According to the 3rd century Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu, who one night:  “I Dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, content with my lot. SuddenlyI awoke and I was Chuang-Tzu again. Who am I in reality? A butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang-Tzu, or Chuang-Tzu imagining he was a butterfly?”

As we move into a most significant time in history, there is an invitation to be of service
as an agent of change in the world. The paradox is that change requires doing nothing.
There is no need to change anything in your life. Change requires a simple stopping; a
change in perception, a change in how we see the world. Are you the dream or are you
the dreamer? We perceive the world through a lens formed from our prior experience,
our world view, a bundle of beliefs formed over a lifetime that become a filter and
distort how we “dream reality.” True power requires waking up to a “Lucid perception
of reality, the singular vision of the Shaman—Healer—Sage.”

Living the Lucid Dream is the path of power. Native cultures practice rituals and rites
of passage, non psychological processes that close the door to the distortions of ego
bound ways and open the door to Conscious Living and Lucid life; a new
accountability. “Lucid Living” requires closing the door to one way of perception and
opening a door to another. The deepest level of consciousness is common to all men
and women of whatever race, creed or cultural background. The concept of the
collective unconscious for me is a living reality.

It is a choice as to how and where we focus our attention. Collectively, we appear to
have reached a consensus agreement prior to this physical existence, to encapsulate
ourselves in a singular, yet collective vision; a story of a stable physical universe in
which effect follows cause with unyielding persistence. We appear hopelessly
imprisoned within a habitual energy field which is supported by our whole society and
beliefs. Our expectancies are rewarded by substances. And the very habitual mold into
which we fit our view of the universe appears to prevent us from seeing it any other
way. We can allow ourselves to the see the energy fields, the underlying structure, the
organizing intelligence of reality or we can see the illusion that is the result of these
energy fields; material form.

We are boundless energy, but have become strangely encapsulated in a virtual image of
reality with boundaries that we have created. We are imprisoned within our own
description of reality. Our own personal judgments hold the system immutable and in
place. Through the commitment to ongoing dream work and the investigation of the
unconscious processes there is a way to free ourselves from these self-imposed bonds,
this consensus hypnotic trance.

It seems as if the collective unconscious, which appears in dreams, has no consciousness
or awareness of its own contents. The collective unconscious, moreover, seems not to
be a person, but something like an unceasing stream or perhaps an ocean of images and
figures which drift into consciousness through the vehicle of our dreams or through
dream like altered states. It is as if all events, all beings, all of time is contained within
us. It is as if there is no one out here, it is as if all potentiality is “in there!”

If it were permissible to personify the unconscious, we might call it a collective human
being combining the characteristics of both sexes. Transcending youth and age, birth
and death, and from having at its command a human experience of one or two million
years, almost immortal.

If such a being existed, it would be exalted above all temporal change. The present
would mean neither more nor less to it than any year in the century before Christ; it
would be a dreamer of age-old dreams, and, owing to his immeasurable experience, an
incomparable prognosticator. It would have lived countless times over the life of the
individual, of the family, tribe and people. And it would possess the living sense of the
rhythm of growth, flowering and decay. It would know all ages, all cycles of all life as
the collective of all unconscious.

Complexes; are personal psychological structures, survival strategies, filters, put in
place by the ego, composed of archetypes, that evolve out of our life long experiences.
These complexes are energetic bundles formed by the ego from what people and
situations represent to us, these are distortions of both reality and of archetypal figures.

When enough rejections come in a particular framework or with regard to a particular
person, the memories of those hurts and failures become associated in a common
bundle of experience; known as a complex or self-definiton. When a child has repeated
experiences of pain or fear in regard to a certain situation, person or place, the energy of
those negative experiences becomes associated around that situation, person or place, to
form a kind of bundle of negative energy a complex or “hangup.” If a child had
repeated idyllic experience with a parent, which became idealized – a positive or god
like mother or father complex is formed. In later years it may become difficult for them
to accept a normal human beings in their life; “how can I hang out with a mere being?”

The psychologist Carl Jung said that the goal of individuation is to bring the ego to
surrender to the self, that is, to find its true strength in relationship to that higher and
greater source of being. Jung proposed that the culmination of the individuation
process leads to the (lucid) dream state in which man’s conscious and unconscious
minds are made finally one.

