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This is a DRAFT. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and you might even get acknowledged when I publish! Introduction
1. Kansas: Starter State & Dreams
Our tale begins in the sepia-gray world of a turn-of-the-century farmhouse. Dorothy Gale and her little dog, Toto, are fleeing nasty neighbor Almira Gulch (Toto had disturbed Gulch's garden, maybe even tried to nip her). At first, Dorothy seeks protection from her Auntie Em. But Auntie’s too busy. The farmhands offer advice but no protection.
Gulch arrives, having acquired documents authorizing her to seize and destroy the little dog, a claim that is childishly accepted by the aunt and uncle—the “adults” in Dorothy’s life. So nasty Almira Gulch summarily stuffs Toto into her basket, remounts her bicycle, and rides off. Fortunately, Toto escapes and runs home to Dorothy.
With that, Dorothy realizes that she too can and must escape. She packs quickly and leaves home, only to encounter Professor Marvel on the road, who listens to her and allows her to realize that she should return home. She does, only to be met by a tornado from which her aunt and uncle have already taken cover. Abandoned, she runs to her room, is struck on the head, and falls, unconscious, into bed. We thus arrive at her wonderful dream of enchantment and empowerment.
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?
– Satchel Paige
Can contemporary American adults relate to the challenges of a turn-of-the-century, naïve adolescent girl? Dorothy poses one of her first challenges when she sings:
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true…
Dorothy sings of the power to dream what she dares to dream. So implicitly, she recognizes there might be dreams we do not even dare to dream.
Imagine children playing make-believe: one moment, they’re a teacher or a celebrity; the next, they’re dashing off to some other role that pleases their fancy. Now picture, off to the side, someone watching children and thinking, “That's not very realistic or practical.” How old is the observer, would you say? You probably would not answer a child’s age.
We would consider a young child somewhat abnormal if she were to think, "Heavens, do I dare to even dream of such a thing?" It takes an adult mind to both recognize and to decline a dare to dream. Children tend to have uninhibited imaginations. They have the innate ability to embrace the enchantment of childhood.
For the most part, the practical and mature mind of adulthood is a good thing: we’re being responsible when we limit our aspirations to those which are realistic and attainable. In fact, one definition of a dream is ‘that which is not realistic.’ So given that Dorothy’s is a coming-of-age tale, a story of how a child grows into an adult, we should explore the point of the central dream. Is her act of dreaming part of her successful transition to adulthood? Should Dorothy even dare to dream? The answer to both questions is yes. Dorothy makes her dare, then accepts its challenge, and does so with a mind open to enchantment and possibility.
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What about you? Is there a dream you have not even dared yourself to dream? Is there something that used to fascinate or just intrigue you? What might that be? You might pose these questions to yourself before going to sleep tonight.
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Dorothy flees, then returns. Little children are too immature to run away. Adults, too mature. Both, perhaps, are too frightened. But Dorothy is in between (as psychologists would say, she is in the “liminal stage”). Although we advance in years, emotionally we can be childish, adult-like, and in between.
The Oz myth has been the subject of much scholarship and debate. It’s even received religious bans.[1] On one side, thinkers focus on Dorothy, arguing that Oz myth symbolizes discovering resources within (as opposed to seeking help from a higher power). On the other side, interpreters emphasize the magical land of Oz and/or the search for "home" as a search for help from a higher power. Either way, the myth and the metaphor are viewed by many as full of deep religious (or sacrilegious) significance.
Sometimes a little trouble can be good. Digging can be dirty. Making a mess requires clean up. These are things children are taught not to do. In adulthood, this works metaphorically: we bury things in the back of our minds, dig around to find them, sometimes making a mess of things. Sometimes we leave them hidden. That which is buried is often hidden for a reason. Toto dug and made a mess, because it was his nature—and for that he was sentenced to death. So Toto illustrates a crucial question: what is worth digging into (even if it might bother the neighbors)?
Learning how to fit in and not bother the neighbors is essential for all grown-ups. Growing up is a process of socialization, calibration, learning to find our place. But as we continue to grow, and as the world changes, we seek to refine the balance between our individual needs and those of society (the Greeks called these two perspectives the idios kosmos and the koinos kosmos). The Oz story takes a very American bias favoring liberty and individual rights—even a dog’s right to dig in the neighbor’s yard. Let’s explore this part of the story further.
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Sometimes when it's difficult to imagine yourself doing something (daring even to dream) it may be easier to model someone else's behavior. After all, it's likely that someone did whatever it is that we might be considering. So how did they do it?
| Toto escapes from Almira Gulch’s little cell-basket. He takes the leap and jumps. Swift as the Nike swoosh—he just does it. Often taking that first step (or leap) is the toughest part of any new endeavor.
