DREAM: INSTINCT AND SPIRIT..December 13, 2009

INTRODUCTION: Because of cultural and religious conventions, I am always hesitant posting dreams where human sexuality images are  part of the essential communication. I would expect such to be the case of any adult's  serious effort to examine their dreams overtime. The Collective Unconscious refuses to let a person escape the importance of this most earthbound aspect of human life. I am a product of the negative influences of culture and feel a need to protect myself from irrational and fear based reactions. That is a weakness of mine so I again write such an introduction as this. This dream has many collective archetypal images in it, ones that are found  repeatedly in religious texts  and ancient myth including Bible stories. They are just given a unique twist here. That being the case, this dream likely has much in it regarding not just me personally but our whole culture.

I was in W.L.'s environment.( W.L. was an important childhood buddy who my dreams have used consistently to refer to my, not his in any way whatsoever, darker shadow side.) We went to a country farm. I realized I needed to get back in town. The only transportation available was a flat 6' by 6' board with wheels close to the ground. You stood on the board and held two poles by which you guided it. I did not feel at all confident but once going I managed it well. I knew I needed to keep going downhill as much as possible and not get into any off the road situations. I did get off the road once but managed to get it back on course and I guess reached my destination.

Riding 'Board With Wheels'

2. I was with family and friends , who were all female, in a very high scale hotel. I had my own private quarters and very little responsibility. It seems all the women were dressing to the hilt and were interested in sexual encounters. In one sense it seems like a brothel. The  rooms were luxurious. I accidentally walked in on a lady in a bathroom. I expressed apology and was embarrassed.

3. I was in Arizona and  was looking for a fresh apple on a tree. I had been to this area many years before and even knew where a tree was. It was next door to a school house. I went through a gate into the yard of a small home. There was the apple tree and a child. The child was not able to reach an apple for me so I climbed the tree. As I reached out for an apple the branch I was on broke and I tumbled to the ground. I feared the people of the house would be angry but they weren't. I eventually did get a nice red apple. The people commented that they paid 100 k for the home. I thought that was quite reasonable for a house and nice lot in an Arizona city.

Eve Receives Fruit From Human Child-Serpent Image

4. There was a baby boy. I was helping to some degree to take care of him. The mother was bothered that he had a larger than average penis. He was not circumcised. I confidently told her he was totally natural and normal. I said we would teach him to not drip. I  realized it was way too early for that.

REFLECTION: I am at a loss at the start to comment on this. It was not an upsetting dream. I was reasonably calm and assured throughout the dreams. There is much 'earthiness' and 'naturalness' about the dreams; W.L is always an element of my shadow which is also very real and down to earth. The brothel environment has to do with basic instincts. I am not being pulled into any inappropriate behavior there but also am not overly moralistic or judgmental about the sexual atmosphere and this component of human life. The apple is also an earthy symbol of life and wholeness. And the well endowed baby boy fits the 'earthy' theme.

1. In the W.L. dream , he is not present , only his neighborhood. He and his extended family lived in a community of about six homes. Also there was a little store where his grandmother often gave us kids treats. I loved this exciting neighborhood and preferred it over my own more boring one.  So the shadow is present but no longer problematic. It has become conscious and integrated at least to a significant degree. Such work is never completed. The six by six board  indicates that completion has not yet arrived but the square shows it is close at hand. I am in reasonable control of the six by six device. I am in an upscale neighborhood and reaching my goal. The vehicle is very 'close to the ground' which fits the 'earthy' theme of these images. To travel successfully a human must be in touch and 'conscious of' his/her basic instincts. Present Western humanity in general has let itself be cut off from this aspect of our human reality. Present day religious attitudes often does this to people, encouraging them to reject their basic instincts instead of acknowledging them and desiring they be a balanced and appreciated part of real life. Because these basic instincts have been rejected and repressed, naturally they come back to outer social lives in very negative and destructive ways including dehumanizing pornography, crime,homophobia, broken love relationships, desecrating the physical planet, denial of human rights and war.

