The unexplained

On Monday evening, we were over at a neighbour’s house having a drink on the patio. As the light faded and we lit the citronella candles, we got talking about supernatural events in our lives.

Around the outdoor marble table were a full-time mum, teacher trainer, carpenter, professor, engineering consultant, and public relations expert - you know, a typical suburban collection of societal wackos.

We soon discovered that between us we have witnessed musical ghosts, hand-held poltergeist activity, a sky-spanning UFO, and communication with the dead.

I’m sceptical of all things supernatural. However, the older I get the more I realize that I’m basing my beliefs on gut feelings rather than any form of knowledge or experience.

One look at quantum mechanics tells me that I know next to nothing about how the universe operates.

A second look at quantum mechanics tells me that everybody else knows next to nothing about how the universes operate. It’s just that some people understand that next to nothingness a bit more than others. And we haven’t even started on religion.

In other words, who am I to judge the truth of a reported supernatural occurrence?

My experience of the unexplainable is very limited, but I once had a dream that troubled me.

Here’s the story. Several years ago, I split up with a girlfriend. We’ll call her Emma. Eighteen months later, she committed suicide. I only received a sketchy account of the events - which were totally unconnected with our breaking up. I was shaken by the news.

A few weeks after her death, I saw Emma in a dream. In the fifteen years since her death, this remains the only time she has featured in a dream of mine.

The dream began with a dimly lit scene of cold mist. Apart from the swirling mist, nothing else was discernible. After a while, a figure ice-skated into the middle of the scene, stopped, and looked vacantly towards me. 

I recognized her as Emma, but she was very pale and clearly not living.

“What’s it like?” I asked.

She bowed her head. The whole scene was suffused in sadness: A thorough, unquestioning sadness.

“It’s different,” was all she answered.

The sadness made it clear that there was nothing else to say. There was nothing reassuring about her response. The dream faded and I woke up.

At the time, I didn’t try to interpret the dream very much. The ice bothered me, though. I put the dream down to part of the natural grieving process. I know that often people dream of those who have died a short time before.

A couple of years later, I read a magazine article. There was a section on Dante’s Inferno from The Divine Comedy.

At the beginning of the poem, Dante is seemingly contemplating suicide. The article described how the last of Dante’s nine circles of hell is not a fiery pit, but a lake of ice, reserved for the worst of sinners.

I thought back to the dream. And felt very cold.

I find it difficult to explain why ice featured in the dream. Like most people, I’d heard of Dante’s Inferno, but I am almost certain that I never read any reference to the circle of ice. Also, the dream was in my pre-Canada days, so ice, rinks, and skating were barely on my radar.

I can rationalise the dream by assuming that I must have heard some ice/hell reference at some point, but just consciously forgotten it.

But I’m sceptical about this rationalisation.

Any thoughts welcomed.

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Technorati: dream, unexplained, supernatural, dante, dante’s inferno, ice dream, dream interpetation, dream analysis