Sandman Reflections (Part 4): Do Not Use Your Dreams To Harm

I just need time to think about what to do.

What is there to think about? I'm a goddess. A daughter of Zeus. I am not a possession to be kept and used and traded. You must set me free. You have only to say the words.

I will. I promise. But, um... Do you think you could help me first? Inspire me? Just for one book, and then I will let you go. I swear I will.

Calliope and Richard Madoc In Ep 11 Calliope Sandman

This is the last in a series of posts where I will be exploring some of the themes of Sandman. I am focusing on the Netflix series since I read the comics long enough ago I would not be able to tell the differences lol.

While I am more focused on ideas/themes there will be references that might be considered spoilers. So if you have not seen the show yet watch it on Netflix (Please watch so we have a better chance of getting a season 2)

Do Not Use Your Dreams To Harm

By Dreaming Ace

We shall all dream

We shall all dream dreams

We shall all dream of new tomorrows

But that does not mean 

We are allowed to harm others

In our quest for those dreams

We can not lock up others and their dreams

We can not put our dreams above all humanity

We can not use our dreams to harm

No one wants to be imprisoned

No one wants to be harmed

No one wants to hurt

Asking nicely we shall find that

Many of our Dreams are possible

But But But

If those dreams come at the cost of harming others

We will find that those dreams turn into nightmares in the end

Our dreams should be for creating a better world

Not a worst and darker and more broken world

So far in this series I have covered letting our dreams free, mourning broken dreams, what happens after the quest, asking how we can love life like Hob Gadling, and now to finish off a reminder that we need to be careful of what we dream. Dreams are very powerful and can truly change the world around us but that also means that dreams can be used to harm others. All too often we expect others to serve our dreams and we don't take it well if they say no. 

But dreams that are not freely given are really just nightmares. When we rip our dreams out of the lives of others it never goes well. It is important that we remember that when dreaming our dreams. Are we imagining something better for us all or are we dreaming by locking goddesses in our basement and making them do our bidding?

Calliope is able to dream a better future even after being locked up for decades because her dreams are rooted in something good, something kind, something wise. What are our dreams rooted in?

Snippets of conversations between Dream and Calliope

What will you do now?

I think what I must do is to try to make sure that this never happens to anyone else ever again. 

How? 

I do not know. By inspiring humanity to want better for themselves and each other. By rewriting the laws by which I was held. Laws that were written long ago in which my sisters and I had no say. 

---

I think you should release the mortal now. He has set me free, and without forgiveness, wounds will never heal. 

You would forgive him for what he's done? 

I will not forgive what he has done, but I must forgive the man. Not for him. For me. Will you free him? 

If that is what you wish... it shall be done.

Sandman Reflections (Part 3b): How Can I Love Life More Like Hob Gadling?

So do you still wish to live?

Are you crazy? Death is a mug's game. I got so much to live for.

Conversation between Hob Gadling and Dream of the Endless

This is the continuation of the third in a series of posts where I will be exploring some of the themes of Sandman. I am focusing on the Netflix series since I read the comics long enough ago I would not be able to tell the differences lol.

While I am more focused on ideas/themes there will be references that might be considered spoilers. So if you have not seen the show yet watch it on Netflix (Please watch so we have a better chance of getting a season 2)

Loving Life Like Hob Gadling

By Dreaming Ace

I want to love life like Hob Gadling

I want to love life and feel like death is a mug game

No matter if I am riding high or am in the middle of true suffering

I want to love life like Hob Gadling

Sometimes life can feel like nothing

Sometimes life can feel like something we just have to get through

While waiting to head off to the Sunless Lands with Dream's sister

Sometimes life can feel like simply a function 

Hob Gadling knows how to love life no matter what happens

Hob Gadling knows how to love life even as an immortal

I want to be able to love life like Hob Gadling

I want to love life like Hob Gadling

Love Life Like Hob Gadling

There is just something about Hob Gadling and his love of life that makes me feel somehow. I find sometimes I struggle to love life. I forget why life is considered such a good thing. 

Sometimes life can feel like simply a long game of waiting, waiting for something else, waiting for the next part of the journey, waiting for the credits to roll.

But Hob Gadling loves life differently, more deeply than I tend to as shown by some of the conversations he had with Dream over the centuries. 

