ARTICLES
DREAM TREK By Linda Lane Magallon - Is Godzilla In The House?
"Definition of waking life: what happens between dreams" - Sage Healing Wolf
How to portray a dream in film by Richard Wilkerson
DREAM TREK By Linda Lane Magallon
Is Godzilla In The House?
Although the sun was shining, the still, cool air had a sharp edge that sliced through my jacket and sunk to bone level. I walked quickly to keep warm. A group of small folk were careening about on their bicycles, back and forth from sidewalk to street. It was obvious that one young man's bike was a recent acquisition. He was having some difficulty steering it.
Suddenly, he twisted the handle and toppled over to one side. Boy and bike tumbled gently onto the grass. Quickly the mistake was rectified when the boy pulled himself and the bike up again. As I approached, I could see an amazing array of expressions march across his face.
First there was sudden panic. "Oh no, what if I'm hurt?" Then his visage changed to "Yes, it *does* hurt, should I cry?" And finally, "Well, maybe it's not all *that* bad, but it was scary. If I make a fuss, will I get sympathy?"
By this time a female companion, older by a couple of years, had returned to his location. She rode by on her own bicycle, watching him, but did not stop. "Are you all right?" she called out, then urged, "Come on, just get back on."
The boy had been upset, that much was certain. Perhaps he had a few bumps and bruises as well. But he also had a model, a friend who assumed that spills and chills were par for the course. She knew he could continue to ride. Which he did, mounting the bicycle, balancing it again and pedaling off while making nary a sound of protest. I couldn't help but be impressed by the behavior I had just witnessed.
I mused how analogous this incident was to my own Dream Trek. Trouble, pain and fear, my Inner Child knows a'plenty. Making mistakes, yes; tripping, for sure. But continuing to rise and get back on the program. It might take much more time than a few short moments, but I remembered licking my wounds, retreating to heal and then daring to move forward again. Searching for the methods, the models, the traveling companions that would help me move beyond the walls, around the traps, and through the valley of shadows to emerge as a Healthy and Happy Kid on the other side.
Then a memory flashed into my mind. It was a panel of dreamworkers. They were discussing the "dangers" of lucid dreaming. No, "discussing" is too intellectual a word. These folks may have been academics, but their flushed faces revealed the true emotional undertone of the presentation. They were worried. They were scared. And in order to get sympathy, they were making a real fuss.
During the entire presentation there wasn't a single "older companion" to serve as a reality check on emotions run wild. So their Inner Children threw a temper tantrum, right up there on stage of the college auditorium. And in the process, actual bruises and imagined hurts were wrapped up together in a big fear balloon that got blown up the size of a humongous stomping reptilian beast.
Richard Wilkerson has been asking me to start a FAQ on proactive dreaming. Yeah, sure, Richard. First, I have a question.
Is Godzilla still in the house?
By the way:
Tuesday, June 16th at 7:30 p.m. Mutual Dreaming: Networkers Under the Covers Lecture presentation by Linda Lane Magall on California Society of Psychical Study at St. John's Presbyterian Center 2727 College Ave. (at Garber; parking underground) Berkeley, California
"Definition of waking life: what happens between dreams" - Sage Healing Wolf
CALL FOR DREAMJOURNEYS by Sage Healing Wolf (a.k.a. Taylor Kingsley)
Greetings, dreamers! Some of you may remember me as having written a column on Dreamjourneys, Dreams of Spiritual Awakening, in ED a few years ago. At that time, I began collecting dreamjourneys for a book called Dreamjourneys. Thanks again to all of you who have sent in dreams so far.
The project is now moving forward again. I have a good agent interested in promoting the book, and I'm back to actively collecting, researching and teaching about dreamjourneys. You are cordially invited to send me descriptions of any spiritually powerful dreams you have had, both to share in this electronic forum for discussion, and for possible inclusion in my book.
Called "great dreams" by the Ojibwa and "big dreams" by the Iroquois, dreamsjourneys have been recognized by shamanic cultures worldwide as transformative sacred experiences - direct contact with the world of Spirit.
Types of dreamjourneys may include: *psychic, telepathic and precognitive dreams *healing dreams *soul journeys to other realities, times, places, worlds *creative inspiration dreams *divine messages from spirit guides including God/dess, angels, totems *contact with the deceased *dreams of shamanic initiation (underworld, death and rebirth, dismemberment, demonic adversaries are common themes in such dreams).
Dreamjourneys that are clear examples of each type will be included in the book.
A dreamjourney is a dream that the dreamer knows is "more than just a dream."
My book presents the theory that dreamjourneys, because they are actual, real sacred journeys and messages, do not need to be "interpreted." Thus, applying a symbolic Freudian or Jungian interpretation method to them is less useful than simply recognizing them as sleeping visions and accepting them as shamanic journeys and sacred gifts.
