The Dream of Spiritual Initiation and the Organization of Self Representations among

Pakistani Sufis
Author(s): Katherine P. Ewing
Source: American Ethnologist, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Feb., 1990), pp. 56-74
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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the dream of
spiritual
initiation and the
organization
of self
representations among
Pakistani sufis
KATHERINE P.
EWING-University
of North
Carolina, Chapel
Hill
A Pakistani
man,
after
dreaming
that two sufis come to him and feed
him, may
find his life
transformed as a result of his dream. The
power
of dreams to
change
a
person's
life has been
observed
by anthropologists
and
psychologists
(for example,
Hallowell
1966; Singer
and
Pope
1978;
Wallace
1952, 1956),
but the
process
of transformation is not well understood. This ar-
ticle will show how a semiotic model of the
self,
which sees a
person
as an
ever-changing array
of self
representations
constituted
through dialogue,1
can
explain
this transformative
power
of
a dream in terms of the dream's content and its
relationship
to the dreamer's
subsequent
ex-
periences.
Too much dream research has focused on content at the
wrong level,
at least for
present
purposes.
Freudian
psychoanalysts
have
downplayed
the
significance
of manifest dream con-
tent in their search for the
disguised
wishes and conflicts that constitute the "latent content" of
a dream
(Freud 1965[1900]:345-347). But,
while a dream
clearly
weaves
together
elements
from the dreamer's
past, expressing
his
disguised impulses
and
conflicts,
as Freud demon-
strated,
it must also be a
projection
into a
culturally
articulated future (see
Basso
1987:99)
if it
is to be transformative. This article will show that this
projection
can be identified in the man-
ifest content of the
dream,
which
simultaneously replicates
a cultural
"template"
and
expresses
the dreamer's
idiosyncratic
concerns in a cultural idiom that
may
be
socially
communicated.
These concerns can be understood as a desire to establish a
self-image
that is
congruent
with
the dreamer's current circumstances and that facilitates his resolution of
persistent personal
conflicts.
However,
the
significance
of the content of a dream
ultimately depends
on
subsequent
events,
on how the future
actually
unfolds. A sufi initiation
dream,
for
example, may
have a
powerful impact
on the dreamer's
system
of self
representations,
so that as a result of the dream
the dreamer comes to
regard
himself as the
disciple
of some sufi teacher. But the social salience
of a
particular
self
representation
will
depend upon subsequent
events and
may
shift over time
as external conditions
change.
If the dreamer does not succeed in
resolving
conflicts
by adopt-
ing
the new self
representation,
the relevance of both the self
representation
and the dream
may
Pakistani dreams of initiation into a sufi order illustrate how a dream
may
have the
power
to transform the dreamer
by becoming
the basis for a
new, semiotically
constituted self
representation.
The semiotic
power
of the dream can be under-
stood
only by considering
several
aspects
of the
dreaming process:
how the man-
ifest dream content
simultaneously replicates
a cultural
template
and
expresses
the
dreamer's
idiosyncratic
concerns and
conflicts,
how the
interpretation
of the
dream facilitates the establishment of a new self
representation
and associated so-
cial
relationships
which
may
resolve the dreamer's conflicts,
and
finally
how the
significance
of the dream is
ultimately
determined
by
the dreamer's
ability
to re-
alize the
expectations
of the new self
representation
in his
subsequent
life.
[dreams, self-concepts, psychological anthropology, semiotics, sufism, Pakistan]
56 american
ethnologist
diminish. The dream loses its transformative
power.
A dream's
potentially
transformative
power,
in other
words,
comes from its
ability
to
give
rise to an
appropriate
self
representation
and is limited
by
the dreamer's
ability
to realize the
expectations
of the new self
representation
in his
subsequent
life.
dreams and self
representations
as semiotic
signs
It
may
be difficult for some readers to
imagine
how a
phenomenon
as insubstantial as a
dream could transform
something
as
apparently
fundamental and
enduring
as a
"personality,"2
or what Freud
(1963[1908])
called "character."3 But if instead of
focusing
on a reified
entity
such as
personality
or
character,
we
recognize
that dreams and self
representations
are both
semiotic
signs,4
the transformation becomes more
plausible.
The
ongoing experience
of self is a
process
of which we are not
consciously
aware. We
cannot even reflect
upon
it without
converting
it into self
representations
(see
Mead
1962
[1934]:1 73-178).
Through
this reflective
process,
self
representations
become
signs,
like
the units of
language
and other cultural
representations
such as
myths
and
images.5 Dreams,
which we
experience through language
and
imagery,
are also made
up
of
signs.
For
Peirce,
the
theory
of
signs
is embedded in a
theory
of action. In
Singer's
words
(1978:224):
"Peirce's
conception
of
sign processes
(semiosis)
as a
process
of
growth
and de-
velopment
of
signs
from other
signs depends
on the
persuasive
force of
signs
in the mind of the
interpreter."
It is
precisely
this
persuasive aspect
of
signs
that enables the
signs
which constitute
a dream to
give
rise to new
signs
in the form of new self
representations
(this
rhetorical
process
being
in
part
an inner
dialogue)
and to
shape
the actions of the dreamer and his associates.6
Both dreams and self
representations
are an
amalgam
of cultural ideas of
personhood
and
impressions
of the individual's
unique experiences
of himself vis-a-vis others. In all
dreams,
a
dreamer draws
upon
the cultural
concepts
and
signs
in terms of which he has learned to or-
ganize
his
world,
but he breaks them
apart
and combines them in
idiosyncratic,
even
absurd,
ways
in order to assimilate
daily experiences
and resolve
intrapsychic
conflicts
(Freud
1965[1900]:197-220).
Out of this
"bricolage"
(Levi-Strauss 1966:16-26)
may emerge
a
dream,
which has as one of its
interpretants
in the mind of the dreamer a new self
representa-
tion. This new
representation necessarily
has roots in an individual's
past experience
but in-
volves a
realigning
of
signs
and a
relabeling
of
intrapsychic phenomena,
such as libidinal im-
pulses, aggression,
and the
experience
of
dependency.
This
process
is most
likely
to occur when stress arises from conflicts between a
person's
ex-
isting
self
representations
and his current situation. A dream has the
power
to transform the
dreamer's
semiotically
constituted self
representations by providing
new
signs
in terms of
which the self can be articulated. These new
signs may
allow the individual to feel a
greater
congruence
between his inner
experience
and his current social
expectations.7 They may
alter
the dreamer's interactions and
relationships
with others.
Taking
off from the
perspective
that
the
dreaming process
facilitates the
integration
of new
experiences
into one's
existing organi-
zation of self
representations (see,
for
example,
Palombo
1978),
I
go
further and
suggest
that a
potentially
transformative dream
may actually
become a node around which a nascent self
representation,
a new cluster of
signs,
is formed. The Pakistani businessman who
experiences
a sufi initiation
dream,
for
instance, may suddenly regard
himself as the future
disciple
of a sufi
teacher whom he has not
yet
met. This self
representation may
affect
many
of his
subsequent
actions and interactions with others. Given this
perspective
on the
self,
the
potentially
trans-
formative
power
of the dream is more
apparent.