The fullest sense of self-realization takes place when the conscious part of us, the ego,
learns to observe a complex, rather than identify with the complex; it then identifies
with a higher aspect of self, steps aside and is informed by the unconscious and grows
by receiving from consciousness the inner truth, the voice of the true-self that lies
hidden in the unconscious. Jung felt, as do I, that this process is the ultimate realization
of human destiny.

Dreams integrate current experience with unresolved life issues. The dream journey
can mean taking back what was dropped out along the way and integrating it within us.
Committing to dream work allows one to learn to see the whole world as a dream and
not simply a literal physical manifestation.

When we flee from something, we give it our mental energy in addition to its own. If,
however we turn and face our enemy, the shadowy parts of ourselves that we have
disowned, the enemy usually turns into a friend. We are most afraid of, judge and react
to what we have not yet integrated within ourselves, according to Jung, when the ego
intentionally accepts aspects of the shadow, it moves toward wholeness and healthy
psychological functioning.

One of Jung’’s interpretative techniques was to invite his patients to enlarge on the
events of their dreams, to take them further, to invent conclusions to them. This, he
believed could lead to a revelation of their meanings. Jung felt that dreams not only
indicated, but also to some extent corrected the state of balance between an individual’s
conscious and unconscious attitudes.

Jung found the unconscious to be open to unlimited depths, to the individual
unconscious and to the collective unconscious. Dreams come, or seem to come, from
the depths of our psyche, we receive them without inviting them. Dreams proclaim the
“hidden parts of ourselves.”

In each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dreams and
tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. Dreams may come
from an unknown realm of wisdom, either divine or from the human unconscious.
Dreams for the most part, come unbidden, with a mind of their own. They possess a
wisdom and knowledge that often amazes us. There is a power in dreams, something
that possesses a wisdom and purpose beyond the conscious mind. Dreams help us
understand the symbolic nature of outer situations.

The intention of this process is a state of “complete individuation” uniting the opposing
conscious and unconscious poles of personality, bringing all that the unconscious will
give into the business of conscious living; individuation.

What the conscious part of us, the ego, remembers, receives and acts upon, by
integrating it into conscious life, becomes the map, the pattern for our journey to
wholeness. Only what is apprehended, received, and integrated by the consciousness
benefits ego growth, what is forgotten, denied, or unused is lost. When dream-symbols
are accepted and assimilated into consciousness, they transform the ego aiding in its
self-understanding. A new energy is added. A new or enlarged attitude or experience
of self is evident.

Jung said “man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the
unconscious. Neither should he persist in this unconscious, nor remain identical with
the unconscious elements of his being, thus evading his destiny, which is to create more
and more consciousness. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence
is to kindle a light in the darkness.”

The following are questions you can ask yourself, a client or a friend to help explore the meaning of a dream. You may find the dreamer better able to answer your question if you first ask him to pretend that you come from another planet. This way, when you ask him, “Who is Bob Hope” he won’t simply answer, “You know who Bob Hope is!” and miss the opportunity of discovering his own specific association to the man. So often, what a dreamer assumes to be general knowledge or fact about a given figure or event is really a very personal web of attitudes beliefs and associations. Furthermore, the words the dreamer uses to describe a dream image will be the best ones to repeat to him in order to trigger relevant associations to his current life situation. Use the interviewer’s aid after the dreamer has told you the dream in the first person, present tense, as if he were reliving it.

Initial Questions

1. When you re-experience the feelings you had in the dream, do they remind you of anything in your current life?

2. Describe the opening setting of the dream: place, mood, feelings.

3. Does this remind you of anything? Does the location, mood, or these feelings remind you of anything in your life? Ask this about each setting in the dream.

4. Who is “X”? Ask the dreamer to tell you who each person in the dream is. He will respond best if you remind him that you come from another planet and do not know a thing about Earth life. If you avoid asking what does “X” mean to you”, you can bypass pre-mature interpretive efforts and help the dreamer better explore and experience the reality of the image. Later questions should then reveal the meanings with less effort as the descriptions make correspondences to life situations evident.

