The Subconscious Muse: The Night Mind at Work

Hare Hunt, Hermitage of San Baudelio, Casillas de Berlanga (Soria)
Anonymous, c. 1125
Copyright ©Museo Nacional del Prado

The hunt for the right words often takes place in darkness, while the waking mind rests. Hare Hunt (c. 1125) depicted in this famous fresco from the Prado seems a fitting illustration for my essay exploring my oneiric creative process—given much of my writing involves pursuing words that race ahead faster than I can record them, gifts from the subconscious delivered whole upon waking.
Hare Hunt, Hermitage of San Baudelio, Casillas de Berlanga (Soria)
Anonymous, c. 1125
Copyright ©Museo Nacional del Prado

From my earliest years, my creative process—whether literary or scholarly—has been curiously nocturnal. Much of my work, I have found, is done while I sleep. When faced with a task, I assign it, quite literally, to my subconscious mind and then close my eyes, surrendering to productive sleep.

As a student, this practice became a quiet ritual. When a paper was due, I would already know the topic, the sources I intended to use, and what I wished to accomplish. I would also, admittedly, wait until the evening before it was due—believing, and with reason, that fear brought a clarity of mind that was otherwise lacking. Thus, I would take a short nap before beginning. Upon waking, the entire outline of the paper would be present—clear, complete, and waiting. With a stack of books to my right, a blank sheaf of paper to my left, and a typewriter in front of me, I would set to work, and the paper would unfold almost as if dictated.

My professors noticed this strange fluency. The grades I earned and comments I received reflected it, but more telling were their requests to keep copies of my papers for their own files—something they did not ask of other students. I did not then understand that what they admired was less my discipline, or lack thereof, than the uncanny lucidity of the night mind that guided me.

Over the years, this oneiric gift has only deepened. I remain grateful for it. At times, an entire sentence or paragraph will suddenly appear either as I awake or will awake me in the middle of the night—perfectly formed, insistent, demanding to be recorded before it vanishes. At other times, these moments arrive unbidden, startling me out of unrelated thought; often, they are the flowering of a subject that I had briefly considered and set aside, unaware that it had continued germinating in the depths below consciousness.

When such inspiration surfaces, it comes in torrents. I rush to record the first few words, only to find myself laughing at the impossible speed with which the rest races ahead, leaving me chasing its tail through the air. Madness, perhaps—but a joyous one.

It is as if some part of the mind, working in silence while the waking self is distracted, composes and refines without interference. And when it deems the work ready, it releases it whole into consciousness—seed, stalk, and blossom at once. My task, then, is not to command this process, but to remain open to it, to receive it with gratitude, and to write before the vision fades. Refinement, if needed, may occur later.

What I once mistook for a personal oddity, I now recognize as a shared inheritance of the human mind—the work of the subconscious muse, the night mind ever at her loom, weaving thought into form before dawn breaks—although a nap in the midst of day will oft serve the purpose just as well.

Betwixt Dawn and Dusk: A Meditation on Life and Dream

Preface

The first lines of this poem came to me in the night—those strange hours when thought and dream pass like shadows through the mind. I awoke briefly, not fully, and the phrase lingered: between and betwixt dawn and dusk… and the inverse, between and betwixt dusk and dawn. I held onto it until morning, when I set it down in full light. The poem that followed is a meditation on those intervals—the thresholds of consciousness and the veils through which the soul moves in its waking and its dreaming.

What begins as a reflection on the daily arc—from sunrise to sunset—soon turns inward, toward the more uncertain passage between dusk and dawn, where memory, time, and identity unravel and reweave. The Heraclitean epigraph provides the key: “The waking have one common world, but the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.” Yet even that distinction, perhaps, is not so firm as it seems.

The accompanying painting—Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket—mirrors the poem’s atmosphere: its drift between form and dissolution, its reverent wondering, its silence punctuated by brief illumination. Together, word and image ask not what life is, but whether it is lived or dreamed—and what remains of us in either case.


Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
James McNeill Whistler (c. 1872–1877)
Oil on canvas, 60.3 × 46.6 cm (23.7 × 18.3 in)
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
c. 1872–1877 | Oil on canvas, 60.3 × 46.6 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

Betwixt the Spheres

by Donald S. Yarab

“The waking have one common world,
but the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.”

—Heraclitus, Fragment 89

Betwixt the dawn’s gold-burnished, trembling rise,
And evening’s hush where embered echoes gleam,
A soul drifts outward under waking skies—
Or inward, through the latticework of dream.

Morning declares the world as firm and real,
Noon lays its claim in certainties and fire,
Yet twilight draws the veil we cannot feel,
And sings the hush of unfulfilled desire.

The hours fall like leaves from unseen trees,
Their passage soft, impermanent, and strange.
Some name it life, who walk it by degrees—
While others call it dream, and feel no change.

So tell me, when the final light has flown,
And silence hangs, unbroken and immense—
Was it a road we walked, and called our own,
Or but a fleeting spark in dream’s pretense?

But what of time when sun has slipped from sight,
And stars drift forth like seeds of the unknown?
What voice is heard within the hush of night,
When all the world lies still, and we—alone?

Between and betwixt the dusk and morning’s grace,
A different kind of being comes to bloom:
Where shadows speak, and time forgets its place,
And long-dead voices gather in the gloom.

In sleep, the veil grows thin, the borders bend,
And hours bleed into realms that none can chart.
The soul recalls what lies beyond the end,
And bears the hush of ages in its heart.

These hours are not lost—they are the deep,
The ocean floor where buried visions gleam.
From them we rise, like wanderers from sleep,
Still marked by fire, still echoing the dream.

So stands the soul, on thresholds vast and wide,
Between and betwixt the turning of the spheres—
What seemed a life, a dream walks at its side,
Measured not in hours, but in wonder—and in tears.

Pondering the Night: A Meditation with Morpheus

“Ponder, O Morpheus, the Night Sky” arose from a meditation on the nature of dreams, consciousness, and the silent mysteries that lie beyond both. Rather than seeking to instruct, this poetic work offers a dialogue — between mortal longing and divine wonder, between question and silence. In addressing Morpheus, the god of dreams, the poem invites not sleep, but contemplation: a shared pondering of the night sky, where the known fades into the unknown, and where even gods may pause in awe before the infinite. It is my hope that this work may serve as a quiet companion for those who have found themselves, at least once, standing beneath the stars, asking questions for which no easy answers are given — and finding, in the asking, a kind of sacred beginning.


Sleep (c. 1771). Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 96.5 cm (38 x 51 in). Cleveland Museum of Art. Depicting Morpheus
Sleep by Jean Bernard Restout (c. 1771). Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 96.5 cm (38 x 51 in). Cleveland Museum of Art. Depicting Morpheus

Ponder, O Morpheus, the Night Sky

“Beyond dreams lies a silence where even gods wonder.”

Prelude: The Summoning of Morpheus

Morpheus, Keeper of the Silent Looms,
hear now the summons not of those who seek forgetfulness,
nor of those who plead for soft illusions to cradle their weary minds—
but of one who, standing alone beneath the immeasurable firmament,
dares to bid thee ponder.

Ponder, thou Weaver of Shadows, the night sky:
the endless, ink-deep vault where Orion’s belt cinches the waist of darkness,
where scattered fires—blue, white, and ancient red—
whisper of secrets too vast for mortal tongues.

Not for dreams of idle comfort do I call thee forth,
but for contemplation;
to set aside for a moment thy ceaseless crafting of mortal visions
and lift thine ancient gaze upward,
where the silent percussion of dying stars
beats out the hidden music of creation.

For if thou, master of phantoms and bringer of luminous memories,
shouldst pause to wonder at that boundless mystery,
then perhaps the soul of man, frail and flickering though it be,
might dare likewise to ask:

Who dreams the dreamers, O Morpheus?
Whence come the visions thou bestowest?
And what lies beyond the last dream, beyond the last star, beyond the last breath of sleep?

