Inner World of Humanity -or- Post-modern Kingdom of Dreams
Tantric Dream Telepathy -or- Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance
While the English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover", has merit, book covers do in fact fuel the imagination. In my apartment hangs an art work by a California artist that is made out of an enlarged series of seven "Harlequin Romance" paperback book covers. Many of the dream interpretations posted at the International Institute for Dream Research (IIDR) website are about "intimacy" and the melodramatic "soap opera" we call our "romantic dreams". Cervantes character "Don Quixote" is one of the greatest literary "romantic dreamers" ever invented. (Read the dream interpretation "The Impossible Dream")
Some dreams like "Tantric Dream Telepathy" (read interpretation) discuss intimate connections between people that appears to happen in dreams. Such musings about these oneiric intimate connections is given a voice in Kristina Wright's book "Dream Lovers: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance". Wright also has a website on the web and a blog "Musings of an Insomniac Writer". Are these just psychological projections and musings caused by insomnia?
In a post-modern world, the "web of communication" is radically changing how we relate and dream in our "Small World" of the global village. The "facebook friends" dream "Social Networking" sent to the IIDR underscores this idea. It should not be surprising if Jungian "synchronistic" and "serendipitous" a-musing connections begin to increase. Here is another such dream;
Annika, 28 Single
Please help. At this stage, I am desperate and it is finally time for answers. For over 12 years, I have been dreaming of the same person. Night after night, for years on end, we are together in dreams. Many years ago, he was an acquaintance of someone I knew, though we had never met. Now, we have met and have been around each other several times. Always, always in my dreams we are together, even before I met him, I knew his face, his voice. I am confused as to why I still dream of him. Here is the catch--- he is a song writer, and most of his songs are also about his dreams.
This girl in his dreams who knows so much about him, and shares his, kingdom, far away with him. There are things that only he and I would know in our sleep... yet, in waking life, we lives thousands of miles apart. There are songs/poems that he writes that speak of those things only I know in my dreams. Years have passed, and neither of us will admit to this dream connection situation. Most of the time, I feel like my soul leaves my body when I dream, though in the dream I do not KNOW that I am dreaming.
They are so real and vivid, it feels like waking life to me. When I do awake the next day, I am drained, exhausted and feel like I have just run a marathon. It takes me hours to recover from sleep. Is this possible, that for so long and so many years, two people could be dreaming of the other--- and not even know it? Help, please. I apologize for this overwhelming email. But, after so long, I don't know what to do, or how to explain it anymore. How can two people living thousands of miles apart... be dreaming the same thing? Has this ever happened before?
Mr Hagen's Reply; The Muse of Harlequin Romance -or- The Man of Your Dreams
Your dream is not about explaining, it is about being and doing, although there is a rational explanation. Frances G. Wickes "The Inner World Of Man" intrudes into the "inner world" of humanity in an effort to illuminate the hidden archetypal artistic workings found in our dream world. Wickes finds it is important to differentiate between "masculine, and feminine psychology", and in this sense men's and women's dreams.
The essential archetypal "masculine principle" is the "Logos", literally meaning "word". Wickes tells us that; "By finding the word, the name, for something one separates it from other things, gives it independent existence, makes possible a logical relation between it and other things." Using our "words", allows the Logos to create a logical "explanation" of how things work. Unfortunately, always explaining things "rationally", usually takes the "magic" and enchantment out of the "moment".
For women, Wickes goes on to tell us; "The central principle of life which woman serves is Eros, the principle of relatedness and receptivity; the principle of love, not simply in its instinctual biological aspect but in its deeper meaning." Both the masculine and the feminine principles provide "a deep instinctual contact with what may be called earth wisdom", which ideally combines both rational logic and the mysticism of love.
The literary male and female archetypes of "anima" and "animus" ecologically grow up into the "wise old man" and the "wise old woman", which in fact is an "androgynous" archetype, namely one that has nature's two faces of the same archetypal coin of "wisdom", imprinted on it. Jacques Derrida has criticized this (male) "logocentric" dominance (over the female Eros) in Western society and life. The depth-psychological imbalance of "Logos" and "Eros" can be seen being played out in our collective dream vision patterns as well.
It seems to me that if there has been such a dream telepathic "serendipitous" connection over the last 12 years, then you have been his inner "muse", for inspiring song, for lyrics, for poetry, and for life. Ancient Greek by birth, the nine "muses", were all the daughters of "Mnemosyne" who is the literary, artistic and scientific personification of memory. In order to break this a-musing "dream connection" you must first cut the "telepathic" umbilical cord so to speak. Finally talking to the "man of your dreams" in the waking world about your feelings of inter-connectedness in your dream world might be the first step? From a somewhat different perspective the dream interpretation "Shared Dreaming, Shared Responsibilities" discusses telepathic dreams.
So is this the rational "explanation" that you seek? In the enchanting Hollywood dream factory "Pygmalion" film "My Fair Lady", Audrey Hepburn (as Eliza Doolittle) sings the song "Show Me" (watch music video) and ironically tells the audience of the perennial conflict between the male "Logos" of "words" and the "dream" like magic of "Eros". "Serendipity" is another film that has the "magical fate" of Jungian "synchronicity" built into it. On a final note, the song "Telepathy" by Emiliana Torrini seems to fit the "Harlequin" sentiment of your dream world.
Further Reading:
- Sukie Colegrave "Spirit of the Valley: Androgyny and Chinese Thought"
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Gary Alan Fine "Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds"
Postscript: Unimatrix Zero -or- The Post-Modern Biological Clock of Waking Life
It occurred to me when re-reading the dream, that the post-modern dream world described, has a science fiction feel to it. Annika asks three questions; "Is this possible, that for so long and so many years, two people could be dreaming of the other--- and not even know it?" "How can two people living thousands of miles apart... be dreaming the same thing? Has this ever happened before?"
Such a "shared dream world" was given a vision and a voice in two "Star Trek Voyager" episodes about "Unimatrix Zero". Some of the Borg (including Seven of Nine, who is re-united with her dream lover), have the ability to psychologically escape the "Borg collective", and enter into a surreal dream vision utopia. The episodes first aired over 10 years ago.
Annika observes; "They (the dreams) are so real and vivid, it feels like waking life to me. When I do awake the next day, I am drained, exhausted and feel like I have just run a marathon. It takes me hours to recover from sleep." This can only add to the "Waking Life" like "mystery" of Annika's "waking dream" nightlife. It also provides a surreal "biological clock" frame of reference for the idea why Jake in the film "Avatar", needs to sleep after he awakens like "Sleeping Beauty" from his time in the computer generated connection with his "avatar", and is awake when he is in his avatar. In Jake Sully's own words; "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream." Not surprising, the Na'vi chief calls Sully a warrior "dreamwalker" of the "Sky People".