Out of Egypt:

had a weird dream; thought about the brain

Ok, so I just went back to my room to read for a while, ended up falling asleep, and had a very strange dream. I dreamt that I had just graduated from college, but wasn't getting to say goodbye to anyone I knew, until I finally saw somebody I recognized, with his father (he didn't even go to my college, oddly enough).

Then I was in my bed at college, which was in a largely empty room which I think was supposed to represent Mac/Rymer. I was overhearing a girl I hardly knew describe something to her friends in very stilted language. Something about going to see a concert by the rock band Genesis, who were described as being about not just prog rock (which, again, was described in stilted language - I wish I could remember it), but Biblically-based ecological protest (though that too was described more elaborately). Somehow the band was also involved with writing books. Then the conversation seemed to shift to a magazine article which was about a linguistic analysis of musical structure (like a Chomskian generative grammar, I can only assume, although those words weren't used). The article divided musical forms into four categories, the most complex being described as "foreign foreigners," because of four qualities of displacement which they satisfied (time and key were two of them, I believe, although even these may have been described more elaborately).

All in all, it was much of a much of strangeness. Sometimes I wish I could farm out some of my work to my subconscious, since it seems to be a lot smarter than my waking mind.

They say that the "you only use 10% of your brain" clich&ecaute; is a myth, but I'm sure experiences like these are what lent it currency. Keith Richards (or was it Mick Jagger?) apparently came up with the main riff to "I Can't Get No Satisifaction" in his sleep, so it's clear than somnolent creativity has worked for some people.

I think the subconscious is a lot like a waterfall - lots of energy being generated, but it's all being spilled out for naught at the bottom of the rocks. If only there was a way to dam it, to sublimate all that sexuality and psychological confusion into something worthwhile... Maybe I'll learn some lucid dreaming techniques in the coming year. Although they say that dreams, as they are, fulfill several necessary functions, rewiring the brain each night by processing the events of the day and pruning each day's growth of neural connections.

"Evan's dreams are like the history channel. Mine......are Nickelodeon."

~Anna F.

Posted by: funke at June 11, 2007 12:50 PM