The exploding evil clown head dream...

[Artie J]

Yeah, with a title like that I knew you would look! HAHAHA! Yep, this LD had it all; magic, teleportation, and an exploding evil clown head! It started in a large hotel lobby. I was near a table, and picked up a small jar, held it in my hand and willed it to disappear. ( I think this helps build up my confidence.) Then I saw another table where three guys were sitting. I noticed they were watching television, and I looked at the TV to see what they were watching. (first time I've seen a TV in an LD) On the screen, it looked like a news network program, with some kind of information scrolling along the bottom, a news announcer in the foreground and an inset image in the background, presumable relating to whatever the announcer was talking about. The background image was an evil looking clown. Suddenly the clown's head exploded! I looked back at the guys sitting at the table, and they showed no reaction to this, they just kept watching. I decided to approach them. I wanted to do some more magic tricks, so I created the idea that I was employed by the hotel as a magician to entertain guests in the lobby. When I looked down at my clothes, I was appropriately dressed in a tuxedo! I said "Would you gentlemen like to see any magic tricks this evening?" One guy says "Do you know the first two lines to ????(name of some poem) by ??? (some poet)" I was stumped as to how to reply, but I eventually answered "um...no." Then, I knew what he was going to say, and I said it in unison with him: " Then make yourself disappear." I then though 'What a great idea!' So I snapped my fingers, and suddenly my perspective changed instantly. I was across the lobby looking back at the guys, and the guy I was talking to was looking around like "what the..?" After that I woke up. I still don't have a great number of LDs, and they tend to be short and often not very vivid, but this morning's LD was very vivid, and I was pleased at my level of control, which is getting better. I laughed several times today when I though about that exploding clown image.

[Clairity]

Great LD.. I liked how you "disappeared"!

[Leo Volont]

Dear Artie, Is that your highest priority that you have for your Dream Work, to do faux magic tricks in hotel lobbies? Even your Higher Dream Self showed in the Dream Content that it was largely dismissive of the choices you made for your moment of Lucidity. yes, a certain amount of spontaneity doesn't hurt -- one should try to respond appropriately to whatever dream content that is presented; however, if you have any greater purpose you are working toward, maybe it would be better to begin utilizing a Dream Checklist. Now, sometimes Dream Checklists have their own problems. First, it takes the Dream Mind about a week to about 15 days sometimes to prepare an appropriate dream to match up with a contemplated Checklist, so don't abandon a Checklist too soon, before your Dream Mind is able to spring the answering Dream. And sometimes your Dream Mind may have qualms or reservations concerning the items and priorities expressed in your Checklist, but such reservations and concerns will undoubtably be expressed symbolically in Dream Content. Anyway, Dreaming is a powerful Tool for personal development, and so I think you could do better than practice parlor tricks.

[Leo Volont]

Originally posted by Clairity Great LD.. I liked how you \"disappeared\"! Actually, look at the dream content carefully. He was told to get lost -- he was dismissed -- he was sent away. In his own dream he made himself like something of an Organ Grinder's Monkey. And then there was the Central Theme of the dream -- the Exploding Clowns Head. Notice that nobody in the crowd had any empathy for the dead clown, except our Hero, but why was he concerned? Then he becomes another Clown himself. He appears to be something like the Tarot Card 'Fool'. The Dream is dismissive of him and this role he is playing. But even after the dream, he interprets it all as quite positive. I think that perhaps his Dreams would rather he be more ambitious in his personal aspirations.

[Artie J]

Well Mr. Leo, thanks for the analysis, but I think you should know more about me before you draw such conclusions. A real life friend who has LDs asked me if I had ever seen a TV in an LD. He said "usually for me, whatever's on the screen is pretty f'ed up." So when I saw the TV I think there was some degree of expectation to see something bizarre. The context of the clown head was amusing, like some SNL skit or something. I had no "concern" for the clown. I was actually more surprised the guys weren't laughing. The LD's "emotional quotient", if you will, was of a fun and light hearted nature. I try to be a positive person in real life. In LDs I don't pursue "sex and mayhem" themes like some people. My "parlor tricks" as you called them are a simple enjoyment that I've only been able to do a couple of times, so there's a fresh sense of amazement and amusement associated with them at this point. 75% of my dreams are of flight, so when I'm grounded, I've been trying to learn how to examine and interact with the dream environment. Just keeping things stable has been a challenge. For me, this dream was fun and I was pleased that things I willed actually happened. The feeling at the end of the dream was having foiled a smartass! I don't know exactly what my "higher dream self" is. Perhaps you could give me your definition. I'm an agnostic and doubt that there is a spiritual dimension to our existence, so if that's where you're coming from, we're already on fundamentally different wavelengths. In waking life, I have found meditation to be mentally and physically calming and emotionally healing. A couple of meditation attempts in the dream state however did not produce for me any spiritual or emotional epiphanies as some people report. So at this point I don't know what higher calling there is for me and LDs, but I'm always open to developement and learning. (I'm an agnostic, not an atheist!) If you just mean the subconscious, I've always had my doubts about how intelligent or organized the process is. I think our creative interpretations of dream content may be more significant that the actual content. I think the subconscious may be our "lower brain", the murky realm of our instincts, fears, doubts and insecurities. This is probably heresy, for which I shall be shunned!