The careening arrow of time, relentlessly moves on, and I, the surprised passenger, catapult along, happy to be.
While sitting in converse with another, I gave a fancifully brief, "invented" dream to make a point about the non-temporal overview that seems to manifest in dreams and creative activities. It (the invented dream) was "made up" on the spot, but it reminded me that this is an ever present process, this upwelling from the unconscious and realms beyond, which we (I) tend to quantify in "dreams" parsed out in the night. Yet it is always present, spilling out in associations, turns of phrase, intuitions, transient thoughts. The more I thought about this "invention of the moment," I noted it's strong compliance to the qualities of dreams, even tho it emerged mid-thought while fully(?) awake in conversation with another person. It included a reference to an imaginary person, (I gave him a name with ease, tho I have no immediate association to the name chosen??), presient knowledge, confabulated actions and dramatic exaggerations, all with emotive tension and surprise.
[The actual "dream" as I told it in the moment was, "I am traveling, by myself, and come to an intersection, and have the strong impression that I should turn left immediately, which I do, only to see two actions simultaneously. I note a long lost friend on the right sidewalk (Alfred?) and watch in the rear-view mirror, as a massive/horrific collision of vehicles occurs in the intersection, I had just allowed myself to be diverted from, by the intuition to "turn left."]
While I have personally and clinically had multiple version of "this dream," this particular one was "created" and told in the moment as a useful invention. Upon secondary reflection, after the fact, I noted strong pun elements in the directionality of the action, always to be looked for in any unpacking of dream content. "Going straight, or turning right, invited disaster, only following my intuition, turning left, avoided the calamitous potential, and produced the charmed encounter." Our literal waking ego mind, hears only the implied directionality in it's concrete form, but the "inner" ear notes that I should not insist on "right," as in being right, nor straight, as in inflexible, but left, as in "the path left chosen." I then encounter "Alfred" of which I have no personal association, but my first "hit" in a search brings me to a long posting about the "Mentor" archetype in which Alfred is noted as the mentor of Batman, an association that I fine useful. He is on the right, as in "correct" and his smile confirms the connection. The rearview mirror is that which reflects backwards upon the path not chosen.
For a momentary concoction, in the midst of a rapidly flowing conversation, "this imaginary dream," ends up having more to it, beyond the making of a point, about the non-temporal nature of dreams and creative activities. It is an important reminder that dreaming is the primary condition of mind, and the epiphenomena of my thoughts, skittering upon the surface, like drops of water on a heated skillet, here for the moment, vanishing evanescently. I am not the source of the energy, that bubbles up, like magical springs, nourishing the attentive visitor, and creating life forms in it's wake. Grateful I am, to acknowledge the source, however unknowable. Tis' the fool who claims any presumption of authorship, as I am but a conduit for a grand designer. The spontaneous noun/verb inversion just used, invokes Yoda, another Mentor figure, which tends to confirm that I might be "on to something."
Off I go, to search for the source of that spring....