Dreams have the
greatest
transformative
potential
in cultures that allow
people
to
experience
their dreams as
significant.
Because we Westerners
separate
our dreams
sharply
from
waking
life,
we
typically
do not
regard
our dreams as
significant,
at least in
public
discourse. When the
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 57
dreamer remains silent about his
dream,
it
usually slips away
and takes on no social
signifi-
cance,
so that even
highly synthetic,
reconstitutive
dreams,
while
they may help
the dreamer
assimilate his
experiences
to
existing
self
representations, may
not
provide any
basis for ac-
tually modifying
the self
representations.
But other eras and other cultures have attributed
sig-
nificance to dreams in
very different,
far more
public ways. Thus,
the
phenomenology
of
dreaming
is
shaped by
cultural codes for
interpreting dreams, indigenous
discourse about
dreaming
(such
as dream
sharing),
and the social contexts in which such discourse takes
place
(Bastide 1966;
Herdt
1987;
Kracke
1979, 1987;
Tedlock
1987;
Tuzin
1975).
These are all as-
pects
of the
culturally shaped
manifest content of a dream.
Among
Pakistani
Muslims, many people
feel that
they
have
significant dreams,
and dreams
are often the basis for
decision-making
and action. A dream that is
interpreted
to mean initiation
into a sufi order is
regarded
as rare and valuable and is
particularly likely
to become the node
around which a nascent self
representation
is formed. From a Pakistani
perspective,
such a
dream takes on its
significance
because of its
particular, culturally recognized
structure and
content,
which form the basis for
interpretation
of the dream.
In this
case,
as in other societies where dreams are
regarded
as
socially significant,
a cultural
template,
that
is,
a
particular
structure of
signs
with a
consensually agreed upon significance,
is available for the dreamer to draw
upon
to
shape
and
organize
the manifest content of a
dream.8 The manifest content of the dream
is,
in other
words,
based on a
culturally
available
model. The dreamer has
actually
dreamed a variant of a
myth
(see
Kracke
1987).
When this
happens,
the
apparently intrapsychic
act of
dreaming may, paradoxically,
become a form of
social action.9 The dream narrative
(the
dream as
told)
becomes as
public
and
culturally
or-
ganized
as a
myth, yet
it retains the
particular
characteristics that reflect the dreamer's
unique
situation. The act of
dreaming
a
particular
dream then becomes the basis for
redefining
social
relationships
and the foundation of a transformed self
representation.10
These
changes
are
linked because a self
representation
is
inherently
a mode of
relating
to others.
But transformation occurs over
time,
and it is also
important
to consider the aftermath of a
significant
dream-what the
long-term
effects of the
particular
dream are on the dreamer's life.
Though
the
relationship
of the sufi initiation dream's manifest content to a cultural
template
and the cultural code of dream
interpretation
are
necessary components
of the dream's
signif-
icance, they
are not sufficient for
explaining
the extent to which the dream
shapes
the dreamer's
life. Such a dream takes on its
significance
in the social world not
solely
because of the structure
and content of the
dream,
which are what Pakistanis themselves would focus
on,
but also be-
cause of interactions between the dreamer and others in
particular situations,
as individuals
establish, maintain,
and alter their social
relationships
and
manage
conflict and
inconsistency
in their
daily
lives. The new self
representation may
be
developed
and consolidated in subse-
quent interactions,
or it
may
not be and so lose its salience. The dream itself
may
become a
central
episode
in a dreamer's account of
himself, appearing readily
in
dialogue with,
for in-
stance,
the
inquiring anthropologist,
or it
may disappear
from view if the self
representation
which it
helped
to constitute has not been
socially developed
or reinforced. In Peirce's
terms,
the dream and self
representation
are linked
signs,
the latter
being
an
interpretant
of the former.
The self
representation is,
in
turn,
a
sign
which
gives
rise to
interpretants
(in
the minds of the
dreamer and others)
that are
shaped by
the social environment. There is thus a
dynamic
rela-
tionship
between dreams and self
representations
in a social environment which is
inevitably
fluid.
In order to substantiate this
relationship
between dreams and self
representations,
I will focus
on a
particular type
of dream which I call a dream of
"spiritual
initiation." Such dreams have
a
recognizable
common structure and are
typically interpreted
to mean that a
pir (a
sufi
spiritual
guide
and
healer)
has
spiritually
called the dreamer to become his
disciple.
I will examine three
specific
versions of the initiation
dream,
a medieval Persian
example
and two modern Pakistani
examples,
to
illustrate, first,
the common
organizing
structure that forms the basis for
seeing
58 american
ethnologist
these dreams as initiation
dreams, and, second,
the
isomorphism
between the
specific
details
of each dream and the
idiosyncratic
situation of the dreamer.
Finally,
I will consider how each
of these
dreams,
each of which is in
part
a
projection
of the dreamer's wishes and
goals,
be-
comes the basis for the
organization
of a new self
representation,
and how this new self
rep-
resentation evolves over time.
In the first
contemporary
Pakistani
dream,
the
goal represented by
the dream was fulfilled
and the dream became an
important part
of the dreamer's
self-presentation
as a sufi. The second
dream involved the case of a man
who,
when he told me his
dream, aspired
to become his
pir's
successor. When I saw him
again
nine
years later,
there was no
longer any possibility
of his
becoming
the
pTr's
successor. As his situation had
changed,
so had the
importance
of the
dream. This
example
illustrates
my point
that the salience of a self
representation
and the
sig-
nificance of the associated dream
may
shift over
time, confirming
Simmel's
(1971 [1908]:352)
observation that "when the
life,
which
pulsates
beneath outlived
forms,
breaks these
forms,
it
swings
into the
opposite extreme,
so to
speak,
and creates forms ahead of
itself,
forms which
are not
yet completely
filled out
by
it." There are times when these forms are never filled
out,
and a life must take a new
trajectory.
dreams in Pakistan
The
postcolonial
situation in modern Pakistan is one in which
many people
are forced into
situations in which
they
must
organize
strands of their lives that are
highly
inconsistent with
one another.
Many
Pakistanis have found that self
representations developed
in a traditional
Muslim
family
are difficult to reconcile with those formed in British-dominated
educational,
governmental,
and business
settings.
As these individuals strive to resolve the conflicts
gener-
ated
by
such
inconsistencies, they employ
those
strategies
which are
culturally
available to
them. Dreams are one such
strategy. Furthermore,
a fundamental characteristic of dreams is
that
they express
and
attempt
to resolve a conflict that the dreamer is
experiencing (Freud
1965
[1900]).
As Pakistanis use this
powerful
tool in their
attempt
to resolve the inconsistencies
in their
lives, they
create new cultural
syntheses
which are in turn available to others
facing
similar issues.
Dreams have
traditionally
been an
important aspect
of Islamic belief and of Muslim
daily
life.
