Dreams: Personalized Myths

By nastyjman · Sep 30, 2010 · 1.9K · 5
  1. I just edited my signature with Joseph Campbell's quote on it; "Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream."

    After doing so, it made me think if dreams can be a source of inspiration, tapping on the wells of the collective subconscious. I read that H.P. Lovecraft based his "Great Old Ones" from his nightmares. I used to encrypt my dreams through poetry and lyrics. To create a narrative out of the dream is hard since most details are lost after waking - unless it was lucid. But what got my attention was symbolism. What dreams and myths have in common are symbols. Jung had discovered the archetypes which some bore semblance to heroes and heroines. If our dreams contained the DNA of ancient and old myths, unearthing and reconstructing them could produce a new myth, a new story in the voice of this generation. With this, however, I'm not dismissing our innate imagination to chalk up stories. Rather, I'm suggesting that we utilize another resource to aid our craft.

    So I'm thinking of a writing exercise for myself and sharing this idea to you, my dear reader. After waking up from a dream, try to remember as much as you can what you had dreamt. As you do, identify three essentials that stood out in the dream. These essentials could either be an object, a person, an event, a location, etc. With those three, write a story - a short story - using those as inspiration.

    I hope I dream something tonight and try this exercise out. Sweet dreams WF!

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  1. Robert.M
    For the past two years I have been writing down every dream that I could remember so vividly; even the one I had this mourning. The problem I have is that I don't understand them or know how to use them in a story.
    Robert.M, Sep 30, 2010
  2. nastyjman
    Well, just had a dream and wrote down three scenes;
    - Joe Biden is giving a speech while inebriated. After his spiel, he walks into a concert where my friend's boyfriend is performing.
    - Superheroes with weird spandex outfits fall from the sky, challenging each other to fight. Each has a silly band with either blue or red to show their allegiance.
    - I go up on an escalator and see a gunslinger crying for his child; he doesn't miss him - he needs him.

    Jung said there are symbols inherent in these scenes... then again, Freud said scenes from dreams refer to waking life activities that were recognized by the subconscious but ignored by the conscious. Either I agree with Freud on this or try to make something out of it.
    nastyjman, Oct 1, 2010
  3. nastyjman
    Do a little experiment; take three significant objects from those dreams. For example, the post I made above, I'm using these: Joe, power, gunslinger.

    I dunno'. I'm working on an entry for this week's contest so this exercise will wait. I'm thinking either Powerful gunslinger Joe or Or Powerful Joe gunned... Don't forget about the peripheral action that happened in the dream though. I'm either thinking Joe was murdered inside an opera house.

    But it would be amazing to find a plot somewhere inside that dream, wouldn't it?
    nastyjman, Oct 1, 2010
  4. Joanna the Mad
    Interesting idea. I'm in! However, there's a reason why we forget our dreams, so easily, Freud said. It might be dangerous to mess with it, for our mental health!
    Joanna the Mad, Oct 1, 2010
  5. nastyjman
    Hehehe, he did say that. Then Jung - his contemporary and his critic - said they're a source of energy... who knows.

    Also (just a snippet) they said if you remember dreams vividly enough, there's a chance you might end up in a lucid dream. It's something that I've experience twice and would love to do it again.
    nastyjman, Oct 2, 2010
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