A Dream I've Had Most of My Life.

[JON]

This is my most persitent dream. And has plagued me for many years. It takes the form of a painting, simply entitled 'Boy in a Cornfield'. I've never known the date or artist.

There is a large cornfield, bordered by a track to the left, and a fence along the bottom. Both are overhung by leafy green trees, which casts them in shadow. The gate, a wooden five-bar one, is open showing part of the next field.

The corn is growing - ripe and healthy, glowing golden in the bright sunlight. The sky is blue with a few wispy white clouds.

But now comes the disturbing part. The 'false note' in an otherwise idyllic scene. The boy. He is about 10 or 11. He stands legs slightly apart, with his hands in his pockets. His pose is as tense and rigid as a scarecrow, but he is a real person.

He wears black - jacket, trousers, cap and boots. The cap's peak shadows his face. Any visible flesh is almost as white as his shirt. Which is revealed by his slightly open jacket. He is strangely monochrome in a brightly-coloured picture. He reminds me of a single magpie - of the proverb "one for sorrow". Does he personify Death? The edges of the field are in shadow, after all, while the centre is brilliantly lit.

What does this dream mean? I would appreciate any help with it...


Thanks. Jon.

[vee]

Hi Jon,
I really liked your dream. It sure is puzzling though. I picture the boy as the focal point of the painting. In monocrome black and white he rigidly stands there with hands in pocket. He doesnt work with the scene at all though he stands out in an extreme way. And since he is so rigid, he is not participating in any way with the beauty around him, yet is standing in the very middle of it. Like you say. A scarecrow or a lone raven. Perhaps you are a bit of a recluse and watch life more than participating in it. But on the occasions that you do participate you feel alone still and do not feel very comfortable or very much at ease in a crowd. Or of the growing life around you in general. Or maybe you are just guarded. Even a guardian of a sort, watching over your friends or family. And since you have to be so watchful, like a caretaker of a sort, you do not really have the chance or opportunity to join in. It may be very hard for you to relax and just let go. Do you feel on guard all the time?
Well, this is all I have so far. Hope it is helpful.
Blessings
Vee

[Wolfjk]

Hi Jon,
If you are looking for a meaning to your dream, look into your past experience. Somewhere in your memory bank there may be a picture that grabbed your attention, your own experience of being in a cornfield, or even one of your own old dreams about a boy in a cornfield. However the creative power of the mind might transcribe another famous art objet - the boy on a dolphin into a boy in a cornfield.

****He wears black - jacket, trousers, cap and boots. The cap's peak shadows his face. Any visible flesh is almost as white as his shirt. Which is revealed by his slightly open jacket. He is strangely monochrome in a brightly-coloured picture.*****

Colours in dreams represent quanta of energy that grabyour attention. It is a sulime thing that we notice only with contemplation. Essentially in a dream the first priority is to raise the level of consciousness from oblivion to comprehension. When the stage is reached where the brain understand the dream delivers its command. However in a dream like yours the purpose of the dream may be simply to wake you up. The colours the landscape and the veiled idea of death and scare-crow bring you to wakefulness. The reason the dream reoccurres is becase it is effective - it does the job it is designed to do.
Cheers Wolfjk

[Varzandeh]

Hi,
A known farm or polantation means a woman or people's child.
A boy means a sorrow or an illness there.

[licia25]

The things in this dream mostly point toward family(possibly friends). The trees, the corn, the field ALL have something to do with family, and they are all GOOD symbols of family. But the boy? Well the boy is soon to reach manhood, man equals power, I would say he is a character of gaining power and usually a boy points to a family member or friend. The fact that he is dressed in black and black being so very negative in this dream i would say his growing power is not a good thing. The fact that he is so pale, making him less human is another significant part of the dream. This perhaps suggests that he not actually a real person, but that is for you to find out. But one thing is true, his presense is ruining this beautiful picture. So here's my guess: i would say that everything but the boy in this dream is what you want in life ( perhaps a happy family or perhaps happiness you found with friends, or even just inner peace), but the boy is the thing that you THINK is standing in the way. Notice that the corn is ripe, the scene is still beautiful, you are LETTING him get all the attention. Relating this to your everyday life is on your part. This boy could represent you, someone you know or simply a situation you are not happy with. That is all I can help with at this point, I hope that my interp along with these other two great ones help you some.
good luck
-licia

[JON]

Thank you for your feedback, Vee. Your comments are very perceptive, and 'nearer the truth' than you could've known! I hadn’t looked at the image in quite the way you have. You have indeed helped.

