Conference hydra::dejavu

    
    	
    
    	Well Alexander Pope (Xanadu, The Ancient Mariner) seems to 
    	come to mind but I'm not suggesting anything of course  ;-) .
    
    	
    	- I have to go back and finish reading it though..
    
    
    	Norm

    re. 1.....
    
          Norm....What do you mean by Alexander Pope?

    
    re: .2      
    		I was in the middle of reading 7. when I thought that I'd
    	better elaborate on my previous reply. 
    		First let me say that I should have read the entire note 
    	before making what seems to be now an insensitive remark.
         
    		I'm sorry if I've offended.   
    
    	Re: Alexander Pope -  I'm almost 100% positive that he wrote the two
    poems  "Xanadu" and "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". In both poems the
    imagery is astounding (as in the Mars dream := Xanadu) and a little graphic
    (the honeycomb dream := ..the Ancient Mariner).
    
    	It so happens however that he was an opium addict at the time he
    wrote the two. Hence, the cheapshot.
    
    
    	Again, I really wasn't aware of the entire content of .0 when I 
    replied and again my apologies.
    
    Norm 

    
    Re 1118.1 - It's actually Samuel Coleridge who wrote "The Rime of the
    Ancient Mariner" and the poem entitled "Kubla Khan" that begins
    
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan his stately pleasure dome decree
    Where Alph the sacred river ran down to the shining sea...
    
    While I read I thought of surreal artists and writers, Luis Bunuel (the
    Spanish film-maker), Rene Magritte (the Belgian surrealist painter), 
    Italo Calvino (Italian writer) even early Ingmar Bergman films. I have
    to confess that the only connection with the Decameron that I could
    make was in the number of narrations. 
    
    Thank you, Paul, for sharing with frankness and courage and energy - 
    good grief! 598 lines! your images and visions...would that I could 
    commit to film instantly the pictures that your words conjured up - we'd 
    have a series to reckon with!
    
    Gloria 

    Re .4 (Gloria):
    
    You got the author right, but I believe
    
    >In Xanadu did Kubla Khan his stately pleasure dome decree
    >Where Alph the sacred river ran down to the shining sea...
     
    Should read,
    
    "Where Alph, the sacred river ran/Through caverns measureless to Man"
    
    ... but it's been years since I read it.
    
    The interesting thing was that Coleridge got his vision of Xanadu
    through smoking opium.  He was starting his poem when "a person
    from Porlock" came to visit him, unannounced, and broke his chain
    of thought; the poem is an incomplete fragment.  There was some
    fictional speculation (i.e., stories written about the possibility)
    that Coleridge "tuned into" something he wasn't supposed to see,
    and the "person from Porlock" was dispatched to interrupt him before
    he saw more.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    
     I was not on drugs when experiencing these things. There is a history
    of psyhcic awareness that I've inherited from my mothers side of the
    family...............
    
                          Paul.

RE: .5 (Steve K, commenting on .4, Gloria)
    
    >>In Xanadu did Kubla Khan his stately pleasure dome decree
    >>Where Alph the sacred river ran down to the shining sea...
    >
    >Should read,
    >
    >"Where Alph, the sacred river ran/Through caverns measureless to Man"
    
    As I remember it you are both right -- sort of.
    
    	In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    	His stately pleasure dome decree,
    	Where Alph, the sacred river ran
    	Through caverns measurless to Man,
    	Down to a sunless sea
    
    My memory of it is definitly subject to minor errors (perhaps, for
    example, its "the sunless sea") but I'm pretty confident that it is
    basically correct.  I did a film "interpretation" of this in high
    school about (Oy!) 20 years ago.  That's a long time, but I read it
    over and over and over again back then.
    
    Colderidge had severe chronic pain problems and used opium not
    infrequently as a result, sometimes to help him sleep.  I don't believe
    that it can be said that he was addicted (that's harder than the
    "Just Say No" crowd would like us to believe, although easier than
    than the "If it feels good, do it" crowd acts like it is).  It is
    *not* known that he took opium before his nap which produced Kubla
    Khan.  The haunting quality of the fragment has lead people to suggest
    it -- sometimes with a confidence beyond the evidence -- but it is
    not known to be true.
    
    						Topher

    
    What happened?  I wrote a massive reply and I got some sort of
    "set nowrite" error...AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!
    
    Thanks for letting me get that off my chest...
    
    
    Guy

    Paul,
    
    
    Contrary to the responses I have found here it would seem that you are 
    asking for some input/interpretation into the content of your 
    dreams/visions. I cannot offer any insight into someones poem but I can 
    offer to you that I have been having vivid dreams for many years. I would 
    like to see this note used as a forum for discussing dreams and their 
    relation to our reality. 
    
    The one thing that I discovered (in my case) is that each dream is a 
    personal message. I have in the past found that if I try to study each 
    action or "stand out" portion of my dream I can find a portion that is 
    directly applicable to a current situation, sometimes in a abstract sense. 
    I have been able to derive directions from my dreams that have helped me to
    solve a problem or offer some insight into my inner self. 
    
    In my mind dreams cannot be interpreted by a stranger but must be 
    interpreted by the dreamer. Sit back relax and find the hidden
    message as it relates to your reality. 
    
    Stephan
    
    ps. Your descriptions are excellent. 

    Thanks for your input Stephan! 
    
            While most of what I wrote deals with dreams I've had, it
    should be noted that some of those experiences I described were
    definately not dreams. (astral projection, demonic encounters, and
    the disturbances in my house) 
    
           The real thrill for me is in having the experience and espec-
    ially in describing it, so that others may share - on some level -
    the inspiration and profound wonder of the unknown that I have felt
    every day since childhood. So it is really not an interpretation
    that I'm looking for; I'm just trying to figure out what connection
    all the rhetoric on Coleridge has with my base note.

    I understand what you are saying about wanting to "share" your
    experiences with others and not actually looking for reasons why. 
    
    I found your writing extremely descriptive and extremely moving. I fail 
    to see how it only developed into a discussion of literary pieces. 
    
    I do not know of anyone who has experienced the things you have and I
    would love to hear more. If you don't mind I would like to print 
    what you have written and show it to some of my friends.
    
    Have a GREAT weekend!
    
    Stephan