They
continue to
play
a central role in the lives of
many
Pakistanis. Pakistani dream
theory
and
techniques
of
interpretation
are to be found in
printed
manuals which are
readily
available
in book bazaars. As is the case with
many
of the
popular
manuals of dream
interpretation
to be
found in American
supermarkets,
these manuals
specify techniques
for
decoding
dream
sym-
bols that are based on medieval Arabic and earlier Greek sources." Pakistanis make a basic
distinction between true and false dreams. False dreams are
thought
to be caused either
by
Satan and other evil
spirits
or
by
disturbances in the
body
or mind of the dreamer. True dreams
are
thought
to be caused
by
God or
angels
and to
be, often,
a
warning
to the dreamer that harm
may
befall the dreamer or a
family
member if
proper
action is not taken. A
person may
thus act
or avoid action because of a
dream,
often
drawing
other
family
members into the
prophylactic
activities as
well, making
the dream a
socially significant
event.
Many
Pakistanis will consult a
specialist,
such as a sufi
pir,
when
they
feel that
they
have had a
significant dream,
in order to
determine the
proper
course of action.
From a Pakistani
perspective,
a sufi initiation dream is also understood to be
essentially
a
social
phenomenon,
since it is believed that the dream has been
directly
induced and its con-
tent
shaped by
an external
agent,
the sufi
pTr.
Pakistanis thus see an indexical
relationship
be-
tween the
sign (the dream)
and the
object signified (the
pir).'2
An indexical
sign
like this
directly
links the
sign
to the social world of the dreamer. It is not unusual for a
Pakistani, particularly
a
man,
to
begin
his search for a
pTr
because of a
dream, thereby initiating
a new social relation-
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 59
ship, or, rather, following through
on a
relationship
which he believes the pir has initiated. The
dream thus becomes a
pivot
in terms of which the dreamer reorients his life. The
experience
of
finding
one's
pir,
validated
by
a
dream,
becomes
encapsulated
in a
"story,"
a
relatively
fixed
narrative
that,
in
turn, may
be used in the
organization
of a self
representation,
to the extent of
constituting
a new social
identity.13
Many
Pakistanis
actively
seek a
pTr, typically
because
they
are
experiencing
some sort of
distress. The distress
may
be as
specific
as an illness or loss of a
job,
and the solution
sought
may
be as
practical
as a cure or a new
job. But,
in contrast to most of those who visit
pTrs,
the
person
who
actually experiences
an initiation dream has
typically
been in a
relatively pro-
longed
state of
general
malaise or conflict. Such a
person may go
from
pTr
to
pTr, hoping
that
one will overwhelm him with his
spiritual power.
This
type
of dream validates the
relationship
between the seeker and a
particular pir,
but it
can occur either before or after one has met one's
pTr.14 Frequently,
an encounter with one
particular pTr
causes a seeker to feel that he has
undergone
a fundamental
change
in his life.
After the
meeting
the seeker has a dream which he
interprets
as confirmation that this is in fact
the
pTr
for whom he has been
searching. Alternatively,
a
person may experience
an initiation
dream and then set out in search of the man of his dream. When he
finally
meets the
pir
face
to
face,
the new
disciple
is overwhelmed
by
the current which he feels
passing
to him from the
pTr.
He
expresses
the idea that the
pTr
has been
waiting
for his
disciple
to come to
him, sending
him
messages through dreams, waiting
for the time when his
disciple
will be
receptive
to that
message.
The initiation dream is a
particularly powerful
dream form
among
Pakistani
Muslims, given
its
potential
for
transforming
the life of the dreamer. In the
right circumstances,
the dreamer is
able to make use of this
type
of dream in the
reorganization
of self
representations
and social
relationships
because the dream and associated
personal
narrative are constructed out of ele-
ments that conform to a cultural
"template"
or scenario. This
template
is itself embedded in a
web of
signification
which carries the label "sufism"
(tasawwuf).
Sufism
encompasses highly
specific prescriptions
for action. As a
body
of
knowledge
and
literature,
it articulates and makes
meaningful
(and
acceptable)
the
type
of
interpersonal relationship
which the dreamer is
seeking
and which has been
expressed
in the dream. The dream
images
themselves are
emotionally
powerful
because
they
bear an iconic
relationship
both to the details of the dreamer's
specific
life situation and to a cultural
template
for the sufi initiation
dream,
which the dreamer
may
have
experienced by reading
or
hearing
of the dreams of others who have become involved in
sufi-disciple relationships.
The dream is thus the
product
of an interaction between a
culturally specific interpretive
scenario and the
intrapsychic, though
also
culturally organized,
conflictual
processes
of the
dreamer. But the
power
of the dream to
generate
social action lies in its indexical
relationship
to a social world in which the dreamer
experiences
himself as
marginal,
but in which he
may
potentially
become embedded. The dream draws him into that world and facilitates his involve-
ment in it. After
becoming
a
disciple
the follower enters a new social world defined
by
rela-
tionships
to the
pir.
This new social situation and new social
identity may
themselves be the
means
by
which the individual resolves the initial conflict that led him to seek out a
pTr.
The
Pakistani initiation
dream,
in other
words,
is a vehicle for
articulating
a
particular
self
repre-
sentation,
that of sufi
disciple,
and associated
representations
of others.15 The
appearance
of an
"other"
(the saint)
in the dream allows the dreamer to
experience
a self in
relationship
to that
other, thereby constituting
a new self
representation.
The sufi initiation dream is thus a
complex sign
made
up
of at least three
major components.
First is the cultural
template
embedded in the dream.16 Second is the iconic
relationship
of the
dream to the dreamer's
particular
situation and conflicts-that
is,
its
metaphorical representa-
tion of them
through imagery.
Third is the dreamer's belief that the dream bears an indexical
60 american
ethnologist
relationship
between the dreamer and a sufi
pir,
thus
directly linking
the dream to the dreamer's
social world.
In the
following sections,
I will draw on
specific
instances of the initiation dream to
highlight
each of these
components
in turn.
First,
I will examine the evidence for the existence of a cul-
tural
template
and
begin
to
identify
the structure of this
template.
I will then consider variations
in instances of the initiation
dream, unpacking
the
ways
in which a
specific
dream
expresses
the circumstances of the dreamer while
simultaneously manifesting
the common dream struc-
ture;
like the variants of a
myth,
instances of the initiation dream
vary systematically
and reveal
a kind of
vocabulary
of
imagery
out of which
they
are constructed.
Next,
I will
highlight
the
indexical link between the dream and a sufi
par
in the social world in order to demonstrate the
vicissitudes of this
relationship. Though
all the
components
of the dream are
important
for the
articulation of a new self
representation,
it is this
aspect
of the dream that is most
intimately
linked with the
development
and fate of a new self
representation.
a cultural
template
A
comparison
of
examples
drawn from sufi literature and from modern Pakistan
suggests
that
sufi initiation dreams have a common structure. This structure
provides
a cultural
template
or
scenario in terms of which the dreamer both recalls the dream and assesses its
significance.
