THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: War

World Dream Bank home - add a dream - newest - art gallery - sampler - dreams by title, subject, author, date, place, names

War

skip down to the dreams

What is war? Social struggle gone bad. I treat war dreams like nightmares--as warnings that may have multiple meanings. Do you live with real war, down the block--are you getting survival tips? Or are your dreams predictive--should you start packing? Or do they warn of non-armed conflicts around you, in your family, at work, on the street? Or internal struggles, "jihads" in the original, spiritual sense? Are those really values shooting at each other? The war you see may be your own.

A cute line to end on, but what if your dream wars are not inner, not symbolic, not even yours? Jung, around 1913, dreamed a tidal wave of blood was drowning Europe. He racked his brains to come up with symbolic interpretations. Even a man that intelligent and intuitive had cultural blinders--even with an explicit warning (one dream announced it was a literal prediction, not symbolic), he couldn't see the mounting wave, the millions about to die. That is, his conscious couldn't see it. His dreams had sharper eyes.

More than any other topic, dreams of war require a step back. Take off your cultural sunglasses.

What are you being warned of?

RELATED TOPICS: pacifism and peace movements - revolution - dream violence - politics - social issues - apocalyptic dreams - natural disasters - 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 ARTIFACT: by Wayan; 1983/1/16. Narrative dream painting. I was a lizard archeologist, a million years from now. What I dug up threatened my marriage...
	BABY, I'LL BLOW YOUR MIND: by Wayan; 1995/3/21, a surreal nightmare Allied submarines attack the giant Nazi toddler who's hunting us with sonar, occupying my playroom... CAUTION: VIOLENCE AND GUILT
	A BEAM OF FLIGHT: by Wayan; 135K, 1992/4/19, a dream of love and shellshock. I'm a dance teacher, I'm King Kong, I'm a shell-shocked elf, I'm a wild bird flying... CAUTION: GAY-POSITIVE ROLE MODELS, OH NO!
	BIRDS ON FIRE: by Wayan; 2008/9/15, a dream-poem, Dreamverse #26 George Bush leads a hill-tribe raid against the hill-tribe led by Osama bin Laden... and I'm stuck between... CAUTION: ANTI-HEROES, POLITICAL PREDICTION
	BONK VERONICA: by Wayan; 400K total, 1997/4/1, 9 illus.; two comic nightmares on body image. The world's first all-bulemic band, Veronica and the Vomits, provokes a riot at our local punk club. So I go to Anorexic Bootcamp and join an army of models learning self-defense under fire, as calories and fat jokes whiz by... CAUTION: SKINNY GIRLS WHO MAKE YOU WANT TO BARF--no wait, that's a bad idea!
	BONOBO AND BEAR: by Wayan, 1999/10/14, a mystic war movie. The gods of our cave-past and star-future fight over us--using us, of course. After I see the toll it's taking on a bonobo buddy of mine, I decide to bring the war back home, and go gunning for God--BOTH of them... CAUTION: APES AND EXPLOSIVES DON'T MIX
	CYCLOPS, or, THE ANSWER TO MY PRAYER: by Wayan; 1993/8/24, a spiritual nightmare. In the far future, I relive Odysseus' tale. To save my life I must give up realistic hope, and focus on... CAUTION: CANNIBAL MONSTERS
	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...
	THE FIREBREAK OF MEN: by Wayan; 1997/2/13, a herstorical dream. The Europeans have another great war, killing off their men. Will that break the cycle of violence? Like a...
	FREEZE!: by Wayan; 1984/5/29, an asymptotic dream. Demons of fire invade the house, and the Voice of Truth says they can't be killed. What would you do?
	GROUND ZERO: by Al Davison; 2001/9/9, a predictive dream-comic. Two days before 9/11, I dream I'm a child at ground zero, mourning the devastation--and witnessing rebirth.
	HEPBURNING: by Wayan; 1984/8/1, a nightmare on repression. Kat Hepburn burns inside as passionate aliens take over our souls. How can we expel them before...
	HOBBIT SNIPER: by Wayan; 1998/10/13, a dream on strategy. I'm a sniper in a desert battle of men against hobbits. Guilty for not fighting openly, but that'd be suicidal... CAUTION: MATH AND WAR
	HOW TO SURVIVE NUCLEAR WAR: by Maxine Kumin; early 1980s, a dream poem. In Japan, sick in bed, reading a book on radiation sickness, I dream of a restorative ritual for trees... CAUTION: GRUESOME
	INVOKE THE ANIMAL POWERS (or was it PROVOKE?): by Wayan; 2008/9/9, a dream-poem, Dreamverse #24 A children's performance of "Where the Wild Things Are" turns into a riot-orgy. Why do I think it's all about politics? CAUTION: WILD THING ORGY
	THE ISLAND FURIES: by Wayan; summer 1975, a dream of self-control. When warring Greek isles kill a peacemaker, her three best friends start a vendetta! But she wanted peace... CAUTION: HATE NURSED TOO LONG
	JUNG'S PREMONITIONS OF WORLD WAR I: by Carl Jung, 1913-1914; five ignored warnings. Jung was told in dreams and visions that Europe would soon drown in blood. But he just couldn't believe it...