There is no minimum or maximum guideline for number of words; just tell your dreamjourney story in your own words, detailing the dream as precisely as you can, tell when you had it, how it changed your life, what it meant to you, what you learned from it. Indicate if you wish to be credited by name, by pseudonym (your choice or my concoction) or anonymously. There is no compensation. Leave me your email and snail mail address, please. (phone # is optional)
I would also be interested in hearing your successful methods of remembering dreams, and manifesting more spiritual dreams (such as your methods of purification, incubation, prayer, ritual, affirmations, etc.).
Please mail your submissions to shaman@sirius.com By the way, you can also drop me a note if you'd like to be on my (spam-free!!!) mailing list so I can let you know when the book is available.
Thank you, and many blessings for sweet dreams and joyous journeys.
- Sage Healing Wolf
Sage Healing Wolf is a shaman, writer and student of Spirit who teaches Dreamjourney Circles, Love Magic, Sacred Earth Walk, Sacred Silliness, and KidSpirit Camp in Tilden Park. Coauthor of the tantric sensual game "Passion Play!," published poet and journalist, Sage can be reached at (510) 653-7293 or shaman@sirius.com .
INVITATION: Shamanic Dreamjourney Circle Now Forming
Through shamanic ritual, discussion and direct dreamjourney experience, this unique monthly dream group will completely catalyze your dreamworld experiences, enhancing your spiritual power on your own path, bringing reater healing sacred medicine of the Dream Spirits into your waking life.
Note: If You Are Interested in this Circle and Would like to Check it out With No Obligation, You Can Come to an Introductory Workshop May 21 or June 22. The Cost Is Only $10-40 for this Workshop, Which Will Fully Explain the Dreamjourney Circle. Write for more info.
One Saturday evening each month, we will explore dreamjourneys, dreams of spiritual awakening. Dreamjourney Circle will be held in Emeryville, CA and at a sacred retreat in a lush pine/oak forest in the Sierras (dates to be announced).
Our sacred circle will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday evening with creation of sacred space. Each month, Sage will lead a transformative workshop on Dreamjourneys. Topics will include: What Is a Dreamjourney? Dreamjourneys from a Multicultural Shamanic Perspective Types of Dreamjourneys Benefits of Dreamjourneys Dreamjourneys and Lucid Dreams Increasing Dream Recall Manifesting Dream Journeys
After the workshop, we will enjoy a potluck dinner to share the Earth's blessings and create sacred community.
Next, we will do ritual, shamanic journeying, drumming and magickal dance to lead us directly to the Spirit world, calling upon spirits of East, South, West, North, Above, Below, Center, the ancestors, our totems, and all of our Dream Spirits to guide us and gift us with a dreamjourney that night.
Each month we will explore different shamanic methods of dream incubation. We will be woken twice during the night at intervals during which we are most likely to be dreaming. We will record our dreams. Sunday morning, we will give a ritual of thanks then share and honor our dreams and dreamjourneys. "Regular" dreams will be interpreted using standard Jungian methods such as symbolic imagery, archetypes, and amplification. Dreamjourneys will be validated as sacred gifts - their wisdom applied to our lives in full integration of Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit. We will enjoy a light breakfast to ground and reconnect with the Body and Earth.
This is an experiential spiritual group in which participants will actually do ritual, drum, dance, and deepen connection with personal spirit guides including totems and Dream Spirits.
Shamanic Journeying - Trancedance - Drumming and More
This is a brand-new group so the cost is very low to make it possible for you to join us. Only $40-100 sliding scale includes overnight accommodations, all ritual and workshop materials, and light breatkfast Sunday morning. Bring a sleeping bag, pillow, etc.Space is limited , and this group will be sealed at 12 dreamjourneyers , so register early.
To register, call SAGE at 510-653-7293 , mail your 50% or greater payment to Taylor Kingsley 1678 Shattuck Ave. #275, Berkeley CA 94709 or email shaman@sirius.com with the following information:
Name Address e-mail addresss Phone #
"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream."
Let us awaken together.
*****************
Easy Dreams: Making Nightmares Pay (Part IV: Confirmation and
Implementation) by Anthony Dubetz
Its just around the corner and you have no place to hide. It knows where you are, follows you relentlessly and reads your mind. eeeek! And then you wake up. It was a nightmare and now you really would like to talk to someone. Who to Call?
Anthony Dubetz, author of EASY DREAMS has a special phone line just for you! the Dream Hot line in Chicago (312) 589-2471 has been helping those puzzled by dreams for several years. "the Main thing is what your think about your dream", he says, " That is, what you must eliminate the next day." Overused parts of the personality leave other parts neglected. "Maybe your dream is actually telling you that you've reached a burn-out level in your personality. the dream might be getting a little scarier every day - it may be shouting at you."
Now Anthony is making his dream wisdom available to readers of Electric Dreams and will be online answering questions about ideas and particular dreams on the ed-core mail list.