I use to be very shy and ’guarded’ as a child, and that’s why I took up Drama. To gain confidence. Which I have over the years, but it has taken time. Other people have never been quite sure what to make of me, that’s for sure. My teachers at school and tutors and University thought I was ‘eccentric’ or ‘different‘. Even my friends and work colleagues do. Not someone who ‘goes with the flow’ of general humanity. They feel they’ve met ‘no one quite like me’. A person apart. And this does have, of course, an effect on me in return. It’s like a self-perpetuating cycle.

I’m not naturally ‘at ease’ in crowded places. I can feel ‘alone’, even in a room full of people. I’m not one for ‘team sports’ and ‘team games’. I’m very much An Individual. And value my independence. I’m not good at taking orders. And proud of that! I’m very open, forthright and say exactly what I think. But prefer to keep my ‘private thoughts’ to myself. I am a very private person.

I do find it hard to ‘relax and let go’ at times. I live very much on ‘nervous energy’. My mind is always active and restless. My dreams show I have a strong visual imagination. I sometimes find it hard to focus on one thing at a time. But, if it interests me deeply, I’m really focused, sometimes to the exclusion of all else!

Thank you again, Vee.
Kind Regards, Jon.

[JON]

Thanks for you comments, Wolfjk.

Vee’s analysis led to conclusions about my character very ‘near the knuckle’. In height and build the ’boy’ is very much like me at that age. I still do wear black and white. And have pale skin.

As you suggest, maybe there was a particular image I once saw. And it made such an impact because it was visually striking, and, thus, instantly memorable. He has his hands in his pockets and legs slightly apart. Rigid pose. A little like Holbein’s Henry VIII, or portraits of his son Edward VI. [He wore black and white a lot .] He is stubborn and perhaps a little intransigent in his views. Stuck in his ways. Maybe a little precocious or arrogant.

Very much like Edward VI. Whose life was cut prematurely short. The corn is growing and appears healthy. Edward was the same - apparently robust and full of life. Looks can be very deceptive. Despite the bright central picture, the edges are in shadow. Death is all around us, waiting. But we don’t know when it will strike. A Memento Mori for all of us. After all, his face is shadowed. He is anonymous. An Everyman figure. Maybe the boy was dead already. And this ‘portrait’ was some kind of ‘memorial’ to him. Who knows.

Maybe it is an analogy. Like the corn we grow up and 'mature'. Maybe the picture symbolises leaving our childhood behind when we become adults. The 'death of youth and innocence'.

Because I 'see' it often in dreams, it clearly does have a purpose. I just wish I knew what that was?

Thanks again. Cheers, Jon.

[JON]

Thanks, Licia. I appreciate all the interpretations people have made on my dreams. As they offer so many different perspectives. Black as a dream colour is ‘negative’. Night. Darkness. Death. Evil. Especially laid over white - day, light, life. Etc. It’s almost like some kind of ’eclipse’. Like Vee you think the boy could be me. But you also think he’s might not be ’real'. He could be a spirit, ghost or soul. It is a ’haunting image’. Yet, the boy’s presence is a real ’blot’ on a beautiful, and otherwise positive landscape. [A bit of a pun on a Tom Sharpe novel title there!] I feel he ’pollutes’ it, somehow.

The artist who painted it - like the boy - is anonymous. And there is no date on the painting. It is an any time and place type of image. Any life….

Thanks. Kind regards, Jon.

[JON]

Thank you for your feedback. You also detect sorrow in the painting. Illness is certainly an explanation for the boy's paleness and 'lack of life'. Death, as others have surmised, is another. People have picked up on the 'boy' being rather out of place in such a beautiful place. And that, I feel, is what the artist intended. He or she wanted to catch your eye, and make you think - There is Something Terribly Wrong With This Picture.

Cheers, Jon.

[licia25]

hey jon, i'm so happy you're getting responses! There is no doubt that your dreams are trying to show you how closely you relate to this painting. Something you see in this painting runs deep for you. I hope you are getting closer to finding your answer.