	A KNIFE AT HIS THROAT: by Wayan; 177K, 1991; a political dream-fable. A courtroom hostage-drama where I'm forced to commit... tracheotomy! And then the Gulf War begins... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	THE M9: by David Parkinson, 1940; a dream-designed invention. Parkinson dreamed his new telephone device got added to an anti-aircraft gun. He told his dream; guns with M9 units turned out to be so accurate it gave the British hope against the Luftwaffe...
	MAHAKALA, MOZART, AND THE CRIPPLED BIRD: by Wayan; 135K, 1985/4/17, a dream on facing one's shadow. The Christian God vs Mahakala, Buddhist god of right anger! War in Middle Earth, as Pink Floyd sings...
	MANDALA DURING A TIME OF WAR AND DISINTEGRATION: by Jenny Badger Sultan; Jan-Feb 2003, painting of a dream-series My dreams were troubled by war. So I painted them in concentric rings--lotus, fire, children, animals, and nightmares...
	MAYAN FORCE: by Wayan; 1992/12/6, a political dream-fable. First, sf writer Heinlein advocates a strong army; then I see one in action--turned against the people...
	MENTOR: by Wayan; 2001/6/13, six advisory dreamlets. I meet a shapeshifting dream-mentor who warns of plague and war (note the date). Then a sentient book, "The Art of War," gets intimately involved... CAUTION: ELECTRODES, LIBROPHILIA
	OVERKILL: by Wayan; 640 x 680, 1991. Digital picture-poem-poster. Now the Evil Empire's dead. We're all safe, safe at last. And all the bombs are gone... right?
	PITS OF POWER: by Wayan; 2005/11/16, a dream of rival miracles One tribe builds earth-magic pits that can teleport you or grant wishes. But the other tribe's flow-state magic is harder to define... CAUTION: SEX FANTASY GRANTED
	PLUTO THAWS: by Wayan; 1973/1/19, a mythic dream set on Pluto. A quarrel between psychic adepts heats up to a war, thawing Pluto's surface. What'll the ice-tribes wish for?
	RABBIT WORLD: by Wayan; 260K total, 6-page comic of a 1990/9/26 dream. I'm a telepathic rabbit defending our world from space-laser attack. We do, but do we modernize too much? CAUTION: IDEAS
	SNOW STALLION: by Wayan; 1994/6/4, a tangled political/spiritual dream. I'm a peace terrorist trapped in Squaw Valley, herded like a mare by a huge stallion made of snow... And then the dream shifts and I blurt out the truth behind our idiotic waking world! And wake believing it...
	THE SPHINX APPROVES: by Wayan; 1991/5/2, a dreamtale on growth. A great war shrinks to wrestling, then hopping from page to page! Once they were worlds to me, but now...
	STEALTH: by Wayan; 1992/1/15; digital painting of political dream. I dreamed the Stealth Bomber wasn't a machine, but a gigantic Owl-god. And Stealth was worshiped... CAUTION: CREEPING PACIFISM
	THIRTEEN PEACE SIGNS IN A TIME OF WAR: by Wayan; early 2002, acrylic sgraffito on wood. The animal goddess of peace, stubbornly raising her sign, my sign, as you all slide into your nice holy war...
	THE THIRTIES REVISITED: by Maxine Kumin; late 1970s; a dream-poem Dreams of my childhood--bootlegger dad, critical mom, gun-happy uncles, slaughtered squirrels, slaughtered Jews...
	TIGER TALL: by Wayan; 1992/7/3, a marathon dream. I'm a tiger from Planet Cat, visiting Earth to run in San Francisco's "Bay to Breakers" race. I knew racial tensions were high, but why is William S. Burroughs out to kill me? Oh. Because...
	TRESPASSERS IN MALANCHAI: by Hyal; 100K, Feb 1996?, an epic dream with a weird intrusion. A maneless lion-boy wins his people's respect. While training, he sees weird trespassers who seem to be from someone else's dream... and ten years later, he finds that dreamer.
	TRUE LOVE = CHOICE! by Ms. Mira; Jan. 2008, a dream-lesson on compassion and free will. I'm on an alien world inside the minds of two women and a child struggling with moral choices in a civil war... CAUTION: DEATH, LOSS
	TWO PLANES: by Wayan, 1994/9/6, a multistaged psychic dream. An assassination plot using two planes triggers an invasion of our kingdom. I'd rather be playing Frisbee...
	A VALLEY NEAR HOPE: by Wayan; 155K, illustrated, 1984/10/17-19, an epic dream. I'm lost in a valley where unicorns love cyborgs but fear giant ants, who adore unicorns but hate cyborgs, who think ants are cute, but dread unicorns! And while the Three Tribes love and hate, cave-monsters sculpt them all. I set up peace talks between these four vertices of my tetrahedral soul, but what if I get what I want? Peace, love... transformation? What if those aren't cute and New Age? CAUTION: SWEARING, DRUNK LIONS, CYBORG SURGERY, AND GOGGLE-BARFING
	WARRING MOIRES: by Wayan; 1988. Abstract nondream digital picture-poem-thingy Dodging between all your -isms, I feel like a bird on a battlefield...
	WASHINGTON'S DUNE: by Wayan; 1992/1/18, a dream on perseverance. George Washington faces sniper fire, kamikaze birds and voices claiming the fight for freedom is hopeless...
	WE MARCHED THROUGH THE CITY OF SAINT FRANCIS: by Wayan; 1982/5/1?, a dream-influenced poem. After a peace march in San Francisco, I saw us as deer, and Americans as dogs. Yet WE frighten THEM...