If you would like to see the whole text complete,
1. you can get Tony's text, _Easy Dreams- Making Nightmares Pay_, a 41 page booklet fully explaining The Dream Hot-Line method available for $6.00 send to Anthony Dubetz, P.O. Box 34934, Chicago IL 60634
2. Or visit his site at www.dreamgate.com/dream/dubetz/
3. Or keep reading Electric Dreams over the next few months! Note: Page numbers kept in place that correspond to the Printed book. Re-print permission by Anthony Dubetz.
For PART I & II: refer to the above or Electric Dreams vol 3 # 2 Feb and ED 3 #4
Easy Dreams: Making Nightmares Pay :
You're out of your element. That's what we believe happens in a dream. Part of your soul, spirit, aura, etc. leaves your body (element) while you sleep and interacts with the collective spirit of your environment.
The part that leaves is your weakest part. Therefore, when you see it you've got a good idea of what you should avoid becoming when you wake up. If you can avoid becoming like your weakness, you will be strong. Also, your dream travels ahead in time toward the direction of your momentum. Because of this you have at least 24 hours notice of your own future. The next day you will be in for a close encounter with that future. Remain the way you were in your dream and that encounter will be deja vu.
Now that you know why we recommend you avoid becoming like your dream but instead remain the way you were in your dream, you're ready to read the method. When you've discovered your dream's momentum and you'd prefer to travel your own path instead, I've personally taken to trying the path out to the right or left of my dream's geographical location (from where I dreamt the dream.) For example, if my dream was of a place North of where I slept, I find myself feeling stronger to the East or West. Good deja vu to you and pleasant dreams.
See part I www.dreamgate.com/dream/dubetz/ or Electric Dreams vol 5 # 2 Feb
See part II www.dreamgate.com/dream/dubetz/ or Electric Dreams vol 5 # 3 Mar
See part III www.dreamgate.com/dream/dubetz/ or Electric Dreams vol 5 # 4 Apr
Previously we have gone through 3 of the 4 steps in in my method of reading dreams. You have learned to (1) find the middle, (2) discern the dreamer's impression of that middle, and (3) know that the impression is the message detailing what the dream er should avoid in himself.
In this final installment, you will learn (4) that if you remember to implement this message of warning or avoidance, that as confirmation, de'ja vu will come to you.
IV. Confirmation
You now have a grasp of the first three steps in my approach to reading dreams (the middle, the impression, and the message) and may wonder what else is there to the method. If you are not reading this book at one sitting or in one day, but reading it over a few days or weeks, and if you are remembering your dreams and trying my approach to find their messages, you may have already experienced the fourth step in my approach. That step is an experience more than an action. The experience is "de'ja vu." We all must have experienced this feeling of being sensually aware of an experience you cannot remember ever actually having. It is a mystery. Almost. I believe de'ja vu is an awake re experiencing of the middle symbol in your dream. If the middle symbol was not recognizable through an analysis when you awoke, its reappearance in your daily routine can be a de'ja vu experience.
Suppose you do not remember your dream. Because you do not consciously recall your dream, the middle symbol would have to be quite near the point of being on the threshold of your memory to be experienced as de'ja vu. In fact, the stronger the impression it makes on you in your dream, the more likely the dream symbol will be re-experienced as de'ja vu. In fact, I believe that de'ja vu is only a very strong impression of the middle broken out into the awakened state of a dreamer who does not try to remember dreams but may pooh-pooh them or consciously try to forget them. If you can remember every dream, you can experience the de'ja vu that other dreamers only sense rarely. . I will further say, dreamers who do not remember their dreams re-experience their encounters with the middle, but because they have sublimated that memory are not aware of this experience when it recurs except in the cases when the middle impression is too strong to be ignored and forces itself through the dreamer's self-imposed barriers. De'ja vu can be either frightening or pleasurable but it is always a mysterious experience. I believe that if you do not heed the warning of your dream's message, the experience of de'ja vu will be an unpleasant one. I believe this experience will exercise control over you rather than be perceived as a spectator views an exciting movie. If a horror movie is too terrifying, you can walk out on it. Or you may enjoy the excitement because you know when it is over you can go home the same way you came in. But, if you suddenly became a character in the movie and every attempt you made to extricate yourself from that movie only became the next frame in that film, you certainly would not go home feeling the same way you did when you came in. How do you keep your perspective in the audience and enjoy the movie rather than lose your perspective and be come a puppet in a scenario written and directed by others?
The secret is in whether you heed the dream's warning or not. Heed the dream's warning and the middle symbol's impression will come to you in a way you can control, a way you can handle as you handle the terror of a horror show. Only it will be a lot more exciting than a movie be cause the movie will be your own life. You will direct the most lavish movie ever made: your destiny. If, however, you do not heed the dream's warning, you will be caught up in a no-escape contract to perform what you must and not what you choose. You will become the central figure in a tragedy that you cannot leave with the spilled pop corn and sticky floors of a movie house. Here is an exam ple of what you don't want to do.
There seems to be a deathlike stillness about me. Then I hear sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered down- stairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sob- bing, but the mourners were in- visible. I went from room to room. No living person was in sight but the same mournful sounds of distress as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms and every object was familiar to me. But where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puz- zled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Be- fore me was a catafalque on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards, and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. "Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the soldiers. "The President" was his answer. "He was killed by an assassin." Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd which awoke me from my dreams.
