Screaming For Help In Dreams

[syncategorematic]

athaira9   posted the following quotation:

All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.-Elias Canetti

I replied,

Like escalators, blue-shirted future husbands, the Ob' river, horses, German essays, train stations, fuchsia-garbed impatient men, Hayden Panettiere and editing Wikipedia entries (whom I, strangely, dreamed of last night), Reach for the Top students wielding tanks, and vanadium?

Come to think of it, I've dreamed of both train and Metro stations within the last month -- is something moving? While searching for Mayakovsky quotations yesterday, I encountered the line,

"If a song does not thunder down train stations, what then is alternating current for?"

I've got songs, I've apparently got train stations, I haven't yet got thunder (the verb has the metaphorical meaning "raze" but I wanted to keep the morphological as much as I could) and I am sure somewhere in my computer there's alternating current doing something.

I expected someone to point out that posting what my subconscious declares to be a prophecy may affect the future course of events simply by people knowing this. It made me think, though, of Alexander Grin's most famous romance, Scarlet Sails (there's an English translation here, actually) where the plot, as I was told it, was exactly that of the girl Assol who gets foretold that her love will come to her on a ship with scarlet sails. The sea-captain Grey falls in love with her, hears of this, and buys up a lot of scarlet dye... To confirm whether that plot was actually an accurate retelling, I went to the text, started reading, and the following lines struck me:

Now at last did he see what it was in her face that had struck him so. "An unwitting expectation of the beautiful, of a blissful fate," he decided. "Ah, why wasn't I born a writer? What a wonderful theme for a story."

I wondered whether that was what I had in that face when I could tell I was happy but could not tell how*. An unwitting optimism. True, I suppose in this, so very generally, I am a romantic as I am not in specifics; there is a quiet conviction that life will be beautiful! Added to a quiet conviction in myself, that if it is not beautiful, I will not stand for it long, and will do something about that.

*I went back to look at it, and I think I see that my mysterious expression in the last photograph had that, yes, but also, now, what I was saying is completely clear to me: "I wish you joy!" I expect the beautiful...and I want it for everyone else as well; it doesn't lessen by this.

Comments

[thehennafairy.livejournal.com]

ooo I love the scarlet sails story! that's really neat, I'll have to read it later... Even if by telling the prophecy it becomes self fulfilling, maybe that's how it meant to play out? While the idea of seredipity and a ship with scarlet sails arriving is appealing, the romantic in me loves grand gestures (which are not always large/expensive, but just something that took great thought and effort. such as dying the sails red...) and it's just as romantic... of course, if it were me, I would probably flip out once I knew the truth. But the love would continue on despite that if it's meant to be, and if it isn't, it would be the excuse to end it.

as for your dreams, my favorite approach is the "how did you feel in the dream?" question. things/people could represent many things, so this is more about your emotions/approach to a situation.

or, here's some info on trains...
http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/searchcsv.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=train


and i know those moments. where you find yourself happy in photos, even if in general life was going pear shaped, you realize you were living in the moment. funny how sometimes it's hard to recognize that at the time...

i have a photo that i love of myself because of that, i remember that feeling, the pure joy. it's not my favorite photo based on anything else, just that I can tell my smile there wasn't for the camera.

I too love seeing peoples photos. and I feel guilty sometimes about judging based on appearances, especially in just one picture! I was recently proven very wrong about a first impression online vs in person, and it was a pleasant surprise.

In fact, it was such a difference that while on "paper" I have no real interest in this person besides our common interests, I'm now intrigued by him and wouldn't mind getting to know him better. And I was shocked to be a little attracted to him - he's much older, shorter, and bald/shaved.... Well whatever happens, great reminder not to judge too much based on a photo ;o)

[indicolite.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info on trains --- I think that the definition that "clicked" was the "you have laid out a set track towards achieving your goals". Then the long-ago fuchsia nightmare, which was set in the Cambridge train station, meant that I had laid out a track towards achieving my goals, but I wasn't ready to get on board yet, and being impatient would just get me into fights.

and i know those moments. where you find yourself happy in photos, even if in general life was going pear shaped, you realize you were living in the moment. funny how sometimes it's hard to recognize that at the time...

Actually, at the moment that pic was taken, I was very happy and I knew it.

And I was shocked to be a little attracted to him - he's much older, shorter, and bald/shaved.... Well whatever happens, great reminder not to judge too much based on a photo ;o)

You've seen Sex and the City? Charlotte, the romantic, ends up finding true love with someone who is...older, shorter, and bald! Sometimes I think the writers of that show are immensely wise where human nature is concerned.

[thehennafairy.livejournal.com]

LOL! yes yes I've seen it... well shorter than me isn't too hard too find! I am on the tall side ;o)