2016/02/06

We can have any world we want

To me, the creation of beauty is paramount – not just surface beauty, but a quality that encompasses such moral dimensions as honesty, social responsibility and respect for all life-forms.

Today we are overwhelmed by a tide of ugliness – ugly art, ugly power politics, but most of all ugly attitudes that lead to war and infinite suffering for the victims. We humans have made the world as it is, and it is only us who can change it. I believe passionately that creative artists are one of the few groups of people who  by the exercise of their imagination can profoundly affect the future. Whatever we think and feel and make is the imaginative world our children will inherit.

It therefore matters tremendously that ALL children are well taught, and given active encouragement to explore their best aspects and to acquire self-respect and reasons to enter the adult world with hope and self-confidence - because there are commercial forces ranged against them who will exploit their weaknesses and drag them down to the cyber-slavery of consumerism.

I have wrestled with such philosophical questions all my life, and my own role in the 'open conspiracy' of commercial entertainment. It was this that led me to take a complete break from music for a couple of years and get involved in the green consciousness movement.

As I compose, write and teach I constantly reflect on what creates optimum outcomes. I have a body of video recordings which demonstrate how I have achieved this with my pupils and for Cherubim Music Trust, and have recently applied for a Clore Open Fellowship in order to explore whether and how I can translate these ideas onto a larger canvas.

Having achieved a considerable amount in my life without the support of conventional structures I am keen to open minds to how this can be done to achieve positive results that those in power do not always want because they feel threatened things out of their control. I have no idea whether or how I can so this, but it feels like something that is important to me to essay at this point in my life.

Life Choice Dreams

These were both unusually detailed and unfolded at a leisurely pace. Altho I was lucid in each I didn't gain sufficient consciousness to write either down until the morning; but could still retain nearly everything. I felt happy, secure and unalarmed by anything that occurred.

Tuesday I am at a reception held in our former S London house (which we left 20+ y/a but often crops up in dreams) and notice that the hosts have catered with very cheap supermarket food.
Then we all go to the Royal Opera House where we all have to wear the same costume as the orchestra, a sort of black tabard with small geometric gold decoration and a high collar, and sit right around them. I find myself near the cellos and basses. After a fairly calm overture in which the leader stands up to sing at one point (there was no conductor) there is an expectant lull. Suddenly we see above us in the open sky a most spectacular crash as if several gaudily-illuminated revolving fairground skyrides have come off their bearings and flown up in the air towards each other. There are sparks and fires, and everyone is aghast, but the people fall to the ground outside the Opera House and there is no danger to us.
Later a group of us are walking away across the cobbles of Smithfield Market arm in arm when another ride crashes to the ground not far away. Somehow the emergency services are already there.

Then I am on the stern deck of a luxury yacht in a (Caribbean?) sunset. I feel fabulously happy and well. My local pub landlord Ron Turner comes to stand near me filming it on a very noisy old video or film camera. I josh with him about the noise as I'm filming on my iPhone. He says jocularly that I'm always complaining. I then turn away and encounter SA (divorcee of an extremely grand family) as a young woman and we embrace very intimately, which I find both exhilarating and alaeming.

Wednesday Staying in a country hotel I speak on the phone to a woman who says she'd like to rent my room. I discuss the practicalities, but notice that the basin has no taps. Later I discover that she is one of a group of con artists who have swindled the hotel casino and other guests out of a lot of money; but I don't lose any.
Some musicians are discussing me composing a new piece like my Sonnets to Orpheus for them and we all get carried away. My wife says "is it the wrong time to ask how this is going to be paid for?" And I say "yes it is."
Then as we go for a walk by a beautiful clear shallow spring-fed lake (in the same hotel?) we start riffing like Ray Charles What'd I Say? I hand around some excellent Cuban cigars & jump across the short distance onto a rock in the lake, telling the others I'm going to choose a couple of really good bottles from the cellar for lunch. And attempt to jump back, but don't quite make it, and so get a bit wet, which we all laugh off.
I am 'swimming' southbound across Hammersmith Bridge (an ornate bridge near where I used to live in W London 50 y/a). I seem to be weightless and able to propel myself considerable distances along the road without either effort or friction by simply pulling on objects. As I get over the bridge I see a road sign which is like a model cat and wonder what it can mean? The road immediately turns into Barnes Common where there is a village fete, with lots of children enjoying themselves. I am continuing my 'swimming' throu the grass when I awake. 

