Great Dream 2
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The Second Great Dream The Dream It was the night 26/27 October 1998. when I had a dream that I would like to describe here. It was an experience that had strong effect on me. I have immediately named this dream "great" because I felt its significance. Soon after that, I started to read psychological literature and, generally, to become interested in human's mind. Even though many years have passed since then, I still remember every single detail of The Second Great Dream. Maybe it's because I have retailed it to myself so many times before sleep, but also in many other occasions - whenever I needed to be encouraged and reminded that the force that was on my side still existed, even when I was unaware of it. Why "The Second"? I have called it "The Second", because there was the first one, too. It was also very important for me, and I have dreamed it in the beginning of my high school. But this one, the second, had overshadowed its precursor as well as it did with many other dreams that were to come in following years.
What preceded the dream? I won't go too deep into self-analysis here. That would take too much space, and besides, my intention was to accentuate the dream itself, as a beautiful message that came directly from the unconscious part of my psyche. They say that even just recalling of a dream's details helps in self- cognition. A man doesn't need to analyze everything in his life. However, for sake of better understanding of circumstances in which my dream came to me, I will say that in 1998, I was a 23-y.o student living in Europe, in the country that was going through a great crisis [email protected]
those days. A crisis whose marks are very visible even today. In October 1998. my country abided threats from the mighty military alliance that was promising an attack of great proportion. Everybody were very nervous, spending all their time watching news on TV, and waiting for the results of negotiations of our government with foreign representatives. I took my part in that restlessness, too. I felt great fear. I feared for my life, for my family, for my country (in reversed alphabetical order). I remember my military service, couple of years before that, and I didn't want to see again scenes of refugees seeking shelter from enemy's airplanes. I didn't want to see any more destruction around. Easily, my mind switched from the war theme to my personal life. I would describe myself as rather shy person who has always been playing by the rules. That would bring me sympathies of elders, but also became my great ballast. I have spent a sizeable part of my life stiffed by fear. "How did I become a person I am now?", I asked myself. Gradually, I realized that I didn't want to live that way any more. "I want my life", I repeated. It is really strange how the close presence of death efficiently distinguishes relevant things in man's mind from irrelevant ones. Circumstances in which my country was in that moment were useful for me, since that additional pressure has obviously managed to trigger waves in deeper layers of my psyche. Suddenly, I felt peace. The tension weakened and I no longer cared if there would be war or not. Far more important to me was war for my personal freedom, which was just started.
The road less traveled The next day I went out and bought a book "The Road Less Traveled" by Scott Peck. It was such a good book—I couldn’t put it down. It looked as if many of her parts were addressed directly to me. Much was said about this book elsewhere, so I won't repeat it – I will only say that the book meant a lot to me at that moment. There is one chapter in it that tells about "wonders" of everyday life that are arranged for us by some higher force, and which have positive influence on our lives. Dreams belong to those wonders.
[email protected]
After the reading was finished, I threw myself into the deep reflection about the meaning of my life. Who I am, how did I get here and where I want to go? I felt that those were very important moments of my existence. People around me were still concerned about political news, but I didn't care any more. And then, in the night 26/27th October, I had that dream.
The Second Great Dream I won't interrupt description of the dream with explanations. We'll deal with it later. So… In this dream I found myself in USA, in a small town which looked as if it had been taken from some Wild West movie scene. The aim of my trip to this town was to find the house of Louis Armstrong. In this dream, he wasn't jazz musician, but some great writer whose books I appreciated a lot. I have come to his home town to get an explanation of a paragraph from one of his books. I felt that the paragraph was very important for my life, but I couldn't figure it's meaning. In my dream, as in the real world, Louis was long time dead, but I wanted to find some of his relatives. Perhaps they would be able to help me. So, there I am – in a small province town from the past times. The town consists only of one long street. The day is warm, and I stand in the middle of the street like some gunslinger waiting for the duel. I begin with my quest and enter the first house on the right side of the street. The interior of the house is shady. There is one woman in the dining room, her eyes reveal that she's been crying. She doesn't notice me. I realize that this is not the house I was looking for, and go out in silence. I go further and face the saloon on the left side. It's a real saloon from the age of Wild West, with several men afore. Some of them are lying, some are resting on the walls. Obviously, they are drunk. I ask them about Armstrong's house, but they start to laugh at me. One of them, that seems a little bit more reasonable (i.e. drier) says that this is not the house I am looking for. So, I go on my way.