If you haven't already guessed, the middle of this dream was the corpse of President Lincoln, which is being guarded by soldiers in uniform. It is the most impressive part of the dream. Even Lincoln's first words, spoken to his personal aide and to Mrs. Lincoln, were "There seems to be a deathlike stillness about me." Deathlike, death, assassinated, killed - these are all words describing the middle figures in the dream. There is no doubt, even though we are looking at this dream already knowing its consequences, that the message was to avoid death. Avoid being assassinated. Lincoln was continually warned about threats on his life. Upon telling this dream the next day to his wife and aide, who had always been concerned with his lack of security and whom we can thank for the recording of this dream, Lincoln noted that the dream did disturb him but even if it were a true omen, he thought there was no way it could be stopped. He thought that it was the will of God and the good Lord knew best about these things. Lincoln's incredible fatalism was a contributing cause of his death. I believe the event of his death could have been avoided had he heeded his dream warning. Instead, he made no extra arrangements for his security, much to the anguish of the aide who recorded this dream.
Will you, having properly read your dream's warning, be able to predict what form your "confirmation" or de'ja vu will take? Absolutely not. Heed your dream's warning and know only that what you were warned about will come to you in a harmless form. The middle will appear to you as a confirmation, to confirm that your dream reading was correct and worthwhile. Foreknow ledge of the confirmation scenario will always remain a mystery. Be grateful for little things, like avoiding assassination or bad paintings, but never be greedy enough to ask why or for what purpose. That is as bad as ignoring the message altogether. When asked when and now your confirmation might come, a great man once said that it would suffice to be prepared. When it shall come or what it shall look like will be of no con sequence, for you will be ready. Let's look at another example of this experience of de'ja vu following a dream from the chronicles of the famous American frontiersman, Frederic Remington, in his book Frederic Remington's Own West. An Indian scout, caught in a blizzard on the American plains, retells a dream he had while he took shelter.
A girl what I was use know she come drop, drop out of de sky, She had kettle of boil meat, but she was not come right up, was keep off jus' front of my pony. I was run after de girl, but she was float 'long front of me--I could not catch her.
The scout's dream saved his life in a most unusual way. Unlike Lincoln who decided whatever the dream was could be of no use to him, since such matters were for God to decide the Indian scout heeded his dream. So- called primitive societies like the American Indians put a great deal of credence in signs of nature and spirits. The strongest impression of the scout's dream was the fact that the girl who dropped out of the sky did not drop all the way to the ground but floated just above ground. This floating, besides being the strongest impression, also is the middle ground between the sky from which she came, and the earth to which she was falling. Floating in-between these two points is the middle symbol. The kettle of boiling meat she held between the scout's pony and herself has a middle-ground quality about it. If you think about boiling meat you know that it floats. Floating is the middle symbol. The scout chased this middle symbol. His impression of it was that he could not catch it. The middle symbol was always out of his reach and un catchable. The message of this dream is avoid becoming uncatchable, or receptive to safety and comfort. This means do not put yourself in a situation that seems perfectly safe but isn't. This is what complacency is all about. As soon as you think you've got it made and relax in the comfort of your complacency, you have begun to write your own epitaph. The Indian scout did not fall into complacency. Listen to the rest of the story. He awoke from his dream and continued through the blizzard to deliver the important dispatch he was carrying. Along the way he stumbled into a camp where two other scouts had a fire going. They tell him of hostile Indians nearby and then try to persuade him not to go on with the dis patch but to instead remain with them and share the safety of their camp. This reasoning rang loudly in the scout's mind. He had just had a dream where the middle symbol was an enticing kettle of hot food that was un-catchable. Wasn't the camp of his fellow scouts enticing with its warm fire, safely hidden near danger? The impact of this strange coincidence caused a stunning reply that almost spoke itself from the lips of the cold and hungry scout. Here was a man who had just struggled through a blizzard and had a long journey, probably dangerous, ahead of him and he, well let him tell you what he said: "I say, by gar, I am woman; I have got sense. You wan' stay here, you be dead. Den I take my pony un I go 'way een de dark..."
The scout avoided the warm and illusory safety of camp to continue to his destination despite warnings of danger and delivered his dispatch alive and well. His fellow scouts who stayed behind in their warm, safe, uncatchable position were attacked by the Indians they warned the scout about. One was killed; he other bare ly escaped. Lincoln did not take his dream's message and apply it to his life. That was God's job, he said. Lincoln became the dream's middle, a dead man. The Indian scout took his dream's message to heart and left nothing to God or fate that he could not handle himself. He avoided becoming safe. He refused to be complacent. The confirmation of his decision came to him in the form of news that what he avoided was not the illusion of comfort and safety it seemed to be. In fact, its safety was an illusion cloaking death and injury. President Lincoln received his confirmation of the dream's validity in a terrible fashion. He became the news of what should have been avoided.