__________ 

In 1489

Then why aren't I dead long since? Is this some kind of game?

No game.

Why? Who are you? Why are you here?

I'm here because I'm interested.

In me?

In your experience.

What do I have to do?

Nothing. You live your life as you choose. Then on this day, every 100 years, we will meet. 

Because you wanna know what it's like. All right. I'll tell you what it's like. ( sighs ) It's fսck¡ng brilliant. It's all changing.

In 1589

It's funny. This is what I always dreamed Heaven would be like, way back. It's safe to walk the streets. Enough food. Good wine. Life is so rich.

In 1689

Do you know how hungry a man can get? If he doesn't die but he doesn't eat? I lost it all. My land. My gold. My Eleanor. She died in childbirth. The baby too. My boy, Robyn, died in a tavern brawl when he was 20. I didn't go out much after that. ( sniffles ) They tried to drown me as a witch. I'd lived there 40 years, overconfident. I got out with my skin a little more. And then it got worse. And worse and... worse. I've hated every second of the last 80 years, every bloody second. You know that?

So do you still wish to live?

Are you crazy? Death is a mug's game. I got so much to live for.

In 1889

That might be the only thing I've learned after 500 years. People are almost always better than you think they are. Not me, though. Still the same as ever. 

I think perhaps you've changed. 

( breathes deeply ) Well, I may have learnt a bit from my mistakes. But, uh... doesn't seem to stop me from making them. I think it's you that's changed. 

How so? 

I think I know why we still meet here, century after century. It's not because you want to see whether or not I'm ready to seek death. I don't think I'll ever seek death. By now, you know that about me. So, I think you're here for something else. 

And what might that be? 

Friendship. I think you're lonely. 

You dare... 

'No, look, I'm not saying-- 

You... dare suggest one such as I might need your companionship. 

Yes. Yes, I do. 

Then I shall take my leave of you and prove you wrong. 

I'll tell you what, I'll be here in 100 years' time. If you're here then too, it'll be because we're friends. No other reason, right?

In Present Day

You're late.

 
( chuckles ) It seems I owe you an apology.

 
I've always heard it impolite to keep one's friends waiting

__________

And while meeting in a bar every 100 years is not going to work for me I would love to sit down with Hob Gadling to be reminded of all the wonders of living. Because all too often like I shared in part 3a of this series of posts I find myself playing the role of Dream of the Endless:

I'm now more powerful than I have been in eons. And yet ...

Here you are, feeding the pigeons

All to often I find myself in need of companionship no matter if I can admit that or not. All to often I find that I am living like Dream of the Endless. And instead I have to live more like Hob Gadling*.

*Who happens to be played by Ferdinand Kingsley who happens to be the son of Sir Ben Kingsley which means Hob Gadling is Gandhi's son LOL

Sandman Reflections (Part 3a): After The Quest

I'm now more powerful than I have been in eons. And yet ...

Here you are, feeding the pigeons

I'd had a true quest. A purpose beyond my function, and then suddenly, it was over, and I felt disappointed. Let down. Empty. Does that make sense? I was so sure that once I got everything back, I'd feel good. But in some ways I feel worse than when I started. I feel like nothing.

Sandman: The Sound Of Her Wings

This is the third in a series of posts where I will be exploring some of the themes of Sandman. I am focusing on the Netflix series since I read the comics long enough ago I would not be able to tell the differences lol.

While I am more focused on ideas/themes there will be references that might be considered spoilers. So if you have not seen the show yet watch it on Netflix (Please watch so we have a better chance of getting a season 2)

After The Quest

By Dreaming Ace

What is there to do once the quest is over

Once the tools have been collected

And everything is back in its place

What is there to do once we have returned

To our day to day lives and found they 

Have not changed as much as we hoped for

What is there to do once we have completed our task

But now we feel empty inside

But now we feel "like nothing"

We go on so many quests

We go on so many side quests

We go on so many adventures

But sometimes all those quests

Turn out not to be what we were seeking

"I'm now powerful than I have been in eons. And yet ..."

What is our purpose

What is our function

What is our purpose beyond our function

I had the chance to get to an online viewing of this episode with much of the cast and Neil Gaiman himself and what stood out was Neil Gaiman talking about how we don't talk about after the quest as often as we should. 