Immediately upon Toto’s return home, Dorothy (apparently inspired by her little friend) pulls her suitcase from under her bed, packs and runs away. Toto escapes first, then Dorothy decides to escape.
Hurt, angry and frightened, Dorothy decides to run away. In this story, she takes a short walk and shares her thoughts with a total stranger, Professor Marvel. His crystal ball reflects back little more than what Dorothy tells him. Then she decides, on her own, to return home.
Later, in her dream, she takes an even longer walk. But here, the escape was a short walk and was sufficient to allow her to collect her thoughts.
Taking a walk simply to clear one’s thoughts is generally not highly regarded the contemporary North American workplace. It’s not productive, they say. Smokers, however, have an excuse to get out of the office: in doing so, they take a break, collect their thoughts, and return to work. Nonsmokers do not enjoy this justification. So the question becomes, who can ‘take a walk’ without a cigarette?
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When might it be useful to take a short walk? To talk with a stranger?
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The story introduces Almira Gulch, the nasty neighbor who turns into the Wicked Witch of the West. Then there’s Auntie Em Gale, an unreliable substitute parent.
At first impression, Auntie Em seems a sort of sweet woman, just lacking resources to deal with the more sophisticated, stronger-intentioned and more affluent neighbor Gulch:
Almira Gulch, just because you own half the town doesn't mean that you have the power to run the rest of us. For twenty-three years I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now . . . well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!
It’s said that much truth is spoken in jest, but even more truth speaks in metaphor. In the above quote, Auntie Em acknowledges that for nearly a quarter-century, an expressive piece of her has been ‘dying,’ and that because of her belief system, nothing can change. Many devout Christians would take issue and find this justification for silence unpersuasive.
But maybe I'm too hard on Auntie Em. Many people—most people, perhaps—justify their behavior through how they interpret their religion, political bent or other fundamental beliefs. As you are reading, it’s likely that somewhere in the world neighbors are killing neighbors based on deep-set beliefs. How might someone recognize the difference between behaviors based on correct interpretation and those based on misinterpretation or distortion?
So when should all the Auntie Ems out there re-examine their behaviors and beliefs? From this perspective, it appears beliefs worth dying for (I've been dying to tell you)—whether literally or metaphorically—should be thoroughly examined and, from time to time, reexamined. But what will trigger such a reevaluation? What might cause “Auntie Em” to sit back and think "do I still believe...?"
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After you answered the hypothetical for Auntie Em, you might pose the question to yourself: How might you know? whether you have any beliefs that merit reevaluation?
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Dorothy's dream of Oz includes elements common to many dreams and myths:
· Confusion: flying, falling, spinning and confusion
· Travel: following paths, and being chased and/or attacked
· Magical tools and helpers: animals, humanoid-type characters with aspects of animals, plants, and even non-organic (crystals and metals)
· Deception and disguise
· Strange and sharp contrasts and sudden transformations
· An emotional gamut: confusion, despair, fear, passion, courage, cleverness, joy, celebration, enthusiasm.
I use the term ‘dream’ to speak both of aspirations such as I have a dream (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and of our actual dreams that occur when we sleep. Those likely to buy books like this have already experienced life, grown and changed, and probably already have within themselves–whether they know it or not—the tools they need to continue to grow and to evolve their feelings, beliefs and behaviors.
Often, though, we need to be supplied with tools, materials, patterns and the right environment. So, with that, I introduce the dreamer’s toolkit—the power to design your own dreams.
Nothing happens unless first we dream.
—Carl Sandburg
Dorothy’s story and dream could have begun in Oz. But it didn't. Perhaps if it were produced in today’s blockbuster “hook ‘em and dazzle ‘em” film industry it would have started in Oz, with a flashback to Kansas. Movie Kansas, after all, is bleak. But geographically (and in other ways) real Kansas is in the center. It’s where Dorothy’s journey has to start.
If you're about to embark on a journey, literally or symbolically, it's useful to discover your ‘Kansas’—your initial state—even if it is bleak.
Your Initial State: Dream and Waking Knowledge
Internal and external environments. We have them both, and it’s useful to understand the distinction between the two. For starters, it’s important to know when we are responding to the “real world” (external environment), and not dealing with memories, demons or vestigial fears. In comparison, we can better pinpoint our internal “dream language” and the language of intuition.