The sufi initiation dream in its most
general form,
abstracted from several instances in
my
own
field data as well as from
examples
in
published
sufi
literature,
is as follows: the dreamer sees
two sufi saints whom he does not
recognize. They
are dressed in white
or, according
to infor-
mants'
reports,
"like the
Prophet
Muhammad" and are
engaged
in some kind of
activity
which
the dreamer
interprets
as an invitation to
partake
in the
spiritual
life. The scene is
perceived
as
being extremely vivid,
as if the dreamer were
actually there;
informants can later describe
dreamed conversations word for
word,
the tastes of
foods,
the
perception
of colors. The dream-
er
usually experiences
a
feeling
of
great
love for the unknown men of the dream.
Although
specific
instances of the initiation dream
may
share additional
features,
this form is the basic
template underlying
dreams of initiation into a sufi order. When these features are
present,
a
dream will be
recognized
as an invitation sent
by
a sufi
pTr,
a call to the dreamer to become a
disciple.
But this
form,
in bare
outline,
tells us little about the
significance
of the dream or the
meaning
of its elements. The initiation dream is like an
open
text
(Barthes 1977), continually
redreamed
and
reinterpreted.
Each instance contains elements which
modify
the tradition while
locating
the
particular
dreamer within it. One
strategy
for
interpreting
an element of the dream is to
consider it as a
sign
which
acquires
its
significance
in
part by
its
relationship
to other
signs
that
the dreamer could have used in its
place.17
These alternative
signifiers,
which are
(or
at least
may
be)
the
langue,
or
vocabulary,
out of which the dream has been constructed
(de Saussure
1966[1959]),
may
be discovered in instances of the dream dreamed
by
other individuals in
other situations. To follow a
strategy developed by
Levi-Strauss
(1963),
variants of the initiation
dream
may
thus be
interpreted
as a set in order to understand the
vocabulary
out of which
they
have been
constructed,
and
thereby help
uncover what is
being signified.
The
pervasiveness
in Islamic sufism of a cultural
template
for initiation dreams is illustrated
by comparing
an
example
drawn from Persian sufi literature with the accounts of Pakistani sufis
whom I interviewed. There is a
visionary
dream recorded
by
Ruzbehan
BaqlT
of ShTraz
(d. 1209
A.D.) in his
spiritual diary,18
for
instance,
which bears a
striking
resemblance in structure and
in detail to modern Pakistani initiation
dreams, despite
its distance in time and
space.
The dif-
ferences in the circumstances of this Persian
spiritual
leader and the Pakistani businessmen
whose dreams I recorded make the
parallels
all the more
suggestive
of a common cultural tem-
plate underlying
their
experiences.
The text
quoted
here is taken from Corbin's discussion of
the dream:
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 61
All created
beings
are revealed to the
visionary [R0zbehan Baql],
the dreamer] as enclosed in a
house;
numerous
lamps provide
a brilliant
light,
but a wall
keeps
him from
entering.
So he climbs onto the roof
of his own
lodging,
where he finds two
very
beautiful
people
in whom he
recognizes
his own
image
[emphasis Corbin's]. They appear
to be Sufis and smile at him
affectionately.
He notices a
hanging pot
under which a delicate and
pure
fire is
burning
without smoke and fed
by sweet-smelling
herbs. At this
moment one of the visitors unfolds a
cloth,
and
brings
forth a bowl of
very
beautiful form and several
loaves of
pure
wheat. He breaks one of the loaves into the bowl and
pours
over it the contents of the
pot,
an oil so fine as to
appear
a
spiritual
substance. Then the three
together
eat a kind of communion
meal.
Corbin continues
by quoting
R0zbehan's own account:
Then one of them asked
me,
"Do
you
know what was in the
pot?" "No,"
I
answered,
"I know
nothing
about it." "It was the oil of the Great Bear which we
gathered
for
you."
When the vision was
over,
I meditated on
it,
but it was not until some time later that I realized that
this was an allusion to the Seven Poles in the
heavenly pleroma (malakOt)
and that God had bestowed
upon
me the
pure
substance of their
mystic grade,
that
is,
the rank of the Seven who are
invisibly spread
over the surface of the world. I then turned
my
attention to the Great Bear. I noticed that it formed seven
openings, through
all of which God showed himself (tajallI)
to me.
"My God,"
I
cried,
"what is this?"
He said to
me,
"These are the seven orifices of the Throne." [Corbin 1966:390-391]
The dream includes several elements that can be seen in initiation dreams of modern Pak-
istanis. A dream
typically begins
with an
expression
of some kind of
anxiety
or
blockage.
Then
two sufis with beautiful faces
(often
described as
smiling gently
or
being
otherwise
"loving")
appear
and offer the dreamer
something,
often food. In most
cases,
the
precise identity
of the
sufis is somehow
obscured,
and this
obscurity
is
typically
effected
through
some kind of iden-
tification
(condensation) process,
in which two
images
are
superimposed
(see
Freud
1965[1900]:355).
Pakistani initiation dreams demonstrate the same
key
elements that are
present
in the me-
dieval Persian dream of Ruzbehan
BaqlT.
The
following
dream was narrated
(in English) by
a
man who had become a khalTfa
(designated spiritual
successor)
of his
pTr
the
previous year.
I
will call him Ahmad Sahib.
I first met
my
Master in
1958,
but I saw him in 1946. I searched for him from 1946 on. How did I start
the search and see him in 1946?
My
father was
very learned, scholarly,
and
saintly.
He infused in me a
love for the
mystical
side of Islam. I was
very
fond of
going
to
people
who had a
reputation
for holiness
in India. I used to
enjoy
their
company, though
I was too immature to understand much. From childhood
I had been
looking
for a
teacher,
but I couldn't define
my thoughts clearly.
Then the war
years
interfered.
I went to the United
Kingdom
for studies and
stayed through
the
war, eight years
in all. But
always
I had
a
yearning beyond
the material
aspects
of life. In 1946 I came back to Calcutta and saw a dream. It was
very vivid,
as if it
actually happened.
I dreamed of a basement
room,
with a street
passing
outside at the level of the ventilators. It was a
long
narrow room with a low table and a
carpet.
There was food on the table. I was at the door
waiting
for a
guest
to
arrive, sitting cross-legged
in a
spirit
of
great expectation.
Then I saw two
people coming,
and
they
stood on the stairs. One was
my pTr.
I didn't know him. The other was
very saintly, tall, fair,
with curved
eyebrows
and a white turban. Both were dressed in
white,
with black
shawls,
as the
Prophet
wore. I
suddenly
realized that these were the
people
I had been
waiting
for. I was awe-struck. I couldn't
move.
They
came and sat at the low table.
My pTr
beckoned to me and told me to sit with them. I crawled
up
to them on hands and
knees,
with
great respect.
The saint was on one
side, my pir
was in the
center,
and I sat on the other side.
My pTr
said to the
saint,
"This is
my
son. Take a
good
look at him." The food
on the table was dal
[lentils],
curried
spinach,
and
chapatTs [flat
wheat bread].
The saint took a morsel
of
chapatT, dipped
it into the
spinach
and dal, and then
put
it into
my
mouth. I can still taste
it,
a
heavenly
taste. It filled me with
longing
and love. I ate
it,
and as the morsel went down
my throat,
both of them
disappeared.
I ran
up
the
road,
like a madman on the
public street, shouting
and
crying
for them. I knew that
they
were
my
life. Then I saw a
telephone
booth and a thick
telephone directory.
