Do You Dream - Tony Crisp

Chapter One

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What did you dream last night?

I was in a large, old house. It was pleasant, and interesting, being like an old "folly". It had passages leading off all over the place that one could explore. I was being led up the stairs by a very wilful child. It wanted to explore the house, and was dragging me with it. As we went up the stairs, a man came out of a door and walked down past us. He looked at me as if to say, "Don't go up"; or, "if you go up, be prepared." He looked like a caretaker, but was very indistinct and shadowy.

The child led me on up however into what was like a loft where I had never been before. it was attached to, yet somehow distinct from the rest of the house. Also it was very light and filled with ancient books and objects. I looked at them and felt that there was something oriental and mysterious about them. Somehow they seemed like a treasure, all dusty, but full of wisdom about life.

Then the child went to a door that was split in two halves, a higher and lower. It could not get through the lower, but went out the top half.' Yes, of course, it is only an account of a dream. An experience in that strange inner world we travel in sleep. A wandering along what at first sight appears as a senseless footpath of thoughts and feelings. Some people are certain they never dream, but experiments on sleeping people prove that everyone dreams. liven if we do dream, however, what is the point? Again, painstaking research has come to our aid in answering that question. All dreaming is accompanied by eye movements. Having discovered this, researchers were able to wake those being tested each time they began to dream, The result was that within a few days, the non-dreamers showed signs of mental illness and breakdown, So, in some way, dreaming is necessary to maintain psychological and physical health; exactly how is not yet quite understood. But what of the dream itself? Can this tell us anything? Taking the dream already mentioned, although it is not as fantastic or wild an account as dreams go, it still appears senseless at face value, but let us look beyond its surface.

The person who told me the dream is a young married woman in her twenties. whom I will call Ann, Ann was a student teacher until events led to marriage. An early child took her from college to the new discipline of parenthood and homemaking. This she enjoyed a great deal, but she also missed her other, college life, with its promise of a career.

In the dream, Ann sees herself in an 'old folly'. Could this be the 'folly' of her sudden marriage due to pregnancy, and the inner struggle it led to? However, the old house is not oppressive, it has many passages and rooms possible of exploration, whic in itself is an excellent description pictorially of Ann herself At college Ann found her interests running here and there, exploring this, tasting that, building odd bits of information in any old way as her interest led her. So behind the image of the house we find a shrewd summing up of Ann.h

Coming to the next part of the dream, we see that Ann is being led, or pulled along by a 'wilful child'. When we first spoke of this dream, neither Ann nor I could understand even a part of it. As we jar talked, however, first of all the house, then the of the child ' became Just to meaning clear. prior the dream, Ann had become deeply immersed in an evening class dealing with the works of T. S. Eliot.

The study had taken such a hold on her, that for some weeks she could think of nothing else but exploring the meaning of his poetry. She had literally been dragged along by her interest, and through it had discovered a new world of understanding about life and one's relationship to it. At the time she had rather wondered where it was all leading to, but the dream clearly and distinctly outlines its possibilities. Her interest in Eliot is shown as a child, youthful urges that had previously not satisfied themselves in her other interests. These urges show her a part of herself (the house) she had never seen before.

The books and objects clearly depict the mystery about life and religion she found in her understanding of Eliot. While the man is seen as the more down to earth part of her, worrying lest she is swept away by her interest in 'higher' things. But it was only in this way that the child, her impetuous desire to explore and so 'discover' herself, found release. It could not get out of a lower door through interests in household pursuits, only through the higher door of self understanding.

Of course, when it is all written down, with all the meanings neatly explained, it looks so easy. It becomes obvious in the wider knowledge of Ann, and her inner feelings, what the dream is all about. In fact, it would now be difficult not to understand the dream. Yet it took Ann and I a good hour of conversation to unravel it. Of such are the mysteries of dreams made.

Why is it then that most of our dreams, or even all of them appear to be ridiculous or devoid of any meaning? Is it perhaps simply because we do not have the key to unlock the sense in them? Let me put it this way; if a political cartoonist draws a fat man sitting upon a tiny thin man; at first sight. if we are not following or knowledgeable upon world events at the time, it may be quite meaningless; but if we know that a very large country has, through its tariffs, immobilised the exports of another country, we easily see meaning in the cartoon. A dream is very much like a cartoon. If we do not follow the politics of our own hopes and fears, our own best interests, the dream will be meaningless. Once we understand the symbols, however, it is often difficult not to understand. Not that all dreams will become open books to us, because we are not usually that well up on the politics of our own inner world. But many dreams will become crystal clear when I approached correctly. In fact you will understand them as easily as you have understood my use of pictorial analogies in the above sentences, in the words, 'open books', 'well up', 'crystal clear'.