The confirmation will come. How you want to receive it is your choice. You can take it the easy way in news of others or you can take it the hard way and become the news. Either way, its coming is inevitable. It is written but you can edit it. Here's another example. A man in prison often dreams a dream like this. It is taken from the book The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer.
I see demons, they pull in harness like oxen, a wood creaking tumbrel, a grey wood tumbrel through the cobbled streets of my ancient mind.
We have in this dream a cobbled street, a heavy wagon, and demons pulling the wagon. The demons are the strongest impression for they bring to mind oxen which are not in the dream. The other adjectives describe what the dreamer sees. These are objective descriptions like grey, cobblestone, and ancient, to describe the period. But, the word oxen describes the demons not as they appear but how they seem to the dreamer. The demons, because they are a common or middle ground between the wagon and the street, are the middle symbol. The dreamer's impression of these demons is that they are like oxen. The message is then to avoid being oxlike. Oxlike is a term to describe brute strength strong as an ox. This dreamer, convicted of brutal murders, often challenged people to contests of strength and in these acts became the impersonation of an ox. Instead of a- voiding the quality in himself, he tested it daily and claimed to be strong enough to order his own execution. He insisted on that execution immediately rather than go through a possible life sentence of appeals and com mutations of sentence for the capital crimes he committed. In a sensational court decision, he was executed as he wished. He was shot dead like a mad dog or animal, like an ox before it is butchered. He took it the hard way because he wasn't strong enough to live.
V. Your Bootstraps
Now you know the four steps in my method of reading dreams. You have learned to (1) find the middle, (2) discern the dreamer's impression of that middle, and (3) know that the impression is the message detailing what the dream er should avoid in himself. You also know, (4) that if you remember to implement this message of warning or avoidance, that as confirmation, de'ja vu will come to you. Reading along with me through the examples in this book may have been quite easy because they were dreams of others or imaginary dreams of your own, but if you have tried this method on a few of your own dreams you know, presuming you found the message in your dream, that remembering to implement this message in your daily routine is far from easy. It takes a tremendous amount of will power just to remember the message, let alone to implement it. I call this implementation your bootstraps.
A pair of good high boots are great protection against the weather but they're a pain in the neck to get on and off, aren't they? You can only have beauty at a cost. The cost of the beautiful experience of de'ja vu will be the tremendous effort you must put forth in remembering dreams, pleasant and unpleasant, sorting through the distracting and sometimes frightening accompanying symbols which direct you to the middle, and implementing the messages to replace your customary routine behavior. You are trying to eradicate a part of your behavior that is imperfect. That behavior is very comfortable not because it is good for you but because it is easy. You have been doing it for a long time. It makes no demands on your creativity.
We have a chance every day to create a better self, but if we do not exercise that freedom the self that is left will stand for a while, but its deterioration in time will make us feel tired, blase, bored, depressed, and even sick. Many of us have nothing to identify with but the body we live in. It dies a little every day. That is why we must counter death with the creative life of behavioral change. Creation brings new life into the world. A new personality? Your new personality doesn't have to be a whole lot different from the one from yesterday, but if it is a little improved because you avoided an imperfection to which you were once susceptible, it is a new personality. Just as you don't ordinarily die a whole lot every day physically, so too your new personality; it may hardly be perceptible as changed, is a little newer; it has a little more life.
People who experience great physical changes due to accident, misfortune, or disease make great changes in their personalities to cope with their different physical selves. It is obvious to them that a change is in order for their personality. Whether they consciously make a change for the better and create a new life in the part of themselves they still have whole, or are overwhelmed by the change they have been reluctant to make because of the shock they may have suffered from their sudden physical alteration, change inevitably occurs. These people experience the change or the need for it more deeply than those whose physical changes creep over them almost imperceptibly day by day. Again, whether you make the inner changes suddenly because of sudden outward changes or put the changes off because the outward changes are not perceptible, the changes must be made with your consent or over your objection. The postponing of the creation of a new personality to cope with your different physical body can put unbearable stress on you. This is how people end up seeking help from emotional distress. They seek it from many sources: friends, clergy, physicians, psychiatrists, druggists, travel agents, and prayer. Seldom do they seek help from dreams, yet dreams are the most effective help because they are always receptive to your needs. Because they are a part of your totality, they have a personal stake in your well-being and happiness. Then too, your dreams are always available to you. You must, however, have the will-power to remember the dreams and faith in their message to implement that message. If you can just analyze one dream correctly and implement its message, and experience the de'ja vu that confirms your will-power as real ly a true power, you are on your way. You will have picked yourself up by your bootstraps and you will have become a little more alive in the face of the little death we daily die.
When you go to sleep your body falls asleep early while your mind may be still winding down. The time difference between these two events allows your mind to act as a king of time machine. It continues to calculate and plan your next moves in the great game of life, creating a best case and worst case scenario for your immediate future. How far into the future your mind calculates depends on the gap of time there might be between your body falling asleep and your mind falling asleep. The greater the gap, the greater the future projection. The best case scenario created is you yourself, how you acted in your dream. All that is you in the is ahead of you in time. It is ahead of you because it was seen by parts of you that were too overworked to relax with the rest of you. You are seeing the future of your weakest faculties.