Hammurabi -1800BCE, Protected Legal Rights Of  'Devoted  Women'

2.Dream two I think shows women who are in contact with their 'inner goddess' which is a very good thing for women and others. They are unashamedly aware of their beauty, their capacity to bring a love experience to others and to the world. They are in touch with their very natural eroticism. This is not only reflected in their pampering their bodies and preparing for love but the whole upscale environment is of an erotic and sexually arousing nature. It is an accident that I stumble into an area where a lady is bathing. I turn my eyes away, make my apology and quickly exit. I am wondering where I fit in and if I am to be a recipient of the love of the Queen Goddess through one of these who is so in touch with her? I am not uncomfortable being there to find out.

3. Arizona represents adventure and  the exotic to me for Beverly and I lived there  a year when Sheri was an infant. So I have romantic type  remembrances of  the desert and mountains that enhance the sensuousness of this dream series. Of course the search for the apple is a turn on the archetype of the Adam and Eve story. Unlike there the fruit is seen here as a good thing and something to be searched for and retrieved. The apple is a sphere which is a strong eternal symbol of wholeness and fullness of life's meaning and purpose. The other dreams show the same ... that the erotic aspect and instinct of the human is not bad but an essential element of living fully. The dream supports the human in taking  correct responsibility to seek out the meaning and place of our sensuous nature. Dream one shows that this part of me needs to be well navigated to be successful and dream two shows that respect for the erotic is very important. In other words Eros is to be welcomed  and sought but not without the accompanying spiritual structure of agape and phileo aspects of human/sacred love. There are dangers in finding and practicing one's eroticism. I took a fall in my first attempt. At first I waited for the innocent child to bring me the apple but the child only suggested I seek it for myself. Notice I am encouraged to take the apple by a child rather than a serpent. Actually before the Hebrew Eden story the serpent had for millennia been a symbol of spiritual wisdom. But our culture has so lost that connection that it is necessary here to not picture the serpent as promoting the apple of life and wisdom but rather a curious child. Some older paintings of the scene show the serpent with a child's head.  It is acknowledged that I might lose some of my presumed innocence in doing so but that was the risk that one needed to take. I feared that others would condemn me but to my surprise they were supportive and understanding. Their conversation led me to trust that I too could have a home where the erotic  side of life was not considered bad or to be avoided. But on the contrary where it was truly a part of daily spiritual living and always present to infuse life with true joy. In other words that I could return to Eden but now prepared spiritually/psychologically to fully live in such a paradise. I had 'been here years before' may speak of the 'ecstatic' vision experiences I had beginning in Houston twenty five years ago. In a sense ever since then I have felt a strong intuition I may yet  experience a more common human ecstasy in ordinary daily human life. The garden where the apple tree was located was next to a schoolhouse. This implies the importance of a broad and 'liberal arts' education in the pursuit of a fully lived life. Public educational institutions are important in helping to provide such opportunity.  The enclosed garden symbolizes the pursuit of the religious/spiritual elements of life and it is adjacent to the school for educating the secular aspects of reality. They are all one.

'Divine Child' Image Crosses Cultures/Religions

4.The 'divine Child' is found throughout history in story , myth and art. It symbolizes the birth of new life into the human being and humanity. It is from the 'divine child' that the everlasting waters Jesus speaks of  are to 'bubble up' to the fullness of life. It is the work of the 'divine child' that brings about the 'new birth' at the various states of human spiritual/psychological development. It expresses the creative and divine nature of human life. So it too is about the erotic, the creative, the wholeness aspect that is the goal of life. This may be symbolic of my own divine child experiences. Here it is male. At first a misguided feminine voice expresses displeasure in this situation. This comes from the feminine aspect ,perhaps as my feminine once was or what Jung calls the 'negative opinionated animus' female function, that is not fully in touch with her own sexuality and eroticism. So she is negative about the maleness that is on display. I come to the child's, and maybe my own, rescue reminding her that male sexuality is just as sacred and to be cared for and appreciated as female sexuality. This boy child is not to be circumcised. I have been  disturbed in recent decades at the archaic practice of male genital mutilation in our culture. It see  the commonly accepted practice as acting out of something that is still extremely unconscious in our modern culture. Otherwise we would not do it and we would protest for the exact same reasons that we protest female baby genitalia mutilation still similarly practiced in some third world countries. We are the only developed country in the world where it is still commonly practiced, usually with no strong question of why. It is a barbaric practice and perhaps is a strong symbol of how we continue to despise the important meaning of sexuality as a way to experience the sacred joy of life.