http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss ian20@mac.com © Ian Campbell Mon, 25 May 2009 14:57:01 +0100 Mon, 25 May 2009 14:57:15 +0100 iBlog 1.4.0 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1565980706/index.html Latest Dream: See 'My Death Dreams 2007'.

1994-2004
There are 25 dreams here over ten years.
To see a quarter consider 1, 2, 4, 13, 21, 24.
To see half consider 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 13, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

What is the theme of the dreams?
d1 gives the time of death; d2 suggests reasons; d3 rebirth; d4 what we take with us, and some urgency; d5 the crossing is good but don't rush it; d6 for the avoidance of doubt; d7 a welcome on the other side; d8 power of dreams; d9 anxiety; d10 the journey starts soon; d11 alarm call; d12 merit your eternal soul; d13 clarifies d4; d14 reassurance; d15 be prepared; d16 no alternative; d17 don't waste time; d18 death is a relocation; d19 reminder of d1; d20 experiment?; d21 a date; d22 anger at relocation; d23 purification; d24 God appears; d25 crossing boundary.

So the main themes are timing, confirmation, urgency (be ready) and reassurance.

Dream sample in 2004
1 of 7 Jan dreams; 0 of 1 Feb; 1 of 3 March; 0 of 1 April; 1 of 4 May; 0 of 5 June; 1 of 3 July; 0 of 2 Aug; 1 of 1 Sept; 0 of 3 Oct; 1 of 2 Nov; 0 of 0 Dec. ]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2003 20:03:11 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1565980706/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E783678058/index.html I am to die after a family friend. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 14:53:19 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E783678058/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1386379297/index.html I go out to bat in a cricket match. I find I have a jar of marmalade in my pocket, and am pleased that the umpire allows me to put it behind the stumps. I notice that the stumps are not straight. The bails might just be still on, but it looks as though a ball has already hit them. I wait for them to be put right, and see that the bowler has already started his long run. I make no attempt to play the ball and it hits my stumps. The umpire gives out and I protest. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 15:25:32 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1386379297/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1494412669/index.html I am being given some big birthday party, which I am not enjoying. There are many people I do not know. I realise I am still in my pyjamas, and am about to change, when my sister Linda says I will find some new clothes among my presents. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 15:50:53 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1494412669/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E647884497/index.html Mum is ill in bed. I am in an adjoining room, maybe a kitchen or dining room. I see her make the faintest smile and say encouragingly, ‘I like your smile’. She replies, ‘I like yours too’. I notice a pool of sweat appear on the top of her head. I cross into the room to dry her head. She starts talking to me about my birthday present – 10% of something. I realise that it is the day before my birthday. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 21:42:00 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E647884497/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E2132426619/index.html I am in a plane. At first it is full, then I notice a few empty seats and wonder where and how the people have gone. The plane flies slower and lower and finally the engines cut and it falls quite gently on the ground. Everyone gets out safely but quickly in case it explodes. I realise I have left behind a bag and something else, and, as it seems safe, I go back for them. A police car passes and so I walk slowly not to look like a thief. I call to my best friend (Peter CH - from childhood) to wait for me. Then I join all the others by jumping over a small ditch or river or waterway, and cross to the other side. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 21:51:05 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E2132426619/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1690334400/index.html An announcement comes over a loudspeaker system to the effect that this has never happened before, but we must say goodbye to Ian Campbell. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 21:57:03 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1690334400/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1497771606/index.html Aunt Beryl, as a younger woman, gives me a big warm hug of welcome. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:00:07 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1497771606/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E720992363/index.html A lion is sleeping in a bed. I carefully take a newspaper from a pile by its head on the bed. The lion is peaceful and I am not scared of it, but at the same time I am careful of its power. Next, perhaps in an adjoining room, I see Dad asleep in a bed, and realise he is indistinguishable from the lion. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:05:41 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E720992363/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1886134751/index.html A man dressed in black is going to strangle me. I back away, very scared, and wake up struggling for a moment to breathe. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:08:59 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1886134751/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E279043756/index.html I am running to catch a train. I check the notice board for the platform and see there are only a few (3-4) minutes to go. I hear an announcement for the ‘leafy’ suburb of Greenford, and see my train waiting in front of another on the same platform. I run for it and there are still a few empty seats.
]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:14:00 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E279043756/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1916777998/index.html In the five minutes between my two alarms going off in the morning, I dream of a cold draught in my bedroom. I close the 2 open windows, and find to my surprise there is still a draught or wind. I return to the window and see the little one on top is open. I am about to close this when my second alarm wakens me. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:17:01 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1916777998/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1736062581/index.html I am standing at the back of a hall or theatre. In front of me is an audience. Princess Diana appears on stage in a new golden dress and walks straight across to get my approval. There is a sense of a ‘Finale’ – the last act for which the best dress is worn. The dress is beautiful and sparkles, though not from any glitter or stones. She checks herself first in a standing mirror beside me, and then I must say it is lovely and we kiss and she returns to the stage. There is a sexual element to the kiss, which slightly shocks and surprises me. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:20:18 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1736062581/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1544809015/index.html I am waiting for a train, with my belongings packed into a trunk. Then the trunk goes missing. Then I find all my belongings packed into a fine, leather piece of hand luggage, about twice the size of a briefcase. It is hard to believe everything is in there, but I look inside and think at least it will be easier to get on the train. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:23:08 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1544809015/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1734102055/index.html I am lost and trying a different way back when my car completely closes down, everything fails, lights, engine radio etc. I am surprised but not unduly alarmed or upset, and have enough momentum to steer off the road into a layby. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:25:52 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1734102055/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E969263290/index.html I am downstairs, vaguely at Hassocks, when the doorbell rings. I don’t have my trousers on, so I go upstairs for them. Someone warns of a ghost there, so I clap my hands as I go into the bedroom to scare it away. ]]> Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:28:13 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E969263290/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1579786274/index.html I am walking along a pavement. A small dog, like a Yorkshire Terrier, is tied by its lead to the middle of the pavement, and rushes, barking, at anyone trying to pass. I think I allow sufficient leeway, but it leaps at me, lead stretching, as it grabs my arm in its teeth. It’s hold is firm and sharp but not painful, and my watch flies off my wrist. Someone, maybe Linda, makes some reference to my birthday. ]]> Sun, 12 Oct 2003 19:06:16 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1579786274/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E410093942/index.html I lose 2 teeth with a curious shape – something like a pyramid with curved ends. They are stained brown. Someone seems unconcerned, so I say I need my teeth to eat.

