Lesson Two:
Your Definition of Symbols
Notes from the Instructor
Dear Class Members:
I am reading over your first assignments and especially noting your questions and goals. This class is quite large, so if you want me to answer a question, please put "dreamclass question" in the subject line, and I will give it priority treatment. I will also answer questions at the bulletin board. Many students have told me they are traveling, or dealing with heavy schedules. I advise you to proceed at your own pace, working approximately one lesson per week. I'm looking forward to having fun as we explore our dreams in the coming weeks.
Several students have inquired about confidentiality. Personal questions and any conversations we have by email are strictly confidential. However, the writing you share in your assignments, or at the bulletin board, are considered public record of the class. In the course of the assignments, you will see that I frequently quote material from your classmates and previous students, which I feel will help others understand the various concepts presented in the class. If you want to volunteer a dream for analysis, please put "dreamclass volunteer" in the subject line. Also, feel free to post dreams at the bulletin board and ask other students for feedback. Remember, we all have different dream dictionaries and may be able to offer new insights.
Introduction to Dream Symbols
I would like to begin by discussing the nature and meaning of symbols. Therefore, please be sure to buy a dream symbol dictionary this week. You may choose from the list of recommended books in lesson one or visit a bookstore and pick one out. Some dictionaries list every symbol A - Z; others break them into categories, then list alphabetically.
Bear in mind that some dream dictionaries are more complete than others; and some are more like fortune telling than psychology. Read over a few definitions in each book and buy a dictionary that you feel comfortable using.
Also, it's important to remember that we put our own spin on dream symbols, based on our personal experiences. Dictionaries are merely guides to help us find the hidden meanings.
Once you have your dream dictionary, start by looking up a few common symbols. Look up the definitions of house, water, car, sex, flying, and other symbols that occur in your dreams. We'll compare notes on the definitions given in our various dream dictionaries as the class goes along.
As you review your dream dictionary, take some time to meditate on the meanings of symbols. Compare your own associations with the definitions given in your book.
Keeping A Dream Journal
Some of you have been keeping dream journals for many years, while others have just started. I encourage everyone in the class to keep a record of dreams over these six weeks, in order to have plenty of material to work with in the class. If you feel that keeping a formal notebook is too structured, you may write your dreams on slips of paper then collect them in a dream box, drawer or folder. Whatever you are using, notebook, box or folder, please decorate the cover with a collage. Cut out dreamy images from magazines or catalogues and glue them to the cover of your dream journal.
To encourage your subconscious to remember dreams, put paper and pen at your bedside before going to sleep and mentally affirm that you will remember dreams that will help you in your waking life. Think positive thoughts as you fall alseep, and when you awaken, keep the dream in focus as you wake up and reach for the paper. Before you forget anything, write down as much detail as you can remember. Write in the present tense, because dreams are about our current emotional situation. Some dream experts explain that writing a dream in the past tense is a form of denial.
Understanding the Language of Dreams
Like poetry and myth, dreams speak almost exclusively in a language of symbols. If you dream about a house, rather than being a dream about a house, it is a dream about your psychic space, your emotional living environment. If the house is messy, the dream may be mirroring some problems you are experiencing. A dream about death may be speaking metaphorically about something in your life that is undergoing transformation. A dream of sex or marriage may be speaking of a situation that is becoming unified; a dream of a baby may be speaking metaphorically about a new project or idea.
Following is an excerpt from Mark Twain's autobiography, in which he discusses the innate characteristics of various beings (including human beings, and his opinion of his own species is the lowest). Please read the following passage to shed some light on how animals and things acquire symbolic significance for human beings.
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
Excerpts from Chapter 63, pp. 306-309, 1959 ed.
It is my conviction that a person's temperament is a law, an iron law, and has to be obeyed, no matter who disapproves . . . We do not blame the ox, the blue jay and the many other creatures that live by theft; we concede that they are obeying the law of God promulgated by the temperament with which He provided for them. We do not say to the ram and the goat, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," for we know that ineradicably embedded in their temperament -- that is to say in their born nature -- god has said to them, "Thou SHALT commit it."
