Speaking of Dreams... (for David M.)

[Layman Pascal]

What about dreams? he wrote.

Here, I said -- a few thoughts about dreams.

>Thank you, Layman. I haven't read it yet, but I will get to it by and by. Why don't you upload it to IPS, so we can discuss it there?

But he hasn't even read it yet! What if it's terrible...

Or anyway here it is:

on Dreams

by Layman Pascal

What is the significance of dreams, you ask? We may just as well inquire: “What is the significance of waking physical perceptions?” In both cases a great variety is implied. Under the conditions of variety, we understand that the question of “What is it?” must give way to “Which?” For to reason sanely on the subject of dreams we must embrace their multiplicity -- but that is not all!

We must also ensure that we are not being reductionistic. That is our modern devil! It really will not do to say that dreams are just illusions, just neural epiphenomena, etc. The just is false. Beta-wave brain frequencies and “solid objects” are not inherently more realistic than theta-waves and “evocative appearances”. Yet we cannot therefore blithely assume that non-reductionism means both these domains are therefore of equivalent validity and utility.

In fact, for us waking-bodily-beings (the entities shared THESE words) dreams actually are less important than our clarity of awake psychology. Non-conscious material is a junior partner... as far as consciousness is concerned. Yet we do not minimize interest in our bellies and genitals merely because they are “junior partners”. We must still accept the task of decoding communications from these sources and managing them more or less intelligently. Indeed, the future of Waking seems to lie in the integration of non-waking states. So we are obliged to receive their signals and work with them, to some degree, more so by our possibilities than by any nostalgic-archaic or romantic-superstitious feelings that Great Secrets of destiny may be nightly mouthed by the vivid figures of sleep.

Sages in all cultures have voiced a certain skepticism about dreams. Often they suggest that they themselves have moved beyond dreams --just as they have moved beyond ordinary thinking. This is a declaration that their Self-system is no longer especially engaged or haunted by the possibilities of dream-knowing. The subtle world has been integrated with waking to a sufficient degree that dream encounters seldom “stand out” by comparison as a unique source of psycho-ethereal practicality. Thus they tend to recommend dream yoga more as a way to overcome subtle attachment than to oblige the secret wisdom of the astral realm.

On the other hand, natives of all kinds -- whether they are the earthy, feather-bearing savages of “North America” or the advanced mystic shaman-cults of the Himalayan mountains -- affirm the power of dreams. No doubt they have learned more about the profits of dream messages simply because trusting that realm, even naively, has led to greater exploration of its pathways. Yet much of the work of archaic shamans was the pragmatic business of addressing the disturbed psychology of the laity who always brought forth their primitive dreams for superstitious analysis and hopeful blessings. So pre-modern approaches cut both ways.

We can encounter their zoology of dreams. It is pleasing to see some sophistication, some variety, some multiplicity. Yet we have aboriginals and Dzogchen masters in our own soul who can improvise most this material with a quick analysis of our dreaming: re-hashed daily events, anticipated fears, brain machinery cloaked in hallucination, digestive theater, precognitive glimpses, vivid archetypal imagery, lucid adventures... different forms of information passing through a common medium. That medium is the subjective apprehension which comes through that subtle energy which enables “imagination” and “transference” to occur.

How shall we analyze and make sense of such variety?

One approach is to see which chakra level the dream content resonates with – muladhara for Freudian analysis, heart region for transpersonal symbolism, etc. Another way is to investigate with free association. Still another is the use (common to most divination) of the neuro-muscular unconscious. Applied kinesiology allows us to ask the intermediary power of the instinctive brain to determine whether or not we should pay much attention to this or that form. The methods of pendulums and hands-pulling-on-hands suggest a general gateway into a mind whose hunches can readily mediate between dream data and a cautious or even ambivalent consciousness.

We should bear in mind that the advice of dream-wisdom sects has never been that dreams themselves are fundamentally significant. The full implied message is that skillful working with dreams can be significant. Dreams are the raw material from which the shaman may choose to work... but they are not already complete and meaningful. They are the paints with which we may paint.

And if we encounter figures of cosmic or spiritual profundity? We know they are sort of present in our system. “Sort of” is the very substance of the subtle plane. Our souls are multiple as must be the souls of those who appear to us. Part of their form appears for part of our form. We do not want to make too little or too much of this. If their advice is clear – we should test it. If we have asked for messages – we should follow up on the themes which are present. Most of the time we will not wake up at the point in our sleep cycle which permits remembrance of dreams... so the simple fact is that most dreams are lost. So we cannot be too concerned about them.

The feeling of meaningfulness and existential potency, whether it occurs in waking or dreaming, has its own needs. We must relate to this special feeling in a special way. The stimulation of a saint, sage or demi-god is not exactly the same as the stimulation of an astral harlot. The sense of profundity invites us to its own kind of dance. We need not always accept but we often should. What is it to accept? What can acceptance mean when we are not sure of the signs and entities we encounter? It must mean working with the feeling itself, the sense of presence and possibility. We may drink this feeling, work to open to it, absorb what is unseen-but-hinted at.

Most dream content is lost to consciousness and what remains, from many sources, can interest us only in the degree to which its evocative mood lingers invitingly or pressingly... or perhaps it pointed at by other subliminal mechanisms in our whole-body. Only in those cases could we even consider a profound decoding. But even then we cannot know the ultimate identity of the entities and situations. Therefore our strategies must be flexible and err on the side of strategies which engage the experience and forms without relying on the obvious associated identities.

In the end, when we are dealing with realms of form, resonance and feeling... we can only be responsibly by receiving the resonant feeling rather than trying to treat these forms as concrete substance. Beyond that – if we are extra-specially interested in the patterns and logic of the forms and symbols – then we must set ourselves to pondering. Perhaps it will come to nothing but at least we will strengthen our pondering skills...