August 31, 2007
I had a dream where I am told that my best friend Dinah has given birth to a son and that I am the father.I feel like I have amnesia because I can’t ever remember having sexual relations with Dinah but they tell me that it is true.He is my son and Dinah has named him Steven. What I do remember is how much I love and care for Dinah.I feel that even though I can’t remember when it happened, it is totally possible.I am so happy.To have a son is something I have always dreamed of having, especially a child of my own flesh and blood.I am handed the boy wrapped tightly in a blanket.His little face looks up to me and he is just so beautiful to behold.I kiss his little lips so tenderly and repeatedly.I finally have a son of my own.I want to take him home with me.I begin to think of the life we will have together and the many things I will teach my son.As I get ready to leave my memory returns and I recall that Dinah is married and has a husband and a family of her own.This is a dream.I pause in my step and turn around. With a heavy heart, I return the child but before I hand him over I think I could possibly make a different choice at this moment and change the course of events and change the past.I’m aware of the power I possess within the dream to change history but I simply cannot take a son at the expense of my friendship with Dinah.For but a brief moment, I had a son.
As I journaled this dream just now I found it odd that my dream would choose the name Steven as the birth name of my son. I don’t have anyone in my family or circle of friends named Steven. Is there any significance in the name Steven? As I’m in the habit of doing, I looked up the name in my trusted Wikipedia where I found the following:
Stephen or Steven (generally pronounced IPA [ˈstivn̩]) is an English masculine first name, derived through the Latin form Stephanus from the Greek Στέφανος (Stephanos), which means “crown” or “wreath.”
I’ve been chatting with my friend David Kahn who’s recently been dreaming babies. He like me recently authored a book. This creation we’ve each placed forth in the pages of a book is not unlike giving birth to a child. Our books now have a life all unto there own. What an honor it is to have the dream confirm the crown upon my book, my child. These things amaze me when the riddles are solved and you the dreamer had no conscious input to formulate the outcome. There was no mistake made in the name bestowed on my child by the dream. It was not random. It has purpose. It has meaning. It is the raw material upon which life itself is lived.
I have never had a dream that seemed to have any significance in my “real” life. I think dreams are just memories or tags created by your life’s experiences and have no meaning for the future or past. That people can think up all these connections and meanings from dreams makes me think they just have wilder imaginations than I. I salute you for that.
You know Patsy as long as that is what you believe, that is exactly what you’ll get. God can only work with a mind that is open to recieve. Until you are ready to let the light in, the God in you will patiently wait even it if takes lifetimes. What do you have to lose? The powers of creation are yours for the taking. It is your inheritance. The answers are there. They have been staring us in the face night after night. It has worked for me and I know it can work for you.
I haven’t read your book — yet. Nevertheless I think I can offer a possible additional insight into the name “Steven”. I am a scholar of Ancient Greek Greek literature. Stephanos as you noted means crown or garland. You shouldn’t think that crown is not like a gold crown we often imagine on kings and queens, the opposite is true. gold crowns symbolise the arrogant godlike pretensions that many royal dynasts or tyrants with great power fall prey to. The name for that kind of crown in Greek is Diadem. The stephanos, however, is a crown that symbolizes humility at the moment of great triumph. It really refers to a crown made by weaving plants together, something perishable, a reminder of mortality. Usually, the garlands are flowers (I’ll come back to this), but it can often be various kinds of leaves — e.g. laurel or parsley crowns were given to victors in ancient athletic games victories. In ancient Greek an athlon was a struggle. You have of course Jesus’ garland of thorns; he’s given this kind of crown to humiliate him. Remember the charge was that he claimed to be a king. Again struggle and suffering. Since you associate your dream with your own book, the primary meaning “garland of flowers” becomes interesting. Ancient collections of poems were sometimes called garlands (we get the word anthology from this, which is literally collection of flowers (anthos=flower)). I thought all these associations might add something to your interpretation. To me is seems that it’s not really about your book which is finished, but about the work our are doing with this very blog which is a “garland of dreams”.
Thus the baby steven is your reward garland (garland of leaves given to victors or conquering generals), your suffering or sacrifice