Looking at what has been said about Ann's dream, we can see that it has several important results, First of all the image of the house brought a clearer summing up of herself. So a dream can bring self understanding. In the child we see that the need to explore one's own mental and emotional possibilities is often as urgent and compelling, and as important as one's sexual life or career. This part of her had remained a child due to never having found release. So a dream clarifies our inner politics, what is going on within. The books and objects, which were only glanced at in the dream, show Ann the wealth of inner wisdom that awaits investigation. So a dream can give us new information, and confidence in ourselves.

In fact, depending upon our interests, dreams can open to us a wealth of new ideas, energies and information, It is well known, for instance, that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from the plot of a dream, but it is not usually realised that many of his stories also had their basis in dreams, Stevenson said, 'What shall I say they are but my Brownies, God bless them! who do one half my work for me while I am fast asleep.' 'When the bank begins to send letters and the butcher to linger at the back gate, he (Stevenson) sets to belabouring his brain after a story, for that is his readiest money-winner; and behold! at once the little people begin to bestir themselves in the same quest, and labour all night long, and all night long set before him truncheons of tales upon their lighted theatre.'

Mary, the wife of Shelley, dreamt the plot of Frankenstein; while in the world of philosophy, Descartes had, as the basis of much that he wrote, a series of dreams, Dante and Bunyan alike claim a dream as the inspiration of their greatest works, More recently, John Oxenham, best known for his religious poetry in inspirational message on life after 'Bees in Amber', Wrote his most death through a dream experience.

At one time, in the Middle East great temples were set up as centres for dreams of healing, Thousands upon thousands visited these Temples of Aesculapius, and many were cured by a release of healing forces within a dream, Even science has not been left untouched by the world of dreams, Dr Otto Loewi, who discovered the chemical theory for the transmission of the nervous impulse in a body, claims that the crucial experiment to prove the theory came to him while asleep. Fredrich Kekule, who discovered the arrangement of atoms within a molecule of benzene, also arrived at the idea in sleep.

Such events are only touched on here, however, as this book is designed not to argue the validity of dreams, but to explain a method of using them, and discovering for oneself whether such validity exists. But let us return to the point - do apparently senseless dreams hold meanings for us? Let us look at a few more dreams to find out.

In his book Psychology In Service of the Soul Dr Leslie Weatherhead mentions one of his experiences in regard to dreams. A woman under severe emotional stress was sent to him by her medical doctor An accompanying letter said that the doctor could find nothing wrong with her physically, and could only prescribe sedatives and a holiday. These he felt would not really effect a cure.

Even during the interview with Dr Weatherhead, the woman was very disturbed, crying and shaking, making it difficult to arrive at the cause of her trouble, The difficulty was solved, however, when she told of a dream she had experienced. In the dream a great storm was raging. The woman was standing under the cover of her porch, but her brother was in the middle of the road getting drenched. Eventually the dreamer ran out to her brother, threw her coat over him, and took him into her house. Having made a study of dreams, Dr Weatherhead was able to read the fairly obvious symbolism of the dream, and asked the woman to make up her quarrel with her brother. She was amazed that be should know of such a quarrel, but agreed to write to her brother, inviting him to visit her. In doing so she was cured. Her problem being her feelings of guilt over her self-righteous attitude, that bad left her brother to face his problems alone.

In dreams storms usually represent emotional turbulence, hatred, fears, etc., and in this dream we see that a way out of her ill-health is shown by the dream. From this, one can gain a little understanding of how health or healing could be regained in the Temples of Aesculapius.

Taking the dream of a young man, we can see how dreams can also show the possible outcome of a particular attitude of mind. In the dream the young man saw himself walking up a dimly lit cobbled street. The street was going up a hill, and on the left was a pub with two young men standing outside. They were holding pint jugs of bitter, As the dreamer drew near them, one turned to the other, looking at his bitter, and said, 'Shall I let him have it?' Being encouraged, he threw the bitter over the dreamer. Naturally he was very annoyed, and tried to brush it off his overcoat. He wanted to retaliate, but felt himself no match for these two, who walked back into the pub. Someone with the dreamer said that there was a policeman at the top of the bill, why not tell him. So climbing the test of the hill. and turning to the right, he found the policeman and told him. The policeman very officiously took out his notebook and asked whether there were any witnesses. There were, but the policeman maintained his air of doing only what he was forced to do by law, which upset the dreamer and he walked away.