I
flipped through
it as if I
were
searching
for his number. I was
saying Khwaja
Mucinuddin Chishti [founder of the Chishti order of
sufis in
India,
d. 1236] over and over
again.
When I awoke I was
actually saying
this.
Ever after that I searched for the
pTr
who told
Khwaja MucinuddTn,
"This is
my
son." Whenever I heard
that there was some
saintly person
or
profound scholar,
I
went,
but I was
always disappointed.
I came
here to Pakistan at Partition in
1947,
and the search continued. In 1958 a friend took me to a
pir,
a
special
3:00 a.m. session
being
held as a celebration of the
Prophet's birthday. My pTr
was
deep
in meditation
when we arrived at 2:00 a.m. Then at 3:00 a.m. the doors
opened.
He was
sitting
on his
prayer rug.
When I looked at him I knew that this was
my pTr.
He looked at me and smiled. Then I felt that
my
life
had started to ebb out of
me, starting
from
my
toes. I felt I was
going
to die. I sat
down,
and he didn't
look at me after that. Then there were
prayers
and recitations
[naCt]. Then all the others went
away,
but
62 american
ethnologist
I remained.
My pTr
beckoned to me. He
said,
"You have taken a
long
time
coming,
but
you
are here." I
embraced his feet and started
sobbing my
heart out. He
said, "Tomorrow,
cook some food. Find some-
one who needs a
good
meal but can't
beg
for his food. Serve him
yourself.
It must be
given
in the name
of Allah and for Hazrat Muinuddin ChishtL." I
said,
"This is the dream I saw so
many years ago."
He
said,
"That is
why
I told
you
to do this."
There are
striking
resemblances between this dream of Ahmad Sahib and that of Ruzbehan
BaqlT
which
suggest
that the dreams share at least a
culturally shaped organizational
skeleton.
Though dreams,
these are also
publicly
communicated narratives. It is thus reasonable to
jux-
tapose
them as one would a
pair
of
myths,
because
they
are not
merely
the
private productions
of
sleepingindividuals.
Like the variants of a
myth,
the differences between the manifest con-
tents of these
specific
dreams can be seen as structural
transformations,
variants that
may help
us understand the
significance
of the constituent elements and
identify
the
core,
the
template,
which is not
any single
dream or
myth
but rather the structure or scenario that
may
underlie
them all.
By examining
these
transformations,
we
may,
like
Levi-Strauss, interpret
the social
significance
of these dreams as
they
were
publicly communicated,
as well as the social
position
of the
particular
dreamer.
In each
case,
the core of the dream is an encounter with two unknown men. At the moment
of
meeting,
the dreamer is transfixed in awe at the mere
sight
of these men. Each dreamer char-
acterizes the unknown men in terms
suggesting
that
they
are saints. Each dreamer
partakes
of
a communal meal with the two unknown men. In each
case,
the dreamer is in his own house
and the two men are
visitors, yet
the visitors serve food to the dreamer. In addition to elements
which the dreams
share,
there are
points
at which the dreams seem to be
systematic
transfor-
mations of one another. This
suggests
that certain
elements, although they
are not
identical,
may
nevertheless
represent
further
aspects
of the cultural
template
and thus be
open
to cultural
interpretation.
When the manifest contents of the two dreams are
compared, oppositions strikingly
remi-
niscent of some of the
myth
variants Levi-Strauss
analyzed emerge
in relief
(see Levi-Strauss
1966).
Both dreams
specifically
encode the dimensions of
high
and low in terms of the drea-
mer's own house. Ruzbehan
goes up
to the roof of his
lodging,
where he meets two sufis who
are
waiting
for him. In
my
Pakistani informant's
dream,
Ahmad Sahib does the
waiting,
in the
basement,
below
ground
level. The directions
up
and down are
explicitly
associated in Islam
with closeness to and distance from God. Muhammad ascends to meet
God,
for
example.
Ruz-
behan ascends in his dream above the
spiritual
level of creation and becomes a
spiritual
leader
himself.19 Ahmad
Sahib,
in
contrast,
does not rise above his former condition in the
dream;
he
becomes a
follower,
a
disciple.
In both dreams
ground
level takes on
significance too,
as the
domain of
everyday worldly experience.
The
mystical experience
of the sufi is
separated
from
this
everyday
world. The distinction between active and
passive
movement is also encoded.
Ruzbehan,
an ardent
practicing
sufi at the time of his
dream, actively
ascends to meet two
spiritual leaders;
Ahmad
Sahib,
who has not
yet begun
his
spiritual quest
in
earnest, passively
waits for the two sufis to come down to him.
The contrast between inside and outside is
pervasive
in Muslim
thought
and
organizes
con-
ceptions
of the
body
as well as
many aspects
of social life.20 Both Ruzbehan
BaqlT
and Ahmad
Sahib use this
imagery,
but in
opposite ways.
Ahmad Sahib's dream
suggests
that he
concep-
tualizes the
spiritual experience,
his encounter with the
sufis,
as
"interior,"
within the
heart,
in
sharp
contrast to the
"public street,"
the
everyday world,
which is exterior. But Ruzbehan's
dream reverses these terms: all of creation is inside a
house,
surrounded
by
a wall. He has his
spiritual experience
on the
roof,
the outside. It is as
though
he has
penetrated
the interior of his
heart so far that the universe has reversed
itself,
like a
sphere
that has been turned inside out.21
dreams as
expressions
of
idiosyncratic
concerns
When
examining
these dreams as instances of a cultural
template,
we are
looking
at the
manifest content of the dream as communicated. A
juxtaposition
of initiation dreams
highlights
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 63
cultural themes such as
high
and
low,
inside and
outside,
that are
expressed through
this man-
ifest content.
By drawing upon
the
idiosyncratic background
of each
dreamer, including
his
"free associations" to the
dream,
we can reexamine the
components
of each dream to show
its
significance
for conflict resolution in the life of the
particular
dreamer. From this
perspective,
these dreams
represent
a remarkable
interweaving
of
personal
and cultural
themes,
an inter-
weaving
which arises out of the "dream
work,"22
and which is
essentially
a
process
of "bri-
colage"
(Levi-Strauss
1966:16).
I will not
presume
here to
interpret
the dream of Ruzbehan
Baql?
in terms of his
personal
conflicts on the basis of the manifest content of his
dream, though
the material to do so on the
basis of free associations
(defined
loosely,
as
psychoanalysts
are wont to
do)
may
exist in Ruz-
behan's
personal diary.
The dream narrative itself indicates that he had access to certain
psy-
chologically primitive experiences,
such as the sensation of loss of
bodily boundaries,
but the
form in which he
presents
them in his
diary suggests
a
capacity
for controlled
regression which,
from a sufi
perspective, represents spiritual strength
rather than
psychopathology.
Suffice it to
say
that this dream was
clearly significant
for Ruzbehan's
system
of self
representations and,
ultimately,
his
public significance.
He understood himself to be a
major
saint and was
per-
ceived as such
by
his
contemporaries
and successors. This dream confirmed his status.