Guy Huntington's interpretation.
The first location interests me. An old house of ours we left a long time ago. Why am I locating this dream scene here and not somewhere else? I feel for two reasons: one if to bring my attention to myself when I lived in the house with the beliefs I held then AS WELL AS THE EXPERIENCES I also had I am in a belief compartment I feel quite comfortable in.

I commented
  • Actually, no. I’m quite uncomfortable in it. My wife and I often dream about it at times of stress. It was an incredibly beautiful Regency town house where we lived for 12 of our children's formative years. They were always a desperate scramble for money, thus the memories are extremely bitter-sweet, for while Clancy and I did most of the work we're remembered for, and tho we always prioritised the children, the moral compromises I made are not ones Im proud of, tho it did all work out - and we were able to sell the house at a great profit and move to the country. Where I describe my life as a crescendo of happiness.
I am using the reception to indicate I am still celebrating i.e. strongly attached to, beliefs that I have been spiritually consuming, i.e. eating for a long time. HOWEVER, there is some good news here -  finally spiritually awakening to them because of the cheap supermarket food. So i am wondering what these beliefs and their affects are? A hint would be my use of the term cheap supermarket. The effects of my beliefs have to do with money and valuation of things, people and relationships using it as a guide stick.
  • I see this, but here one comes to the nub of the dilemma: how do you realise an artistic /spiritual vision without engaging with the issues of 'the world'? For 20 years I answered this conundrum by engaging hardly at all with the world, now I find myself potentially at a cross-roads where if I am to tackle this issue again I have to get it right, because this is my last call. 
Now I am at the Royal Opera House where all of us have to wear the same outfit as the orchestra. A low vibration colour - black. I also note that there is a small geometric gold decoration. A subtle symbol to myself about wealth and money again. We all have to sit around the orchestra.

So there I am in a large belief compartment, the Royal Opera, dressed in a low vibration spiritual outfit, i.e. my beliefs, AND I am sitting down, i.e. I need spiritual support to even see the effects of my beliefs. As for why I am sitting near the cellos and bases, I am told this is something for you to figure out on your own Michael.
  • That's an easy one, I am a bass, and I consider that my role in life is to build the moral base of structures that others may subsequently erect. 
The leader spiritually raises his vibrations and rises up, i.e. stands up. This is one of my other lives. He then wants to use some of his feminine abilities to communicate, i.e. singing. HOWEVER, the spiritual fun begins–
Now, above us, in the open sky, an amazing crash resulting in sparks and fires. Several fairground rides are now colliding above our heads. So why am I using this in my dream? Hmm

Does this have to do with creativity? No.
Ah a masculine based set of beliefs resulting in a masculine view of creativity? Yes. And now this make sense

Outside the masculine belief compartment I am sitting in, people are falling to the ground, in effect, being killed by the creativity. However, my other lives and I, who are sitting in our low vibration outfits, in a place were feminine creativity is allowed to be expressed in a controlled manner are all safe and sound. If this was my dream, I would be thinking how some of my beliefs, which have a strong masculine component, result in a fear of feminine as being dangerous, in fact it could spiritually kill me. So I then use these beliefs to cocoon myself within some belief walls, protecting me from myself.