[email protected]
I leave the town, and find myself on the field. The day is sunny and beautiful. Further, on a little barrow, I see the tree. It must be very cosily sitting in its shade. But, I go back to the town. Near the entrance to the street, I see children playing and ask them about the house. One child tells me the exact address of my destination. "You see, sometimes it's easier to accommodate with children than with elders", I think. Otherwise, the street that child told me about, is known to me from my real life. In my city, in that street (not exactly on the same address) lived my late godfather – the man who gave me my name. I go back to the main street and sat forth to my goal. As I go, a young man appears beside me and walks by my side. I know that he'll go with me to my destination. The guy's suit is outworn, and his attitude is pretty negligent (as opposite to my own). As we walk, I want to break the silence and say to him- "This may sound stupid, but which town is this?" He says – "Louisiana" (I know that it is a state, not a town, but remember – this is a dream). My answer is – "Good! I don't know how did I get here, I could easily find myself in Pennsylvania!" After awhile, we reach the door of the house. It's a old-fashioned house with one floor. I knock on the door and a man emerges behind them. His appearance makes a strong impression to me. He is black, about 6ft tall but his guise reveals utter serenity. This guy is completely calm, and every detail on him shows it, especially the eyes. In my dream I think that Jesus could have looked like this if he had been black. Slowly, with a deep, pleasant voice, he asks me how he can help. "Is this Armstrong's house?", I ask. (at that moment, I see that this man has some Louise's features, he's probably his descendant). He says that it is and asks how he can help me. I show him the book. While we talk, a woman peers from the house. She's most probably my companion's wife. At that moment, the guy I came with enters the house and disappears inside, together with the woman. My host and me also go in and climb the stairs. Those stairs are familiar to me from the real life. I saw them in the house where headquarters of my unit was placed during my military service 1995! We stop in front of [email protected]
the closed door, I open the book and show him the paragraph for which meaning I've traveled so far. The man reads it and reflects, but before he manages to answer – the door opens and two officers appear. I know who they are, both of them were in my army unit, and one of them was a commander of my battalion – Major Petar Erdely. (I must mention here that we didn't took any participation in the war in ex Yugoslavia, as well as the rest of my country's units those days. So, I didn't have any war experience). Major salutes me with his characteristic, deep voice and shakes my hand. Meanwhile, my host goes downstairs and I feel dissatisfaction because I didn't get the desired answer to my question.
The morning after I couldn't get myself together, long after I woke up. The dream was so real that getting back to reality was a big problem for a few moments. The dream's duration, the power of emotions and impressions…everything was telling me that I had had prodigious experience that night. I gave it a lot of thought. I didn't linger on thinking too long. Soon, I bought a book "Jungian Dream Analysis" with desire to elucidate the meaning of this dream. Carl Jung, the great psychiatrist, paid a great attention to dreams in his work, and even believed that dreams themselves could have influence on the dreamer's mind. The biggest impression on me, nevertheless, was made by an idea that dreams come from the wiser part of our mind and that they try to help and to lead us to the path of successful aging. It was interesting to me, also, that Jung used the term "great dreams" – to describe dreams that rarely occur, but because of their strength and symbolism, have great influence on spiritual development of the dreamer. For me, my dream fulfilled those "terms", and that's why I called it "The Great".
How did I interpret the meaning?
