I heard a term in one of the books my kids read. Wait, how can that be? Well, we are listening to a cd of the book one of my kids read. The book is called “Soul Eater” by Michelle Paver. Written in the third person, we are able to know the thoughts of all the characters. One character happens to be a wolf and we hear his thoughts which are different from those of humans. He thinks and focuses on the present only. There are memories of the past, but no pre-thought of the future. What he calls simple things is quite interesting.
One item is something Wolf calls, “The other now.” I fell in love with that term instantly. Can you guess what it is? Where is it we can be present, but not here? We can use all our senses and even determine what we, as well as others, are doing in this other now. But, most often, we follow along and then wonder what it was all about later. Dreaming! Yep.
Prospero:
“We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
The Tempest, Act IV, scene I, William Shakespeare
Dreams, visions, prophecies, does anyone have a corner on that market? Don’t think so. I think most people are blessed with the ability to dream. Not everyone does though. I just found this great website called The Quantitative Study of Dreams, with some pretty in-depth FAQ’s about dreaming. They are pretty darn sensible with their answers, even bludgeoning my whimsical ideals of dreaming into submission at some points. However, I rise undaunted and stick to my guns on my beliefs regarding the positive information we can glean from our dream time. Who knows from whence our dreams come? Who knows for sure they are or are not passing on information from a higher source? It may be that we are talking to ourselves; revealing our innermost thoughts, desires, fears; and encouraging ourselves onward through our lives. I often wonder if we can control this “now” as much as we can the “other now” of dreams; pay a bit of heed to what we are dreaming and then lead ourselves toward success.
“A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read.” ~The Talmud
What fun it is to share our latest, wackiest dreams with the first person who will listen. Perfectly natural. Dream interpretation drifted in along with human awareness and has gone on since man began to speak, I am quite sure. What better stories to share around the clan fire? The clan mage, now known as my friend the psychic healer, would have the final say in interpretation, but we could all hedge our bets as to whether the dream would come true or not. We may even have based our very survival on the interpretations, believing in the mage’s healing powers and accepting, come what may.
The other now. Isn’t it just the most wonderful term? I love to sleep and to dream.
Demetrius:
“Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act IV, scene I, William Shakespeare
Hamlet:
“To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.”
Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, William Shakespeare
My, my, wasn’t he taken with sleeping and dreaming? Here’s another. John Keats.
WHAT is more gentle than a wind in summer?
What is more soothing than the pretty hummer
That stays one moment in an open flower,
And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
In a green island, far from all men’s knowing?
More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
More secret than a nest of nightingales?
More serene than Cordelia’s countenance?
More full of visions than a high romance?
What, but thee Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!
Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!
Silent entangler of a beauty’s tresses!
Most happy listener! when the morning blesses
Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes
That glance so brightly at the new sun-rise.
Sleep and Poetry, John Keats
Absolutely incredible and astounding metaphors; the number of ways he thought of describing the beauty of sleeping! Maybe it’s my age that has allowed me to know how enticing this nightly ritual really is. The lack of sufficient rest, the deprivation of dreaming, filtering, creating in our other state of consciousness can be most discombobulating. I do crave that “Silent entangler”, “The other now”. Thank you, William Shakespeare, John Keats, Wolf and Michelle Paver, for your thought inducing bibelots. Now for “the other now”. Off to slumber land.