Looking at the symbolism, this 'young man' begins to take shape before us, for we see him through his dream. To climb a hill in real life is not only to expend energy, to face a difficulty, but also, if successful. to benefit by seeing the view from the top. A hill, in fact, gives us a wider view of things. So to climb a hill is to face the energetic task of widening our opinions. rising above narrow limited views, growing up. In fact, the dreamer was going through a period of finding new ideas and outlooks. The pub and young men, on the left, are symbols for the pleasure loving, down to earth, rough and ready side of himself. Something on the left of us in a dream often means that it is unknown, or little used (i.e. the left band is usually the one we are least conscious of, and use the least).

The dream is saying these parts of him are not expressed much in life. This is quite true, as the man was a quiet, serious person, religious and somewhat introverted. The dream shows that his pleasure loving. outgoing side, due to their repression. are drinking the hitters of life, and in fact, this stifled side of his nature causes him to be bitter himself. He tries to 'brush this bitterness off', rather like one might say, 'I feel depressed, but I'll soon overcome it.' Due to his retiring temperament, he does not feel he can face these other parts of himself. In a similar way, a person who inwardly wished to be noticed, might through shyness, not even he able to converse. Thus (two parts of oneself may war against each other.

The dream goes on to show the dreamer's present. conscious efforts to deal with the conflict leading to bitterness. The policeman is on the right, representing his more conscious attitudes. The policeman usually represents our sense of right and wrong, conscience and law-giving. So the dreamer, in his efforts to deal with his attack of bitterness, tries to use his morals, his sense of right and wrong. But this side of himself is shown as unsympathetic. only really worried about the rules, and the dreamer realises he will not be helped by that attitude.

This particular dream only outlines the problem, and how one is trying to deal with it. It does not, as the previous dream, show a positive method of dealing with the situation. When we see how clearly such dreams explain and fit she dreamer's everyday life, it is difficult to understand why dreams are not more generally understood. When one hears the parables of Jesus, such as that of the Talents, one immediately sees behind the story to its symbolical meaning. Aesop's Fables have amused and educated children and adults for centuries. We can see ourselves in the frog who tried to gain respect by believing he was bigger and greater than he was. We can see that in a parable or fable, she outer story hides an inner truth, yet for hundreds of years in the West. dreams have been looked upon as nonsense.

Even with the coming of Freud, only a limited interpretation of these night-time parables was broached. Now, through the work of more liberal thinkers, the dream has at last come into its own again.

In the three dreams that follow, we can see, not only this parable making ability of one's own mind, but also its concentration on particular problems, and its sense of continuity through several dreams. The dreams are all by one woman. whom we will call June. They were all dreamed within a period of three weeks, during a time of financial insecurity. June's husband had been on social security, but was now working. He was not due to receive any wages until the work was complete however, So the problem was one of surviving for many weeks on next to no money.

Here are the dreams. 'I dreamt that I was sitting in my bedroom and Bill was with me (friend of husband). I had two children by him, and one by Man (husband). Suddenly Bill turned into Alan and had a parcel that Richard (next door neighbour) was expecting containing drugs. He opened it and started smoking "pot" (hashish). As he smoked he changed rapidly into a hard, depraved sort of man, careless of others. Sue (Bill's wife) came into the room at this point, sorrowful at what had happened between myself and Bill. I told her that this wasn't important. What was important were the changes taking place in Bill-Man. At that moment the police came and rounded up all those who were smoking pot. As I expected, they betrayed Alan to the police. and denial was useless because his entire state gave him away. They took him. and I didn't know what would happen now. His picture was on the front page of the newspaper; it would finish off our business. Even as I thought this a customer came, and I thought that when she knew, she wouldn't want to do business with us.'

2nd dream

'I had a huge pile of coloured washing to do, hut the machine wasn't working properly. I put the washing in anyway and stood back. A tall. unknown male figure was beside me all the time. He gave me the impression of being a priest or teacher of some kind, with arms folded into wide hanging sleeves of a long robe. As we stood back a small explosion occurred and I could see a small fire had started beneath the machine. As I looked there appeared to be a huge pit under the machine, filled with a great glowing fire. A person stood in the midst of the fire supporting the machine, and as the fire burned so the machine began to be powered. and the clothes were washed. Both figure and machine remained unharmed by the flames, and I was reminded of Daniel in the lion's den.'