If you were to stare at a lightbulb too long, when you closed your eyes you would see a lightbulb. You overworked those receptors in your eye and brain that can receive such information. There are receptors in your brain for every conceivable event. When they are overworked they too will project into the darkness of your closed eyes all they were not able to hold in the vessel of your being. They are evoking an impression of what limped into the future. If you can remember your dream you can remember that future. Your impression was excited by those windows to the world to come. How you reacted to what you saw was your best case scenario. It was the strength of your rested self acting on your life's weakness. When you experience de'ja vu, you see it all a second time but unlike the person who forgot his dream, you will have a good chance to make sure you're on the right side of destiny. It's a nice trick if you can get it. If you do, you will be a step ahead of everyone else.
Understanding dreams as sore spots that need rest is the first step in using dreams instead of being used by them. Like the chain reaction in mob violence, the plethora of senses we feel in dreams can possess us. Don't let that happen to you. Share the cosmos with them instead.
It's easier than you've ever dreamed.
END
Did you miss some of the previous issues? You can get the full text at www.dreamgate.com/dream/dubetz/
AND you can join us online to discuss these and other dream topics.
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How to portray a dream in film by Richard Wilkerson
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Recently on the ASD bulletin board www.adreams.org
The request from a film producer in England was posted. I enjoyed answering
this request and thought some of you might want to post a some suggestions too. -Richard
Re: Research For a Feature Film We are researching dream disorders for a character in a feature film script. Can you suggest a disorder induced by extreme stress, plus symtoms, side effects, etc. ? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. B. Worth UHFilms, London Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 17:41:46 -0400 From: Barbara Worth Subject: RESEARCH FOR A FEATURE FILM Sender: Barbara Worth
Posted by Richard Wilkerson on Wednesday April 8th, 1998 at 7:25:28 PM PDT: In Reply to: Research For a Feature Film posted by Barbara Worth on Wednesday April 8th, 1998 at 7:20:03 PM PDT:
OK, you are probably looking for something like this: Guy back from Vietnam and has reoccurring dreams of horrid death, wakes up with pounding heart, sweat, and near suffocating breath....
But here's my entry:
Note (a): I'm not really sure that you mean *dream* disorder. You probably mean a character disorder or waking life stressor situation that is played out in some fashion in a dream that character will have and experience as a nightmare. In other words, a dream that either is itself disturbing (to the dreamer or audience) or is disturbing to the dreamer upon awakening and recalling. Note (b): I recommend that you find the dreams for the character via your own dreaming. Dream Incubation: Before going to bed, read over all you know about the character's life and go over how the character does things. Fantasize about the character. Then set a conscious intention that you will have a dream about this character, or a dream about the character's dream. Upon awakening, write everything down. Do this for at least a week. You will have some great material this way. Some suggestions I would suggest that the dream(s) reflect the overall message or point of the movie:
if the point of the movie is 1. To be a "thriller", then the dream needs to be thrilling. What makes dreams scary? It is almost always that they are mistaken for reality. This is easy for the film producers to portray for the *dreamer* but more difficult to be thrilling for the audience, who see it as "just a dream" and don't worry or fret over it. 'Nightmare on Elm Street" overcame this by mixing dream and reality, and getting the viewer to believe that what happened in the dream would greatly effect the waking dreamer. Real - Life Variations of this include what are usually called Night Terrors, where the left-over into waking reality includes heart-beating, sweating, gasping for breath - basic panic attack stuff. Another trick is to have some occult like figure or past ghost like figure enter into the dream and have some control. Other scary thing are taboo areas. This is more difficult (in drawing in a large audience) because one man's taboo is another's daily routine. The horror of being perused by what one fears most is usually handled best in films by not ever showing the pursuer, as we all learned in the first 'Alien' movie. But there are many other kinds of taboos. I liked the dream nightmares in '100 monkeys' where bodies did things gross and unexpected. Philip K Dick used to write a lot of his science fiction towards this kind of horror. We start with the normal, but slowly the walls, ceiling, and eventually floor (figuratively speaking) all begging to become less stable and dissolve away. Playing with values is the key here, and then slowly producing paranoia about the stability of reality. My feeling is that taboo areas are not really areas, but what is outside of area. We like to feel safe and talk about taboo areas, sex, violence, inevitabilities, desire, ect. but the really frightening scenes are when the boundaries between these areas collide. Generally, dream and reality should be mixed. At first things show up in dreams that are in the character's life. Later things show up in life that were in the dream. Eventually there is breaking down between the borders of waking and dreaming reality. If there are rules the audience can follow, they will be able to participate in this reality testing the character will have to go through. It was an intense moment in 'Total Recall' when Arnold had to decide what was real and what was simulation of reality.
