This post was originally started in February 2007. The part in brackets, where I gave myself notes on the dream I was describing, are now as inscrutable to me as they likely are to anyone else. I have no memory or feeling about the words I wrote down almost 2 years ago. But the rest of the post, about dreams and dreaming in general, is still interesting to me.
Enjoy.
*****
Not everyone dreams – or, perhaps more accurately, remembers their dreams. Scientists can demonstrate that anyone they test shows the same level of brain activity during sleep, but after the subjects wake up and pull the little sticky tabs and wires from their bodies and skulls, not all of them report images, feelings and other dream-like memories.
I almost always remember my dreams. In fact, when I was in my teens, a friend and I heard about lucid dreaming, which was apparently a state of dreaming where one is aware of the fact that they are dreaming, if you can imagine such a thing. It sounded like the best fantasy playground ever, where one would experience what it would be like to be truly limited only by one’s own imagination.
In point of fact, in all my attempts, I only managed to experience a few brief moments of dreaming lucidity, and those moments, where I took the reins of my powers of thought, remain etched in my mind as if they were actual, living experiences. The reason I bring all this up now is simply as a preface to the idea that I have somehow exercised my “dream muscle” to the point where I can be considered an elite dreaming athlete.
Our dreams are normally full of images and feelings taken from our waking life and given new juxtapositions, they form patterns, both familiar and new, and examining them can reveal much insight into how we are dealing with the world. But the way in which the symbols are brought to our conscious awareness seem to be shaped by the amount of creativity we experience when conscious – or so I believe, with my layman’s understanding of the brain.
My dreams, lately, have taken on an even stranger tone, in fact. But do not be alarmed. I think they’ve just been infused with greater and greater levels of creativity.
[roller-blading at the airport; Ken in a pinstriped suit; Clinton on TV in same suit]
[picking out a red bottle from the bread carts; acting as Brian acting as someone else; going to find my friend and co-worker; in an IT department for a store of some kind; new second-in-command manager with hair growing out of her face; wanting to do anything she can to help me find my place; referring other friends who may be lost, too – including ACTUAL Brian; “that’s funny – they wanted to be sure I talked to you, too!”]