FLIGHTS OF FANCY

We watched The Big Lebowski on DVD last night. This outstanding Cohen Brothers film still delivers (made in 1998).

In one memorable scene The Dude (Jeff Bridges) dreams of flying over Los Angeles.

I have recurrent dreams of flying and they are the best dreams that I have. I actually look forward to having them. Sometimes I can just raise my arms and rise into the air and at other times I have a tiny (and slightly dodgy) gyrocoptor. I have to watch out for power lines though.

Dreams analysts suggest that dreams to do with flying are connected to sex and sexuality. Sigmund Freud certainly believed this stating that as most dreams are about sexual oppression that is being suppressed by societies morals and that dreaming of flying is releasing your sexual tension and setting yourself free.

Careful with that cigar Sigmund 

That may well be but I think old Sigmund was at heart a lecher and liked to think of images like this.




Other, more enlightened schools of thought see flying dreams as denoting spiritual freedom. They are about joy and wonderment , moving towards a more spiritual appreciation of our lives (flying upwards) or, on the other hand making an attempt to understand our subconscious (flying downwards).

Whatever.

All I know is that I enjoy the dreams and sometimes can conjure them up. This is spoken of as lucid dreaming where you have control sort of like meditation.

Hopefully the dreams are about rising up, soaring above ground and seeing how wonderful everything is below. The dream suggests balance and feeling good about yourself, your relationships and your situation. Sometimes I remember flying lessons I had when I was younger or parachuting I did and the timelessness and stillness from being so high up.

I've never had a falling dream attached to my flying dream but the experts suggest that this can be part of it and obviously suggesting imbalance or lack of control. Old Sigmund no doubt would put a negative sexual meaning onto it as you can well imagine.

In The Big Lebowski The Dude did in fact fall and plummet to the earth but the fact that he had a bowling ball in his hand probably contributed to that.