Speaking of choices... if the point of the movie is 2. A moral play, then the producers/writers need to decide the role of the dream. Is the dream going to be a *reflection* of the character's struggle to live up to a particular value or find a way between conflicting values, or something else? What else? Well, if you take a Jungian stance, the dream is trying to find higher ground. It produces symbols, images, that resolve the character's problem on an imagistic level not comprehendible by the character at the time. PLEASE, don't make dream symbols the audience understands but the character doesn't. This is a cheap trick that undermines the point. The Point, (for Jung) was that we are on a trip of becoming ourselves, uniquely ourselves, individualized from the crowd. This means the character knows something about themselves and other parts are a mystery. But a REAL mystery. If you know more about me than me, it's not really *my* individuation. It needs to be a mystery beyond what - at this time in the plot - ANYONE can know. The dream attempts to deal with this (from a Jungian viewpoint) by playing with the tensions and holding them apart in various ways, allowing for a spontaneous occurrence to emerge between them. I want to live forever, but I can't. I want to love you but I'm married. I don't want to love you but I do. If I pay Peter, I must rob Paul, ect, ect. Irreconcilable opposites. There is a tension between these two poles. If i try to resolve them with the ego strengths I have at the moment, pushing into or through the problem in the same old ways I always do, then I will collapse the poles and will either stay the same person I am or regress to an even earlier version of myself. If I can stay aware of the problem long enough, consciously hold the poles apart, then there is a chance that something evolved and new can happen, a synthesis on a new level. (Yes, Jung was very Hegelian, I feel). The dream symbol functions to hold this un-expressible truth or position for us. Jung even felt there was a general process and progress one could follow towards this truth becoming manifest in our life. First we accept our own solutions and same old paths aren't working. Then we dialogue or dance with the devil, or that part of ourselves we would rather die than admit to being, the personal shadow we see as a morally inferior way of being, and it gives us the creeps or bugs us when we are around someone like that. Some can't handle it when they learn they contain dark elements and move back into denial and moral certain-tude that goes no-where. Other's find such a relief in the evil other that they identify and become more fully this shadow, hence abused children who themselves become abusers. The answer on how to move down that middle path is for the Jungian maintaining the tension long enough for something unexpected to happen. It can't be a simple deus-ex-machina that could have happened at any time, or until the character learned some moral lesson (ick, yuck) , it must be something that comes from the conflict itself. The Shadow is often referred to as a Trickster. He robs us of something visible, but returns to us something invisible. Jung often saw the Shadow in people's dreams as the same sex as the dreamer, but he may be even less or more evolved as an animal or monster. We never fully resolve the issue of the Shadow. At some point there is in our depths a shadow that is larger than us, a collective shadow, (something like nuclear stockpiling) that can only be handled by the group. I suspect we all have these kinds of dreams, but they would be more appropriate for a character destined to play a major role, like Gandhi or Roosevelt or Clin... well, maybe not all leaders...
As we begin to draw new energy from this Shadow dialogue, a new and even tougher gate appears, the Animus/Anima. The first was getting past what we didn't like. Now we have to get past what we desire most. This (or they) usually appears in dreams as the contra-sexual other, but for gays may not. Perhaps the Most-Desired Other is completely non human for some. The point is that this beautiful other is very hard to resist. But mating is death. Or at least, it collapses the opposites again and the character remains the same or regresses. And again, there is no specific resolution to the problem that fits everyone. Mythically we have the story of nymphs and sirens drowning men who head there calls. Odysseus spent years and years with one on an island. All the possessions, intoxications, enchantments, fascinations, wild longings, and affairs of desire and love are seen are part of this path. And again, we can deal with these tensions by going for it, for denying it or other distractions, or we can come into relationship with it in a way that is mutually beneficial. The particular path is again very individual, but some generalities are often made. For Jung, differentiation was important. Instead of accepting this huge thing that overwhelms us, we begin to peel off layer by layer. The path may be quite different for men and women as well.
There is a Babylonian Myth of a woman who descends into the underworld, and at each level she must take off one item of clothing until she stands naked before the dark witch that called her. This seems to be the path of psyche for the Jungians as well, the exploring of the down and in. A man might begin to learn the difference between the inner mother and the inner anima woman. As children we want to fall into their embrace, but as adults we can learn that the falling is different for each. The mother aside, we learn there are different anima women. Each plays out a different role, usually a sexually stereotyped gender role at first - sexual partner, wife, sister, friend's wife, etc. Later, (for men in the Jungian system), this anima who leads the man away from himself into deep waters begins to lead him away from himself into higher ground. In other words, she becomes the guide or psychopomp that lead the person to themselves. Breaking down the earlier barriers of inner and outer, this partner will be in waking life as well as dream life.