5. What is “X” like? This will encourage the producer to tell you what he thinks of “X”, and he will usually supply associations automatically. Another way to phrase this question is to ask what kind of person “X” is. Encourage the dreamer to give you his impressions of the dream person as he is in waking life and not to worry about being accurate or objective. If “X” is a person unknown to the dreamer, ask “What kind of person would you imagine “X” might be like?”

6. What is “X” like in your dream? What is “X” doing in your dream? By asking this sort of question you can find out what sort of “X” aspects are emphasized in a particular dream, as well as how these qualities help or hinder the dreamer.

7. Does “X” remind you of anything in your life? By repeating to the dreamer the description he has just given you (using the same adjectives and tone) the dreamer will often be able to link the description to someone close to himself. If not, you can ask.

8. Is there some part of you which is like “X”? You may meet with resistance here, especially if the dreamer has just described someone he strongly dislikes.

While you may see some of “X’s” characteristics in the dreamer, timing is all important. An offended producer will not talk much. The part of us that becomes offended is usually a child like component of our psyche. The child must step aside, as it is a higher part of us that interprets dreams. You can always return to this or any question later when the interview has warmed up a bit.

9. What is your waking relationship with “X” like? With this question you are trying to discover the nature of the relationship—intimate, casual, troublesome, enriching, etc. The dreamer will often supply interesting anecdotes of the history of the relationship if given the chance or the encouragement.

10. What is a “Y”? Ask the producer to define each of the major objects in the dream and tell you what it is used for and how it works. Remind him that you come from another planet and have never seen nor heard of a “Y”. Re-assure him that you are interested not in scientific accuracy but in his ideas or understanding of what a “Y” is and how it works. If you ask “What does a “Y” mean to you?”, you usually get a pre-mature interpretation—get a definition first.

11. What is the “Y” in your dream like and what does it remind you of? When the producer describes his dream objects, he may also add some associations, which you may or may not want to explore further.

12. Describe the major action or events in the dream and tell me what they remind you of in your waking life.

With practice, a flexible use of these questions will help to unlock the meaning of a dream. Often you will have to follow-up with questions specific to the given dream. You can use the following to establish a frame work for the interview process. Record the information relative to each of these components on a piece of paper under the following headings.

Opening setting:
Feelings:
Persons:
Objects:
Action:
Draw an image from the dream:

Dream Incubation involves submitting a question to the dream world with the sense that you will receive a relevant answer. It is best to work with this on a night when you are not over-tired, and when you do not have to get up to an alarm and hurry off in the morning.

At bedtime think of a question. The object is to come up with a question to submit to your unconscious mind. Is there something that is conflictual or problematic in your life? The question may concern process or content. It is best to word the question in a positive way, such as “What can I do about…” rather than “Why…”. Questions that ask why without requesting a solution often result in dreams that re-state the problem without posing a solution, although a re-statement of the problem can itself be helpful. There is also the option of posing a second question if the first question you want to ask is a why question. You may write this discussion out if you find it helpful. If you feel intuitively that you do not really want to know the answer to your question, do not ask the question specifically. Ask a related, less threatening question.

As you go to sleep, keep your incubation question in mind. This step is essential. If you can keep your question in mind, as you fall asleep, your dreams will relate to it. Also, put a notebook or recorder next to your bed. Record on a daily basis any dreams, fragments, feelings, or images immediately if you awaken during the night or in the morning. You will notice that the images can vanish very quickly. Do not dismiss anything as insignificant, irrelevant or stupid. If no dream comes to mind when you first awaken, relax, close your eyes, and assume your favorite sleep position, then try each of your sleeping positions.

Dream memories seem to be triggered by a relaxed state, and by assuming the body posture in which the dream took place, through this process you may re-enter the appropriate state. If you do remember a dream upon awakening, this process can help you retrieve more information. The tendency upon awakening to think about what we have to do during the coming day, what time it is, and so forth, are counter-productive to remembering dreams. Thus, incubation may be easier on a weekend, or whenever your schedule is more relaxed in the morning.

If you are one of those people, who, over time has programmed themselves to no longer remember their dreams, you may want to try the following proven techniques to open up to the process again.