We can take Ahmad Sahib's
preliminary remarks,
which act as a
"preamble"
to the dream
(Freud 1965
[1900]:138),
and his
description
of
subsequent
events as "free associations" to the
dream which
point
toward its latent
content,
that
is,
toward the conflicts which the dream was
working
to resolve. His
preliminary
remarks allude to his sense of
something missing
because
of his immersion in British culture and his move to
England.
His comments
suggest
that at that
point
in his
life,
Ahmad Sahib was
experiencing
a fundamental conflict between his
upbringing
as a South Asian Muslim and the
identity
he had
shaped
as a student in
England.
His conflict
was a direct
consequence
of the colonial
experience,
an
experience
shared
by many
of his
contemporaries,
and his reactions to this
experience
are similar to those of other South Asian
Muslims in similar circumstances.
In the manifest content of the dream
itself,
the
idiosyncratic components
of Ahmad Sahib's
dream differ from those of Ruzbehan
BaqlT
in
ways
that reveal the distinctive character of Ah-
mad Sahib's
personal
situation and the conflicts he was
trying
to resolve. The dreams of Ruz-
behan
BaqlT
and Ahmad Sahib
diverge
after the moment in which the saint feeds the dreamer.
Ahmad Sahib's dream continues
past
the communal meal to his
anxiety
at the loss of his
spir-
itual initiators. The scene shifts to
ground level, suggesting
a return to
everyday
life. The
image
of
standing
in a
telephone
booth and
searching through
a thick
directory
for the name of
Khwaja
MucinuddTn
ChishtT
suggests
an
experience
of
psychological
disorientation and loss. The dream
is set in
Calcutta,
but the
telephone
booth is a hallmark of Western
technology
and cultural
influence. The thickness of the
telephone
book is
apparently
a reference to
London,
where
Ahmad Sahib had
spent
the war
years.
His search for the name of a
13th-century
sufi saint in a
telephone directory
is a vivid
image expressing
his sense of the
incongruity
between his life in
England
and his earlier
experience
of
growing up
in a South Asian Muslim home.
Ahmad Sahib's dream also stresses a
discontinuity
between the
private
and
public aspects
of
his life at that time and an unfulfilled
longing
for
synthesis.
The basement
setting
of his en-
counter with the sufis
may
be an overdetermined
image.23
This
image expresses
not
only
his
low
spiritual
status
(in
contrast to Ruzbehan's use of a similar
vocabulary
to
express high status),
but also the idea that in a British colonial
setting,
and
particularly
in
England itself,
he felt that
his Muslim
spiritual
life was
private,
"subterranean." The dream sets
up
an
intrapsychic spatial
organization-public
(the street) and
private
(the basement)-and expresses
an unsuccessful
effort to
integrate
the two
aspects
of his life. This effort is
epitomized
in his
frustrating attempt
to find a medieval sufi's name in a London
phone
book. The dream also
expresses
one of the
fears
arising
from his wish to become involved in a
spiritual
life even as he maintains a wes-
ternized
identity:
he is concerned that he will look like a madman. This fear reveals his
expe-
64 american
ethnologist
rience of the internalized
gaze
of the
(British)
other-he observes himself as if from the
outside,
running
down the street.
Though
the
analysis
could
go further,
there is in this case insufficient
evidence for
any
definitive statements about the
intrapsychic underpinnings
of Ahmad Sahib's
reactions to his
explicit experience
of stress as an adult. As is the case with
any dream,
he is
using
the cultural
template
as a vehicle for the
expression
of
personal
concerns at all devel-
opmental levels,
concerns which could be examined
through
additional free associations to
the dream.24
Ahmad Sahib's
dream,
when
compared
both to the dream of Ruzbehan
BaqlT
and to the
dream of another of
my
Pakistani
informants,
which I will discuss
below,
illustrates how the
significance
of a dream
ultimately
rests
upon
the
subsequent unfolding
of events in the social
world. Ruzbehan
Baqli
became an
important
sufi leader himself
and, being
without a
living
sufi
teacher,
he used the
dream,
which he recorded in his
diary,
to
verify
his
spiritual lineage
(a
phenomenon
also found
today
in
Pakistan).
Ahmad Sahib used his dream to
organize
his
thoughts
about his
spiritual life,
even
though
for several
years
the dream had little overt
impact
on his life or
self-image.
Before the dream he "couldn't define
[his] thoughts clearly."
After the
dream,
his search for a
pTr
who could
help
him
express
his
spiritual longings
was more
focused,
although
it remained unsuccessful for
many years.
When he
finally
did meet his
pTr,
their dia-
logue
was a
public
enactment of his
dream,
which until then had remained
private.
He inter-
preted
the
pTr's
instructions to
give
a dish of food to a
person
in need as evidence of the index-
ical
relationship
between the dream and the
pTr.
These instructions
pushed
him into an action
that was even more
public, enabling
him to consolidate a new
self-presentation
in a broader
social context. After Ahmad Sahib had met his
pTr
and had transformed his initiation dream into
a
publicly
articulated
narrative,
he was able to transcend the
disjunction
between two
formerly
inconsistent self
representations,
the
publicly recognized
westernized businessman and the
pri-
vately spiritual Muslim, by acting
as the chosen
spiritual
successor of his
pir. Ultimately,
his
dream became the cornerstone of a new self
representation
and the basis for a new
type
of
relationship
with others.5 He
incorporated
the dream narrative into a
"story"
which served as
the framework for a self
representation
and
provided
a scenario for his interaction with others
as a sufi.
a dream that faded from
sight
I have discussed two dreams that led to
personal
transformation. But transformation is not an
inevitable
consequence
of an initiation dream. In the
following case,
a Pakistani
professional
man communicated to me his
relationship
with his
pir
in terms of an initiation dream. In con-
trast to the
previous examples,
this dreamer's
goals
were not
ultimately
fulfilled. When I met
him
again
nine
years later,
his
expectations
about his
relationship
with his
pTr
had
changed.
The dream's
significance
had also
changed,
and he no
longer
used the dream in his
self-pre-
sentation. This case illustrates the
point
that even a dream constructed
according
to a cultural
template
is not
inherently meaningful
out of
context,
but rather
acquires
its
significance
dia-
logically,
in social interaction. As circumstances
change,
the
interpretants
of the
signs
that con-
stitute the dream evolve in the minds of the dreamer and those who
respond
to him.
This
man,
whom I shall call Muhammad
Sahib,
was
just resolving
a
personal
crisis and had
recently experienced
an initiation dream when I met him at the home of his
pTr
in 1976. Like
Ahmad
Sahib,
he was
going through
extreme
personal
distress when he had this dream. He
became not
only
a follower but a devoted
disciple
of his
pTr,
at least in
part
because of the
dream. But in this case the dream did not become the foundation of a new mode of
self-pre-
sentation and social
identity. Although
Muhammad Sahib did
undergo
initiation with his
pir,
he was not
appointed
one of the
pir's
successors. After his
pir's death,
several
years later,
the
dream
apparently
faded into the
background.