Many movies are about this and end here. Miss-guided fellow works his way through his personal hell, meets girl (of his dreams?) and goes off into the sunset. These movies miss the point for me. They are sweet and fun and entertaining. They keep me right where I am, and validate the same old story, over an over. What is needed is to keep the couple apart long enough for something very special to occur. Let them have all the sex they want, the real issue of apart- ness at this point can be worked out with a real life partner, but not ever fully solved. If the couple cannot hold each other's essential loneliness, then nothing new will occur. If I find it all in you and you in me, the show is over. Sulley and Muldar in the X-Files are attempts to do this, (hold each others loneliness) but other media problems exist in that prevent a really significant staging of this issue. As we begin to share the problems that are larger than we are, we find others with similar but different struggles with inevitability. A really moral play will find a way to help me be more of who I am, not long more for someone that can only bring me to normalicy and sameness.
Finally, the Self. In the New Age, we have almost turned the encounter with the Self into a cliche, a crystaline encounter with UFO's from a Hot Tub. Encounters with the Self become whole movies in and of themselves. But again, its like the movie where the dreamer doesn't know its a dream, but we do. We, as audience, are rarely effected regardless of the transformative effect on the character. Jung's view of the Self held that is was always seen as a defeat for the ego. Now if we are in a film and identified with the character - any defeat is not going to sit well with the audience. Maybe that's why only bad guys change in movies, but good guys just stay the same. Jung had a dream once of a man sitting in a little room in a peaceful lotus position, sleeping. He knew that when the man woke up, Jung would be gone, that Jung was just a dream of his. It may be that's as close as we can really get in a movie, close to the edge of decision, but not over. Its just too personal. I feel I overstated the issue of the ego's defeat. In an encounter with the Self, the ego is really not defeated but valorized and honored for who and what it is. Its just that we are no longer just that ego, but something new. Some people again go to far, and try to become the Self they encounter in one leap. This leads to the nutty inflated ego we see so much of in the New Age. I am god. I am god... Oh my gosh, I am god.... Again, for Jung, this collapses the tension of the poles and creates disaster. The question of how the small and mortal can come into relationship with the larger than real pops up again from the work with the anima/animus. To the degree we attempt to reconcile all the differences ourselves, is the degree to which we rob ourselves of the real experience. If we have learned when to put up our sails and when to take them down, the winds of the Larger-than- Life can carry us far. Jungians often report abstract dreams, mandala like circles, flaming visions of light and other such events in dreams for close encounters. Moses in the film The Ten Commandments is a good model for this kind of encounter on a large scale. He comes back from the mountain with something useful, though the encounter has blasted his hair white. Good Will Hunting' may provide more down to earth encounters. Will has an incredible math talent that comes to him as if he were a god, but has some character disorders. Will's first professor encounters him but want to be him, and thus the relationship fails. He can't relate personally, he wants to be a god too. Robin Williams plays Will's psychotherapist, and Williams realizes that his own transformation must take place to help Will. He has to relate to Will with his whole self, even though he will never be the mathematical genius that Will is. Now in the movie, this isn't too big a problem as Williams doesn't himself have any interest in being a mathematician. but it still serves as an example. The Self will continue to appear to us as something always a little dreadful. Usually the words used by Jungians are numinous, awe inspiring. Something like what one must feel before getting tossed into a volcano as a sacrifice.
3. If the point of the movie is a comedy Then you may want to view the dream as Freud did. People are pretty sophisticated about this, or think they are and lots of humor is available. Here the dream serves to protect sleep. Disturbances can be handled by fantasy. Whether its the need to urinate, a sound from outside or a disturbing thought, feeling, fear or memory, they must all follow the same path. The dream must let off a little of the steam, but not too much. Freud felt that the disturbances must get out somehow. But they must not be recognized by the dreamer if they are taboo or repressed subject. And so the dreamwork takes place. The Truth is switched by displacement to something else, it is projected back to the source from which it came, it is denied by the dreamer as existing at all, it is symbolized abstractly and in misleadings ways, it is pictorialized in puns (I can = a can of soup?), diversions lead the dream consciousness away from the thing itself, several know people may be condensed into one and all sorts of voices say things like, "its not really important anyway" "Just forget about it", "its just a dream" , "so what?". . 4. If the point of the movie is artsy - existential Then we might draw upon modern psychoanalytic thought, such as the French Renegade, Lacan. Jacques Lacan felt that we chase desire continually. But what we desire can't be had, it simple just doesn't exist. None the less, we think and feel it does and move towards it, buying more, drinking more, doing it all to get it. Thus we suffer. In dreams, they would end every time we are about to get it. The rest of the dream would be about trying to get it - finding home, losing pursuers, getting rich, having sex, whatever - when we finally get it, we go unconscious, the dream ends. There is a kind of hole in the center of the universe around which everything points and we think there is a thing there (Lacan says a Phallus, in a literary kind of way). There is no way out, but there are alternatives to trying to fill our emptiness unconsciously. We learn to separate desire from appetite first. We can satisfy appetite, but desire must be held, or held off. Thus the lover learns to hold off his or her orgasm and to play with the bodies desire as long as possible. We sacrifice the thing itself to get everything else. Albert Camus came to much the same conclusion.
Richard