Torch Songs Dream

Torch Songs Dream

Recently I have been exploring many dreams about the Olympic Torch. Although the Torch has featured in a number of contexts, the most familiar narrative is that the dreamer is running with the torch, and is being attacked by what seems to be an organised and aggressive group. The attackers often seem to be dressed in military uniforms and shouting orders at the dreamer as they try to grab hold of the Torch.

When we dream of a flame, particularly a flaming torch, often represents our individual creativity and what fires us with excitiement. It can also be a metaphor for what inflames our passions, as in the classic Torch Song where carrying a torch for someone is how we keep the light of an unrequited love aflame.

Ultimately the person we are carrying the torch for is often our own creative self and the unrequited love we experience is a perhaps a projection of our own unrequited creative talents. The torch of our own creativity illuminates our path into the unknown and helps to enlighten us as we move forward on our journeys.

The creativity that ignites our passion and fires our imagination is usually sparked by boundless love, rather than ruthless control. Creativity is an energy that cannot be enforced; it can only be encouraged. Otherwise it becomes an abstracted and remote ideal that seems to become more distant the more we run towards it.