Tuesday 9 October 2012

A Deaf Person Dreams



“Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?”  -Frank Herbert, Dune

The  square-holed grille which runs around the balcony at a height of about 3 meters - sheltering us from neither rain nor sun - was casting its shadow on the canvas of a large outdoor sunshade just before noon.

The combination of light source - the sun - metal grille and slopping canvas surface produced a shadow which resembled its original hardly at all. None of the squares was actually square in the projection, and each was of a different size. If you didn't know what it was, you'd be hard pressed to identify the source.

The distortion is all around us. Born into it, each of us, choosing this earthly incarnation for a span of years (or days or months) grow to accept the explanation of what we experience as just the way things are.

But what if they aren't?

The night before last -Sun Libra, Moon Cancer - I had a dream of starting a new job. In the dream, the director of my new company was a shadowy figure who I nevertheless knew intimately. He was gravely disfigured in his most human parts. I went awol from this new position and soon received an angry phone call from the director's straw boss, telling me I was in trouble and had to come back immediately.

I climbed onto a bicycle - unusual in my dreams - and took to a rutted, decaying road heading back to the company. A man travelling in the same direction as I tried to stop me, steal my bicycle and harm me. He carried a long metal spear for this purpose.
I realised even as I sped around and away from him that his agenda was not the same as the company executives - he had his own, very personal, very selfish reasons for wanting to steal my bicycle and didn't care how much damage he inflicted in pursuit of gain. He was not a rich or powerful man, just a person badly damaged by this culture. Unlike the director.

I reached the new office. To my surprise and relief, the old order had passed away and the place was run by women now. I knew that I was not in any trouble at all.

It is often through my dreams that I begin to deconstruct this illusion.

“Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear.."



4 comments:

  1. Yes, Pstonie, that was very much the impression I woke up with!

    Love,
    T in J

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  2. Sounds awfully homogeneous to me, and the old hamster wheel is no prize to inherit.

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  3. On the face of it, yes.
    But remember that dreams are metaphors. Because I spend so much time at work they are couched in terms of the workplace often.
    And the idea was the over-turning of the Patriarchy -the deadly culture -not a change of boss.
    At least, I think so. :)

    Love,
    T in J

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