The throat Chakra is the center of communication or the focus of that energy in the body. This technique involves a simple visualization process of opening or dilating the throat Chakra, much as you have seen the pupil of your eye dilate in response to changing light levels. At bedtime relax on your back and place your active hand (this is your right hand if you are right handed) on your throat. Bring your awareness to your heart, open your heart, then bring your awareness to your throat and open your throat. Then establish a dialogue with that part of your unconscious mind that dreams. Ask to dream that night, ask to remember the dream and to remember the dream when you wake up in the morning. It is essential that you ask to remember the dream when you wake up, otherwise you may remember that you dreamed and not the dream content. Allow yourself to fall asleep with your hand resting on your throat if that is comfortable for you as this will heighten the process. In time you will be very clear that this process leads to the desired effect.

The following is another technique that works for many people who have trouble remembering their dreams or for those who want to explore an additional range. We dream in cycles all night long and may have several dreams through the course of the evening. Dream cycles occur about every forty five minutes, with the deepest states attained in the early morning hours. Simply set an alarm clock to awaken you around 4:30 A.M. or about two hours before you normally awaken and arise. This is generally the time of the deepest dream state and if you interrupt this state you will often find you will be in a dream of great detail. And if at first you do not succeed, dream, dream again!

Consciousness researchers, psychotherapists, and neuroscientists have used several major vehicles to explore the vast reaches of the human mind—meditation, hypnosis, drugs, biofeedback, free association, and even brain imaging devices. But in many ways, dreams have been the most useful. Despite their bizarre narratives and puzzling imagery, dream reports are fairly easy to obtain from anyone in a sleep laboratory or through dream diaries.

The night’s first period of dreaming generally begins 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The neurons at the base of your skull start to fire a random barrage of high-voltage impulses that unleash a cascade of potent chemicals pouring into your forebrain. There, your visual and motor centers are stimulated, triggering memories that are presented and combined in original, vivid, and often baffling ways. Immediately, your brain’s mind creates a story that will make sense of these fragments, either providing a script that has waited patiently for the material that would allow it to surface or producing a narrative on the spot that matches—as best it can—the images and activities that have been kindled.

Sometimes these stories reflect basic problems in living with which you have wrestled for years; at other times they reflect the events of the past few days or hours, some trivial, some consequential. And in still other instances, as far as we know, the mind’s search for meaning produces what seems to be little more than a jumble of disparate pictures and events. This process of tale telling and story-making is remarkably similar to what transpires when you use language while awake. Dreams can be thought of as a language of the night.

Some tribal groups spoke of the “dreamtime”—a sacred or heroic era from the past that can only rarely be obtained in the present. Dreamtime can be evoked through nighttime dreams, through daytime visions, and through rituals involving storytelling, singing, dancing, and painting. Here we use the term to refer to the thoughts, feelings, and images that are arranged into narrative form while we are asleep. But it is important to recall that its use by native people is broader, referring to more concepts and experiences than those found in nighttime dream content.

The mental and emotional processes involved in dreamtime are similar in many ways to the thoughts and feelings experienced during wakefulness. People who were asked to make up a dream while awake produced accounts that judges could not discriminate from written reports of their nighttime dreams.

When you record your dreams, you write a report that typically connects a series of action-oriented images that are usually visual. Many scientists (including myself) believe that these reports can help you to understand your behavior, experiences, and intentions. Many psychotherapists are convinced that their clients will benefit from an understanding of their dreams because, on reflection, dream activities appear to be metaphors for our waking concerns. And it is often helpful to find a metaphorical image or activity for a personal problem.

Some writers, artists, and other Creative people have made deliberate use of their dream narratives and images in their work. An even larger number of individuals have claimed that their scientific, technological, athletic, or artistic breakthroughs resulted from dreams that were serendipitously recalled.

Hierarchy Of Dream Skills

Although dreaming is a natural talent easily available to everyone, it has been proven that dreaming abilities can be developed to yield better results. In my experience, dreamers can be trained systematically in a series of specific dream skills. Although every dreamer is unique, most dreamers will follow this general progression of skills as their experience level increases.

DREAM RECALL

The ability to remember a dream – specifically to retrieve it from memory and bring it to the conscious mind. This skill improves from recalling mere fragments to daily recall of complete complex narrative dreams.

DREAM RECORDING

The technique of recording a dream – usually by translating the psychic experience into words and committing them to written form. As part of the record include the date a title and any previous day’s highlights.