So it's useful to recognize subconscious beliefs, feelings and behaviors. Some examples: walking and breathing are non-conscious physical behaviors. Usually, we walk and breathe with no conscious thought. We just breathe in, breathe out, put one foot in front of the other. However, athletes and dancers and the like seek to improve the way they move, so they devote conscious attention to details— which foot receives more weight? Land on the heel or the toe? Place more weight on the left or right side? In yoga, T’ai-chi or Pilates, breathing is directed, making breathing conscious. Most of us, however, don’t do this. Thinking about walking or breathing often will actually slows and inhibits the act. So how do we allow conscious attention to refine and attune these actions?
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Try it. Stand and, without adjusting anything, notice which foot bears more weight, which shoulder feels higher, if one side is more forward than the other. If you’re not inclined to stand, try it while sitting.
| A "non-conscious" belief could happen while watching a movie. Most of us sit down to enjoy a movie, feel the excitement, surprise, disappointment, hilarity, elation, romance, grief—for those two hours in the theater, we just care about what's happening on the screen. It's real as long as we choose it to be real. But then what happens if someone sits down next to us? We momentarily exit the movie trance, check out the newcomer, and then gradually return to our movie state. We know we are simply looking at colored lights on a screen. We know we are watching highly compensated adults playing costumed make-believe. But we choose to let those things go. In the Oz movie, those flying monkeys still unnerve me, and many moments evoke the gamut of emotions.
The point? We choose to move from one reality (the so-called real world) into another—the movie. Significantly, we find it disturbing if someone breaks our movie trance, and most of us won't break our own movie trance unless there's good reason. We also have a reality trance—beliefs that sit below regular consciousness, like our identity—and we can consciously choose to break out of the trance, even if we resist doing so.
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By the way, if you didn’t stand up to notice which foot bears more weight, which shoulder feels higher, if one side is more forward than the other, this might be a time to ask yourself why not?
| I am a lawyer, teacher, father. I am not a singer, dancer sculptor or athlete. I acknowledge what I am—as well as what I am not and never will be.
Fill in your own blanks (maybe even on a scrap you can leave here):
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I am a ________, ________,
I am not a ________, ________,
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When you finish this book, think about who you are—and who you are not, once again. Have there been any changes? Would you now complete the blanks differently?
Many who spend time and effort exploring these beliefs find it humbling. They recognize that much of what they do and say and feel and believe originates from beneath consciousness.
Fortunately, it can also be empowering. Most people think of their breathing and walking as conscious behaviors and until they truly bring them to consciousness, such as the exercise above, they will remain in the dark and unaware of those behaviors’ full range of possibilities. A constricted, shallow breather, for example, might not know that impacts his voice, his posture and how others perceive him because of this. We don’t usually notice this about ourselves. We consider our breathing or our gait neutral. But we find it natural to notice and interpret others’ behavior. Observing another’s breathing and posture, we easily glean clues about that person's personality, mood, confidence or lack thereof. So do we have to step outside ourselves to see within ourselves? First, we must acknowledge that there is no neutral.
No neutral. Like posture and gait, which typically require no attention until there is a problem, beliefs and feelings can be ignored until they become “problematic.” Auntie Em, for example, held back what she wanted to say, and usually that reticence served her well. But perhaps she would have been better off increasing her awareness of when she did or did not speak up. Perhaps she would better understand why she chose silence as a default response.
Many writers, trainers, and physiologists note the time and effort it takes to bring to awareness to something as readily observable as breathing or posture. It takes even more time and effort to bring to awareness subconscious beliefs and feelings.
What’s a “meta” for?
Looking at language is not the same as using language. In Oz, words and names merit attention. One type of metaphorical language is sometimes called “parts talk” (referring to body parts): a ‘pain in the neck,’ a ‘weight on my shoulders,’ to ‘keep at arms’ length,’ to ‘turn your back’ on someone. Auntie Em signals the depth of her abandoned lost dream when she says "I'm dying to…” (and my own habitual self-talk, as I sit writing, earning nothing and still paying the bills, is “I'm hemorrhaging money.”) Where does parts talk come from? Is it simply a colorful way to talk? Or does it stem from and influence feelings? Vendors of over-the-counter and even prescription pain medications have researched and concluded the latter. Body feeling influence the mind. Advertisement thus design ads to create feelings of joint and back pain, headaches, coughs, sniffles, and so on.
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Have any such ads ever brought to the forefront of your mind your own ache, itch or sniffle?
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Names have great influence on our perception, too, such as Almira Gulch. A ‘gulch’ is a small ravine, usually one cut by a flow of water. Is this a prophetic name for someone whose parallel character, the Wicked Witch of the West, is eventually liquidated by a splash of water? And the Gale family (Dorothy and Auntie Em and the rest) is named after a strong wind that can knock things over.[2] These examples speak both literally (water, tornado) and metaphorically (destruction, individual power).
