Dreams

Last night I dreamt that Luis's brother, Juan, was murdered. In the dream, I was in a house and Juan went outside after being lured there by two men. I saw them digging a grave and he never came back in. I somehow knew that these men had killed him and might kill us, too. I went upstairs to tell Luis. Then, I woke up. The next morning I wondered if I should tell Luis about this. Just in case, I did. He immediately checked his cell phone to be sure he hadn't received any calls the night before. I told Luis that I was sorry to be telling him this dream because I didn't want him to worry. He said that it was OK because his father had told him that a dream where someone is murdered actually means that the person in the dream will live a long, healthy life.

Luis believes that dreams tell the future. During his lifetime he has had a number of dreams which have later come true involving friends who were killed or were almost killed. His father passed along to him the tools to interpret the symbols from his dreams and Luis does not doubt the veracity of these interpretations for one second.

For example, if you are bitten by a dog, you'll be bitten by a snake. If you dream that you are fishing and you catch a lot of live fish, this means you'll have good luck with money. If you step on human feces, you'll have serious problems. Fire means illness, fever or that people are speaking ill of you. If you dream you are flying, it means long life. If you dream of a car or planes, you will witness death. If in your dream you are carrying weapons, the children you will have will be boys. Dreams where your father appears means you are safe. Dreams that you are poor or that you live in a very humble home means that, in reality, you will won't be poor. All sorts of things symbolize death. If a tooth falls out and it hurts, someone in your immediate family might die. If the tooth falls out but doesn't hurt, it means that someone that you know will die. If you are at a party with dancing and music, someone is going to die. If you are at a wedding and people are dressed in white, you will witness a death. The appearance of cliffs or a precipice symbolize a tomb. Dirty water means illness or problems. Clean water means good health. Black water is death.

I can't say that I've always bought these interpretations especially since so many of Luis' dreams seem to involve my betrayal of him. I'm skeptical, as always, and I have a hard time getting Luis to agree that his dreams might be the result of his anxieties rather than portents of what may come to pass. But, what is undeniable is that Luis' father passed down to him widely-held beliefs that traveled through the generations which are still used as tools to understand their world.

Is it possible that these beliefs and symbols exist between cultures? I don't necessarily agree that all people and cultures are similar and that their symbolism is somehow linked, like Jung thought, with a universal unconscious. Still, I wondered whether there might be some common ground regarding the symbols of different cultures and traditions.

In Elizabeth Gilbert's book "Eat Pray Love" she wrote that in Eastern religions dreams of snakes are spiritually auspicious and Saint Ignatius had serpent visions. The Australian aborigines describe their mystical experiences as a serpent in the sky who embodies a medicine man and gives him an intense, other-worldly power. Christians might call this the "holy spirit." Kalahari holy men describe this energy force as a snakelike power that ascends the spine and blows a hole in the head through which the the gods then can enter. And, Hinduism teaches that enlightenment consists of the release of energy in the form of a snake coiled at the base of the spine whose power is released then travels through seven chakras and finally to the head where it explodes where it literally blows your mind.

So, I asked Luis what his father had told him about dreams involving snakes. He said that dreams of snakes are auspicious and mean good luck in the form of material wealth.

Hmmm...