Then I am in a large room with a group I don’t know, but who know each other. Perhaps we are there to learn something, but we keep separate until I notice they have left. We have been waiting for something to happen, and I find myself idly reading a tabloid with a television turned towards me.

It occurs to me I am leaving the house tomorrow. I have done no packing or tidying and do not feel like it. I leave the room and see 2 more – one perhaps with someone from the group, and the other with Mum in it. I tell her of my concerns about packing and tidying, but she is not worried and perhaps slightly amused at my fears. ]]> Thu, 13 Nov 2003 18:32:54 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E410093942/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E463100999/index.html I can’t sleep because the curtains are wide open and letting in daylight. (It seems to be daytime, though I think it is night.) Going to draw the curtains, I see through the window much activity as a relocation company prepares to enter the building. Then they are all in my room. I am very alarmed and call the police. As I wait for some introductory message to finish, a young woman from the relocation company puts her hand over the phone to cut the connection. ]]> Thu, 13 Nov 2003 19:04:47 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E463100999/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E350430382/index.html i) Friend's son puts his hand on my shoulder.
ii) I am in a house like Grandad’s. Some people throw snowballs, which break a window in the house. I will need to find somewhere safer, more communal, to live in my old age.
iii) My brother proposes putting a table-cloth over some sugar he has spilled on the dining-table. I suggest he clears up the sugar and Mum agrees.
iv) I get into a train, which is just a single carriage. The ticket inspector is sitting in the train, and people show him their tickets through the window before boarding – I do not. Nor do I like to sit opposite the inspector, where there is most space.
v) I am looking for my train, perhaps changing trains, but cannot find it. ]]> Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:05:12 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E350430382/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E900309055/index.html I am in an aeroplane, so high I cannot see the earth. We wait stationary in the sky. Someone gets out for a walk on adjacent land. Then the storm begins, far below. My plane banks sharply and we drop towards the black cloud. A wedge-shaped piece of land with grass on top towers high above the invisible earth. I fear for our safety.

