07 March 2010

shemhamphorasch dream

I have a recipe for dream work which is simple and works about 66% of the time.

1. get up 1.0 - 2.0 hours early
2. take a double dose caffeine (2 cups coffee if you regularly take 1)
3. read or work or workout for an hour until fully alert
4. meditate maximum (I go for a good hour)
5. sleep and dreams are likely vivid and memorable
6. record

I last did this successfully on Friday. I dreamt about an ex-girlfriend who wanted me to buy a lot in a rural area for 72000 $.
Then I dreamt of a dog which had human intelligence and spoke and did not like the stormy weather outside. It was not storming in the real world while I was dreaming this.
Then I dreamt I was constructing a pentagon pentagram figure and trying to figure out the angles inside the pentagon, attempting to divide 360 by 5. I could not perform this calculation inside the dream. In that state the problem was intractable. I woke to the answer: 72. This was an aha positive emotion strong.

72 is an important number in Kabbalah. There is a 72 word long name for God, the shemhamphorasch which is constructed by taking three verses in Exodus and lining them up forward, reversed, forward and reading the three letters in each column as one of the 72 words. There is a story from Talmud time that this 72 word name of God is a magical word, that it is the word said by Moses when he parted the Red Sea, the word said by Ezekiel when he had his chariot vision, the word said by Elijah when he was lifted up straight into heaven, the word said by Daniel when he tamed the lions, &c.

I did not dream of the shemhamphorasch, exactly. But I did dream about 72.

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About Craig

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Houston, Texas, United States
I have been living in the lovely neighborhood of Spring Branch in the great city of Houston since late in 2005. I started out with the idea of making this blog about my life in this neighborhood. That did not last long. Right now I am posting every five days on the alternating topics of literature, philosophy, psychology, and metaphysics. This project has been ongoing since July 27, 2010 and I believe it will continue for at least a few more months.