[email protected]
They say that he who believes in dreams, knows how to interpret them. With some help of my heart but also from the books, I came to the partial meaning of my dream. It's a personal interpretation, that surely wouldn't coincide with clinical one, but it was useful to me. As I said, the interpretation is partial. Some of dream's symbols I haven't managed to understand completely even until now, but maybe it's not necessary. As I said, it's not needed to understand everything in this world. In the following part I will mention list of symbols from my dream (as I recognized them) and my interpretation. v Traveling to the distant place and time – this was the very beginning of my dream. I consider it as a symbol of my reflections about my life and childhood that foreran the dream. The town that looks like a place from the Wild West was the perfect scene for the dream, since it looked like environment for the movies I used to watch as a little boy. v Louis Armstrong – man whose book I have read but one part wasn't clear to me. Had it been the writer who wrote the story of my life? At this moment, while I'm writing this lines, it crosses my mind that my late father liked the music of Louis Armstrong! So, I went to the distant town from the past (i.e. I to personal past) to get some answers about my present person. v The first house – and crying woman in it. It looks like my mother whom I have always perceived as very sensitive and vulnerable person that stayed a little bit mysterious to me. It seems that I am like her. v The second house – or, the saloon. It represents my relationship with society which wasn't too close. In school, I was shy and restraint, sensible to teasing. v The field out of the town – where I got myself after the saloon. There is logic – after unpleasant experiences with human surrounding, I would usually retreat to my inner worlds. The nature seems like an ideal place for that. v Children - I have found them on my way back to the town, and from them, finally, I managed to get the address of the house. This may be some sort of regression to the innocent age of my early childhood which stayed in the best remembrance to me. [email protected]
v My attendant – by my opinion, this is the right example of "the shadow" symbol from the Jungian psychology. The shadow is, by Jung, representative of dark aspects of our character which have been rejected or repressed due to our upbringing, or a disapproving society. Although the shadow is thought of as the dark side of the individual it should be noted that it could also contain undeveloped positive parts. By Jung, man can't become whole without integrating components of the shadow in his personality. In dreams, the shadow may present itself as an unknown individual usually of the same sex as the dreamer, usually helping him to solve the situation within the dream. v The Host – the awesome person from the dream. I am not religious in the formal meaning, but this man really looked like Jesus (off course, except the racial difference). Some holiness was shining from him and his presence was celestial. This guy could be the Jungian "Self" symbol that represents the striving for unity, wholeness, and integration. Appearance of this symbol in dreams is particularly important – it can be healing, and can help the dreamer to transcend inner conflicts. v The Host's wife – who left with my attendant. I didn't completely clarify this part. This may be some sexual symbol – an identifier of my shadow's ability to handle the opposite sex (shy conscious part of my personality lacked in this skill). What a shame for my Host! v Major Erdely – I remember him as a stern but fair officer whom many had feared of. He was a corpulent man, with large moustaches and deep voice, always querulous, but principally more positive person that he showed. In my dream, he showed up at the moment when I was going to get the answer to my question but… maybe the Major himself was the answer. Because, my question was "how did I become this person?" Did it mean that the question of my life was – fear form authority? How can I solve it – unfortunately, that question I didn't ask. I can perceive this dream as my life story. I believe that it was some kind of recapitulation of thoughts I had been dealing with previously, but there were many other elements that were quite unfamiliar to me.
[email protected]
No matter if I had understood the meaning of the dream in the right way or not, it meant a lot to me. Maybe there was nothing there to understand, It had to be experienced. I started to face my long avoided fears in everyday life, and next couple of months I spend in a condition of some sort of exaltation. The feeling I have got then- that I have inner guidance, had never left me after that. So, I wanted to share my dream with others this way. To me, as an ex- skeptic, The Second Great Dream served as an evidence that miracles can happen everyday even to "ordinary" people. And, miracles in my life continued to occur even after – not only in my dreams (and there were many of them), but in so called real life, too. Thank you for taking your time and attention to read this text.
Literature The books I have read directly before and after dreaming of The Great Dream helped me a lot in seeking for the answer to some questions of my life. I sincerely recommend them for reading. 1.
"The Road Less Traveled" – Scott Peck
2.
"Man and his symbols"- Carl Gustav Jung
3.
"The Power of Now" – Ekcart Tolle
4.