DREAM DIAGRAMING

The technique of analyzing a dream into its constituent key components, usually its characters, objects, environments, actions and feelings.

DREAM PROJECTION

The method of taking another’s dream as one’s own and associating one’s own meanings and reactions, cognitively and affectively. This approach facilitates the sympathetic sharing of dreams in groups. Popularized by Montague Ullman.

DREAM INTERVIEWING

The method of questioning the dreamer to learn what the key symbols mean to the dreamer. Popularized by Freud and Jung.

DREAM INCUBATION

The technique of programming your dream mind to respond to particular topics and questions posed by the conscious mind before sleep.

DREAM DIALOGING

The method of letting dream characters “speak” their own messages through the dreamer in conducive role-playing settings. Popularized by Fritz Perls and the Gestalt school.

DREAM RE-ENTRY

The ability to go back into a dream and recreate the same mental reality, letting its forces interact in new directions, combinations and resolutions. Explicated in various modes by Strephon Williams.

DREAM TRANSLATION

The technique of allowing the dream mind itself to interpret the dream in the hypnagogic state of the conscious mind.

DELPHI DREAMING

The technique of instant incubation whereby the dreamer enters a quasi-trance state, suspends the rational mind, and summons up dream mind responses to specific topics.

LUCID DREAMING

The skill to become awake and aware in one’s dreams. Initial lucidity usually occurs spontaneously.

PROGRAMMED LUCIDITY

The skill to consciously control one’s dream experiences, including induction and maintenance. The degree of control ranges from dream ego responses, to bodily movements, to complete control of the entire dream.

The following is a dream I received from Paul. The analysis technique I used was Dream Interviewing. You can find this technique discussed in more detail on the Dream Resource Pages on this site. In this technique I interviewed the dreamer (Paul in this case) asking what each symbol and image means to him. For example I asked Paul what is a piano? I said to Paul “assume that I am from another planet and I have never seen a piano, tell me about it. What function does it have in your world?” I asked if the dream relates to anything that is going on in the dreamers daily life. This interpretation technique allows the dreamer to retain ownership of their dream and their dream images and symbols.

There are several other techniques that I teach and use. Each is discussed under the section Dream Resources elsewhere on this site. I feel it is important that the dreamer always maintain ownership of their dream images and symbols. My interpretation of a dream is just that, my interpretation. If I interpret the dream then the interpretation says more about my psychological process than it does about the dreamers process. If I interpret the dream then in effect, it becomes my dream. It is more empowering if I simply act as a guide, a resource in the interpretation process.

There are images and symbols that are part of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams from every culture. A man, a woman, a snake, a fish, a bird, a dwelling, etc. are examples of collective images and symbols. Images and symbols that are cross cultural maintain the same meaning from one group to the next. Other than those cross cultural definitions, I feel that you can only go so far with fixed definitions from a dream dictionary. These definitions may help give you an initial insight into the personal meaning of an image or symbol. However, they were defined from within the context of the world view of the person who created the dictionary and accordingly carry a complex of limitations.

If you allow the ego to interpret the dreams images then they will usually be taken at face value, missing a deeper and possibly more cryptic meaning. Ultimately the meaning of the images and symbols comes from within the dreamers subconscious mind, because that is where they were struck into being. Therefore the images and symbols that are ascribed to the dream have a personal meaning only to the dreamer. To uncover the personal meaning the images must be interpreted in a non rational state, an intuitive or alpha state, similar to when they were formed. It is from this intuitive state that we experience the a ha! That moment of enlightenment when we experience the meaning from a greater place within ourselves. It is that intuitive knowing that jumps, takes a leap, makes a connection, beyond the limitations of the rational mind.

