Mini Art Therapy: Mountains in Dreams and in Reality
One day in January, as every other day for the past two months, I was going to the hospital. I walked to calm my emotions, and at the same time, still hoped that my mother would be better. This time the weather was different. The wind was blowing strong, it was raining, then snowing and the sun was shining all the time. After visiting the hospital, it was still light on the way home. Exceptionally, I tended to go to Mom in the late afternoons.
The weather has changed and calmed down. The wind stopped blowing, the rain and snow stopped falling and the sun was still shining. Walking down the main street by the hospital, I suddenly looked down a side street. What I saw stopped me and amazed me. Along this small street, there was a view of the mountains, as if there were two worlds in two adjacent streets. Completely different landscape.
When I followed this mountain view, I found myself in another dimension. Zabrze in my district is completely flat. Here I suddenly saw mountains, created by dark clouds billowing over the horizon, which were additionally illuminated by the setting sun. I stood amazed. I walked along this street, enchanted. I was alone with this experience. It was quiet and empty.
It was moving for me because of the recurring dreams for a long time. I often dreamed of mountains. The dreams were similar. I was leaving my house for a walk in Zabrze and suddenly a beautiful mountain view appeared in front of me. The mountains were rather green, and sunlit at least once I dreamed of a snow-capped mountain peak. I always felt the same: joy and amazement. How did this happen? — I asked. I have been living in Zabrze for years and I did not know that the mountains are so close. It was enough to leave the house and I can already see them.
I dreamed of explaining their symbolism. There were various traces. Both in dream books and in certain images. The meanings were different, but they didn’t convince me. The first meaning I found on the way was in the materials posted on the website of the Museum in Gliwice in Poland as part of the information about the exhibition of one painting — a masterpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder entitled Madonna under the Fir Tree.
In this image, in the background, you can see a mountain behind Madonna. Very similar to the sights appearing in my dreams. The work was created during Renaissance when artists naturally used symbols and allegories. The mountain in this painting was described by the curator of this exhibition as: “constancy, imperturbability, the way to heaven, resurrection, a place of pilgrimage. In the experience of the mountains one can see an experience that raises our mind to God, evokes the shadow of infinity, awakens sublime thoughts and feelings.”
I was close to explaining my dreams until I stumbled upon the simplest possible explanation. I was very surprised by its simplicity and precision. Zen Master Dogen Kigen — became a monk at the age of 13, and entered Enryaku-ji Monastery on the mountain (Tendai School Monastery). Since the answers that Tendai science offered as solutions to his doctrinal doubts were insufficient, he began studying Rinzai Zen under Eisai. From Dogen’s records, we learn that he asked Eisai what a young Zen student should avoid. Master Eisai talked about bustling and crowded places, about rich people, ministers, and politicians….
The second question was as follows: what to cling to, what to surround yourself with? Eisai replied: “Look as much as possible at SNOW-CAPED PEAKS, rustling forests, rushing streams.” This time I experienced that this simple answer was all I needed to explain my dreams about the mountains. Longing sometimes leads, you just have to leave the house and follow it, not only in dreams but about the mountains in reality, I will tell you next time.
And finally, Rainer Maria Rilke and a poem entitled:
“God Speaks to Each of Us”
God speaks to each of us before we are,
Before he’s formed us — then, in cloudy speech,
But only then, he speaks these words to each
And silently walks with us from the dark:
Driven by your senses, dare
To the edge of longing. Grow
Like a fire’s shadowcasting glare
Behind assembled things, so you can spread
Their shapes on me as clothes.
Don’t leave me bare.
Let it all happen to you: beauty and dread.
Simply go — no feeling is too much —
And only this way can we stay in touch.
Near here is the land
That they call Life.
You’ll know when you arrive
By how real it is.
Give me your hand.