Thus the greater query is born, trembling on the tongue of the sleepless,
yearning toward the silence that gathers all speech.

The Greater Query: A Dialogue with Morpheus

Soul:
If thou, O Shaper of Phantoms, canst be stilled by wonder,
then hear the questions borne upon my waking breath,
fragile as they are, yet earnest as the stars are ancient:

Who first whispered the dream into being, before ever thou didst fashion it?
From what unseen wellspring do the rivers of vision flow?
Are the dreams of men but fractured echoes of a deeper song,
or do they weave even now the hidden fabric of worlds yet unborn?

Morpheus (in thought):
Dreams are the trembling of the soul against the veil of the infinite.
They are not born of my will alone, Seeker,
but arise from the deep soil where memory, longing, and the first light entwine.
I but give them form; I do not summon them from the abyss.
Some dreams, frail though they seem, stitch the very edges of what is to be.
Mortals, in dreaming, unknowingly shape the unborn dawn.

Soul:
Is it given to us—dust briefly animated,
clay granted momentary breath—
to pierce that veil?
Or must we first unmake ourselves,
falling through forgetting, to be remembered by the nameless light?

Morpheus:
Beyond all dreams there is a silence
older than stars and deeper than death.
A silence not of absence, but of fullness,
where neither waking nor sleeping holds dominion,
and the soul, naked and unafraid,
beholds itself as it was before all weaving began.

There the true Dreamer dwells—
not I, but He whom none can name,
the source of all dreams, the end of all seeking,
the unspoken, the unseen.

Soul:
And if we seek it,
do we not risk all—memory, longing, even self itself?

Morpheus:
It is the risk of being lost to be found,
the surrender of knowledge to come to knowing.
To seek the Silent One is to set sail upon a sea without stars,
to abandon the safe shores of image and name,
to become at last what thou hast always been:
a breath upon the waters of infinity.

Ponder well, O Seeker,
for in the seeking, thou thyself becomest the dream,
the dreamer,
and the silence beyond.

The Blessing of Morpheus: The Sending Forth

Morpheus:
Go forth, Child of Earth and Stars,
go forth lightly, as one who walks upon waters not yet created.
Carry no burden save the yearning that kindled thy question;
bind no certainty to thy brow, nor shelter fear within thy breast.

Let dreams fall from thee like withered leaves;
let even the constellations become but distant embers,
for thou seekest now what neither dream nor waking thought can compass.

Take not with thee the names men have carved into the bones of the world,
for names shatter against the face of the nameless.
Take not the proud trophies of reason, nor the soft nets of hope,
for these will tear upon the thorns of the infinite.

Instead, take this only:
a heart made naked in wonder,
a mind made silent in awe,
and feet made light as wind upon waters unseen.

And know this, O Soul:
thou art neither lost nor found in this seeking,
for to seek the Silent One is to be gathered even now into His dreaming.

Thus do I, Morpheus, who weaves the veils of sleep,
send thee forth beyond all veils, beyond all sleep,
beyond the last trembling breath of mortal wonder.
Go, and become the question thou hast dared to ask.

Epilogue: The Pondering of Morpheus

And Morpheus stood long in the hush of the night,
his ancient hands unclasped, his brow unburdened of dreams.

He lifted his gaze once more to the immeasurable vault,
where scattered fires—blue, white, and red—
burned against the black breast of infinity.

He pondered—
not as god to mortal, nor as master to servant,
but as wonder to wonder,
breathless before a mystery he too could not wholly grasp.

In the stillness beyond weaving and shaping,
he glimpsed, as in the faintest shimmer of distant nebulae,
a vastness where even gods must bow their heads,
where even dreams dissolve like mist before the morning sun.

And in that silence, older than all his songs,
Morpheus smiled—
not because he understood,
but because he wondered still.

He felt a pang—brief and piercing—
a mortal ache for the fleeting fierceness of human wonder,
so bright and brief.

And so he pondered, and the night pondered with him,
until speech was stilled,
and he was lost—and found—within the endless deep.

