Back | Contents | Next



beautiful old woman  who explained to  me how love and
sexuality change  appropriately  through  every  stage  of
life.
     I  meet these characters  primarily through  the use of
dreamlanguage (see below)  and  then  get  to know them
well   through   many   other   dream   tools.  I  feel  their
physical reality in  my body,  sensing  their  presence in
my gestures, stance,  facial  expressions and  my voice. I
see  the body symbolism  of  my  body  speaking  to  me.
Through  a  stiff  neck  I  experience a rigid,  controlling,
arrogant  part of me.  Through leg cramps,  my body tells
me how I  am cramping my style.  My sore feet are angry
at   me  for  not  sending  them  enough  energy;  I am not
grounding   myself.   Through   art   I  give  my   cast   of
characters  form  and reclaim  their  energy—in drawing,
painting,  poetry  and  dance.  In daily living  I recognize
characteristic  ways  of  being myself  and  how  I feel in
each.
     DIALOGUE:  I  talk   with   my   inner   characters,  in
dreamwriting, in   imagination,  or  by  going   inside  my
dreamspace to get in  touch with  what  makes  them  tick
and to learn  what each offers me. For example,  I held  a
conversation with  the creative  dreamer  part  of  me and
the logical  critic  part of me concerning  my  work  with
dreams:
     "Incoherent! Too vague!" logic judged.
     "Keep going," my dreamer told me.
     "It doesn't make sense," logic argued.
     "It makes more sense," said my  dreamer, "as logic is
too judgmental and critical."

     Then, as a  diseased lung  is collapsed  and allowed  to
heal,  my  rational structure collapsed and healed while  I
lived  intuitively, exploring my inner  world.  I  wrote and
wrote,  dreamed  and  dreamed.  A   sleeping  part  of  me
stirred  and  came  to life, and  brought  me  back  to  life.
Logic  awoke,  refreshed.   The  dialogue  continues  now,
but in a totally different mood.
     "You know," says logic to my dreamer, "your vague-
ness and  disorganization conceal you from yourself."
     "Thank   you,"
  replies    the   dreamer,  "for    I    am
beginning  to see that  being more  lucid actually frees
me to be more myself."

     Logic  and  the  dreamer  are on  good  terms  now. As

205

.
Back | Contents | Next