"Jungian Dream Interpretation: A Handbook of Theory and Practice" – James A. Hall
Vladeta Marinkovic (1975, Belgrade, Serbia). Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, currently (2005) working as Senior Media Planner in Ogilvy&Mather agency in Belgrade. [email protected] http://vladeta.netfirms.com
Copyright © 2006 Vladeta Marinkovic. All rights reserved.
[email protected]
[email protected]
What preceded the dream? I won't go too deep into self-analysis here. That would take too much space, and besides, my intention was to accentuate the dream itself, as a beautiful message that came directly from the unconscious part of my psyche. They say that even just recalling of a dream's details helps in self- cognition. A man doesn't need to analyze everything in his life. However, for sake of better understanding of circumstances in which my dream came to me, I will say that in 1998, I was a 23-y.o student living in Europe, in the country that was going through a great crisis [email protected]
those days. A crisis whose marks are very visible even today. In October 1998. my country abided threats from the mighty military alliance that was promising an attack of great proportion. Everybody were very nervous, spending all their time watching news on TV, and waiting for the results of negotiations of our government with foreign representatives. I took my part in that restlessness, too. I felt great fear. I feared for my life, for my family, for my country (in reversed alphabetical order). I remember my military service, couple of years before that, and I didn't want to see again scenes of refugees seeking shelter from enemy's airplanes. I didn't want to see any more destruction around. Easily, my mind switched from the war theme to my personal life. I would describe myself as rather shy person who has always been playing by the rules. That would bring me sympathies of elders, but also became my great ballast. I have spent a sizeable part of my life stiffed by fear. "How did I become a person I am now?", I asked myself. Gradually, I realized that I didn't want to live that way any more. "I want my life", I repeated. It is really strange how the close presence of death efficiently distinguishes relevant things in man's mind from irrelevant ones. Circumstances in which my country was in that moment were useful for me, since that additional pressure has obviously managed to trigger waves in deeper layers of my psyche. Suddenly, I felt peace. The tension weakened and I no longer cared if there would be war or not. Far more important to me was war for my personal freedom, which was just started.
The road less traveled The next day I went out and bought a book "The Road Less Traveled" by Scott Peck. It was such a good book—I couldn’t put it down. It looked as if many of her parts were addressed directly to me. Much was said about this book elsewhere, so I won't repeat it – I will only say that the book meant a lot to me at that moment. There is one chapter in it that tells about "wonders" of everyday life that are arranged for us by some higher force, and which have positive influence on our lives. Dreams belong to those wonders.
[email protected]
After the reading was finished, I threw myself into the deep reflection about the meaning of my life. Who I am, how did I get here and where I want to go? I felt that those were very important moments of my existence. People around me were still concerned about political news, but I didn't care any more. And then, in the night 26/27th October, I had that dream.
The Second Great Dream I won't interrupt description of the dream with explanations. We'll deal with it later. So… In this dream I found myself in USA, in a small town which looked as if it had been taken from some Wild West movie scene. The aim of my trip to this town was to find the house of Louis Armstrong. In this dream, he wasn't jazz musician, but some great writer whose books I appreciated a lot. I have come to his home town to get an explanation of a paragraph from one of his books. I felt that the paragraph was very important for my life, but I couldn't figure it's meaning. In my dream, as in the real world, Louis was long time dead, but I wanted to find some of his relatives. Perhaps they would be able to help me. So, there I am – in a small province town from the past times. The town consists only of one long street. The day is warm, and I stand in the middle of the street like some gunslinger waiting for the duel. I begin with my quest and enter the first house on the right side of the street. The interior of the house is shady. There is one woman in the dining room, her eyes reveal that she's been crying. She doesn't notice me. I realize that this is not the house I was looking for, and go out in silence. I go further and face the saloon on the left side. It's a real saloon from the age of Wild West, with several men afore. Some of them are lying, some are resting on the walls. Obviously, they are drunk. I ask them about Armstrong's house, but they start to laugh at me. One of them, that seems a little bit more reasonable (i.e. drier) says that this is not the house I am looking for. So, I go on my way.