Paul’s Dream:

I had a great dream last night. I was looking at Pianos to put in the house since I have it to myself now. They were all ornate and unlike any piano I had ever really seen. They were very decorative with woodwork that went higher than the piano in all sorts of curves. Hard to explain but like a thick branch of wood that curved up like half a heart or half an eight and coming out in a set of four. Like an upside down table where the legs stem from the center. But really ornate and grooved or sculpted. It was almost like they doubled as tables in the dream though the table would be upside down sticking off the piano. But in the dream they were some modern thing only they did not look of modern style. And they were more square instead of longer. Then I remembered Ray (my sponsor and father figure from AA who died in 1994 friends since 1986) had a piano and he had moved and left the piano in his house. So I was going to go buy and see if I could pick it up if the new tenants did not want it. Or I was wondering if I should call Ray and ask him about it. Then I saw Ray in my dream and I think I was by the beach laying down and reaching towards him as he appeared and said something like you are beautiful or you are wonderful.

When I woke up from the dream about 7:00 AM I was really thirsty. So I went to get a drink of water (which I never do while sleeping) and as I was in the kitchen drinking I suddenly realized Ray had not moved as I thought in the dream but he had passed on and I got a chill as if he had just died because he was so alive in my dream. I was thinking I should call him as I woke up.
When I got back in bed and started writing I realized I was so thirsty because I was really hot. Like boiling without sweating. A very dry heat unlike when I have nightmares and sweat. I am glad I started writing then because the vivid details in the beginning started fading and I could not remember for sure exactly what he said. Very strange and so much to learn
from.

One thing I think I know for sure is Ray did not die. He just moved and I do not know where he moved to, except part of me thinks he moved Everywhere. Because in my dream this happened while talking to AL and suddenly Al turned into Ray and we were no longer at Al’s but on the beach and Ray lived by the beach and loved the beach. Ray probably represents a father energy in this dream but I also suspect it really was Ray. I used to want to talk to him and Mike so badly after they died and I was afraid to. Now I have had dreams about them both recently and maybe they are now able to talk to me. Ray also is like my grandma. Very loving and nurturing and supportive of all my endeavors.

The piano and wanting it in my house I think represents artisticness and creativeness and the fact that it was also like a table and of very nice quality and decorated – well we use tables to eat off of and this being a nice table maybe it represents a higher quality of life that I am
taking in and who I am taking it in with. I am sure there is much more than this but it is what I have come up with so far. Al is also a father figure and lives in my dads front house and he talks to me like I would like my dad and me to talk. He is also artistic and plays piano and paints.

The thing I am not sure of is why I woke up so hot. I think it is like when working with energy we get heated up and maybe the connection to Ray and the state I was in, in my dream caused this.

Any insights appreciated.

Paul

Reply to Paul from Karl:

In real life Paul’s roommate recently left and Paul now has the house to himself. The image of the piano that Paul presents is very feminine in nature, with all of the curves and the ornate nature. It also has a male quality with the square shape and the four legs. There is balance in the image.

I asked Paul what a piano was. He replied a musical instrument. I replied yes and have you ever noticed that in all of the old classic films there is always a piano in the house. At some point everyone in the house gathers around the piano while someone entertains. Often in the middle of a party everyone will stop their activity and focus around the piano. Prior to television and radio the piano was the focus of life in many homes. This ornate piano is not your common everyday piano. It is of fine quality and would probably be found in a finely furnished home. A finely furnished home may be an image for a healthy and integrated psyche.

The piano has additional features. It can also be a table. A table is a common symbol in dreams and occurs in most cultures in dreams. It is significant that the legs are in a set of four. Four is the number of logic and reason and of structures and of the mind. The table is a staging area for the constructions of the mind in a sense. It is of the physical dimension and created by man. It is a platform from which we express our creativity. It is a platform upon which we place our books for learning and a place where we gather as a family or a community and partake in the fruits of life. A place where we dine and a place where we grieve. A table can also be another significant gathering place for the family.

Ray seems to represent someone in Paul’s life that was a father figure or an initiatory and validating energy. The carrier of an energy of creativity and unconditional love that may not have been struck by his parents. Ray and Paul are next on the beach. The beach represents a transition zone from the unconscious process’s signified by the water and the unexplored lands that lie beyond, a metaphor for other psychological dimensions or terrain. He says, “you are beautiful!,” something that Paul takes in, merges with and realizes for the first time.

The intense heat is the result of an energetic opening and balancing. In a sense it is the result of the flames of purification. An alchemical process where the flames of spirit and consciousness transmute lead into gold. The lead of judgment, the weight of duality, melts and transmutes to gold, the refinement offers up pure awareness, resulting in freedom from the judgments of the past and the experience of that field beyond duality.