Flying and falling are common dream experiences. Typically, flying is a symbol for change and transformation; falling is like flying (change & transformation), it is a kind of uncontrolled change. Wind and air are powerful change agents. A fantasy tornado that lifts you up, carries you to a new state, and gently places you down is a particularly vivid example.
So what does Dorothy’s spinning, flying and falling dream try to tell us? Is it descriptive—illustrating metaphorically what's happening in Dorothy’s life? Or is it prescriptive—describing what should or could be happening? Both, perhaps. For Dorothy, change and transformation are blowing in the wind, reflecting what she is feeling, but also suggesting what she should do about it.
Many seek to interpret dreams because they believe the subconscious is attempting to communicate with the conscious mind. We can choose to listen. We can choose to ignore. Often when we don't listen, the message is simply repeated, sometimes for years. And those who don't listen often expend a lot of energy on internal conflict, energy which might be better expended meeting needs and ambitions in the outside world. Those who do choose to listen find the investment well spent.
But how to do it? Since we know the language of the subconscious is metaphorical, symbolic and rarely literal it would seem useful to speak its language. Communication with the subconscious needn't be a one-way street—you don’t just have to listen and interpret; you can ask and discuss. If you are seeking change and transformation, how might you interject some suggestions to your subconscious to allow it to begin to work on the change? First, communicate in its language, not yours. Much of the movie illustrates just that language. More on this later. Second, learn to “go there.” Much of this book focuses on how to get there—embracing enchantment—finding ways to get past ourselves, past the daily concerns and tedium that confine us to a thin, restrictive reality.
A daydream is one form of enchantment. To a degree, we can learn to direct a daydream. But there is a balancing act between directing our daydreams and allowing it to take its necessary path. This is the conversation with the unconscious. Later, when the daydream is over, we can interpret the symbols to find their real-world applications.
A friend conjured up her own transformational experiences by imagining she was flying. She daydreamed how and where she might fly. In one scene, she recognized that flying was dangerous and that she needed protection. So she directed the daydream: she wrapped herself in a shell. Later, in a similar daydream, she found her protection, the armored shell, to be too rigid—she needed more flexibility. So she imagined something more like scales, then chain mail, and then the image evolved into something lighter and more attractive but still protective. Sometimes now she imagines the destination and ther times she takes off for the clouds, soaring through a cerulean blue sky. She allows the destination to surprise her. Later, she will consider the images (metaphors) that arose in her dream and ask herself questions like “What does protection mean? Where in my life might I need to take more care?” and “When might I be more flexible and adaptable?”
In 1939, the Oz movie competed at the box office with Gone with the Wind, which also employed the wind metaphor for disruptions in people’s lives. More recently, Andy Dufresne says in the beginning of : The Shawshank Redemption, “I was in the path of the tornado... I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has. [3]
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What might blow you away? What would disrupt your life in a way that would enchant and empower you?
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One of my goals is that this book gives you a gust of fresh air— in the right direction.
Air surrounds us and sustains us. We breathe it in every few seconds for our entire lives. As you read, you can breathe without any thought, or you can give conscious attention to your breath, notice how you inhale, whether it's more to the top or the bottom of your lungs, whether it's more to your left side or right, how you inhale, how you exhale. Is it smooth and continuous? Is there a catch at either the beginning of the inhalation or at the end of the exhale?
Why pay attention to something so seemingly insignificant? Though mostly invisible, you can hear air it can knock you off your feet and tear a house from of its foundations. Andrew, Katrina and Wilma were big violent airs that scarred many of those they touched.
Dorothy is breathless in the movie’s opening scene. It's not immediately clear whether Dorothy is frightened or excited. Physiologically, fear and excitement can appear very similar. Emotional states and breathing are linked. And like the chicken and the egg conundrum, emotions and different types of breaths each give rise to the other.
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Have you seen someone misinterpret their excitement as fear? And what about you? What leaves you breathless?
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As an attorney, I often advise clients that during mediations and testifying they need to remember to keep breathing. At first they might laugh, self-consciously. Then, typically, they take a deep breath. It always seems to help. And when they're testifying, I may catch their eye and take an exaggerated deep breath. They understand—take a deep breath, let it out. The result? They are more able to be who they are and do what they do need to do.
But you’re probably not facing a tornado, a civil war, or a trial—and that’s a very good thing. In all likelihood, you're relaxed at one of your reading places, holding this book, and if you're into it—which I hope you are—you're not paying attention to your breathing. Automatically, effortlessly, with no conscious attention at all, you breathe in and out every few seconds as you have done your entire life.