The Symbolism of Dreams: My Unforgettable Armadillo Protector

Many people dream numerous times each night, often with little to no recollection. However, a vivid dream from the 1980s still resonates with the writer. In the dream, they confronted a terrifying creature and miraculously produced an armadillo from their pocket to ward off the threat. The symbolism and lasting impact of this dream remain significant.

Photo by Lawrence Schaefer on Pexels.com

Purportedly, we dream several times a night, every night. Like many, I rarely recall dreaming, and if I do, the details are sketchy and incoherent at best. Usually dreams are nonsensical and defy rational interpretation, on rare occasion they are subsconcious attempts to make sense of our waking hours.

However, there is one dream fragment from the early 1980s, when I was a college student, that I recall with remarkable clarity even to this day. At the time, I was enrolled in one of Professor Stohl’s religious studies courses. If I recollect correctly, the course was a special offering addressing the interplay between Jungian concepts and religion. Thus, perhaps, I was particularly attuned to the symbolism in any dreams I might have had at the time, whether nonsensical or otherwise.

In any event, the dream fragment I remember is notable for allowing me to use the expression, on very rare occasions, “Roll the armadillo!” when circumstances warrant.

The dream, or rather, nightmare, was as follows: I was standing alone when, suddenly, I was confronted by a fearsome, loathsome creature or monster. Instinctively and without hesitation, I thrust my right hand deep into my right pant pocket and pulled out a live armadillo, which I deftly rolled on the ground (enabled by the armadillo obligingly curling itself up defensively) towards the menacing creature. The armadillo, apparently a protective talisman, appeased or thwarted the threat presented by the monster. The danger dissipated, and the nightmare ended. If only we could, societally, roll the armadillo today.

image of youg man holding armadillo in hand confronting scary monster

The genesis of the dream is well-known to me and is irrelevant to this post, but the imagery is vivid and has embedded itself within my mind so thoroughly that decades later, I still smile thinking of it. Fairly certain I had never seen an armadillo in person at that point in my life, I am struck that I turned to it for protection (a role it assumes in many cultures, naturally, given its shell and behaviors). Equally striking is the ease with which I was able to pull an armadillo so conveniently from my trouser pocket. Dreams do allow for such conveniences!

Think, dear reader, what one dream do you most vividly remember from all the years you have lived, and why is it so striking? Mine is striking for a creature named by the Spanish as the “little armored ones,” one of whom served as my protector in a nightmare decades ago.

Also, on a lark, I created a “Talisman (Armadillo) Violin Concerto in D Minor” based on the above memory writing lyrics based on the above thoughts and using Udio.com to create music. The resulting concerto can be heard in the YouTube video above.

Talisman Violin Concerto in D Minor Lyrics

Purportedly, we dream each night,
Visions dance in the pale moonlight.
Memories fade, but one remains,
A nightmare where fear constrains.

Confronted by a beast so dire,
A creature of my deepest mire.
In terror's grasp, my hand did find,
An armadillo, defense designed.

Roll the armadillo, brave and small,
Facing darkness, defying all.
A symbol of strength, a talisman true,
In dreams, it protects, guiding me through.

In the professor's hallowed class,
Jungian thoughts and symbols pass.
Seeking meaning in realms unseen,
In dreams, we find where we've been.

Deep within my pocket's fold,
A tale of courage, quietly told.
An armadillo, small and strong,
Defies the monster, rights the wrong.

Roll the armadillo, brave and small,
Facing darkness, defying all.
A symbol of strength, a talisman true,
In dreams, it protects, guiding me through.

Decades passed, the memory stays,
Solace forms in countless ways.
Little armored one, protector bold,
A dream's embrace, a story told.

In life's vast dreamscape, find your shield,
In symbols, truths are oft revealed.
Think, dear reader, what dream you keep,
In your heart's vault, buried deep.

Roll the armadillo, brave and small,
Facing darkness, defying all.
A symbol of strength, a talisman true,
In dreams, it protects, guiding me through.

Dreams allow for such convening,
In their realm, find deeper meaning.
Roll the armadillo, brave and wise,
In dreams, our fears we can disguise.