While I have not gone on any quests as one of the Endless I do know the numbness that can occur once something we have worked towards is done. Whether that is checking something off our to-do list, completing a challenge of some type, or accomplishing something that has meaning for us personally or professionally.

This let down is important to think about. I have often found myself in a position where I could speak Dream's words "I'm now more powerful than I have been in eons. And yet ..." It is important to speak to this feeling because when you are in the middle of it it can feel like there was no reason to go on the quest to begin with. 

It turns out that these feels are typical and normal and experienced by almost all of us. This does not mean that something is wrong, but can mean that we need to reconnect to something. Reconnect to life or death or nature or other beings. 

Sandman Reflections (Part 2): Mourning Broken Dreams

 I do not need a minder. I am Dream of the Endless. 

Yes and Dream of the Endless always has a raven

Jessamy was the last

Conversation between Dream of the Endless and Lucienne

Ep 2 Imperfect Host 

This is the second in a series of posts where I will be exploring some of the themes of Sandman. I am focusing on the Netflix series since I read the comics long enough ago I would not be able to tell the differences lol.

While I am more focused on ideas/themes there will be references that might be considered spoilers. So if you have not seen the show yet watch it on Netflix (Please watch so we have a better chance of getting a season 2)

Mourning Broken Dreams 

By Dreaming Ace

How do we mourn broken dreams

Dreams of the past, Dreams of the future

Dreams of ourselves and our worlds

Do we hold their memory close

And use it to guide us into new realities?

Do we drown in the mourning

And refuse to allow anyone else to touch us?

Do we grow using the soil of our experience?

Do we become stone never to be hurt again?

Dreams can take so many shapes and squiggles

Dreams of what is

Dreams of what was

Dreams of what might be

But no matter what dreams have fallen

We can mourn and move forward

And allow others to watch over us and care for us

The line "I do not need a minder. I am Dream of the Endless." made me giggle a little since that is a clear sign you do need a minder and is almost as bad a harbinger as the classic "It could not get any worst" which guarantees it can always get much worst. 

But on the on the other hand it is powerful to see Dream of the Endless mourning for dreams (Gregory and Jessamy) even if those dreams are different from the dreams of most of us mortals, and more mourning an actual part of the dreaming world itself.

Many of us are mourning a whole host of dreams right now and are trying to figure out what the world will now look like after several years of troubles and challenges. BUT even though we may be mourning some dreams it does not mean that we should stop dreaming altogether because that way leads to even more trouble and tribulation.

Sandman Reflections (Part 1): Letting Our Dreams Free

"See I would let you out if I could ..."

Alex Burgess Ep Sleep of the Just from Sandman (Netflix)

This is the first in a series of posts where I will be exploring some of the themes of Sandman. I am focusing on the Netflix series since I read the comics long enough ago I would not be able to tell the differences lol. 

While I am more focused on ideas/themes there will be references that might be considered spoilers. So if you have not seen the show yet watch it on Netflix (Please watch so we have a better chance of getting a season 2)

What dreams do we each have locked up?

By Dreaming Ace

What dreams do we each have locked up

In the cold basements of our minds

In the cold basements of our lives

In the cold basements of our communities

What is the price we ask for to release them

To change the course of time?

For immortality or youth or wealth?

To be someone who we are not?

What if we let our dreams free without asking for anything

What could we dream into being?

What wonders could we create?

What greatness could we bring forth

Sometimes we find that

Dream of the Endless is gone, or captured

And we have to make our own dreams

Why do they all too often become nightmares?

We all need our dreams

Our dreams for ourselves

Our dreams for others

Our dreams for dreaming itself

On rewatching the first episode the idea of wanting to free our dreams but not being able to popped out for me. How often do we find that our dreams are in glass cages within magic circles never to walk around free?

How often do we have a chance to free our dreams and be our biggest and boldest and most wonderful selves but instead we choose to keep them under lock and key wanting things from them first before we let them go? How often do we grow old before we allow ourselves to set our dreams free to walk the world?

Sometimes the only way we can free our own dreams is by having someone we love free them for us. Having someone who cares break the magic circle that traps our dreams. Having someone else set our dreams free as well as ourselves because if our dreams are not free the entire world suffers greatly.