If we should go on until we had singled out and mentioned the separate and distinct temperaments which have been distributed among the myriads of the animal world, we should find that the reputation of each species is determined by one special and prominent trait; and then we should find that all of these traits, and all the shadings of these many traits, have also been distributed among mankind; that in every man a dozen or more of these traits exist, and that in many men traces and shadings of the whole of them exist. In what we call the lower animals, temperaments are often built out of merely one or two or three of these traits; but man is a complex animal and it takes all of the traits to fit him out. In the rabbit we always find meekness and timidity, and in him we never find courage, insolence, aggressiveness; and so when the rabbit is mentioned we always remember that he is meek and timid; if he has any other traits or distinctions -- except, perhaps, an extravagant and inordinate fecundity -- they never occur to us. When we consider the house-fly and the flea, we remember that in splendid courage the belted knight and the tiger cannot approach them and that in impudence and insolence they lead the whole animal world, including even man; if those creatures have other traits they are so overshadowed by those which I have mentioned that we never think of them at all. When the peacock is mentioned, vanity occurs to us and no other trait; when we think of the goat, unchastity occurs to us and no other trait; when certain kinds of dogs are mentioned, loyalty occurs to us and no other trait; when the cat is mentioned, her independence -- a trait which she alone of all created creatures, including man, possesses -- occurs to us and no other trait; except we be of the stupid and the ignorant -- then we think of treachery, a trait which is common to many breeds of dogs but is not common to the cat. We can find one or two conspicuous traits in each family of what we impudently call the lower animals; in each case these one us traits distinguish that family of animals from the other families; also in each case those one or two traits are found in every one of the members of each family and are so prominent as to eternally and unchangeably establish the character of that branch of the animal world. In all these cases we concede that the several temperaments constitute a law of God, a command of God, and that whatsoever is done in obedience to that law is blameless.
Man was descended from those animals; from them he inherited every trait that is in him; from them he inherited the whole of their numerous traits in a body, and with each trait its share of the law of God. He widely differs from them in this: that he possesses not a single trait that is similarly and equally prominent in each and every member of his race. You can say the house- fly is limitlessly brave, and in saying it you describe the whole house-fly tribe; you can say the rabbit is limitlessly timid, and by that phrase you describe the whole rabbit tribe; you can say the spider is limitlessly murderous, and by that phrase you describe the whole spider tribe; you can say the lamb is limitlessly innocent and sweet and gentle, and by that phrase you describe all the lambs; you can say the goat is limitlessly unchaste and by that phrase you describe the whole tribe of goats. There is hardly a creature which you cannot definitely and satisfactorily describe by one single trait -- but you cannot describe man by one single trait. men are not all cowards, like the rabbit; nor all brave, like the house-fly; nor all sweet and innocent and gentle, like the lamb; nor all murderous, like the spider and the wasp; nor all thieves, like the fox and the blue jay; nor all vain, like the peacock; nor all beautiful, like the angel-fish, nor all frisky, like the monkey; nor all unchaste, like the goat.
The human family cannot be described by any one phrase; each individual has to be described by himself. One is brave, another is a coward; one is gentle and kindly, another is ferocious; one is proud and vain, another is modest and humble. The multifarious traits that are scattered, one or two at a time, throughout the great animal world, are all concentrated, in varying and nicely shaded degrees of force and feebleness, in the form of instincts in each and every member of the human family. In some men the vicious traits are so slight as to be imperceptible, while the nobler traits stand out conspicuously. Mark Twain explains that animals embody certain traits. The theory is that when we dream, we are calling upon this universal symbolism. If we dream that our house is overcome with rabbits, perhaps it means we are overcome with cowardliness.
Assignment Two
In this assignment we will learn how to take the generally accepted symbolic meanings (found in your dream dictionaries) and modify those meanings to understand our own dreams. For example, our dream dictionary may define rabbits as "cowardliness," but if we had a pet rabbit for many years as a child, rabbits may have a different meaning for us. For someone who had a pet rabbit, rabbits in a dream could symbolize unconditional love. Therefore, we must take the dreamer's personal experiences into consideration whenever analyzing a dream. The dream dictionary is just a departure point, because it lists the generally-accepted meanings for most dream symbols.
Look up some common symbols in your dream dictionary and ponder their meanings. Send in a few paragraphs describing how you think dream symbols work. This exercise will prepare you for analyzing your own dreams, beginning with the significant, reoccurring dreams that you have already written about.
Teacher's Dream Profile
Since you-all shared with me, I will also share my story:
Name: Nori J. Muster, Age: 42, female
My semester has been great, just glued to the computer building my web site (Steamboats.com), writing a new book, and now teaching this class. I correspond with a lot of people on the internet. I get away from my computer occasionally. Last month I went to West Virginia to do research for the book I'm writing, I also spent a few days at my parents' in Phoenix, swimming.
I have kept a dream journal since high school and have boxes of them in my closets. I remember dreams pretty easily, except when I'm stressed & miss out on good sleep. I had an extremely disturbing reoccurring dream from 1984 to 1994. In the dream, I visit with a friend, and the dreams were often very pleasant. However, I always felt horrible when I woke up, because I thought that in real life the person hated me. In 1994 I contacted him and told him about the disturbing nightmares. We are now friends and the dreams went away.
I have had dreams of dancing with Krishna or talking to angels, which are my favorite dreams.
Ten important things (in chronological order):
my parents' divorce, finishing high school, finishing college, joining a cult, leaving the cult, earning my master's degree, finding my publisher, fortieth birthday, moving back to Los Angeles, learning tai chi
Ten important people:
Kyle, Jan, Jolie, Kerry, Jeanne, Maggie, Mom, Bill, Dave, late father
Goals for the class:
Open up a discussion about how dreams lead to greater creativity and satisfaction in life.
Dream, 8/6/93: The next bus that comes along, the driver won't take me where I want to go.
