.
ReplyDeleteI dream in metaphors all the time and I can usually figure them out, even though a lot of them seem really bizarre to start with. I like it a lot when I see my Dad in my dreams.
ReplyDeleteANd I saw a real Northern Hawk owl once, and it was amazing! Love your pics.
I used to have vivid and surreal dreams in college and grad school, but I rarely remember my dreams now. I miss those dreams.
ReplyDeletevanilla, I think it takes a conscious effort to remember an unconscious dream.
ReplyDeleteaitbr, dreams are like a box of chocolates. The variation is boundless.
Knatolee, maybe I should look at mine as metaphors. Might be entertaining!
Ahab, I'll bet you could get them back if you really tried.
"The sky was filled with a thousand stars, while the sun kissed the mountains blue. And eleven moons played above the rainbow, above me and you." - Jimi Hendrix.
Freud would interpret anything with a sexualized slant. Thus, the Western world's fascination with him. I think hewas creepy.
ReplyDeleteYour post makes me realize that dreams help keep us alive, if not literally, spiritually. Also, maybe there's not such a clear discrepancy between life and death.
Have a warm, loving Xmas.
Thanks for the follow, Dream Boy. =)xo
ReplyDeleteRobyn, I would follow you to the ends of the blogosphere!
ReplyDelete