Incubation question:
I am illustrating the book Dreamworking by Stanley Krippner and Joseph Dillard. For chapter one, they have asked me to do an illustration of someone looking through a wall from one world to another. I try many different ways to illustrate the two worlds but am not too happy with the results. Therefore I decide to ask my night dreams for assistance.
Dream: LUCID ENCOUNTER
I am sitting by a river in a dark forest carrying on a conversation with a person (man or woman) to whom I feel close but do not recognize. While we are conversing, the river starts to flow in the opposite direction. I am fascinated, looking at the movement, and start to walk by the riverside following the water. Soon the water turns into the solid form of moving gelatin and moves onto the land.
While I am watching, I tell myself, "This is an odd phenomenon". As soon as I say this, I become aware that this is a dream. To lower the excitement of my lucidity, I decide to run through the forest while thinking about a wall. A wall appears in the distance as soon as I think about it. I climb up a hill to look through the wall. While I am climbing the hill, I remember the title of a painting that I did in 1984: "Lucidity and Meeting the Unknown." I am eager to experience the Great Mystery, the Divine. Can it be a person, a form or what?
I reach the top of the hill and look through the open section of the wall. I am surprised to find that there is nothing there except some particles of colorless light coming toward me. They pass straight through me. My body begins to feel an incredible sense of lightness. My hands tingle. A stream of strong energy begins to move from the top of my head down to my legs. I feel as if I cannot move. The experience is ineffable.
Soon after, I woke up gently with similar sensations. My hands were still tingling. The stream of energy warmed my body and the experience left the residue of a smile on my face.
The small particles in this picture, which represent the Unknown for me, became the theme for most of the illustrations for the book Dreamworking.
