Dreamways

"The practice of equanimity is particularly helpful for nightmares. Of all the practices you could apply, it is most helpful and comforting, after you have awakened, to generate a sense of equanimity – the similarity of aim – between yourself and the dream-monster.“ Jeffrey Hopkins offers a Buddhist, meditative perspective on interacting with sleep nightmares ("Dealing with Nightmares,“ Snow Lion newspaper & catalog, Spring 2008).
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The married couple is in bed. The clock shows 03:15 A.M. The wife springs awake to a sitting position, her eyes wide with fear. She wakens her husband: “John! Wake up! PLEASE, John!” So begins this installment of the comic strip “For Better of for Worse” by Lynn Johnston (Sunday, 21 Oct 07).
The groggy husband mumbles: “Huh? What?”
She: “I had a terrible nightmare! I dreamt you had found another woman and were leaving me!”
He listens, puzzled.  read more »

We are in a dark bedroom in this installment of the comic strip “Opus” (Berkeley Breathed, Sunday, 04 Nov 07). We see Opus the penguin in profile, asleep in his bed, his red necktie hanging from the bed post. On the bed, resting on Opus's feet is a white-with-brown-markings pooch. The caption reads: “You read it here first in the serious, trusted newspaper: OUR SNEAKY DOGS WANT THE PLANET BACK FOR THEMSELVES. For generations, they’ve secretly inspired our most inexplicable, lamebrained, self-destructve paths.”

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Neil Gaiman's graphic novel, The Sandman: Fables & Reflections, begins with the telling of a sleep dream and a demonstration of its profound impact upon the dreamer's waking life. (The Sandman: Fables & Reflections. 1993. DC Comics, New York. pg. 3 – 11.)

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“I was in Los Angeles, so I was three hours behind the events. And very early in the morning, I had this peculiar dream”. So begins Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and social critic Susan Faludi’s recounting of a dream she had on September 11, 2001, the day of the World Trade Center attacks. ("Democracy Now!" broadcast, October 4, 2007). “In the dream I was sitting on an airplane next to another woman, and a young man came up to us and shot two bullets. One went into my throat at a sort of odd angle, and one into her throat at an odd angle.  read more »

It is a wild cacophony of colors and shapes. To the left, Luann has a garish clown’s face, wearing purple goggles, a red bow tie, a brassiere that looks like headlights, a stocking cap, a black camisole, and striped leggings. She is striding confidently forward, each foot in a blue bucket, sloshing green goop and labeled “PAIN.” Next to her is her English teacher’s head on a rattlesnake’s red and green body, holding a piece of paper with “F” on. Next to him are stairs leading up, its red and green treads alternating, red labeled “STOP”, green labeled “GO”.

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In his essay "The Art of Reality“ (Tricycle Magazine, Fall 07) author Bruce Wagner mindfully reminisces about his teacher, Carlos Casteneda, an explorer of the wisdom to be found in the world of dreams. Wagner presents a sleep dream and how he made meaning of it.
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