[email protected]
I leave the town, and find myself on the field. The day is sunny and beautiful. Further, on a little barrow, I see the tree. It must be very cosily sitting in its shade. But, I go back to the town. Near the entrance to the street, I see children playing and ask them about the house. One child tells me the exact address of my destination. "You see, sometimes it's easier to accommodate with children than with elders", I think. Otherwise, the street that child told me about, is known to me from my real life. In my city, in that street (not exactly on the same address) lived my late godfather – the man who gave me my name. I go back to the main street and sat forth to my goal. As I go, a young man appears beside me and walks by my side. I know that he'll go with me to my destination. The guy's suit is outworn, and his attitude is pretty negligent (as opposite to my own). As we walk, I want to break the silence and say to him- "This may sound stupid, but which town is this?" He says – "Louisiana" (I know that it is a state, not a town, but remember – this is a dream). My answer is – "Good! I don't know how did I get here, I could easily find myself in Pennsylvania!" After awhile, we reach the door of the house. It's a old-fashioned house with one floor. I knock on the door and a man emerges behind them. His appearance makes a strong impression to me. He is black, about 6ft tall but his guise reveals utter serenity. This guy is completely calm, and every detail on him shows it, especially the eyes. In my dream I think that Jesus could have looked like this if he had been black. Slowly, with a deep, pleasant voice, he asks me how he can help. "Is this Armstrong's house?", I ask. (at that moment, I see that this man has some Louise's features, he's probably his descendant). He says that it is and asks how he can help me. I show him the book. While we talk, a woman peers from the house. She's most probably my companion's wife. At that moment, the guy I came with enters the house and disappears inside, together with the woman. My host and me also go in and climb the stairs. Those stairs are familiar to me from the real life. I saw them in the house where headquarters of my unit was placed during my military service 1995! We stop in front of [email protected]
the closed door, I open the book and show him the paragraph for which meaning I've traveled so far. The man reads it and reflects, but before he manages to answer – the door opens and two officers appear. I know who they are, both of them were in my army unit, and one of them was a commander of my battalion – Major Petar Erdely. (I must mention here that we didn't took any participation in the war in ex Yugoslavia, as well as the rest of my country's units those days. So, I didn't have any war experience). Major salutes me with his characteristic, deep voice and shakes my hand. Meanwhile, my host goes downstairs and I feel dissatisfaction because I didn't get the desired answer to my question.
The morning after I couldn't get myself together, long after I woke up. The dream was so real that getting back to reality was a big problem for a few moments. The dream's duration, the power of emotions and impressions…everything was telling me that I had had prodigious experience that night. I gave it a lot of thought. I didn't linger on thinking too long. Soon, I bought a book "Jungian Dream Analysis" with desire to elucidate the meaning of this dream. Carl Jung, the great psychiatrist, paid a great attention to dreams in his work, and even believed that dreams themselves could have influence on the dreamer's mind. The biggest impression on me, nevertheless, was made by an idea that dreams come from the wiser part of our mind and that they try to help and to lead us to the path of successful aging. It was interesting to me, also, that Jung used the term "great dreams" – to describe dreams that rarely occur, but because of their strength and symbolism, have great influence on spiritual development of the dreamer. For me, my dream fulfilled those "terms", and that's why I called it "The Great".
How did I interpret the meaning?