3rd dream

'I was with a group of people who had found a very small tunnel in a hillside, I knew that we all had to go through it; although it was so small and dark that it seemed impossible. There was barely room to even wriggle through, and a woman declined to go.

Once we were in the tunnel I was surprised to find bow short it was in length. It was so short it could hardly be called a tunnel. One of the others then went back to fetch the woman who had stayed behind.'

At first sight. these dreams appear to have little or nothing in common with each other. Also, the size of the first one. and its complexity, make it difficult for a simple explanation. Starting with tins one but sticking to the main features, the theme soon begins to appear, however. so we find in June's associations that Bill is an idealistic, youthful and impetuous person, who seeks to leave a mark on the world. This represents June's own idealism and desire to leave something of herself in the world.

This part of her nature has given her two children - that is, has developed two traits in her. The Bill within her never really came to the fore until her marriage. and thus these parts of her are still growing. They are her interest in the mysteries of life and death, and her practice of self analysis. The self analysis was born of her desire to express in life, due to the fact that in trying to be herself, she found inner problems.

Her husband, Man, is like Bill in many ways. but more mature, more ready to accept things as they are. The dream child from this part of her represents her growing ability to face the difficulties of life, to face her own inner problems. However, due to her financial situation, or at least, the worries arising from it, Alan takes pot. which for June symbolises a fear of not having what it takes to meet the problems of life, or to face her own fears courageously. Pot is an avoidance, a running away from difficulties for her, This represents the breaking down of her strength to cope with her own inner fears and doubts concerning the outer situation. This gives rise to feelings of cutting off all sympathetic links with other people and the world. Such links of sympathy are painful to her diminished faith in life. Then June's sense of rightness (police) comes along to make her realise the social, inner, danger of these attitudes of mind. In fact, such feelings of unsympathy, of giving up, fear of not meeting one's problems, threaten to break down her ability to support herself in the workaday world symbolised by the business.

That first dream outlined her problem, which is quite complex. as it shows various parts of her implicated and threatened by her fears. The next dream deals with how to find a way through these difficulties. The huge pile of coloured washing is the pile of feelings and emotions that need cleaning. But the machine, which in real life is an automatic washing machine, is not working properly. In other words, usually she simply thinks to herself. 'Things will take care of themselves. Just be patient and my worries will disperse.' This attitude of mind, that usually automatically clears her worries. Is now not working. Meanwhile. in her dream there is the figure standing slightly to one side and behind her. This represents her innermost feelings. Her deepest intuitions. In the dream she feels the man is encouraging her to put the washing in the machine despite the fact it does not seem to be working. Previous to this particular period of financial difficulty. June used her attitude of carrying on despite troubles automatically. But this time she had begun to wonder whether such an attitude was right. Was she hiding behind it just to let things slide from bad to worse? Was her faith really an excuse to avoid life? (We see even clearer here the inferences of taking pot in the first dream.) It is because of this doubt that the automatic washing machine is not working. The dream, through the figure of the teacher, points out very clearly that she is not wrong here, but to use the machine again. In doing so, which is a direct act of faith in her deepest feelings (in other words, through deciding to let events and the financial situation work itself out), an explosion occurs. new energy is released, and she sees her faith as a male, creative figure, engulfed in flames, yet not hurt. Faith is a state of mind constantly threatened, yet not destroyed; but through the very flames, gaining energy to drive the machine that cleanses us of unnecessary worries and fears.

The third dream confirms this, and suggests that the 'tight squeeze through the darkness of her own fears and difficulties, will not be nearly as long as she expected. The symbolism, with its tunnel also suggests a birth into a different type of experience altogether. Even her fearful part. is eventually brought through the darkness. In the above review of a few dreams. the possibility of finding an understanding of them becomes evident. Although what has been said so far may raise a host of sympathetic, information seeking, or critical questions; as already explained, this book does not attempt to justify the methods used in any detail. But there are a host of other books that will occupy the critical mind. Meanwhile, our quick look at dreams has revealed but a fraction of their possibilities. So, let's hasten on!

Do You Dream Chapter 1 - Do You Dream Chapter 2 - Do You Dream Chapter 3 - Do You Dream Chapter 4 - Do You Dream Chapter 5 - Do You Dream Chapter 6 - Do You Dream Chapter 7 - Do You Dream Chapter 8 - Do You Dream Chapter 9 - Do You Dream Chapter 10 - Do You Dream Chapter 11 part one- Do You Dream Chapter 11 part two - Do You Dream Chapter 12 - Dream Dictionary

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