Alder's a teacher in San Francisco who lives in a cooperative house full of artists and musicians. Her life's been unconventional and her dreams are downright kooky (lucid nightmares? Who has lucid nightmares?) So why is it that my (Wayan's) dreams use Alder as a symbol of sturdy common sense--or even stubborn conventionality? I'm not sure, but even a casual reading of Alder's dreams below, and my dreams of her, portray wildly different people.

Makes me wonder how arbitrary other figures and symbols are, in dreams. Maybe each dreamer develops a private pidgin language between conscious and unconscious in which symbols aren't the fittest but just historical accidents--they worked in one dream, so why not repeat them? Like a joke that becomes a cliche, and then an idiom you take for granted. Or like the debate in Darwinian theory over catastrophes--is it always survival of the fittest? Or sometimes, is it just dumb luck?

Maybe we read too much into dream-symbols... and into the world as it happens to be.

RELATED TOPICS: our mutual friends Lily and Patagia - individuality vs conformity - lucid dreams - nightmares - children's dreams - children in dreams - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The World Dream Bank has 1500 dreams and dream images plus 500 other pages on dreamwork and shamanism, creativity, genius, art, surrealism and fantasy. Unless otherwise noted, all material copyright Chris Wayan, 2001-2006.

What this site is - How to read these entries - Ratings: profanity, sex, etc - Add your dreams! - Copyright - Downloading -

	AMPLIFIER: by Alder; 1999/11/13, a dream on self-underestimation I was always the weakest magic-worker I knew. But when demons threatened my grandchild...
	THE BELL CURVE: by Wayan; 1995/2/22, an essay on IQ My take on IQ, racism, Murray and Herrnstein's notorious book, and the theory of multiple intelligence. As an (ex)child prodigy it's not theoretical for me: broken hearts, broken trust, broken ribs... CAUTION: LONG WORDS, RAMPANT ELITISM, GENIUS SHOPTALK
	CHINA AND AMERICA: by Alder and Wayan; 1997/9/23, telepathic dreams. Two giants wrestle in the Chinese mountains. Who'll win, Red or Yellow? But when I wake...
	DIRECT ACTION SAVES THE SHIP: by Alder; 2006/11/5; a dream-fable with instant replay. A bomb's planted on our ship! But when a teen finds it, rather than fetch a responsible adult...
	FLOCK WISDOM: by Alder; 1958, a magic comic frustration dream My eighth grade class is a flock of birds migrating south for the winter, but we don’t migrate the easy way...
	LIFE FORCE: by Patagia; 2006/8/9 & 8/31, three career-advice dreamlets Out of a Campbell's soup can poured life force: someone's last breath...
	MIKE DIANA WAS JAILED FOR SACRILEGE: by Wayan; 1994/6/23; a real-life nightmare. Unfortunately, this is not a dream at all...
	MOM THE MURDERER: by Wayan; 1996/3/7, a possible psychic dream. My mom confesses to a killing, says tearfully she had to do it--but her reasons make no sense. When I wake..
	RUNNING BIRD: by Alder; 1953, a kinetic nightmare with double selves. I'm a flightless bird hopping down a line of marble columns rising from the sea, as they topple behind me...
	SADDLED WITH AUTISM: by Wayan; 1999/10/1, a dreamtale. I'm autistic; a TV host encourages me and another autistic kid to have sex on the air... CAUTION: UNDERAGE SEX ON NATIONAL TV; SERIOUS FINGER-POINTING
	THE SEX WORKSHOP: by Wayan; 1997/4/6, a dream on taking the next step. The teacher of our sex workshop picks me for a demonstration in front of everyone. Gulp... CAUTION: WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK?
	SPIRAL LAUGHTER: by Alder; 1953, a child's feverdream The world is a whirlpool, a black and white spiral pulling me down toward a black hole, and it’s laughing...
	STARVATION?: by Wayan; 1995/8/28, a journal extract on body image. On a poster of a model who's around my weight, someone's scrawled STARVATION IMAGERY... CAUTION: DEFENSE OF SKINNY PEOPLE
	SYLVIA: by Wayan; 1997/7/29, an illustrated dream. Sylvia, the fabulous Dog Singer, leads me through a spy film, a French romantic farce, Fellini's Rome...

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sh - Si-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites