THE ART OF DREAMING was a presentation I made on January 8, 2011 for the Branford Foundation. The forty attendees gathered together to explore a variety of dreams, dream symbols, and directives for dream recall. Embracing dreams as a means of communication, the audience was encouraged to discover the unique meaning to personal dream language. Through storytelling examples were given reflecting the magic of dreams.
Attention was distributed amongst cultures, historical figures, and current dreamers. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese cultures honored dream interpretation. Native American Indians daily monitored dreams; listened to the dreams of children and elders; participated in sacred dream days; and held dream festivals.
There are so many other dreamers: Ramanujan, a mathematical genius from India
Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine dreamed that he was taken captive by natives. He was in the middle of the natives circle fearing death, when he noticed the spears being pounded up and down into the earth had small holes in the tips. It was from this nightmare that he was able to perfect his invention.
Louis Agassiz, 1807-1883 was the Founding Father of Modern American Scientific Tradition. He was working with newly discovered fossils. For three consecutive nights he dreamed of a particular fish with explicit markings. On the third night, he finally got up and sketched the design of the fish. The next morning he found a fish amongst the fossils that perfectly matched his sketch and that had never been previously catalogued.
Madame C. J. Walker 1867-1919 was an African American woman who became the first woman millionaire. She had a scalp condition that would not heal no matter what she tried. In a dream, a large black man appeared to her telling her of a potion, the exact ingredients, and how to apply it to her scalp. Upon awakening, Madame Walker prepared the tincture and applied it to her head. Much to her surprise, her scalp healed. She continued experimenting with tonics, lotions, and cosmetics becoming a very wealthy woman. She was a highly respected business woman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
In our current day, Jack Nicklaus credits his improved golf swing to a dream; Paul McCartney credits the song YESTERDAY to a dream; and Stephen King credits many of his bazaar book ideas as coming from dreams. Authors, song writers, poets, inventors, and all human beings have the ability to tap into their dream source where unlimited discoveries can be made.
(Enough for one sitting! I will continue, as Paul Harvey would say, “The Rest of the Story” as time allows, working my way through the entire presentation. I will follow the outline sharing quotes and references as I report.)
Quoting the wonderful lyrics of the Carpenters:
We’ve Only Just Begun …
Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin’ it over, just the two of us
Workin’ together day to day, together …
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