travelling at the
speed of thought is dangerous
— and we all do it
In my dream I felt convinced I had a unique ability to travel along a busy motor road as fast as I liked, faster than anyone else, just by thinking myself into a condition of speed. But various young people were travelling at the same speed: so I felt threatened by this, and also their intentions didn’t seem altogether good. Dangers, of one sort or another, seem to be all-pervasive in so many of my dreams. I’m tempted to suppose this might be a compensation for the complacency which, if I compare myself now with myself as I used to be, seems one way in which I have markedly deteriorated. I have things so easy now (comparatively speaking) and I do seem to have grown complacent. On the other hand, back then, if anything my dreams were full of even more danger. Nightmares were a regular occurrence. There was a certain part of me that positively enjoyed that intensity of danger, both in my dreamlife and in waking life. The enjoyment seems to have disappeared along with the intensity. Yet still some level of danger enters my dreams very frequently indeed. I wonder would existential psychotherapy have something pertinent to say about this? Or would it be part of the problem? I wonder in fact if last night’s dream reflects some kind of intellectual overstimulation. The intellect is dangerous. The instincts are dangerous. What isn’t dangerous?