  • Well, herein lies the dilemma for any creative individual - how far is it safe to let go?The two sides of art: the Dionysiac vs the Apollonian. What indeed does 'letting go' mean? Anyone who lived throu the 70s/80s will have seen the terrible consequences for many who 'let go' and ended up as roadkill. And perhaps all of us know the expression of being 'too heavenly-minded to be any earthly use.' I full acknowledge that I have to let go much more, in terms of creative modus operandi, this is The Big One for me. But finding the sweet spot between all the competing life-issues where the mind can be both free yet engaged is a life quest.  
I am using symbols of my masculine based beliefs, i.e. rides, to symbolize to myself that my old ideas about controlling my feminine are now coming off the rails, so to speak. Then the scene changes

Now I am walking outside with some of my other lives. Now I can see the effects of my own beliefs. I watch as another ride crashes to the ground. All around me are signs that my old beliefs are beginning to crumble. I miss the point that those are my beliefs and some of my other lives on them AND THAT THE EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE FOR ME. These other lives are now experience the pain of realizing their old beliefs no longer work for them.  However, thatâ•˙s why in my previous scene I was sitting down, safely ensconced in my low vibration beliefs, protected by the masculine walls I have built around me. Then the scene changed.

Now I am on a masculine set of beliefs I am using to distance myself from my feminine (i.e. a boat on the water). I note that it is not any old boat but a luxury yacht. Another not so subtle hint about the effects of the beliefs I am using, i.e. money, wealth and perception. I note that it is sunset hint, hint, hint. Time to acknowledge these old ideas/beliefs are no longer going to work for me. Ron is beside me. Is it him or, is he a symbol? Yes it˙s Ron. He too shares the same underlying beliefs that are supporting us. However, he is using some old masculine based symbols to record the beginning of the end of our beliefs, i.e. old film camera that is now old and making lots of noise. I however, am using a modern masculine symbol, i.e. a iPhone. I am making fun of him missing the point of why he is in the dream with me. At least he now is beginning to spiritually wake up about it while I am making fun of him.

  • Fair point - but I owe my present tranquillity to having learnt how to handle such people /issues rather dextrously, and it's difficult to see where the line is between letting go constructively & doing so disastrously. Altho I do accept that in spiritual terms that latter can have a better outcome!
I then encounter a young woman who comes from a grand family. Hint, hint - another reference to wealth, prestige et al. Is it her or, is she a symbol? It's her.
I am sexually attracted to her. I feel there are several levels to this
First is my sexual beliefs which are somehow intertwined with my beliefs resulting in money, prestige, wealth et al.
Second, there is a probable life where I did have a relationship with her? Yes.
Third, all of this impacts my current present life.

  • Disagree here. To me she felt much more like an anima figure, someone who was attracted to me (rather than vice versa) and in a position to guide me.  

WEDS dream,,,

I note with interest my location. I am in a country hotel. Hotels in my dreams are usually symbols of large sets of belief compartments I have used in many of my other lives. So I am "checking into" one of them to experience one that I am using in my current life. I also note that this set of masculine based beliefs is located out in the midst of my feminine country.

A young woman is on the phone with me. Who is she? Other life.
She˙s wanting to rent my room. So once again this dream has something to do with beliefs that result in effects of my surface level beliefs of money and control. I am using rent rather than own to illustrate that my spiritual hold on these beliefs is now becoming more tenuous.

Then i notice that the basins have no taps. A very interesting set of symbols to use. Water, a symbol of my feminine. Basins and taps – masculine symbols to control the flow of my feminine into my belief compartment. No taps = no control over the flow of my feminine.
Later I find she is a con-artist. Recall she is me in an other life I am relieved I haven˙t lost any money unlike casinos and other guests. Once again, I am showing myself how my beliefs affect my perception of value, wealth and control. Like in the scene outside the Opera house, I am untouched by these events, i.e. I am not yet able to face myself to deal with this.
  • Useful balancing material from the unconscious - but it shows the dilemma that I have to consider in terms of the costs and responsibilities of old age, and how (on the whole) my success in staying on the financial tightrope is no mean achievement when you see how many fall off or can never get on. And it is a tool to be used - for instance when fund-raising for charity, as I do.
Now some musicians are discussing with me creating a new piece. Who are the musicians? Other lives. My wife? She's a symbol of my feminine. So my feminine brings up the issue of money. I am not yet ready to deal with it. ( i have learnt from my own dreams Michael that many of my own beliefs about money, wealth and perception come from old feminine based polarities. )