I turn over in bed and find myself in a dormitory. Already it is 11.30am, so I go into the communal bathroom. Someone waits as I stand in front of the mirror over a basin cutting my hair. The scissors struggle with my unexpected full head of black hair. Next time, I think, I should play with different styles instead of cutting it all off, as whatever I do will look good or interesting. ]]> Sat, 03 Apr 2004 22:11:40 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E900309055/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E824015918/index.html I am in a little hall just before the entrance to a church. Suddenly Dad materializes before me. He looks well and cheerful and I am delighted to see him, rubbing my eyes in disbelief. I go towards him wondering if he is in body or spirit. He disappears leaving me a fine book with brown hardback covers.
I see it is a diary or journal open at a certain page. I look carefully at the date, which I know is very important: Wednesday, 2 October 20-- (the last two numbers of the year missing).
Then a man passes by looking scared and I make a ghostly noise at him. He runs into the church for sanctuary and, surprisingly, jumps (almost flies) up and out of a high window. I go outside and try my ghostly cry on two people, who take no notice. ]]> Sat, 03 Apr 2004 22:15:52 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E824015918/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1667360751/index.html
I went up in the lift to get some cutlery, and wait to go down again. I see a man who looks like a friend of my parents, Charles Pickford, but older, more thick set and irascible. When he goes to his wife, I know it is the Pickfords. I walk up to say hello, and see Dad coming towards me. He is also a bit stiff, walking slowly, more thick set, but smiling. I am happy to see him and give him a gentle hug. ]]> Mon, 31 May 2004 20:29:12 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1667360751/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1038230727/index.html A butterfly flies away from me and some people on my left. A fan keeps blowing the butterfly back towards me, but I don’t want it getting too close. ]]> Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:02:12 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1038230727/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1467866382/index.html God comes through the door, like a presence in a vortex of wind. I have to pick a green strip, like a straw from a bundle, except there is only one to pull out. I am alarmed to see it is only an inch long, and as I wonder what the normal length might be, God shows me one about twelve inches. I know from this I have little time left.

The green strip is a plastic-type material, with the holding end turned back into a short loop, something like the crosses given out in church on Palm Sunday.

My emotional reaction moves between ‘Oh no!’, and ‘Well, I didn’t want to wait too long’, and ‘Have I done what I needed to?’. ]]> Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:32:37 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1467866382/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1816043302/index.html I am having a meal with F. She finishes first and leaves with my black leather briefcase. Then I am watching a cricket match beside a young man who is vigorously kissing a girl, and another young man who had previously been kissing her.

The batsman hits a four and then a six, and I clap in appreciation. Then he hits another four and the ball crosses the boundary near me. I go to get it and see my briefcase. As I think about which to give priority, a dog we had when I was a child, called Sherry, runs up and falls down dead. I want to put my hand on the dog, but fear it might bite me in a death throe. ]]> Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:28:42 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C1135968695/E1816043302/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C669912779/E1709392994/index.html There is a long tradition that dreams can help us in life and death.

The dreams I had before the deaths of my parents are in my book The Lark Ascending .

The dreams here prepare for my own 'death' in some sense - whether as a psychological, situational or physical 'ending'. And in practice these different endings may be connected. So a person may become ill and die from the stress of being unable to 'change' a situation or attitude. They die because they cannot let the situation or attitude die and be reborn. In this sense, death dreams are change dreams.

Jung notes that exactly when we shall die (physically) is rarely addressed in dreams, whose perception of time is anyway different to ours. They treat death as a stage of personal development, and use similar symbols for both. Marie-Louise von Franz considers 'feeling' must often decide if a symbol refers to actual death, and can only be confirmed after the event.

So with this amount of uncertainty, can 'death-dreams' be valuable?

For some, they may increase stress and be harmful. But others, through the ages, have found them helpful or interesting. It is from dreams that I get my certainty of life after death; and you can see why here in my Dreamlog and in The Lark Ascending.

If you would like to share your thoughts and experiences, please enter them in DreamBook or the Discussion Forum . I am also happy to explore a dream interpretation with you privately.

With best wishes

Ian
mails3@mac.com ]]> Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:30:40 +0000 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C669912779/E1709392994/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E816644253/index.html Latest Dream: See 'My Death Dreams 2007'

2005-2006
There are 17 dreams here over two years.

Dream Themes
d26 birthday; d27 fiesta; d28 change of mind; d29 don't rush; d30 dream task; d31 regeneration; d32 dead; d33 premonition; d34 happy death; d35 learning; d36 rebirth; d37 repairs; d38 blocked view; d39 letting go; d40 rain warning; d41 Demeter's sting; d42 spiritual advice.
]]> Mon, 23 May 2005 00:39:44 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E816644253/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E1586855651/index.html It is my birthday. I sit in hotel room, a floor or two up, with a slice of birthday cake wrapped in cellophane. On the street below, I see a public vehicle with carriages in which Mum is sitting with Assam friends. I want to go down and see her, but not so communally. So I sit by the window and cry unreservedly like a child. ]]> Mon, 23 May 2005 01:11:06 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E1586855651/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E2009433904/index.html There is a black Fiesta next door, which is blocked by another car behind. It turns round into our drive (as if there is no wall between) and knocks my car on the way out. ]]> Thu, 26 May 2005 13:24:56 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/ian20/iblog/C554999505/E2009433904/index.html