Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Questions Of Body And Soul

Where do dreams go when they die?
Is there a dream-garden where old dreams, no-longer-needed-dreams, drift to settle and become fertilizer for just-being-born-dreams?

When do necks and chests (decollete?) become crepey and begin to retain night's pressured-stamp of sleep? Long before we notice? How long before we lose our despair at such insult and absurdity and simply accept?

At what age do we become who we are forever and ever without hope of change? Two months old? Nine years old? Fifty-seven, almost fifty-eight years old? Ever? Never?

Why do we allow ourselves to froth into anger over things which do not deserve anger? Why can't we admit what it is we are truly angry about? Or, accept that it is not anger at all which we are feeling, but something worse, which may be fear?

How have we gotten so far-removed from what is truly life and important in life that we are obsessed with the clothes celebrities wear? Is this somehow related to our bird-spirits, always looking to see which of us has the glossiest, the finest, the most far-reaching feathered wings?

What do you wake up and wonder? What sleep dreams of yours do you find hardest to shake loose of?  The sweet ones with stolen kisses or the fiery dreams of terror? Where do your feet lead you when you set them on the floor beside the bed and what do they look like there? Do you ever look to see them, those feet which carry you through your days and your lives, which take you into hallways and kitchens late at night when sleep will not come and your mind commands them to take you away from bed's taunting torment? Do you slip those feet immediately into slippers or do you let them grip the floor with their clever toes, bare on wood/carpet/stone? Do feet, as it sometimes seem to me, have an awareness of their very own which directs our steps? Or did I dream that?

Who are you when you wake up and is it the same person you were when you went to bed? How can we be? All of those cells which make up our very corporeal being which holds our very ethereal self have changed overnight and does that make us different in any real sense of the word? Or words? Or do we dream ourselves into a different person/spirit/being as we sleep and do these two things have anything to do with each other at all? Do our cells direct our dreams or do our dreams direct our cells or are they as separate and unconcerned with each other as the tiger in his cage and the llama in hers?

Why are we compelled to sit and put out words and questions and do musicians ask questions when they use fingers/breath/mind/ to create music? Do the birds know they are singing and why do some bird calls sound like questions and some very much like answers?

Where is that dream garden and can we reclaim a dream we have let drift there or is it too late, once we have let it go? Do we outgrow our dreams or do we simply give up on them? Do we despair at their loss?

I think so. Do you?





17 comments:

  1. Life questions Ms Moon. Very deep thoughts and no answer from me. I do know that my nightmares feel very true and waking up is a blessing. And dreams of people I lost make me wake up with a feeling of loss translated in that morning.
    I think we need dreams for our whole life, without dreams would there be hope?

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  2. All this I was nodding what? what? my stupid feet. I have to return to work tomorrow with my stupid feet. I am sick with longing for the sea and I am worried and fearful.
    love,
    Rebecca

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  3. Body and soul? I've been reading Light on Life by Iyengar. Presents a pretty good case for the connections between the physical, intellectual and spiritual selves. The dreams? I guess sometimes we have to let them go.

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  4. You're on fire, here. I love the questions, I think, more than any answers.

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  5. Great questions to ponder...

    I read a saying once, years and years ago, "Birds do not sing because they have an answer. They sing because they have a song."

    That is somehow comforting to me!

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  6. Dreams? No, I'm never letting them go. I was born a dreamer and I shall die a dreamer. They give me great pleasure, attained or not.

    I loved this post, you dreamer, you!

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  7. Thank you for the questions.
    I am a fan of writing down my dreams. Revelations. Well.... sometimes.

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  8. I agree with Elizabeth that the questions you pose are provocative enough in and of themselves. But that didn't stop me from reading your post multiple times and thinking of my own literal answers...

    I believe in large part that our dreams follow our attitudes and some of us have more hearty consistent positive attitudes than others of us. I know for me, it takes great effort to believe in and pursue my dreams and that it is much easier to let my dreams die while lamenting their death inside my own head. I just stop paying attention to the yearning and unless I surround myself with people who are continually reaching higher, it is really easy for me to let my dreams go to sleep.

    I know an incredible woman who will soon be turning 85 and she is always doing something new and exciting and really extraordinary. In observing her, she does seem to have come to an acceptance or at least she verbalizes an awareness of her limitations of age. She is slowing down for sure. It is people like her that make me realize that anything is possible but it takes great effort.

    I also believe that we cannot change at any age without real desire followed by a surge of great effort.

    It’s only as I’ve aged that I have begun to realize what is really important in life. It’s all about how much love we spread in the world and you seem to spread an abundance of love and will do so to eternity with the seeds of the love you've planted in your family members.

    I’ve never looked at my feet as I’ve gotten out of bed but wish I had more conscious intention of where they lead me each day. I am aware that I must take care of my feet, body and soul to get myself anywhere I want/hope to be.

    I think musicians and birds ask questions and give answers just like your chickens know something is happening when they react and follow each other to safety.

    I despair at the loss of dreams I’ve let go and yet I know, I really know that it is never too late until it is too late… and as Dev Patel said in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - something about how it all works out in the end and if it hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end.

    You are an incredible writer and from afar, an incredible being. It seems as if you have already lived lifetimes of dreams in your years. And in my fortune cookie fortune to you for the day, there will only be more of that for you.

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  9. Photocat- Yep. We always need dreams. I agree.

    Madame King- Oh poor, poor dear. Of course you are worried and anxious. How could you not be? I wish I could pat you softly and tell you for true that it's all going to be okay.

    Stephanie- As Bruce Springsteen said, "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something else?"

    Elizabeth- I am not sure there ARE answers.

    lulumarie- I've heard that too. It is comforting.

    liv- Some of us are better at dreams than others. I am glad you are an avid keeper of dreams.

    Denise- Yep. Sometimes.

    Anonymous Jo- Thank-you so much for all of those good thoughts. I think that for me, I just spend a lot of time in what most people would probably call pretty unstimulating circumstances which allows (forces?) me to think more than I probably should. Or something.

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  10. "How long before we lose our despair at such insult and absurdity and simply accept?" This questions sums up all the rest for me. It is what I struggle with, have always struggled with. Such a provocative and painfully beautiful piece of writing, this. it has the strangeness of making me feel less alone, so thank you for that, dear ms moon.

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  11. Angella- These are the questions that haunt me, too. Some more than others, yes. No. You are NOT alone.

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  12. Wow. One of your most poetic and profound pieces, Mer.

    But I keep feeling the need to distinguish between sleeping dreams and awake dreams. Sleeping dreams....if you can't interpret or learn from them you can just leave them behind....but awake dreams should not be abandoned....maybe just modified if necessary

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  13. I think thinking less and being more is somehow relevant here.
    xo

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  14. Well, my dear, you did it again... these questions will take a time to answer and examine.. so I shall come back to it later.. when I have worked it out.. Its a comforting thought that they feed the next generation of dreams.. in a far away garden of all the ideas and dreams that ever were. I am a dreamer but practical too, so I shall have to think but boy, oh boy, do you have a knack!!!

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  15. Oh Wow, I loved every word of this. So taken by it and the sing song quality and rhythm too. I think you can reclaim any dream you let go, as it is still growing in that dream garden you speak of, no? Just go dig it up Ms. Moon, but remember to bring a bucket of water and a good shovel. You don't want to kill the roots. Thank you for all this. I needed it today.

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  16. I hope that I don't give up on my dreams. When one loses those dreams and lust for life, then perhaps there is not much left of living at all.

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  17. Stunning. Absolutely.

    I've so missed you and yours.

    love to you . and please feel better soon !

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.