The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (12/27/2012)
Many years ago in
an alternately different life as a clinical hypnoanalyst in West Los Angeles, a
client who was barely able to walk was brought into my office, dragging her
feet along the ground, supported by her husband and brother. The presenting problem was her increasing paralysis. In our second session, she told
me about recurring dreams of water bugs and tarantulas dominating and ruining
her life, such as water bugs overwhelming her apartment and a tarantula completely filling a room.
As we explored her
dreams, we talked about how she could change them if she wished. After settling on a strategy, she dreamt them
again in hypnosis, transforming the dreams by sweeping out the water bugs and
deflating the tarantulas. Later, quite
to her surprise, she told her older brother and her husband to “buzz off” after
which she began walking normally, even driving, and becoming a docent at the Getty Museum
Dreams are often
night letters we send to ourselves from our unconscious process to be read in
the morning, almost always cast in symbols.
Although the idea of the unconscious process in human beings is
popularly identified with Sigmund Freud, it goes back a lot of earlier. Saint
Paul
While the 19th
century German philosopher Friedrich Schelling coined the phrase, earlier Shakespeare
in Hamlet told a tale of unconscious and conscious conflicts. “To sleep, perhaps to dream— / ay, there’s
the rub.” In Macbeth, Banquo after his
encounter with the three witches says, “A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
/ And yet I would not sleep. Merciful
powers, / Restrain in me the ursed thoughts that nature / Gives way to in
repose” (II, 1.)
As Plato made
clear in the Allegory of the Cave, there’s a difference between appearance and
reality which is precisely where the unconscious and gardening coalesce. The reason that New Year’s resolutions so
often fail is that they are made consciously, people thinking they ought to
make the resolution. It’s an appearance
of consciousness, not the reality of the unconscious.
Another client for
years made resolutions to stop smoking and failed to stop. Only after a dream in which she saw herself
covered with the slime and dirt of tobacco did she successfully stop. Disgusted with herself for befouling herself,
she stopped.
The unconscious
process of gardening is in the soil, not in the plants. For most people, gardening is in seeds,
plants, fertilizing, and watering. Actually,
the heart of gardening is in the soil because without soil everything else is
for nought. The first thing in creating
good soil is in the right mixture of clay, sand, and silt. In the high country we have very little
silt. Most of it has slid down to Oak Creek , the Verde River ,
and the Valley of the Sun; however, we have excellent sand called volcanic or lava sand
and clay. Mixed together with the
addition of compost we have a great soil because the volcanic sand is
jammed with nutrients which will be released by the mycorrhizae in the
compost. Clay stabilizes the
retention of water.
Tightly packed, too
much clay inhibits the growth of roots. Clay
when fired becomes pottery. Sand allows
for root growth, but the water flows right through it. Mixing the two gives a great basis for
excellent soil, and happily both are abundant in the high country. The next thing is organic material and
compost. Once added, your soil’s
unconscious process will be “rarin’ to go.”
Two New Years’ Resolutions: pay attention to your dreams and bury your kitchen
clippings in the garden.
Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2012
Dana Prom
Smith and Freddi Steele edit Gardening Etcetera. Smith emails at stpauls@npgcable.com and blogs at http://highcountrygardener.blogspot.com.
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