The dream people.
In the 1970s two american ethnologues discovered a primitive tribe in Malasia called the Senois. These people organised their lives around their dreams. Hense were called the "dream people".
Every morning during breakfast, around the fire, everone only spoke about their dream of the previous night. If a Senoi had dreamt about being mean to someone, he had to offer a gift to the offended party. If he had dreamt being hurt by someone, that certain person had to apologise and give him a gift to be forgiven.
In the Senois tribe, the dream world was richer intellectualy then the real world. If a child had dreamt that he had seen a tiger and had run away, the tribespeople would tell the child to dream of the tiger again the next night, to fight with him, and to kill him. The wisemen would teach him how to do so. If the child failed to kill the tiger, the whole tribe would reprimand him.
In the Senois value system, if one dreamt of sexual relations this person would have to reach an orgasm and then go thank the lover with a gift. If faced with an adversary that made a dream a nightmare, one had to vanquish him/her in the dream and ask for a gift in reality so as to become friends.
The dream that was the most saught, however, was the dream of flight. For a child to announce that he had flew for a first time was just like being christned. He would be given many gifts and the tribe would try and explain how to fly further towards unknown lands and how to bring back exotic gifts.
The Senois left a deep impression on the occidental ethnologues. This society knew not of violence or mental illness. It was a society that was totaly stress-free and was without any ambition of military conquest. The tribe only produced the strict minimum for survival.
The Senois disapeared when a part of the forest where they inhabitted was subject to land clearance. However, we could all start to apply their knowledge. Firstly, acknowledge the dream of your previous night, name it, date it. Then, speak of your dream with your family or friends... at breakfast for example.
Try and push yourself to set the rules for a dream world. Before going to sleep try and make mountains grow, modify the colour of the sky, explore unkown lands, meet any animal...
In dreams, everyone is free. The first test for a dream world is to manage to fly away. Spread your arms, glide, dive, go back up: everything is possible.
The dream world demands a progressive learning curve. The number of hours you "fly" bring confidence and the ability to express oneself. Children only need 5 weeks to manage to control their dreams. For adults, many months are sometimes necessary...
