Uechi-Ryu.com

Dreams are not clear mirrors but they do offer some insight, confusing at times, into our subconsciousness. Two nights ago I had a bad dream. The dream was strange -- but they all are... <g>

In the dream I saw this woman I used to know in Brandeis. She had dropped out and we were never really friends but I also knew her from Chinatown and high school. Anyway, she was waiting for a bus to go somewhere and somehow missed the bus. I offered to drive her and we started going to my car which was parked blocks away. So I was walking with her and then somehow, some of the community lefties/progressives I work with in Chinatown were also walking with us. I don't how they got there but they are not "fighters" like guys I used to hang around with. Anyway, we're walking and I noticed different groups of KKK guys with robes and torches walking around several blocks away, here and there. I was thinking, Sh^t! Better get to the car before something happens. Just then a group of them saw us and started to chase. The woman couldn't run fast enough and the lefties/progressives were not fighters. So, seeing that we were going to get caught, I pulled my knife and braced myself for combat -- meaning I was expecting to kill someone and probably get killed too. Right at this point, my wife woke me up from the dream. It took a good 15 minutes to calm down from the adrenaline rush of this dream.

Significance...? First time I ever used a knife in one of my dreams. Secondly, I am stressed out. I only have fight dreams when things are not all hunky dory in my life. Deep breaths: Breath in through the nose, exhale through the mouth. In... Out...

david

David ...

Thanks for sharing a signifcant part of yourself. It does sounds as if your subconscious was finding a way to release the stress ... though sometimes there's more to a dream than we realize.

You may want to read a couple of good books (fiction) that may offer further insight:

1)The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You By Dorothy Bryant. The kin of Ata live only for dreams and their only goal is to dream higher dreams. A desperate man starts "dreaming the kin of Ata awake" and is led on an interesting spiritual journey.

2) The "Night Warrior" series by Graham Masterson (these may be hard to find ... they were published over 13 years ago) which sound a lot like your dream.

3)ANY book by Charles DeLint (who is an awesome dreamer & visionary), though, specifically "The Little Country," "Moonheart," or "Someplace To Be Flying" , his latest novel -- talk about dreams within dreams within dreams!

"If a man could find himself in Ata and re-learn the dream ... perhaps for a moment he could glimpse the reality behind the dream."

------------------
In Beauty,

Jackie


[This message has been edited by Jackie Olsen (edited 08-14-99).]

Jackie,

Thank you for those recommendations. I will check into them.

>>though sometimes there's more to a dream than we realize.<<

Yes, agree. As I said to someone I amost much rather face someone coming at me with weapon in hand. The opponent is clearer. Dream fighting is an attempt to make clearer an enemy that is not in real life.

Thanks,

david

I'm willing to take a stab at this...It sounds like your trying to protect something from your past. The girl you kind of knew could represent an idea or memory of your past that seems to you to be endangered and is somehow holding you back. Assuming you have had no past experience with the KKK or other racial groups, I would take them to be a manifestation of your fear of being blamed or punished for something out of your control. For example you could be taking alot of heat at work for a project that wasn't your responsibility or something similar. The knife is hard. It could simply have been something you were thinking about prior to going to sleep or it could be the main feature of the dream. The question would be, do you know how to fight with a knife and if you don't, maybe it's time to learn.
I know it all sounds kind of Freudian but who knows. I've learned to listen to dreams that affect me physically.

------------------
Shelly

Shelly,

Ahh... I think I'll stay away from the Freudian analysis...

As much as I would perfer to discount them, like you, I have learned to listen to my dreams, especially recurring "types" like fighting ones.

Fighting dreams have always paralleled some kind of stress in my life. I don't have them as much as I did in my younger years. I like to believe that either there is less stress in my life these days or that I am more skilled in dealing with day to day conflicts. (Ha! I wish...)

We often talk about karate practice as a physical, mental and spiritual endeavor. I've never had much problem with the physical endeavor. Give me an opponent and I'll give it a go. Other type of conflicts/opponents of less physical variety, well it is frustrating as hell. Turn these into physical opponents in a dream, it becomes easier to deal with. To bad, we just can't go around beating everybody we have a problem with to the ground, eh...

More mental/spiritual development is needed to deal more skillfully with these latter types of conflict. In so much as one is able to handle these types of conflicts better, one is also able to perceive whether a physical response is needed in what may appear to be a physical confrontation.

Just thoughts from a less skilled fighter in the mental/spiritual realm.

david

David-san,

Interesting thread - piques my interest - as the study dreams has been a part of my upbringing - my grandmother has been studying them for most of her life - and brought me up to regard them as special insights and messages from our inner or higher selves...

In fact she's even written a book on the subject - she's always driven me almost crazy with her insistence that we don't ignore these messages - that at a bare minimum we take a few moments each morning to jot down impressions of dreams we've had through the night.

Aside from Freud and Jung, the majority of her research has come from the Edgar Cayce readings - who spoke about them in detail - if you are interested in looking into his work - check out The Sleeping Prophet for a start - there are many more materials available - but I don't want to clutter the thread with a long list.

One thought I'd share with you here is a lesson from my grandmother - that all aspects of dreams are aspects of our selves - in one way or another. Of as much import is how we feel and react in the dream... These feelings and symbols are so personal that they cannot truly be catalogued into a "dream dictionary" because a symbol for me may be entirely different for you. For example - if I love cats, and tend to curl up with one in my lap when I am stressed - a dream of a cat would mean one thing for me - while if you are allergic to cats and dream of one - the dream may have more to do with your health - while for me it would be related to an emotional state...

This is why, according to Grandma - that a dream journal is so important - over time - your own personal set of symbols will become apparent to you.

Fighting dreams are obviously an indicator of stress for you - I tend to dream of violent storms during those times - if this is the first time you are using a knife in the dream - then there may be a new kind of stress and reaction you are trying to come to terms with...

OK - now I'm starting to sound like my grandmother! So I'll quit here - but I wanted to encourage you to write your dreams down - dreams are a facinating part of our journey - and the paths you follow in them may have hidden teachings...

Peace,
Lori

Lori san,

>>Fighting dreams are obviously an indicator of stress for you - I tend to dream of violent storms during those times - if this is the first time you are using a knife in the dream - then there may be a new kind of stress and reaction you are trying to come to terms with...<<

More insightful than you may have imagined. Thanks for your thoughts and input.

david