I wrote the following on Nov 24, 1997. I really like it. I’m posting it here:
Dreams are a reflection of reality. Or perhaps a refraction of reality. The images/emotions/ideas enter the brain during the day and bounce around the subconscious, then the sleeping mind refracts them into dreams. Dreams resemble what entered, but also seem fundamentally changed. Thus unmanageable emotions become monsters when they are refracted by the sleeping mind. Children are much more likely to have monster nightmares than the average adult. Yet an adult when confronted with new stressors and emotions may also find monsters in the dream world.
Monsters like to lurk in dark places. Even the mind has dark corners. We each carry with us dark corners that we are afraid to poke into because we fear what might be in there. When did my dark corners begin to loom so large? I cannot pretend they aren’t there, because the monsters they conceal will pop out. Or perhaps it is not so much that the corners got larger. Perhaps instead it is the monsters, the frightening emotions, that have gotten so much larger that they no longer fit into the dark corners anymore. So they sit with bits poking out and I am left with a choice. I must either willfully ignore the fat scaly tail hanging out from under the bed, or I must acknowledge the monster that is there. perhaps best of all would be to drag the monster into the light and know it for what it is. Thus do monsters cease to be frightening and become mere creatures.