Dreams

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”  (from The Tempest, by William Shakespeare)

I had a vivid dream last night.  I was in an airplane, a passenger plane, and I was the only passenger on board.  There was a pilot, but he was asleep in the back of the plane and I didn’t wake him.  I assumed the plane was flying on autopilot.  Since no one else was on the plane, it occurred to me that I could move from coach to first class, and nobody would object.  It was a midnight flight and I was headed home to Denver.  I was going there to surprise my parents.

I was aware that there was nothing but air below me and only the thin skin of the plane shielding me from the void.  I was aware how quiet the plane was.  I could hear no sound from the engines, no creaking of the plane.  Just to hear something, I went over to a rack of music and picked out a George Strait CD.  If you’re wondering, George Strait is a well-known Country Western singer.  I occasionally enjoy country music, but I have no idea why I picked this music to play.  However, music, any music, was preferable to silence.

From biblical times to the present, much has been written about the meaning of dreams.  Some believe that dreams have prophetic meaning.  Some believe that dreams have deep psychological meaning.  Some dispute that dreams have any consistent meaning at all.  Whatever they may mean, during this Covid pandemic many people report having vivid and intense dreams.

I believe my dream was loaded with meaning and seasoned with a bit of existential angst. Travelling in a plane was symbolic of a new journey.  Being high above the ground, protected only by the thin skin of the plane, was symbolic of the fragility and contingency of life. The flight to Denver symbolized my mortality, an eventual reunion with my deceased parents.  The sleeping pilot . . . it symbolized the lack of leadership and guidance from a president who might as well be asleep at the helm.  As for the need to turn silence into music, I’m less sure what that symbolized.  Perhaps music was symbolic for hope and consolation.

Addendum:  A few nights before, I'd had another vivid dream.  I was fishing.  I could feel myself casting with my flyrod.  Twice I felt a fish take the lure.  Twice I felt the subsequent fight of the fish. Twice I reeled in a big fish, one a crappie and the other a bass.  Sigmund Freud wrote that dreams are the symbolic fulfillment of our unfulfilled wishes.  In this instance, I think he was right.