I've always had very space oriented and vivid dreams. I have a very good 3-dimensional imagination and can picture objects well in my head and i love looking at spaces in general (which is one of the things that made me go into architecture). But for a long time I've always had dreams which were set in labirinthine cities, mostly at night. Here's some of what i feel.
t sometimes looks like the city i grew up in, except very very vertical with huge inclines or even cliffs, lots of criss crossing streets and paths, and for some reason in these dreams i am always trying to walk somewhere specific in the city and get extremely frustrated and confuzed when i cant get there.
Walking, sometimes driving even though i dont have a licence, in a place where you *feel* you should know like the back of your hand is scary, it makes you doubt your memory a lot, sometimes i try to retrace my steps and find that the path has changed and i cant get home anymore.
Sometimes the city isnt familiar to me, these dreams are the worst. The dreams arent nightmarish or scary per say but they have an uncanny feel to them, this plastic lifeless quality i can not quite describe, i almost never see people or other cars in these dreams, the city is just empty but this isnt strange to me inside the dream.
I've had a lot of great experiences in these spaces too, seeing beautiful buildings and neighborhoods that i still remember clearely, sometimes in these dreams i even unconciously try to find my way to other buildings and parks, etc ive seen in other dreams, it feels like im going to a real place but forgetting how to get there. Sometimes i walk a LOT, what feels like unninterupted 30m of walking, sometimes more, i love sightseeing so this usually isnt a problem. I used to do this a lot as a teen, just purposelessly walk around in my city to see things i hadn't seen before, i think that feeling got imprinted deep in my head.
But, sometimes the dreams are set at night. Even when its during the day, being lost and trying to find something or your way back always has a sense of *urgency* to it, like its really important not to linger too much or stay in a place, i really need to find my way back, when this is set at night it has a very disturbing quality to it. Sometimes i feel like im being followed by something, its not something i can see or that im even aware of, but i just feel sure that i shouldnt stay in the same place for too long.
In real life i live in a metropolis which has some crime, and when i go out at night the feeling of urgency and high alertness is real. You need to pay attention, you need to be aware if there are people behind you, in front of you, or arround the corner. People can pose real threats, ive heard people being mugged in my street before through my window. It makes you feel vulnerable, tiny and fragile, but when i finally enter my apartment complex that is replaced by safety. In the dream there is nowhere to go, no destination, just labirinth, its just the vulnerability in an unknown place.
One time in a dream i was trying to get home, and the only way home was through a homeless camp jamboree, it was like crackhead convention, all of them clearely shooting up and looking at me, wondering what i was doing there, following me, at night while i was lost. I've had nightmares before, but that moment was the most scared and vulnerable i have ever felt in a dream, I've never NOT wanted to be somewhere more than at moment. It felt like danger, not a panic but a real palpable, prolonged and imminent danger i was in.
anyway... does anybody else have dreams like this?
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