[email protected]
They say that he who believes in dreams, knows how to interpret them. With some help of my heart but also from the books, I came to the partial meaning of my dream. It's a personal interpretation, that surely wouldn't coincide with clinical one, but it was useful to me. As I said, the interpretation is partial. Some of dream's symbols I haven't managed to understand completely even until now, but maybe it's not necessary. As I said, it's not needed to understand everything in this world. In the following part I will mention list of symbols from my dream (as I recognized them) and my interpretation. v Traveling to the distant place and time – this was the very beginning of my dream. I consider it as a symbol of my reflections about my life and childhood that foreran the dream. The town that looks like a place from the Wild West was the perfect scene for the dream, since it looked like environment for the movies I used to watch as a little boy. v Louis Armstrong – man whose book I have read but one part wasn't clear to me. Had it been the writer who wrote the story of my life? At this moment, while I'm writing this lines, it crosses my mind that my late father liked the music of Louis Armstrong! So, I went to the distant town from the past (i.e. I to personal past) to get some answers about my present person. v The first house – and crying woman in it. It looks like my mother whom I have always perceived as very sensitive and vulnerable person that stayed a little bit mysterious to me. It seems that I am like her. v The second house – or, the saloon. It represents my relationship with society which wasn't too close. In school, I was shy and restraint, sensible to teasing. v The field out of the town – where I got myself after the saloon. There is logic – after unpleasant experiences with human surrounding, I would usually retreat to my inner worlds. The nature seems like an ideal place for that. v Children - I have found them on my way back to the town, and from them, finally, I managed to get the address of the house. This may be some sort of regression to the innocent age of my early childhood which stayed in the best remembrance to me. [email protected]
v My attendant – by my opinion, this is the right example of "the shadow" symbol from the Jungian psychology. The shadow is, by Jung, representative of dark aspects of our character which have been rejected or repressed due to our upbringing, or a disapproving society. Although the shadow is thought of as the dark side of the individual it should be noted that it could also contain undeveloped positive parts. By Jung, man can't become whole without integrating components of the shadow in his personality. In dreams, the shadow may present itself as an unknown individual usually of the same sex as the dreamer, usually helping him to solve the situation within the dream. v The Host – the awesome person from the dream. I am not religious in the formal meaning, but this man really looked like Jesus (off course, except the racial difference). Some holiness was shining from him and his presence was celestial. This guy could be the Jungian "Self" symbol that represents the striving for unity, wholeness, and integration. Appearance of this symbol in dreams is particularly important – it can be healing, and can help the dreamer to transcend inner conflicts. v The Host's wife – who left with my attendant. I didn't completely clarify this part. This may be some sexual symbol – an identifier of my shadow's ability to handle the opposite sex (shy conscious part of my personality lacked in this skill). What a shame for my Host! v Major Erdely – I remember him as a stern but fair officer whom many had feared of. He was a corpulent man, with large moustaches and deep voice, always querulous, but principally more positive person that he showed. In my dream, he showed up at the moment when I was going to get the answer to my question but… maybe the Major himself was the answer. Because, my question was "how did I become this person?" Did it mean that the question of my life was – fear form authority? How can I solve it – unfortunately, that question I didn't ask. I can perceive this dream as my life story. I believe that it was some kind of recapitulation of thoughts I had been dealing with previously, but there were many other elements that were quite unfamiliar to me.
[email protected]
No matter if I had understood the meaning of the dream in the right way or not, it meant a lot to me. Maybe there was nothing there to understand, It had to be experienced. I started to face my long avoided fears in everyday life, and next couple of months I spend in a condition of some sort of exaltation. The feeling I have got then- that I have inner guidance, had never left me after that. So, I wanted to share my dream with others this way. To me, as an ex- skeptic, The Second Great Dream served as an evidence that miracles can happen everyday even to "ordinary" people. And, miracles in my life continued to occur even after – not only in my dreams (and there were many of them), but in so called real life, too. Thank you for taking your time and attention to read this text.
Literature The books I have read directly before and after dreaming of The Great Dream helped me a lot in seeking for the answer to some questions of my life. I sincerely recommend them for reading. 1.
"The Road Less Traveled" – Scott Peck
2.
"Man and his symbols"- Carl Gustav Jung
3.
"The Power of Now" – Ekcart Tolle
4.
"Jungian Dream Interpretation: A Handbook of Theory and Practice" – James A. Hall
Vladeta Marinkovic (1975, Belgrade, Serbia). Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, currently (2005) working as Senior Media Planner in Ogilvy&Mather agency in Belgrade. [email protected] http://vladeta.netfirms.com
Copyright © 2006 Vladeta Marinkovic. All rights reserved.
[email protected]
[email protected]