When I saw Muhammad Sahib
again
in
1985,
he
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 65
never mentioned the
dream, although
we had extensive
personal
conversations over the course
of several
meetings, during
which he
repeated
all the other stories that he had
originally
told
me about his
pTr.
In contrast to Ahmad
Sahib,
Muhammad Sahib had
already
met his
pTr
(whom
I shall call
Sufi
Sahib)
when he
experienced
this dream:
When I first started
coming
here
[to
the
dwelling
of Sufi
Sahib],
I saw a dream one
night.
I saw in the
dream that I was
entering
a small
mosque.
When I was in the center of the
courtyard
of the
mosque,
two
persons
came from the interior of the
mosque.
One was clad in white clothes and had a
very
attractive
face,
fair
features,
a beard with some
grey hair,
medium
height,
and a
magnetic
attraction. I couldn't
take
my eyes
off his face. I
kept looking
at
him;
I was
totally absorbed;
I didn't even look at the second
person.
The first
person
was
smiling.
He said [in
Punjabi],
"You
please
sit here. We are
coming."
That
was his exact sentence. The
strange thing
is that a name [Sufi Sahib] came into
my
head. No one men-
tioned
it;
that was
just my impression.
After that dream I started
my research, reading biographies
of old Muslim
saints, trying
to find out the
appearance, dress,
and
personalities
of all the saints who were named Sufi Sahib.
Eventually
I came to
know that the
description
of
Miyan
Sher Muhammad fit the
description
of the
person
in
my
dream.
Miyan
Sher Muhammad is the fountain from which
[Sufi Sahib]
became saturated
[that is, Miyan
Sher Muham-
mad had been Sufi Sahib's
spiritual guide].
When I came to know
that,
I felt a
very deep
attachment to
[Sufi Sahib],
and now I come here
daily.26
Though simpler
than the dream of Ahmad
Sahib,
this dream shares several elements with
it,
again suggesting
that it follows a cultural
template;
it is characteristic of dreams associated with
becoming
the
disciple
and
ultimately
the successor of a saint. In both
dreams,
as well as in the
medieval Persian sufi dream of Ruzbehan
BaqlT,
the dreamer meets two saints. In each
dream,
one of the two
saintly
men is the dreamer's
pTr-to-be.
The
place
of the other saint is somewhat
different in each dream. Muhammad Sahib in his dream is so absorbed in the face of his
pTr
that he
neglects
even to notice the second saint and thus cannot
identify
him. When he was
questioned
about this
later,
he
suggested
that the saint was
probably CAbdu'l-Qadir GilanT,
who
is the
highly
revered founder of the
Qadiri
order of sufis
(d.
1
166).
In Ahmad Sahib's
dream,
on
the other
hand,
the
identity
of the dreamer's
pTr
is not
revealed,
but the second saint's
name,
MucinuddTn
ChishtT,
comes
clearly
to mind.27
Thus,
in both cases the dreamer's
pTr
is accom-
panied by
a founder of one of the
major
sufi orders. The
presence
of two saints in such a dream
represents
at once the idea of
spiritual
descent
through
the sufi orders and at the same time the
idea of
spiritual ascent, through
the dreamer's
experiential
link to the
Prophet
Muhammad and
God. This mode of
spiritual
transmission in an unbroken chain is at the heart of the sufi tradi-
tion.28
This chain of succession is
symbolized by
and maintained
through
the
ceremony
of initiation
(baicat). Muhammad Sahib's dream does not
express
the idea of initiation as
directly
as Ahmad
Sahib's dream of
being
fed
does,
but it is
present indirectly,
in a
near-homonym. Homonyms
are noted and considered
significant
in Arabic and Pakistani dream
interpretation
(see
Daim
1958).29
In Muhammad Sahib's
dream,
the
pir
tells the dreamer to be seated. In
Punjabi
and
Urdu,
there is a close resemblance in sound between the word for "sit"
(baith)
and the word
for the initiation or oath of
allegiance
to a saint
(baicat),
the
only phonetic
difference
being
in
the
pronunciation
of the final "t." It is
interesting
that bait means
"house,"
from the
Arabic,
and is often used in
compounds
to mean "the house of God." The
image
of a house is
partic-
ularly
salient in Ruzbehan
BaqlT's
dream and also occurs in Ahmad Sahib's
dream,
further rein-
forcing
the
imagery
of initiation. The manifest content of Muhammad Sahib's dream is thus
heavily dependent
on the
language
and culture of the dreamer (Freud
1965
[1900]:131 n.).
The
personal, idiosyncratic components
of this initiation dream are not as
clearly
evident in
the manifest content of Muhammad Sahib's dream as
they
are in Ahmad
Sahib's, though
certain
themes can be teased out. In
telling
the
dream,
Muhammad Sahib mentioned
something
he
failed to do because of his
absorption
in
gazing
at the first sufi: "I didn't even look at the second
person."
Since this second
person
was
cAbdu'l-Qadir GTlanT, representing
the link to the sufi
tradition,
the omission
suggests
that Muhammad Sahib felt he had been unable to take in the
whole situation in which he found
himself,
even at the moment of connection with his
pTr
in
66 american
ethnologist
the dream. His reaction to the dream was to
pursue
the matter
intellectually,
to do "research"
in order to find his
pTr.
This dream
configuration suggests
that in other situations as well he is
overwhelmed
by
affective
stimuli,
so that his
cognitive response
is
faulty.
He then tries to com-
pensate
for his failure to attend to relevant detail
through
a kind of obsessive intellectual effort.30
These
interpretations
of the manifest content of the dream can be confirmed
by examining
Muhammad Sahib's "associations" to the dream
(which
I
interpret loosely
to mean what he
told me before and after the dream).
He told me his initiation dream in the context of a
long
narrative
depicting
for me his current life situation and his
relationship
with his
pTr.
He moved
gradually
from externalized stories of miracles about his
pir,
stories
having
little to do
overtly
with his own state of
mind,
to direct narrations of
highly charged
emotional
issues,
told in a
manner that served to
downplay
his conflicts.
Specifically,
he
presented
the issue of his
early
retirement near the end of his
narrative,
almost as an
afterthought, although
that retirement was
the culmination of a series of events
(including
several
motorcycle
accidents)
that
began
well
before the
episode
of an
apparition
in his
house,
the
episode
with which he had
begun
his
narrative.31 Retirement involved a
major
redefinition of his life and
goals.
He was
facing
a life crisis-the
prospect
of
retirement,
which in his case involved a confron-
tation with a new
self-image.32
He described his reaction to Sufi Sahib's
prediction
that he
would soon retire: "It
surprised me,
because I was too
young
to retire from
service, though
I
suffered from the after-effects of the road accidents. But I had never
thought
of
becoming
a
disabled
person."
In
effect,
Sufi
Sahib, by making
the
prediction
of
retirement,
allowed Mu-
hammad Sahib to admit to himself what he had to do. It was in this context of
deep
crisis that
Muhammad Sahib
experienced
his initiation dream. Evidence from the dream and from his
associations
suggests
that Muhammad Sahib
longed
to become involved in an intense relation-
ship
with his
pTr.
