What Dreams Are Made Of

In the story Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, Gary Ambrose "Jonesy" Jones is thoroughly intelligent that he has organized his mind like a library, filing away memories in rooms. However, King does not mention how Jonesy's memories are cross-referenced in order to keep his memories organized.

One must assume that whatever system is used, the owner of those memories, be it Jonesy or you or I, it would be organized in order to remember what happened in a person's past. When certain memories are not needed for recall, due either to their relative triviality or to their lack of relevance to the present, then they get "archived" i.e. moved into a storage room, the part of long-term memory, and "forgotten" in the Subconscious.

However, memories are never forgotten completely.

Over the course of years, some of them get "edited" and compressed into a terse form which is the synopsis of the original memory, especially the first memories involving emotions and feelings. Indeed, each person develops "archetypes" which are symbols of those memories that may arise in dreams from time to time.

My mind is not unlike Jonesy's, and for that matter, King's if it may be assumed that Dreamcatcher's characters are extensions of his own mind written down to document the author's innermost fears and the manner in which he vents those fears in creative storytelling.

Over the past year, I have had three dreams in which I explore a town and come across a place that I never have dreamed before then.

In the first dream, I happened on this apartment building in which people lived. It started in the subbasement and after it ended, the memory of it faded. I also saw bits and pieces of that dreameorld community.

In the second dream, I came across the apartment itself which was by a river. What I remember about it was the services room, which reminded me of welfare office and also of a homeless shelter.

In the third dream, which happened within the past two hours, I was in a room that is the common area for a group of roommates. One of those men, Mr Malice, tried to trap me between two pieces of furniture but I had the strength to prevent injury, and seeing that he had failed, he fled.

Mr Malice represents guilt and regret, the two complex emotions which arise when a person commits an error that he regrets and is aggrieved by guilt. 

By facing the malice of self recrimination without  awakening from the ensuing nightmare due to fear of death, guilt and regret quickly flee.

Such feelings and emotions are due to events in a person's life.

In my case, two days ago, I had made an error in filling out a work report and was called to task about it by my supervisor. Since then I have resolved to fully report my work day rather than keep it brief.

So possibly my mind emphasized all of this by conjuring up Mr. Malice trying to harm me. He failed because it was not his intent to harm me, but to remind me of my intent to fulfill my work duty.

For the mind, when it dreams, is always on the side of its owner, be it you or I. When it finds that my conscious will may have forgotten my obligations in real life, the mind will convey this in a dream, which may have a climax to remind me. We fail to recognize this at our own risk.

In a way, dreams may be due to the superego (conscience) using archetypes hidden in the subconscious to direct the ego (conscious will) along a path straitened by the inner moral compass (super-ego) despite the id (unconscious will) desiring to be free as a bird. Yet the id provides motivation via the libido to preserve life through acts that either create new life or create the world that is the mind. In response to the id, the mind then directs the body to act in a manner that reflects the inner world of the mind.

Thus, dreams are a part of the inner world of a person. Dreams help each of us to explore that world called the mind where memories are kept with the aid of the id, the ego and the super-ego. With their help, we are inspired to become productive members of society.

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Id, ego, super-ego: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego

Meditation on Gender, Western and Eastern Cultures, and Psychotherapy

May everyone be at peace with themselves.
May everyone progress in their spiritual journey.
May everyone endeavor to perfect their minds.
With peaceful heart, may this one walk the path
towards the moment of putting out the fire,
and thus passing onto a higher plane.

Analysis of meditation

"Be at peace" implies a peaceful heart.

"Progress" accepts that not all people who desire a perfect mind have a perfect body.
However, with more effort the dedicated practitioner achieves more peace and calm.

"Endeavor" implies that all one needs to do is act to perfect your mind. Perfection of a mind implies that one learn to meditate. It does not happen right now; yet even after the first week, meditation will lead one to a perfect mind.

With peace comes satisfaction. This is a given. In walking the path, this one encounter less obstacle to reach the goal all Buddhists desire: Nirvana. This desire is not tainted by desire for fame or gain, because that desire corrupts the mind.

Thus one needs to put out the fire of desire, so that one may pass onto a higher plane of existence. This higher plane does not make the earnest practitioner above it all. Rather, she sees no difference between herself and another person with regard to the mind.

A Meditation on gender

For the only difference between man and woman is physical. Our description about the human condition is gender neutral. Likewise, gender is actually unimportant.

In denying women access to the tools of Buddhism such as meditation and the breathing exercises, the Theravada form is sexist to Westerners whose culture is highly sensitive to women's rights. Yet the Theravada form is fostered in a culture where sensitivity to women's rights is fine in politics, but not in religion.

Thus, the apparent sexism is designed to help women understand their place in that culture, which is called Eastern.

Eastern and Western Cultures

Were I to blend the two cultures, it is possible to have a broader understanding of both cultures so that Westerners may understand Eastern culture.

As well, to criticize Theravada Buddhism effectively, the practitioner needs to understand his culture and its effect on Buddhism.

For why is it that Zen is favored over other forms of Buddhism. Shingon Buddhism may
look like a mix of mysticism and symbolism, but it works for a Shingon practitioner.

Psychotherapy and Buddhism

Yet Buddhism is practical for anyone to use, and the breathing exercises of meditation have been incorporated in cognitive behavior therapy.

Thus a psychotherapy that incorporates meditation as its therapeutic tool only uses it to achieve a calm mind. By separating the spiritual part of meditation from the physical part of breathing and posture, such a psychotherapy is devoid of spiritual development.

In this way, anyone can use such therapy to reduce the effects of stress so that one can do anything. Yet there are few statistics on how meditation relieves stress.

Final Meditation

May all who read this know that this person who wrote these words that the spiritual journey is a sacred one, yet it is also a personal journey of self-discovery.

May all know that "self" in context of the spiritual journey is not the ego, that part of a person's psyché that motivates one to seek comfort and satisfaction.

For the "self" this person speaks of is the higher self on that higher spiritual plane which few people achieve except for the greatest of practitioners.

May all also know that "this person" refers to the author of this meditation.

May all who read this discover happiness to be not a goal but a state of mind that is fleeting.

May all who achieve this state of mind of happiness be satisfied with their lot.

For to desire happiness is unwise; it would be better to enjoy the moment.

May all who achieve happiness know that meditation is more fun when you are happy.

May all who realize how fun meditation is, focus on their breath.

This person respects Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light of loving-kindness and also the Buddha of Infinite Life of compassion.
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The above is an example of how I explore Buddhist meditation. I don't just sit on my ass gazing at my navel.

Since meditation helps me to think even though my body is tired, it is in my best interest to use the tools before me to put my thought down.

My mind requires self expression, yet in this blog entry, that expression is done so that the gentle reader may understand where I am coming from.

As well, there is a minor catharsis occurring when I express myself. Even though my writing is not sophisticated and tempered by academic training, its topic at the moment is religion but not the religion most people are adverse to.