Sense of Life

[caroljane]

I hate having to hear about other people's dreams, don't you? On and on,"and then And I hate novels that intersperse the characters' dreams with the action, thus illustrating their psychology. But here I am to say, the power of the emotion felt in dreams, can be so much stronger and longer-lasting than the emotions we feel in conscious daily life. It distills everything we have felt, and maybe dared not feel, in our waking life, and sometimes one dream is remembered all one's life.

My dream distilled the emotion of homesickness. This was something I felt only once in my life. I have not looked it up; I remember how we laughed at the kids who had to be taken home from camp in the first two or three days because of it. I laughed less when I saw adult friends break down when separated from home, and unable to function outside their known native area. It is a unique emotion, and when I felt it at age 18 it struck me like a monsoon in the Arctic. It did not last long and I actively fought it. But at 18 I thought I had already felt all the emotions there were to feel (I was wrong; jealousy was still to come).

Here's the dream. I am alone on a spaceship above Earth. I'm sure this is influenced by a scifi story I read, in which a hitchhiking sister has to be jettisoned from such a spacecraft by her brother; the story was wonderful and conveyed such a chilly sense of loneliness, I wish I could remember who wrote it. In my dream there is no action, I'm just there, knowing I am going further and further from earth.

I only had this dream once, many years ago, but remember it so strongly, and the unearthly,inhuman, dread and despair of how it felt. I have my own interpretations of course. I had always wanted to be on my own, explore the rest of the world, prove myself without the recommendations of those who had always known me. Go beyond.

Now, of course, I know there is no beyond, no beyond myself. Alone spinning further and further away, I was no pioneer. I was losing myself, which consisted of those who had made me and shaped me and taught me, and without them there was no me.

Without context there are no dreams.

[Dennis Hardin]

Here's the dream. I am alone on a spaceship above Earth. I'm sure this is influenced by a scifi story I read, in which a hitchhiking sister has to be jettisoned from such a spacecraft by her brother; the story was wonderful and conveyed such a chilly sense of loneliness, I wish I could remember who wrote it. In my dream there is no action, I'm just there, knowing I am going further and further from earth.

I only had this dream once, many years ago, but remember it so strongly, and the unearthly,inhuman, dread and despair of how it felt. I have my own interpretations of course. I had always wanted to be on my own, explore the rest of the world, prove myself without the recommendations of those who had always known me. Go beyond.

Sounds a lot like the story line of The Cold Equations, in which a stowaway, a young girl, is ejected into space because she threatens the success of the mission. It was an episode of the Twilight Zone revival in the late 80s.

I can imagine how scary it must be for a woman to strike out on her own—to leave the world of the familiar for the world of the unknown. The pressure on women to conform to social mores is so powerful, even more so than for men. And then there is the gruesome fact that the world is full of predatory males ranging from pushy jerks to rapists and murderers—just looking for a vulnerable woman on her own. Turn on the news and there’s another tragic story about a beautiful girl who suddenly disappeared and will never be heard from again.

I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. Nathaniel Branden says we are all beings of “self-made soul.” You faced your fears and overcame them, and it obviously wasn’t easy. Drive down the street and look at all the people who spent their lives running from everything that frightened them.

That dream may have had such an impact because it captured your life story in a nutshell.

[Selene]

And then there is the gruesome fact that the world is full of predatory males ranging from pushy jerks to rapists and murderers—just looking for a vulnerable woman on her own.

Yep...NYC Teacher, 33, Accused Of Raping Her 16-Yr-Old Student here.

[Brant Gaede]

Here's the dream. I am alone on a spaceship above Earth. I'm sure this is influenced by a scifi story I read, in which a hitchhiking sister has to be jettisoned from such a spacecraft by her brother; the story was wonderful and conveyed such a chilly sense of loneliness, I wish I could remember who wrote it. In my dream there is no action, I'm just there, knowing I am going further and further from earth.

I only had this dream once, many years ago, but remember it so strongly, and the unearthly,inhuman, dread and despair of how it felt. I have my own interpretations of course. I had always wanted to be on my own, explore the rest of the world, prove myself without the recommendations of those who had always known me. Go beyond.

