Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?

That's what Leonardo said and I have to say, I agree with him. My friend Ross recently wrote a lovely post about an equally lovely dream he had which got me thinking about dreams...

I've always been a great believer in dreams and the way they can predict a person's future, that the unconscious can materialise in the consious life. Take after my mum in that respect. She can tell you what's gonna happen by interpreting your dream. For example, dreaming of fish means worries ahead, murky waters mean illness, falling means you're struggling with some kind of problem. She's very spiritual and always has a dream before something major happens, or after the fact if she hadn't known about it beforehand. Like when my aunt died recently - she dreamt of the house where she was born. I sometimes have that gift, but not to the degree that she does...I sometimes dream about people I haven't seen or heard from in donkey's years and then they mysteriously materialise in my waking life a day or so later...

I Googled to see which famous people, other than Joseph's dream of the 7 fat and 7 thin cows and Joseph's dream of the baby Jesus being slaughtered by Emperor Augustus, had dreams which changed or predicted their future...here are some interesting ones I found...

Giuseppe Tartini wrote one of his greatest works "The Devil's Trill" as a result of one of his dreams. In his dream, he handed his violin to the devil who began, as Tartini says " to play with consummate skill a sonata of such exquisite beauty as surpassed the boldest flights of my imagination. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted; my breath was taken away, and I awoke." He then took to his violin and tried to write down the notes he heard in his dream. He says it was the best piece he ever wrote but far below par to the music the devil played in his dream...

Then there's the dream that Adolf Hitler had in a trench in WWI. He dreamed of himself and his fellow soldiers being engulfed by earth and molten metal. He awoke and left the trench. While he was away the trench was hit by a shell and the other soldiers killed. So a seemingly simple dream can change the entire course of human history...

Another dream that changed the course of human history was one that Albert Einstein had. Apparently, his theory of relativity was inspired by a dream whereby he was going down a mountainside ever faster, watching the appearance of the stars change as he approached the speed of light. I don't know if I can really believe that story, but that's what the worldwide web says...

The eeriest dream, and possibly the most famous one dreamt by someone other than the two Josephs, was Abraham Lincoln's dream where he predicts his own death. Here's what he wrote: "There seemed to be death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. "Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the soldiers "The President" was his answer; "he was killed by an assassin! Then came a loud burst of grief form the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. " Pretty freaky, eh...?

I had a great dream a couple of months ago. Nothing special some might say, but very special to me. I was lying in bed with a friend and our heads were on a pillow together, with our temples meeting - not face to face, but side to side, looking at the ceiling together, with, funnily enough, our bodies far apart. Nothing life changing, nothing you could see in a crystal ball, but I felt so happy when I woke up after that dream. Because, when I thought about it later, that dream is an interpretation of not just that particular friendship but of all my friendships - a meeting of the minds. And that is the fulfillment of one of the most important dreams you can have - having people you can share your thoughts with, who can share their thoughts with you, who understand you, who know what you're feeling and thinking without either of you uttering a sound. As Richard Bach said "your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years."

I'll leave ya with a song. "I have a dream" - not by Abba but by Nana. Makes me wanna close my eyes and daydream away...what a voice...



Sweet dreams, y'all,
The Knitting Songbird