catapult magazine

Greetings.

Wanted to bring up the subject of dreams. I have often wondered why God designed our human bodies to require 8 or so hours of sleep a night (which, frankly, has seemed like a waste of time to me a lot of the time) unless there was some deeper purpose to them.

Dreams, then? Seems like through the Bible, God used dreams to communicate many times to many people. Does He still do that today? Do dreams have some deeper meaning, outside of the conventional ?subconscious mind talking? theory? What ARE dreams, anyway? Does anyone have any first-hand experience with God communicating through their dreams? Thoughts? Intuitions?

My only recurrent dreams have been violent. I haven’t had them for awhile though.
1). My family and I are having a picnic outside. A cold wind blows, my moms hair grows and she turns white. She has big fangs now and bites me dad. He instantly turns into an ice sculpture. She does the same to my little sister and then she goes after me. I run through the house and she’s following me inches above the ground like a witch in Army of Darkness (a’la “I’ll swallow your soul!”) I run onto my balcony and jump off and wake up before I hit the ground.
2). I’m in ancient Egypt and everything is gold. Everything. Except me. I realize I don’t fit in and that golden egyptians are chasing me and shooting golden arrows at me with their golden bows. I run down the hallway and hide behind a gold cutlass sierra and wake up as they come around the car.
3). I’m on a battleship in a swimming pool. Big ship. Big pool. All my ex-roommates are there and I kill them with a Machine gun. Hoppy, Nips, Robb all of them are gone but Lopez who jumps overboard. I grab the ships wheel and steer toward the side full speed ahead. I smear his little mexican body between the side of the pool and the side of the ship and the water turns bloody.

A bit long. Sorry. Man, I feel better explaining them though.

oops again.

I generally don’t have bad dreams—I have a lot of mundane, everyday dreams that are bizarre asortments of old friends, strange places and unlikely circumstaces, but are rarely memorable or scary. Never violent. My most common reaccuring dream is the classic school-with-no-pants-on dream, or variations on that theme. I know there is a classic interpretation of that dream, but I don’t remember what it is right now. Anxiety, I think. I also used have lots of dreams in which there is something I didn’t do but should have—an assignment or science project, etc.—and as a result i am dead meat. My college transcript will attest to how often this dream came true, so that might explain that.

To add to the teeth falling out discussion, I have never had a dream of that sort, but my wife for many years has had dreams in which her teeth all begin to feel terribly loose and fall out one by one. Now every time she flosses she swears her teeth wiggle. strange but true.

All of the my deja vu experiences have seemed really understated—not really prophetic or meaningful at all; an arrangment of people at a table that seems very familiar, a snippet of conversation, the name of a business on a billboard by the highway, all surrounded by this sudden dawning of recognition that makes me go, “Now hold on a second…” So, I don’t know if those images come from dreams but there are certainly coming from somewhere in the subconscious.

long post.

ha ha. lopez’s little mexican body.
come on, that’s funny.

Anyone ever have a dream where they physically hurt when they woke up? For instance, I had a dream (thanks Martin Luther King, Jr. for making me feel like a complete moron every time I type that phrase) that I was twisting like a maniac. Twisting away like we did last summer. I was getting real low, coming up like I had thighs of steel. I woke up and my legs were sore as though I had, indeed, been twisting all night.

For the record, I don’t twist. Honest.

I looked in a dream dictionary and here’s what I found about some of the images people have described: (I’ve cut and pasted some of the descriptions)

Teeth falling out – concern about one’s appearance and getting older or a phobia of the dentist.

Vampires (Norbert’s mom!) – might indicate you think this person is sucking the life out of you.

Naked in public – symbol of exposure and emotional vulnerability.

Being chased – pursued by disturbing fears and emotions. Chase dreams also can reflect literal fears of physical attack, or feelings of unwanted sexual attention.

Fighting – Representation of anger and frustration. Dreams of being unable to fight effectively?our sword wilts, our gun won?t work, we are unable to land a punch?represent feelings of powerlessness against an attacker. Fights also can represent internal struggles.

Death – Consistent symbol for change and separation in dreams, that should not be interpreted literally. Dreams of a child, sibling, or parent dying reflect change in our perception of that relationship. Old qualities of the person are ?passing away,? new qualities are being recognized. Dreams of death of an ex-lover reflect separation of the relationship. Mothers of toddlers often dream of accidents, including death, befalling a child. The dreams are not precognitive. Rather, a mother?s concern for her child?s safety, represented by the accident, never rests!

Dreaming of one?s own death (a dreamer may witness his or her funeral, or may ?just know? that he or she has died) symbolizes an inner metamorphosis and an evolution of development. Old ways of perceiving are passing away; new self-discoveries are being made. The dream is a symbol of transition.

For more information, check out www.dreamdoctor.com and click on the Dream Symbols Dictionary in the left hand column.

Thanks for the link to the dream site, very cool place. I have a feeling that my wife will “move in” to it as soon as the kids give her a moments peace.

OK…what about prophetic dreams? Dreams that actually foretold of something that actually happened (metaphorically or obviously). Sorta like the furniture bit a few posts back… any takers?

I have my own, but will with hold it for now. I know Joybird has some fun ones as well. anyone else?

Actually this is JabirdV…*cino site logged her in and not me…where is that laurencer?

oops