Ray and Al were clearly both significant initiators for Paul in his life. They each helped him see his own inner beauty and creative range. What he saw in them first had to exist within him or he would not have been able to see it. The dream shows us that Paul maybe for the first time in his life is owning the qualities in himself that he first saw and admired in others.

The following is the response that I received from Paul, after I the interview process and a joint interpretation of the symbols and images contained within his dream.

Dream notes from Paul

First and foremost in my mind is that Ray, my beloved friend who past on is with me now more than ever before. The unconditional love he gave to me I am now allowing myself to feel for myself. I am integrating his fatherly love into myself and into my home and I am beginning to feel self love instead of understanding it as a concept. All his creative wisdom and talent are a part of me and everything thing I see, hear, feel, taste and touch are a part of him and at the same time a part of of me. And all these parts of me including the parts of me I did not recognize in me but recognized in him are blooming in me now and they are beautiful.

I did not mention this before in my dream notes but as I am on the beach reaching for Ray and he tells me I am beautiful, it was as if I was David reaching for God in the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.

I was reaching for him from the same position in the same way. Ray was also a spiritual guide for me. So it is as if I reached out to touch God. Not only the God in Ray but the God in myself. This is such an exciting dream for me. I am flooded with emotion as I write this in such a beautiful way.

It’s like having found God and truly realizing he is within me and within everyone & everything and I am within everything as well. I cannot explain it, but it feels wonderful, but it is a calm wonderful. Even now as I write I see all this energy between me and the computer. As I watched people today it was interesting to note that the most interesting people were just overflowing with energy.

The piano helps bring all these parts of me together. Just as people have gathered around a piano to sing and have fun together in a creative way, I am coming together with myself. Learning to have fun with myself. To be creative within myself. All the parts of me can now come together around the piano and co-exist peacefully as we sing, play, and laugh. The ornateness of the piano has a very feminine quality, further symbolizing the creative energies balancing with my masculine energies.

The duality of it being a piano and a table seems to represent several things: The legs being strong and the piano being square seem to represent this will be a good foundation to build upon. A rational foundation for all my creative energies to interact safely. It’s ornateness also seems to represent a higher quality of life to build upon.

The table is also a place we gather around to nourish ourselves with food. Food for our bodies but also food for our souls as we gather with our loved ones nourishing ourselves and each other. A table is also a place for us to do things from. If we are reading we put the book on the table. Everything in our lives seems to be set on tables. So it is a beautiful foundation to celebrate around, to build upon, and to grow from as I experience God by experiencing myself.

The heat I experienced in my body upon awakening feels like I have achieved some higher state of consciousness and this seems evident in my life. I feel more centered and real the last two days. I also seem to see and feel more around me. Focusing on peoples energy takes less concentration and with more concentration I see more than before.

It seems as I am integrating I am becoming more conscious and collapsing old belief systems down takes less effort. I feel like I could write a novel on this but I will stop there for now.

There are cultural, ethnic, institutional, and personal myths, among others. Rather than judged as “true” or “false” myths can be evaluated as functional or dysfunctional in regard to growth, development and the attaining of goals set by a group or an individual.

Dreams appear to synthesize the dreamer’s existing mythic structures with the information gleaned from life experience. Personal myths seem to develop in a manner that is parallel to the way dreams develop because they are related to the brain’s propensity for language, imagery and story-telling. These are the raw materials for myth and I believe that dreams play an active role in the ongoing revision of the dreamer’s personal mythology.

After listening to my seminar participants use dreams to discover their personal myths, I tabulated the themes that appeared most frequently. Curiously, these themes appeared in pairs of polar opposites, often within the same dream. Some dreams—and personal myths—centered around achievement, while others centered on deprivation. Other polarities were creation and destruction, completion and fragmentation, affirmation and cynicism, acceptance and rejection, empowerment and debilitation, reconciliation and alienation, wisdom and ignorance, loyalty and betrayal, intimacy and separation, questing and passivity, death and rebirth.

To cite Rollo May, “Dreaming has some connection with man’s distinctive capacity for transcendence, i.e. his capacity to break through the immediate objective limits of existence and bring together into one dramatic union diverse dimensions of experience.”