The Song "Serious of Dreams"

In the song “Serious of Dreams,” Bob Dylan uses the symbols and archetypes of flying and falling to express the theme of humanity’s transformation.  According to Anthony Stevens, “it represents loss of social, spiritual, or moral status” (419). Opposed to the context of falling, the dream also mentioned flying: “Dreams of flying are invariably pleasant, often elating, giving rise to feelings of freedom and self-mastery, a sense of transcending the constraints of mundane reality” (419). In the song, “Serious of Dreams,” he says “wasn’t thinking of anything specific;” however, that was not the case when he says, “in one, I was running, and in another all I seemed to be doing was climb” (Dylan).

Archetypal Photograph

Quotes from Ariadne's Clue, pg.3-60

Interesting/Insightful Quotes:

-          “The eternally recurring themes of childhood and youth, love and sex, hunting and warfare, sickness and healing, death and rebirth, fertility and sacrifice – everything that constitutes a core experience of human life – has often share striking resemblances to one another, wherever on this planet they have been brought into being” (Stevens 17).

-          “Image, behavior, and emotion appear to be constellated round an archetypal core existing as an innate predisposition in the central nervous system of the species” (Stevens 23).

-          “The success (or failure) of our attachment bonds has profound consequences for our emotional lives. Fear that an attachment bond may be under threat can result in anger and aggression, as well as anxiety, depression, and sometimes, suicide. Renewal of an attachment bond, on the other hand, or reunion after a period of separation, can be experienced as source of profound joy” (Stevens 48)

Confusing Quotes:

-          ”The uroboric snake slumbering in the unconscious, coiled up in the lowest chakra of kundalini ascent, is the reptilian life still lurking in the nuclei of the nervous system” (Steven 33).

Dream

Last night I had a terrifying nightmare about a ghostly figure choking my neck while I was sleeping. It was a night that I would want to forget, for I woke up in the middle of the night sweating like a pig. Part of the reason why I had such a horrific dream was probably because I consumed an abundant amount sugary food prior to sleeping. Even though I knew eating heavy meals prior to sleeping is bad, I could not resist myself because I was hungry and as a result, I had an unpleasant dream.