As habits go, breathing is one of the biggies. It would be difficult to imagine a more deeply ingrained and automatic behavior. But it doesn't have to be this way. Yoga and other spiritual and health practices incorporate breath control. Some do it explicitly, telling practitioners how and when to inhale and exhale.
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As you begin to notice your breathing, you might consider a slow, deep breath. Simply taking a deep breath intentionally, consciously (or maybe two or three), can put you in a fresh state, and without all the turmoil of feeling you are inside a tornado. |
The word respiration shares a common origin with inspire and spirit. Something without a spirit is generally thought of as not breathing and lacking life. Can you inspire yourself simply by taking a deep breath?
Later in the book, at Chapter 4, we’ll explore other methods for achieving the same thing, primarily through song and chant in the land of Oz. This shows how we can accomplish breath control implicitly. Most established religions, in fact, employ chants, poems or songs that force specific breathing patterns. The practitioner needn't be consciously aware of the breathing, and the result is the same.
Marksmanship also mandates breath control. It steadies the hand and permits focus. Marksmen are told that if they want to hit a bull's-eye, they need to start with conscious awareness of breathing. More broadly, taking a deep breath is often a prerequisite to targeting and setting upon an ambitious goal.
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How much attention should you give to breathing? |
Before attempting to notice your own long-term habitual (and non-conscious) behaviors, watch others undertaking what should be the simplest and most relaxing of activities—breathing, sitting and walking. Fear can inhibit respiration and inspiration. What's the breathing pattern of fear? For most, it is a restriction of the free flow of breath— maybe shallow breaths, quick and short exhalations. Conscious breathing calms fears. But more pernicious and subtle than fear is a habitual inhibition. A small child might hold her breath when first learning to use a pencil or crayon because a new challenge can be, well, challenging. But why, 20 years later, would she need to hold her breath, tighten her mouth maybe even her neck and shoulders for the same activity?
Of course, too much of a good thing is, by definition, not a good thing. And this is true of too much air when it becomes a windstorm or tornado. Similarly, too many deep breaths cause hyperventilation: Everything spinning and out of control. Over-attention to your breathing may inhibit its natural calming process.
Marty, you remember what happened to the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz?
—Doc Brown, Back to the Future (1991)
In many traditions, air was considered a basic element. Other elements considered “archetypal” included earth, fire, water, and sometimes metal. Each of these plays a role in the Oz dream.
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Earth: Being grounded means not easily subjected to disruption. Earlier, we thought about what it meant for Toto to dig in the soil. Dorothy’s home became ungrounded as it flew to Oz. And Scarecrow, the straw man, was constructed of an earthy material.
Fire: As will be discussed later, the Wizard and the Wicked Witch of the West both employ fire to frighten, to manipulate. For the Scarecrow, fire is the mortal enemy. It is sometimes invisible, somewhat inaudible. It is mysterious and dangerous. But Dorothy conquered her fear of Oz’s fire-breathing machines, and she used cold (the opposite of fire) in the form of snowflakes, to wake up from her opium sleep.
Water: Like fire, it can be visible and audible or completely unknowable. It’s extremely powerful: it can drown fire, corrode metal, wash away dirt—and the occasional wicked witch.
Metal: in the form of yellow bricks, metal represents the path to security and all good things. On the other hand, it can be cold, and it is vulnerable to corrosion. |
So we reach the end of chapter one. What have we learned? That the Oz story can be a metaphor for our desire—and our need—to change, a story relevant even to our contemporary lives. That its images, objects, characters, and plot—in the artful way that they enchant us—can teach us something about how we can actively choose to be enchanted. That words and names influence our perception of reality, and that they are also a way to access and communicate with our subconscious. In the chapters that follow, we will look more specifically at various elements of the Oz story, exploring it as a metaphor for empowerment. I will also introduce a number of practical exercises to try, to incorporate into daily routines, that will ultimately help lead to self-knowledge and awareness of potential and the possibilities, just as Dorothy became aware of her own power through her magical journey.
[1] Although his subtitle references Oz as a “secular” myth, Paul Nathanson devotes much of his amazing 430 page treatise to Oz-related religious issues. Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America (McGill Studies in the History of Religions) by Paul Nathanson, State University of New York Press (January 1992). [this note is repeated at note 30]
[2] Origin galinn meaning bewitched.
[3] The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Stephen King (short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"), Frank Darabont (screenplay), director Frank Darabont; Castle Rock Entertainment
If you liked this, you might like to wander over to chapter 2:
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