Here's a weird thing that happened to me this morning. When I woke up, the phrase, "Ecrasez l'infame!" was in my mind. I speak a little French, but I don't know the verb ecraser, so I didn't know what the phrase was commanding me to do to the infamy. I had a vague recollection that the phrase has historical or literary reference. I haven't the foggiest idea what it had to do with my dream. But that's what I was dreaming when the alarm went off.
So I went to the kitchen, got my coffee, and sat down at the computer for the morning perusal of the blogs. When I got to What's Wrong With the World, there was a post at the top of the blog decrying, with mock outrage, Daylight Savings Time. It ends: "Ecrasez l'infame! (Which, I discovered after googling, means "Crush the infamy!", and is a phrase associated with Voltaire).
Now, I find this odd, but not uncommon. In fact, it happens to me with some frequency, and has since childhood. I'll dream things that will come true later -- but never anything important, or even useful. Just completely trivial stuff, like last night's dream.
Does this ever happen to you? What does this phenomenon, if real, suggest about the nature of time?
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I have those dreams a lot, Salamander. Oftentimes, I find I or somebody in my dream is a combination of several people. When I read Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" I discovered the idea of condensation - that dreams condense several related ideas (or in the case of people, character traits) together. Fascinating stuff, and I highly recommend the book. Freud is actually a good writer, so it's not a difficult book to get into.
Three weeks ago or so, I had gotten up a little earlier than usual and went to the kitchen to start breakfast.
I started with coffee, but as I reached for the coffeepot a really odd thought occurred to me: "There's a cockroach in the coffee-maker." And the thought was just as plain as could be -- any more clear and I would've actually heard the words out loud.
And so I gingerly opened the lid, and sure enough a little light-brown cockroach was right there, plain as could be. (I know, I know -- Ewww, squared.)
Now there was no way I could have seen the cockroach without opening the lid. And the cockroach was very small and completely silent. And, I'm definitely NOT in the habit of seeing cockroaches in my coffeemaker.
But there he was, and I am absolutely positive that there was something freaky going on with my consciousness.
that if all other trades resembled it, there would soon be no carried them from his workhouse to his shop, he must have valued
that if all other trades resembled it, there would soon be no carried them from his workhouse to his shop, he must have valued
I have often had dreams of places that were ordinary and easily forgotten. In some cases it wasn't until years later that I would find myself in what appeared to be the same exact location that I had dreamed of years earlier. It's odd, because when I have these dreams they seem to be of absolutely no consequence and I have no idea if they mean anything at all. But when I have found myself in these places that I have dreamt of, it is startling to me how vividly I recall the dream in the first place.
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