Dream Interpretation

I had a dream.  Now, this dream may be interpreted on many different levels, but I am interested to see what YOUR interpretations are.

I do not believe in dream interpretation per se.  I think that the idea I can dream in metaphors is bizarre, and if I dreamt in all sorts of abstract and symbolic imagery, then why would I not think like this consciously 24-7.

According to Freud (who of course will be mentioned) then dreams are just "...disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes."  Whether you believe this to be true or not, really depends on whether you studied A-Level psychology.

I will now recall my dream:  I am attending the Royal Wedding, and I am there with all of my work colleagues.  The wedding is being held at an aerodrome.  The ceremony starts with me being led with my work colleuagues to and from different locations like sheep.  We do not know where we are going but we are happy to be led as we keep going passed the bar.  It is then announced over a tannoy (public speaker system - all-rise Partridge fans) that we should head outside to see the flyby of the Red Arrows.  I then observe this through a small alleyway, and as the strangely slow procession passes, one spitfire pilot decides to attempt a loop-the-loop, which at that altitude can only go horribly wrong.  We all watch in disbelief as the plane goes up in flames when it crashes into the ground in a ball of flames.  We then hear from the public speaker (tannoy operator) that everything is OK.  Bewildered, we watch as the flames die down, only to reveal the pilot standing triumphantly on top of the annihilated wreckage of his plane.  Obviously we are all somewhat relieved.  After this we head to the bar area to celebrate the Royal Wedding (quite why it's capitalised I don't know), where I catch sight of an old school friend of mine Daniel.  Throught the sheer exuberance of seeing each other after a prolonged seperation we wrestle rather violently on the floor.  I unfortunately drop him on his head.  I am unsure what to do as he screams in agony, and as I am just about to intervene, Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet fame rushes in to analyse the situation and make sure my friend is not unduly injured.  Obviously I am a little taken aback by his presence, but I let him carry out his checks as he seems to know what he is doing.  The rest of dream carrys on with me getting steadily more drunk, yet more alone.

Now, needless to say on awakening I was a little dumbfounded by this dream.  I dream all sorts of nonsense, but on this occasion I had reached new heights.  I didn't know what to make of it.  Now, if I take Freudian symbolism to the extreme then all oblong objects resemble a penis.  Which means that the runway is a penis, and Marti Pellow, being of human shape is an oblong, so is obviously a penis.  I don't mean to say that I agree with this, personally I think that this is complete detritus (an interesting article on Freudian symbolism can be found here)

I see dream interpretation as a similar belief to astrology.  In essence it is trying to link a deeper emotional meaning to things that don't deserve it.  This is essentially just relating symbols to things that we imagine important enough to dream about, and if things aren't instantly obvious, then we make tenous links to things that are.  Ultimately there are no scientists that have pointed to a conclusive reason for our dreams.  The most realistic opinion would be that we are processing the information we have acculmulated throughout our day, and are experiencing it through a 'mashed up' sequence.

I have no idea what my or your dreams mean to me or you.  But I am very interested to hear how others may interpret this.  Finally, this artical makes interesting, yet hilarious reading.

Yours thoughtfully,

Neanderthal Man

Killing the Afterlife

I know this is my first post on my blog, and I know I wanted to keep it relatively light-hearted, but I have not been able to get these thoughts far from my mind, so here goes.

Last week I went to a funeral.  Throughout the whole ceremony I sat in discomfort, cringing at the bible readings and shifting restlessly in my chair. This made me feel embarrassed.  I didn't want to feel embarrassed at a funeral, so through chain of thought (or emotion) I started to feel frustrated, almost angry.

My main quibble - so to speak - with the whole process, was the 'tone' of all readings and hymns.  Now, I am generally a happy, free-spirited, easy-going person, and usually I find pessimism prohibitive.  Yet on this occasion I could not allow myself to just 'go with the flow.'  I love my family (well, the majority of them), and the thought of any of them suffering after death fills me with sadness.  This, however, does not give me any reason to believe something to which no-one can prove.

I do not profess to be an expert on all things mortal, or even knowledgeable on religion, but I am pretty close to 100% certain that there is no proof of life after death.  There is not one iota of hard, physical evidence that can support it.  If there were then everyone would know about it.  Why, then, is the afterlife such a common belief?  Almost to the point that you are in the minority when you say that you unequivocally DIS believe it.

Religion would be the strongest advocator for the the afterlife (in some form or another), yet again there is not evidence to support this.  I have not read the bible cover to cover but I know there are sections in there that, if read literally, do not support the afterlife at all (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10 in particular.  A very interesting read would be an article on a website the Truth Magazine, especially when you consider the authors are a group of Christians).  Now I know that many would argue that the bible is not to be taken literally, but then why is the afterlife such a popular belief, even with Atheists and Agnostics?

Surely it is just to make the individual feel better, and to stop us fearing such a definitive end.  If this is the case then I say that is a very real definition of the ostrich sticking it's head in the sand.  How, in any way, is thinking that we have a 'better place' to go to, going to help us to enjoy and live this current life to the full?  Surely it would just hinder it, as we always have the excuse of "Ah well, at least it will be better next time!"  A slightly stronger argument may be that it relieves us of a certain sense of sadness and burden when a loved one has passed.  Again, this has a rather strong whiff of denial here.  If I believe the holocaust didn't happen then it makes it less sad, but it certainly does not mean that it didn't happen.

The feeling of sitting through the funeral was a very uncomfortable one, and one that will stick with me forever.  It has certainly made me think about popular beliefs and why people believe them.  Hopefully those of you that have read this far will now be suitably incensed to leave a comment explaining how narrow-minded I am.  If you do, then please cite references!

Thanks for reading,

Neanderthal Man.