A great deal of Dreamtime mythology exists, including a creationism story about a great snake that came up from the Earth, causing rivers to flow behind it in its wake. All the people and animals sprang forth from the snake. It would sometimes appear as a man, as a woman, or as a man with a woman's breasts. Speaking of the snake was done quietly, as there are many legends about it swallowing whole tribes because one child was crying. Much of Dreamtime mythology is depicted through Aboriginal art. Aboriginal art has a distinctive flow, usually including small dots that tend to swirl in concentric patterns. It's quite beautiful, fluid, and conveys a sense of magical realism that is simply beyond words. But that's consistent with dreaming. Dreams are too fluid to describe in concrete details, the kind of details that the hard structure of language conveys best. No, if I were to describe a dream, it would have to be through visual images of some kind.
Aboriginal Dreamtime is consistent with the experience of clairvoyance--images or themes may be "fuzzy," as if from a dream, because of the fluidity of the images; they tend to blend together and change quickly. In some ways, it's best described as watching events through a window into another dimension, but as if all you see is filtered through water.
Of course, Vedanta, the oldest philosophy known to man and the basis of the Hindu religion, refers to "maya" or "cosmic illusion" often--and as previously written in other blog essays, "maya," a Sanskrit word, also meaning "water" in Hebrew and Arabic--both of which derive from Sanskrit. When you look at objects through water, those objects are distorted, as if in a dream. The word "maya" also figures in to many other cultures and countries worldwide, the most well-known is the Mayan people--whose language was called "Maya." "Maya" figures in to Aboriginal culture as well--with many significant places and names, even languages, including the word "maya" such as the Aboriginal language, Bandimaya. Nigerian culture also includes a language called "Maya." "Maya" is also the name of a more obscure language spoken in Brazil. The transnational connections involving "maya" are seemingly infinite.
"Maya" is an archetypal human word that transcends time, space, geography, and culture. And its connection through all of it seems to be a shared description of what the Aborigine's called Dreamtime--whether translated as distortion through water, illusion, or as a place where all of time coexists--"maya" and dreams seem to be synonymous with one another. Translating dreams has been popular for many millenia. Psychology tells us that our dreams are manifestations of our hopes, fears, goals, emotions, and desires. Our brains use dreams to work through a variety of issues. But perhaps dreams are more than just simple psychological manifestations. Maybe the Aborigine's had it right. Maybe dreams are a space where true reality exists--where we glimpse things from the continuum of space and time, things that existed before time, even outside of it.
As you lay your head down tonight, before going to sleep, place a piece of paper and pen next to your bed. Before speaking to anyone in the morning (or whenever you wake up...), jot down what you dreamt about. It's interesting to review this information later in the day, when your head is more clear. You may be surprised at what you learn about the nature of not only your reality, but the reality of others as well.
Until next time, enjoy what dreams may come, dearest readers!