Monday, August 03, 2009

Random Thoughts-29: "On Dreams"

Yesterday night I had a stupid dream. I was in a train with my bag and baggage. Next I find myself inside a temple (probably on the railway platform itself or just outside), performing some 'puja' as dictated by the priest there. Then I suddenly remember my bag and baggage in the train and abruptly stop the 'puja' and rush to the platform, only to see the train gone. Frantically I look for a taxi which can help me to catch the train at the next station or so. But no taxi was available. Then I try to think of somebody who could be traveling by the same train so that I can call him over my mobile. This is where the dream got broken. I heaved a sigh of relief on realizing it was all a dream.

I have plenty of stupid dreams like this at night and self-cheating day-dreams during the day. Is there some meaning in all these? Can dreams be interpreted? Of course, you have Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams'. But the problem is he links every innocuous dream to sex, which is too much for me. (I had at one time Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams" and 'Sex Theory'. One of my good friends, a practising-Homeopath, relieved me of these, probably thinking they would be more useful to him and hence not bothering to return them.)

If you go through the Homeopathic Repertory, especially Kent's, you will see a lot of references to dreams and delusions. Not that you take these homeopathic remedies to stop the particular dream or dreams; but sometimes they help the homeopath to pinpoint the correct remedy. Unlike Freud, Homeopathy does not try to interpret dreams; it only uses them for selecting the best-suited remedy for the patient.

I hail from a railway family (many of my people were/are connected with the railways) and used to travel by train frequently. In fact, I used to commute to my college by train. Further, when we were in Manamadurai, I used to go to Madurai often, which was just an hour's travel by train. During night travel, I always end up sleeping on the upper berth or the rack above meant for luggage. Probably because of this, I used to have dreams of falling down from the upper berth, only to find that I was lying on firm ground at home. Later when I was studying Homeopathy, I was surprised to find this symptom in the Homeopathic Repertory, which had 'Thuja', a many-sided and deep-acting remedy, for this symptom. On going through the Materia Medica of Thuja, I found I had many Thuja symptoms like 'after-effects of vaccination', 'warts' etc.

Another interesting symptom worth mentioning here is 'dream of snakes"; I know of a case or two where this symptom has helped to find the right remedy and cure the patient. 'Lac Caninum', a medicine made from dog's milk, was the remedy.

So, if you are taking Homeopathy treatment, don't forget to mention your dreams to your physician.

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