Gaze

Concentration, or an attempt to influence. Gazing into someone’s eyes can be a means of intimacy or an attempt to communicate something wordlessly.

Averting ones gaze can be a way of not seeing what is going on, or a protection against the power of what we might see or witness or what it might invite. Sometimes a gaze can lead you to depths of experience and insight that are missed in a casual glance.

Example: In my dream I was standing at the edge of the estuary looking across it. A terrible natural disaster had occurred. Before me uncountable bodies were strewn in the water. Children, women, men, all in disarray, so many of them, arms and legs were meshed into a huge web of death.

I stood with sorrow so deep it was without emotion. Although I had no sense of being responsible, I was nevertheless involved. I was witnessing and part of the event.

At this point I woke and remained in a semi-sleep state. I realised without attempting to do so that I must find my way through the awful imagery of this tragedy. As I stood and gazed upon the scene, I realised that this expanse of death was not a single occurrence. Each time the tide swept out it carried with it countless people in death. It happened daily, hourly, minute by minute. Each time the sun sets it does so on thousands of deaths. But equally, each time the tide comes in it brings with it births to all nations and social classes. Birth and death – the great tides of human experience. I had witnessed, am witnessing, the tide going out in my own life.

Useful questions:

Is this about taking in a new view, or an attempt at intimacy?

Am I attempting to influence or am being influence by someone, or a situation? If so can I define what?

If I am averting my gaze, what am I achieving by it?

See Characters and People in Dreams – carry the dream forward – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams