It benefits us to learn about a wide variety of topics as this greatly expands the options we have for interpreting dream symbols. Imagine knowing the stories from every religion, all the myths and legends from every culture, all the archetypes... the list goes on and on. Once we are familiar with these symbols and metaphors they can be used in our dreams to teach us. This is why generic dream dictionaries are not a very useful way of learning how to interpret dreams. We must have a system for determining what our own symbols mean until we reach a point of directly working purely with the archetypes at a highly evolved level of mastery.
When we receive a new symbol there are a number of steps the serious dream worker will take.
1. Research the symbol.
Usually you will have some familiarity with the symbol even if it's only having heard the name or concept of it briefly before. You probably won't have the finer details however. It is important to research the symbol to gain more understanding of it and to expand your consciousness.
2. Record the symbol and its meaning.
Some people like to record their dream symbols and create their own personal dream dictionary. I could not see much sense in this for a long time as my dream symbols changed so often, whether it was because they were used in a different context or just understood at deeper levels of meaning. However, I am now convinced it is a great idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, to honour my research and organise it in a useful way. Secondly, to record the dates of dreams containing these major symbols. If you've ever tried rummaging through over 10 years of dream journals to find particular information you'll know how important it is to have some kind of cross reference or index system.
3. Interpret the symbol
From the information you now have about the symbol, look for some key words that are relevant to your dream. What you write here will form the basis of the interpretation. Look at the context in which it appeared and form an interpretation within the framework of that context - this should be done in your dream journal under the original dream in detail and also briefly in your dream dictionary.
4. Continue to update the symbol
It is quite important to continue to record new insights into the symbol so that you can see how your consciousness is evolving, which is the essence of dream work. In this way your dream dictionary is a sacred record of your evolving consciousness - not unlike your soul's Book of Life.
I tend not to use a journal or book for recording dream symbols, I prefer to type them into the computer and keep them electronically simply because they are easier to cut and paste and put into alphabetical order but loose pages in a binder will also work well.
In a dream I had recently the symbol of andalusite came up. This surprised me for I haven't really been involved in or studied geology for many years. Following the 4 steps above this is what I have recorded about my dream symbol, andalusite.
1. Research: I have a number of geology books in my personal library, one of which was useful in obtaining the information I needed; The MacDonald Encyclopedia of Rocks & Minerals. I also did a Google search and found information online as well. Additional research could be done on the mark of the cross in the Bible as this would add another dimension to the interpretation. I haven't written it here to keep the post short. Don't forget to list your references in this section.
2. Record the symbol and its meaning:
Andalusite:
Andalusite is a typical low pressure metamorphic rock rich in aluminium and silica. It appears in stumpy prismatic crystals. The chiastolite version contains fine, dark coloured, carbonaceous or clayey inclusions absorbed during the growth of the crystal and arranged in a regular pattern along the crystal's axis. In cross section this looks like a cross, which gives it the name "cross stone". The name chiastolite is derived from the Greek word 'chiastos' which means cross marked or marked with a cross. In a more esoteric sense chiastolite is the stone of balance and harmony, representing the base and sacral chakras and is associated with the zodiac sign of Virgo. Interestingly it is used in high-temperature electrical insulators and acid resistant ceramic products.
Dream dates: 8/7/2011 (an important inclusion at the bottom of the page - it allows me to find the dream again in my journal which are recorded in date order).
3. Interpret the symbol:
Key words: low pressure, rich in silica, crystalline, absorbs dark carbonaceous matter to form a cross, marked with a cross, balance & harmony, sacral & base chakras, Virgo, high temp electrical insulator, acid resistant.
Additional research could be done on the mark of the cross in the Bible.
Sometimes the key words will be sufficient to write here if you delve into the meaning of these in your dream journal.
The Dream: In the dream I was in a learning environment, receiving much help to learn and given gifts to assist me - one gift was a new black felt tipped pen in a size that I like to write with. The andalusite was associated with a volcano at the south pole.
Interpretation: I often feel a lot of pressure to evolve my consciousness and fall back in my practices due to overwhelm. The appearance of andalusite is showing me that the mark of the cross (Christ consciousness) can be achieved with constant low pressure. The dark carbonaceous matter absorbed by the crystal - carbonaceous matter under pressure forms coal and at high pressure forms diamonds. The carbonaceous matter then represents my potential - the inner diamond that requires building and polishing. It also represents lessons that must be learned and passed to create the diamond. Passing these lessons are what helped me to develop the mark of the cross. It doesn't have to be completely pristine - a note for me to let go of perfectionism. I wasn't shown a diamond so that is also significant. The South Pole of the planet is a gateway to the Inner Earth. The south pole in the body is the positive pole situated below the belly button (the dan tien then becomes another symbol). The south pole is then a symbol of personal and collective consciousness. At a time when I have been feeling as though my guides have deserted me (although I know that isn't so) I was shown I that I was very supported and receiving much help to learn. It draws my attention to balance and harmony within the two lower chakras, which happen to be the two I am currently working on. (if you don't know much about the chakras you would research these as symbols also). The base chakra, third ray (the ray of active intelligence) is at present my point of focus. The sacral chakra has to do with the relationship to self, which I am also striving to improve. The fact that andalusite is used in high temperature electrical insulators and acid resistant ceramic products is significant. The energy flowing in from Source can fry our electrical system if we don't ground ourselves properly and give our nervous system time to upgrade. The presence of andalusite is showing me I am sufficiently grounded and insulated to receive a high doses of energy at present. Ceramics are made from clay - clay also appears in the formation of the cross within the crystal. Clay is used as a lining for dams so they don't leak, clay creates a barrier between land and water - the mental and emotional. I associate this with my inner gold bubble of protection and the need to have it there to insulate my emotions from any negative subconscious thought triggers - I've fallen back in doing this visualisation so this is a gentle reminder to have it in place. The symbolism of the volcano indicates material from deep within erupting or surfacing. Again the symbol is both personal and planetary. I saw a shield volcano - again very gentle, more an oozing out of material than violent eruptions. The symbol is indicating that change need not be traumatic, it can take place gently and easily.
What a perfect symbol to convey such a detailed message. I could in fact write pages for this interpretation but I think you get the idea that our symbols are very personal depending upon what we know and have studied. In this dream there were hints also of the planetary consciousness which can also be explored or we can merely take it as our own contribution to the whole. The more we know about a wide variety of topics the more succinct the symbol can be to provide deeper meaning.
I hope this article has been useful in providing an example of how to record dream and interpret dream symbols.
Minggu, 27 Agustus 2017
Selasa, 15 Agustus 2017
Language Evolution Affects Business Writing
Following are some observations about the nature of our language and how it is changing. Here is a sentence containing several examples of language evolution.
"If u Google "laser" and interface that def with the tangebalized results we already have we can nuke the veggies:)"
The above sentence contains several ways our language is changing: a new spelling (u), a noun converted to a verb (google), a compound (interface), one abbreviation (def), an adjective that has been turned into a verb (tangibalized), an abbreviation that has become a word (nuke), slang (veggies), and a new punctuation mark -- :).
But then, our language has been changing from the first grunt. Try this:
"She was a worthy womman al hir lyve, housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve, wuthouten other companye in youthe, but thereof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe."
Chaucer wrote this verse, but that is about how Christopher Columbus spoke and wrote a few years after Chaucer's death in 1400.
How about "Got milk?" Or "I axed her." Neither Chaucer nor Columbus would have understood. The first is a grammatical mistake, and the second is a mispronunciation of "asked," which is now creeping into the written language as "axed." Whether these current usage examples become permanent has not yet been decided, but then, who ever thought "9/11" would come to mean anything other than September 11, and a toilet plunger would ever be called a "hydro blast force cup" (US Army).
Here are some ways the language is changing, and some of them will become permanent, if they haven't already.
1. The Use of Pompous or Ambiguous Jargon.
AT&T used the lofty "customer input/output access facility" to describe
their complaint windows. The White House called the Granada invasion a "pre-dawn vertical insertion." We like to pick on the Pentagon because they are so creative. When they say "neutralize the adversary in an expedient fashion" they mean shoot first, dude. The Pentagon refers to combat as "violence processing," and "permanent pre-hostilities" means peace, brother. "Collateral damage" means killing our allies by accident.
But let us not forget business and industry. Shell Oil called their gas station attendants "hydro carbon transfer specialists," and there aren't any janitors any more because they are all called Maintenance Engineers (and their isn't an engineering degree among the lot). Most companies don't have mail rooms, they have Document Distribution Centers. Sales men and women are the oh-so correct "associates," which avoids gender identification, but it sounds like they own part of the business. Maybe that's the point.
2. The Compression of Words into Acronyms and Abbreviation.
Does anyone remember what scuba means? We don't bother to capitalize it, but
it means Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. How about "laser?" It means Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The ZIP in zip code means Zoned Improvement Program, and POSH mean "port out, starboard back," which are the best staterooms on a ship.
If we start to put compressions together, we find sentences like this one from Amoco Oil. "To access GPNU2, @ADD the source file TEXDIS*TEMPLATES.GPNU2 while in PARSD." Excuse me? And from Northrop Aviation we find this procedure: "The program was loaded onto the CMS and compiled with Fortran Compliers rs(FORTUS), GICFTG, and H Extended (FHX).
3. The Epidemic of Slang
Slang is so prevalent that people do not realize they are using it. "Reoccurance" is
not a word, nor is its more famous cousin "irregardless." I have heard people in high- class business meetings say "guestimate" with a straight face, and "evergreen" to mean up-to-date or continuously improved.
In everyday language, we hear other slang words such as "bummer," "framistant," "diddlysquat," cockamayme," "disambiguate," and, of course "veggies", which is what "vegans" eat. How about "sup" meaning "What's up?" LOL has now hit the verbal language.
4. Compounding Words into New Words
Compounding starts when two words are used so frequently together that
they become hyphenated. After a few years of hyphenation, the hyphen is removed and a new word hits the street. "Down time" became "down-time" and now it's "downtime." There are endless combinations: "greenmail," "meltdown," "airhead," "proactive," and "ripoff" to name a very few.
We like to put "mega" in front of almost any word: "megabucks," "megatrend," "megastar," "megabyte", and "megamillionaire." We also put "ultra" in front of words: "ultralite," "ultrafine," or "ultraswede," and we stick "anti" anywhere at all: "antiterrorist," "antidiscrimination," "antiwar," "antimarriage," etc.
Lastly, we like to stick "out" on the end of many self-respecting words: "far out," make out," "veg out," "pig out," "freak out," "burned out," "cop out," "zoned out," "grossed out," and "chill out" to name a few. Some of these will become hyphenated, then one word over time.
5. New Definitions for Old Words, and New Foreign Words
It all depends on how you say it. "bad" if you mean bad, and "baaad" if you mean
good. "Anchor" used to stop ships, "wired" meant wiring in a house or elsewhere, "heavy" used to mean it weighs a lot, and "trash" meant something you put out on the curb. "Meat market" did not mean a place to meet gorgeous babes, "stoned" was a medieval form of execution still practiced today in some third-world countries, and "crunch" was what Rice Krispies did. "Cool" meant a temperature.
We are ingesting foreign words at a record pace. Anything on the menu at a Mexican restaurant is a new American word, "glitch" is a German word, and "skoosh" is a Japanese word. Globalization, over the next 1,000 years, will have us all speaking the same language.
6. The Conversation of Nouns and Adjectives into Verbs
"We will status the drawings tomorrow" (Bectel).
"He inferfaces well with clients" (IBM).
"During phase 2 we will reorientate the program (Boeing Aircraft).
"The power line was built secludedly to please landowners" (US Forest Service).
All of these sentences were drawn from actual documents used in writing
training workshops .Also, there is "We Pofessionalize in Damage-Free Towing" on the side of a truck, "This report will definitize an answer" from Martin Marrieta, and "Routinization has begun" from ARCO Oil. "Ruggedized" means heavy duty reinforcement at the BLM, and from Cameron Iron Works: "That whole program should be absoluted." Brilliant.
7. Regionalism
If you are "living under the bridge" you live south of the Mackinaw River
Bridge, and if you want a big sandwich, you have to know what to ask for: a "wimpie" in the northeast, a "hoagie" in Philadelphia, a "submarine" in New York, a "po boy" in Louisiana, a "hero" in the southwest, and a "blimpie" in San Francisco. If you are "makin' groceries" in Louisiana you have gone to the store, and depending on where you are you will either be killed for calling somebody a "coon ass," or you will be congratulated for recognizing a really nice guy. Getting a soft drink can be challenging, depending on where you are. In some parts of the county, "coke" means anything cold, after which you must specify which cold drink you want, and then there is "fiz," "soda," "pop," and "soda pop."
8. The Invention of Idioms
"It blew my mind that you were chewing the fat and shooting the bull with that
hacker. But lay it on me, because if you want to be off the wall and spend an arm and a leg on getting buffed out let me water the horse and I'll join you."
That sentence is comprised entirely of idioms. In business, people "massage the numbers" and get "up to speed." In the trucking industry if someone says their coffee has been "saucered and blowed" it means it's ready to drink. In the government they talk about "revenue enhancement" which means they are going to raise our taxes.
In 1942 Eric Partridge in his book "Usage and Abusage" said, "The field of language is strewn with the dry bones of adventurous words which once started out with a paternal blessing to make their fortune, but which have met with an untimely end and serve only, when collected, to fill the shelves of a lexicographical museum."
Changes in the verbal language occur with breathtaking speed. Some of that language, if it sticks around long enough and is used frequently enough, is eventually used in the written language. Some makes it into the dictionaries. However, just because a word makes it into a dictionary, does not mean it will stay there! Old words fly off the pages, and unused words fly after them. Dictionaries evolve, just as the language evolves. The wary keep a 1932 copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica on their shelves because it has scholarly articles instead of definitions like modern encyclopedias, which are expanded dictionaries with plenty of color pictures, and toss out last year's dictionary with last year's phone book.
Writers in business, industry, and government, at the management level and above, should beware of using words that might detract from their professional countenance. The misuse of word can lead to ridicule among associates, and distract attention from a good education and excellent talents.
Dr. Barbara von Diether was a consultant for 12 years for a range of Fortune 500 organizations, as well as many government agencies. She has a Doctor's degree in education administration, a Master's degree in educational technology, and a security clearance. As a consultant for defense industry competitive bid proposals, the companies she assisted won $16 billion in contracts.
Currently, she provides editorial services and advisement over the Internet for
1) company and government agency projects,
2) people who are writing non-fiction and fiction books
3) and students writing theses and dissertations.
While in academe, she was President of a State Conference for the American Association of University Professors, and is a former President of her local Rotary Club. She loves horses but has none, keeps her saddle on a stand in her living room, has a daughter who is an attorney, has two grandsons, one a veterinarian, and the other too young to tell, but probably a lawyer, based on his negotiation skills.
"If u Google "laser" and interface that def with the tangebalized results we already have we can nuke the veggies:)"
The above sentence contains several ways our language is changing: a new spelling (u), a noun converted to a verb (google), a compound (interface), one abbreviation (def), an adjective that has been turned into a verb (tangibalized), an abbreviation that has become a word (nuke), slang (veggies), and a new punctuation mark -- :).
But then, our language has been changing from the first grunt. Try this:
"She was a worthy womman al hir lyve, housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve, wuthouten other companye in youthe, but thereof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe."
Chaucer wrote this verse, but that is about how Christopher Columbus spoke and wrote a few years after Chaucer's death in 1400.
How about "Got milk?" Or "I axed her." Neither Chaucer nor Columbus would have understood. The first is a grammatical mistake, and the second is a mispronunciation of "asked," which is now creeping into the written language as "axed." Whether these current usage examples become permanent has not yet been decided, but then, who ever thought "9/11" would come to mean anything other than September 11, and a toilet plunger would ever be called a "hydro blast force cup" (US Army).
Here are some ways the language is changing, and some of them will become permanent, if they haven't already.
1. The Use of Pompous or Ambiguous Jargon.
AT&T used the lofty "customer input/output access facility" to describe
their complaint windows. The White House called the Granada invasion a "pre-dawn vertical insertion." We like to pick on the Pentagon because they are so creative. When they say "neutralize the adversary in an expedient fashion" they mean shoot first, dude. The Pentagon refers to combat as "violence processing," and "permanent pre-hostilities" means peace, brother. "Collateral damage" means killing our allies by accident.
But let us not forget business and industry. Shell Oil called their gas station attendants "hydro carbon transfer specialists," and there aren't any janitors any more because they are all called Maintenance Engineers (and their isn't an engineering degree among the lot). Most companies don't have mail rooms, they have Document Distribution Centers. Sales men and women are the oh-so correct "associates," which avoids gender identification, but it sounds like they own part of the business. Maybe that's the point.
2. The Compression of Words into Acronyms and Abbreviation.
Does anyone remember what scuba means? We don't bother to capitalize it, but
it means Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. How about "laser?" It means Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The ZIP in zip code means Zoned Improvement Program, and POSH mean "port out, starboard back," which are the best staterooms on a ship.
If we start to put compressions together, we find sentences like this one from Amoco Oil. "To access GPNU2, @ADD the source file TEXDIS*TEMPLATES.GPNU2 while in PARSD." Excuse me? And from Northrop Aviation we find this procedure: "The program was loaded onto the CMS and compiled with Fortran Compliers rs(FORTUS), GICFTG, and H Extended (FHX).
3. The Epidemic of Slang
Slang is so prevalent that people do not realize they are using it. "Reoccurance" is
not a word, nor is its more famous cousin "irregardless." I have heard people in high- class business meetings say "guestimate" with a straight face, and "evergreen" to mean up-to-date or continuously improved.
In everyday language, we hear other slang words such as "bummer," "framistant," "diddlysquat," cockamayme," "disambiguate," and, of course "veggies", which is what "vegans" eat. How about "sup" meaning "What's up?" LOL has now hit the verbal language.
4. Compounding Words into New Words
Compounding starts when two words are used so frequently together that
they become hyphenated. After a few years of hyphenation, the hyphen is removed and a new word hits the street. "Down time" became "down-time" and now it's "downtime." There are endless combinations: "greenmail," "meltdown," "airhead," "proactive," and "ripoff" to name a very few.
We like to put "mega" in front of almost any word: "megabucks," "megatrend," "megastar," "megabyte", and "megamillionaire." We also put "ultra" in front of words: "ultralite," "ultrafine," or "ultraswede," and we stick "anti" anywhere at all: "antiterrorist," "antidiscrimination," "antiwar," "antimarriage," etc.
Lastly, we like to stick "out" on the end of many self-respecting words: "far out," make out," "veg out," "pig out," "freak out," "burned out," "cop out," "zoned out," "grossed out," and "chill out" to name a few. Some of these will become hyphenated, then one word over time.
5. New Definitions for Old Words, and New Foreign Words
It all depends on how you say it. "bad" if you mean bad, and "baaad" if you mean
good. "Anchor" used to stop ships, "wired" meant wiring in a house or elsewhere, "heavy" used to mean it weighs a lot, and "trash" meant something you put out on the curb. "Meat market" did not mean a place to meet gorgeous babes, "stoned" was a medieval form of execution still practiced today in some third-world countries, and "crunch" was what Rice Krispies did. "Cool" meant a temperature.
We are ingesting foreign words at a record pace. Anything on the menu at a Mexican restaurant is a new American word, "glitch" is a German word, and "skoosh" is a Japanese word. Globalization, over the next 1,000 years, will have us all speaking the same language.
6. The Conversation of Nouns and Adjectives into Verbs
"We will status the drawings tomorrow" (Bectel).
"He inferfaces well with clients" (IBM).
"During phase 2 we will reorientate the program (Boeing Aircraft).
"The power line was built secludedly to please landowners" (US Forest Service).
All of these sentences were drawn from actual documents used in writing
training workshops .Also, there is "We Pofessionalize in Damage-Free Towing" on the side of a truck, "This report will definitize an answer" from Martin Marrieta, and "Routinization has begun" from ARCO Oil. "Ruggedized" means heavy duty reinforcement at the BLM, and from Cameron Iron Works: "That whole program should be absoluted." Brilliant.
7. Regionalism
If you are "living under the bridge" you live south of the Mackinaw River
Bridge, and if you want a big sandwich, you have to know what to ask for: a "wimpie" in the northeast, a "hoagie" in Philadelphia, a "submarine" in New York, a "po boy" in Louisiana, a "hero" in the southwest, and a "blimpie" in San Francisco. If you are "makin' groceries" in Louisiana you have gone to the store, and depending on where you are you will either be killed for calling somebody a "coon ass," or you will be congratulated for recognizing a really nice guy. Getting a soft drink can be challenging, depending on where you are. In some parts of the county, "coke" means anything cold, after which you must specify which cold drink you want, and then there is "fiz," "soda," "pop," and "soda pop."
8. The Invention of Idioms
"It blew my mind that you were chewing the fat and shooting the bull with that
hacker. But lay it on me, because if you want to be off the wall and spend an arm and a leg on getting buffed out let me water the horse and I'll join you."
That sentence is comprised entirely of idioms. In business, people "massage the numbers" and get "up to speed." In the trucking industry if someone says their coffee has been "saucered and blowed" it means it's ready to drink. In the government they talk about "revenue enhancement" which means they are going to raise our taxes.
In 1942 Eric Partridge in his book "Usage and Abusage" said, "The field of language is strewn with the dry bones of adventurous words which once started out with a paternal blessing to make their fortune, but which have met with an untimely end and serve only, when collected, to fill the shelves of a lexicographical museum."
Changes in the verbal language occur with breathtaking speed. Some of that language, if it sticks around long enough and is used frequently enough, is eventually used in the written language. Some makes it into the dictionaries. However, just because a word makes it into a dictionary, does not mean it will stay there! Old words fly off the pages, and unused words fly after them. Dictionaries evolve, just as the language evolves. The wary keep a 1932 copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica on their shelves because it has scholarly articles instead of definitions like modern encyclopedias, which are expanded dictionaries with plenty of color pictures, and toss out last year's dictionary with last year's phone book.
Writers in business, industry, and government, at the management level and above, should beware of using words that might detract from their professional countenance. The misuse of word can lead to ridicule among associates, and distract attention from a good education and excellent talents.
Dr. Barbara von Diether was a consultant for 12 years for a range of Fortune 500 organizations, as well as many government agencies. She has a Doctor's degree in education administration, a Master's degree in educational technology, and a security clearance. As a consultant for defense industry competitive bid proposals, the companies she assisted won $16 billion in contracts.
Currently, she provides editorial services and advisement over the Internet for
1) company and government agency projects,
2) people who are writing non-fiction and fiction books
3) and students writing theses and dissertations.
While in academe, she was President of a State Conference for the American Association of University Professors, and is a former President of her local Rotary Club. She loves horses but has none, keeps her saddle on a stand in her living room, has a daughter who is an attorney, has two grandsons, one a veterinarian, and the other too young to tell, but probably a lawyer, based on his negotiation skills.
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