Sounds a lot like the story line of The Cold Equations, in which a stowaway, a young girl, is ejected into space because she threatens the success of the mission. It was an episode of the Twilight Zone revival in the late 80s.

I can imagine how scary it must be for a woman to strike out on her own—to leave the world of the familiar for the world of the unknown. The pressure on women to conform to social mores is so powerful, even more so than for men. And then there is the gruesome fact that the world is full of predatory males ranging from pushy jerks to rapists and murderers—just looking for a vulnerable woman on her own. Turn on the news and there's another tragic story about a beautiful girl who suddenly disappeared and will never be heard from again.

I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Nathaniel Branden says we are all beings of "self-made soul." You faced your fears and overcame them, and it obviously wasn't easy. Drive down the street and look at all the people who spent their lives running from everything that frightened them.

That dream may have had such an impact because it captured your life story in a nutshell.

One of Nathaniel's frustrations in life is he's not much of a dreamer, and listening to all the elaborate dream stories he's been told gave him some feelings of jealousy or envy. He told this story in good humor.

--Brant

[Xray]

I hate having to hear about other people's dreams, don't you? On and on,"and then And I hate novels that intersperse the characters' dreams with the action, thus illustrating their psychology. But here I am to say, the power of the emotion felt in dreams, can be so much stronger and longer-lasting than the emotions we feel in conscious daily life. It distills everything we have felt, and maybe dared not feel, in our waking life, and sometimes one dream is remembered all one's life.

My dream distilled the emotion of homesickness. This was something I felt only once in my life. I have not looked it up; I remember how we laughed at the kids who had to be taken home from camp in the first two or three days because of it. I laughed less when I saw adult friends break down when separated from home, and unable to function outside their known native area. It is a unique emotion, and when I felt it at age 18 it struck me like a monsoon in the Arctic. It did not last long and I actively fought it. But at 18 I thought I had already felt all the emotions there were to feel (I was wrong; jealousy was still to come).

Here's the dream. I am alone on a spaceship above Earth. I'm sure this is influenced by a scifi story I read, in which a hitchhiking sister has to be jettisoned from such a spacecraft by her brother; the story was wonderful and conveyed such a chilly sense of loneliness, I wish I could remember who wrote it. In my dream there is no action, I'm just there, knowing I am going further and further from earth.

I only had this dream once, many years ago, but remember it so strongly, and the unearthly,inhuman, dread and despair of how it felt. I have my own interpretations of course. I had always wanted to be on my own, explore the rest of the world, prove myself without the recommendations of those who had always known me. Go beyond.

Now, of course, I know there is no beyond, no beyond myself. Alone spinning further and further away, I was no pioneer. I was losing myself, which consisted of those who had made me and shaped me and taught me, and without them there was no me.

Without context there are no dreams.

Carol,

I don't like to read about dreams in fictional literature either, but am quite interested in the dreams real persons tell me about. Sometimes family members and friends ask me to interpret their dreams for them; several years ago, I bought some books that listed dream symbols, and I dabbled a little in that; during my "C.G. Jung phase", I also focused quite a bit on dreams. But all this I did as total layperson of course, and I always tell that to those who ask me. A lot of my interpretations are based on mere intuition.

Your dream has impressed me so much that I can't resist commenting on it.

I think it is what is called a "Großtraum" (Big Dream). They are often of such intensity and emotional power that the dreamer can't help but tell others about them. They are full of strong symbols, which also applies to your dream.

My general interpretation is similar to the one you gave, but I think your dream reaches to an even deeper level, and that the "homesickness" may be metaphysical in nature (metaphysical undestood here as "beyond the physical", i. e. beyond the wish to be physically back on the earth you are familiar with instead of being lost in space).

So the 'homesickness' could also be the spiritual yearning of the soul to find a permanent home, a home that is rooted in a peace and security no earthly existence can offer.

Dreams often operate on various levels. So the "go beyond" you mentioned could also be connected to the soul trying to 'transcend' boundaries. While our consciuos mind often prevents us from entering certain territories, the subconscius mind does not have these limitations.

I also found it interesting that you named this thread "Sense of Life". Again, it makes me think of the human wish to look for a deeper meaning in life, a meaning that goes beyond the pure evolutionary struggle for survival.

So my overall impression is that this dream of yours is quite spiritual in nature.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Xray