I live with my wife in an idyllic village (or small town) in Norway. It has beautiful green nature all around and overlooks a large lake. We love living there. When I was around twenty, I learned I had initially grown up with different people, and my father and mother had taken me from there when I was four or five years old. The house I grew up in until four or five was on the other side of the village, but I had not visited since I was there in early childhood. My wife and I go to visit. The building is large, circular, and with organic forms. The main room is spacious (double or triple height), and the large windows give a view to the lake. The other half of the building is two or three levels with smaller rooms. The building is a kind of community space and it’s full of life – familes, children, visitors – all enjoying themselves and engaging in different activities. The style is similar to Frank Lloyd Wright, and I now understand why I love this type of architecture and view so much. I had grown up with it. I am surprised I didn’t visit earlier since it was so close and I enjoy being there so much. I then visit the part of my family that’s still there. They are a bit formal and dry. One of them is my aunt. I am reminded of how different I am in my views, partly from having lived in several different parts of the world.
This dream has a lot of elements to it.
My wife and I live in an idyllic village in beautiful nature in Norway. That fits how I mostly experience my life. We are now in Norway, and it is beautiful. We have land and house in beautiful nature and by an idyllic village in the Andes. My cabin is by a lake, much like in the dream. The dream is a combination of these things, and may also mirror (aspects of) my inner landscape and village.
The building I grew up in is also beautiful and in a style of architecture I enjoy. (There is a waking-life connection here too: I used to be a member of the Unitarian Society in Madison and go to the building there designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.) It’s spacious, with a beautiful view, and it’s full of life and activities. It’s a community building. This mirrors what I enjoy in life, and again may mirror aspects of my inner world.
My family there is a little dry and formal, and one of my aunts (LK) from waking life is there. This part of my waking life family is quite Christian, in the old-fashioned Norwegian way, and I have always taken my distance from it. They too mirror something in me, passed on through my father’s family. (And probably my mother’s too since this is how most people in Norway lived some generations ago.) I don’t like this side of me very much.
The large building may represent my life before school age. It seemed larger and more expansive, and then I left it along with my parents. I knew about it in my twenties, and now I may be visiting it again more fully (?).
What’s the invitation in this dream? It may be to remember this more expansive life, visit it more often, and bring it into my life more fully. And also to more intentionally befriend the more dry and formal side of myself, embrace it, and include it in my conscious view and experience of myself. If or when I do, it will transform and become a more engaged part of the community.
INITIAL NOTES
Dream
When I was around 20 (?), I learnt I grew up in a hose and with different people. Later in life, I visit with A. It’s in the same small town in Norway where I lived. When I get there, I remember the house and the garden and view completely. It’s a large building in frank Lloyd Wright style. The view is amazing, the house is on a hilltop and next to a lake. I love that type of houses and now understand why. The building is large with organic forms, and open to the public. There is a large two-level area with the view, and another are with two levels and smaller rooms. It’s a kind of committing building, used by many people. I loved living there. (I left when I was four or five.) I also meet that side of my family. They are a bit formal and dry but welcoming. Several family members live there. (Liv Kristin and others.) they seem more traditional and provincial. I have a much broader mind, also bc I have traveled and lived many places in the world. I don’t understand why I didn’t visit earlier, especially since I lived so close.