The issue (to my mind) is not about wealth–which I dont have–being bad, it's about )a not being corrupted by it love of it, and b) allowing it to flow freely and responsibly throu you as a tool for the greater good.

Now  am walking with some of my other lives around a lake.We are in our feminine, i.e. nature. We then break into a riff like Ray Charles What'd I Say. When songs appear in my dreams or, in my daily life in my head, I have learnt to pay attention to them. So I went to look up the lyrics for this (http://www.songlyrics.com/ray-charles/what-i-d-say-lyrics/). i advise you to read them and then contemplate on why this set of lyrics.
  • Very good. I like that. I saw Ray Charles live on his first European tour in 1963 when Id run away from school to Paris. I had (and have) never seen anything like his phenomenal energy and trance-like focus on a stage
However, I note that the beginning of this song contains "See the girl with the diamond ring, She knows how to shake that thingˇ. Further, the song relates to a women shaking her body in a sexual way. So what happens next? Why I hand out expensive Cuban cigars and then jump across the water to a rock to get some bottle of wine. If this was my dream I would be thinking that my beliefs are creating a dependency within me to value things using money, wealth and status. It is also tied in some ways to my beliefs about myself sexually and how I then sexually interpret others.
  • Fair enough - that's you. But I dont think that's true for me. Im utterly indifferent to status, except as a means to open certain doors when a job needs doing. Cuban cigars and good wine are a couple of the few pleasures that nature has allowed me to retain since I ceased to be a sexual being. Tho meditation and spiritual attunement are greater highs than either of them. 
There is some good news I fall into my feminine when I attempt to jump back. However, my other lives and I miss the point and laugh it off
  • Nice one!
Now I am swimming through my old masculine beliefs, i.e through a road on a bridge over a river – hint, hint. Down below me is my feminine. At least I am now learning about what I am swimming through.
I can now effortlessly move through my masculine. 
Then i come to the star of this scene- a sign like a model Cheshire Cat. So why am I using this? Symbol? No. 
Totem? Yes. I advise you to get a hold of ˛Animal Speakˇ by Ted Andrews and read the section of cats as a totem. I also note that the cat isn˙t yet real in my dream. i make a note to myself to ask the cat to assist me more spiritually. 

After seeing my totem I now find myself swimming through my feminine, i.e. grass. Lots of people are at a fete. They are some of my other lives, all celebrating my slow but steady spiritual progress. I need to release some old beliefs allowing me to spiritually stand up and walk supported by feminine and masculine and not just my masculine onuses I have in the past.

Guy. This is both remarkable as an interpretation and remarkably perceptive about my present dilemmas - tho, as so often I wouldnt've seen this for myself as the dream-mirror shows the quintessence of my life from an angle that is far more obvious to others than it is to me. And here’s the paradox; dreams are like the medieval oak trunks with two locks you sometimes find in english country churches known as Churchwardens’ Coffers where each churchwarden had one key, and thus the trunk (containing church deeds or valuables) could only be opened when both were present. Someonelse can see the moral outlines of a dream much more clearly than the dreamer, but only the dreamer knows what it means. Yet the treasure is only released when both work together.Very good. It's perfectly obvious when some kind person like Guy holds the mirror at the right angle. A great blessing to have discovered this site; and blessings to Guy for curating it. Im off to look into cats and 'Animal Speakˇ by Ted Andrews. Being decidedly a dog person.

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