Muhammad Sahib
had,
as he
thought, already experienced
Sufi Sahib's
power
to work
miracles,
but it was because of the dream that he formed a
deep,
indeed
therapeutic,
attachment to him.33
Even at the time of our first
meeting
in
1976,
the dream itself held an uncertain
place
in
Muhammad Sahib's
self-image
and
presentation, despite
his intense attachment to Sufi Sahib.
Muhammad Sahib's
presentation
of the dream to
me, approximately
five
years
after he had first
experienced it,
reflected this ambivalence. In
keeping
with his
style,
the
dream,
like the retire-
ment
issue,
was
presented
almost as an
afterthought. Though
able to
acknowledge
his
depend-
ency
wishes
fairly openly,
he also harbored a
highly
conflictual wish to be the
special
center
of attention. It was this wish that he strove to
disguise
and
deny,
in
part
because he was afraid
of
rejection.
In interaction he tried to
deny
or
disguise
the wish
by emphasizing
his own un-
worthiness and
shortcomings
and
stressing
the
accomplishments
of others.
When I met Muhammad Sahib
again
in
1985,
his situation had altered
considerably.
In the
intervening years,
his
pTr
had
died, having
chosen another
disciple
as his
only
successor. Mu-
hammad Sahib thus knew that he was not one of the
designated
successors of his
pir. Though
I
specifically sought
out Muhammad
Sahib, contacting
him at his
home,
he was
very
modest
and asserted that I could not
possibly
learn what I needed to know from him. He
said,
"So far
as I am
concerned,
I am an
ordinary person.
I have
nothing.
I have no
supernatural power."
He
repeated many
of the miracle stories that he had told me in
1976,
in most cases
nearly
verbatim. But he made no mention of his initial dream about Sufi Sahib. Like his 1976
account,
this account stressed Sufi Sahib's cures and
pronouncements,
but it
downplayed
Muhammad
Sahib's own active role or
ability
to be
receptive.
Though
he did not
say
so
directly,
I would surmise that Muhammad Sahib was
profoundly
disappointed
that Sufi Sahib had not selected him to be one of his
spiritual
successors. His
particular strategy
for
handling
his
disappointment
was to retain an idealized
image
of the
pTr
by placing
the onus of failure on himself:
I
got
a lot of his
affection,
but I didn't avail
myself
of the
qualities
he
possessed.
I
mean,
it was his
desire that I should learn
something
from him and
gain something,
but I was
always analyzing things.
I
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 67
was
always thinking
in terms of
why, when,
and how. He used to tell
me, "Oh, you
are an accountant.
You are
always calculating.
You are
making
two
plus
two is
equal
to four. You are
always thinking
in
terms of math." I
mean,
in some
things
he used to taunt me. Sometimes he was not
displeased,
some-
times.
But,
on the
whole,
I
got
all of his affection.
This is a
poignant passage, brimming
with
sadness, longing, disappointment,
and
carefully sup-
pressed anger.
He attributes his failure to a self
representation
which
is,
in other
situations,
a
source of
pride,
but which he
regards
as
incompatible
with his
experience
as a sufi:
being
an
analytical
thinker and an accountant. Sufi Sahib had reified this self
representation, pointing
out that Muhammad Sahib behaved like "an accountant" at all
times,
even when such behavior
was not
appropriate.
The case of Muhammad Sahib
suggests
that we must consider how a
particular
dream is
(or
is
not)
taken
up
in the social
order, precisely
how it is acted
upon,
and what
consequences
flow
from it. It is
likely
that Muhammad Sahib's dream faded in
significance
because it did not be-
come a nodal
point
in the
reorganization
of his life and
self-image, although
under other cir-
cumstances it
might
have. It
may
still be a
part
of his life
story
in certain
contexts,
but the
prom-
ise of that dream was not realized: he did not become a
spiritual
successor of his
pTr. However,
this failure was not
something
that was clear
immediately
after the dream: the dream continued
to be the
potential
basis for a new self
representation
and social
identity
for several
years.
discussion
Many
Pakistanis
experience
initiation dreams
very
similar to the dreams of Ahmad Sahib and
Muhammad Sahib. This
phenomenon, though taking
a
particular
form in Pakistani Muslim cul-
ture,
illustrates more
generally
how the
experience
of
spontaneous imagery
outside of con-
scious control
may
be an
expression
of an individual's
personal conflicts,
conflicts that strive
for resolution
through culturally
established means. In the two cases
presented here,
dreams
came at times of increased stress. Ahmad Sahib had his dream after
returning
from
England,
at
a time when he had to face the issue of
reconciling
two
very
different cultural traditions and
orientations to life. Muhammad
Sahib,
also
trying
to reconcile two cultural
traditions,
was fac-
ing
a crisis stimulated
by
a loss of
cognitive functioning
and the
necessity
of
giving up
his career.
Specifically,
such initiation dreams
play
an
important
role in the
shaping
of self
representations
and the
making
of decisions about one's life.
For
any
human
being,
dreams both
express
the
experience
of distress and are an effort of the
mind to relieve it. But
dreaming
can become an active effort to resolve
conflict,
a form of social
action, only
in societies where dreams are believed to be
significant.
For Pakistani
Muslims,
dreams can
play
an
especially powerful
role in the resolution of situations of
stress,
in
part
because of a
particular
constellation of beliefs about the nature of dreams and their
sources,
and in
part
because of the
way
in which
specific types
of dreams are linked to social institutions
such as initiation into a sufi order.
According
to
indigenous
dream
theory,
dreams are not sim-
ply
an
intrapsychic phenomenon.
Certain dreams
may actually
be induced
by
another human
being,
a sufi
pTr.
From this
perspective,
the dream
itself,
while
being dreamed,
is
perceived
as
a social
phenomenon.
It establishes or redefines a
relationship
between two human
beings,
the
dreamer and a
particular pTr.
This is most true of a
special
form of
dream,
the initiation
dream,
which
intricately
interweaves elements of a cultural
template
embedded in the sufi tradition
with the
specific personal
concerns of the dreamer. The sufi initiation
dream,
when commu-
nicated as a coherent
narrative,
takes on the
qualities
of a
myth
and articulates characteristics
of the social and cultural order
by
means of semiotic
processes, just
as
myths
do.
In addition to
offering
itself as an immediate resolution to the conflict
facing
the dreamer as
he
sleeps,
the initiation dream
points
to the future. It has the
potential
to
provide
the foundation
not
only
of a new social
relationship
in an
existing
social
context,
that of the sufi
order,
but also
a new
representation
of self and other.
Ideally,
if not
typically,
the result of such a dream in-
68 american
ethnologist
volves not
only acceptance
of the dreamer as a
disciple by
a
specific pTr,
but also the ultimate
selection of the dreamer as a
spiritual
successor to the
pir.
It is
particularly
in the latter case that
the dream becomes the cornerstone of a new self
representation corresponding
to a social iden-
tity
that has been
accepted
and affirmed
by
others.
The dreams examined here made it
possible
for two Western-educated
professional
men to
bridge
what
they
had felt was a chasm
between,
on the one
hand,
their
concepts
of themselves
and their
relationships
in a
working
world that has been
significantly shaped by
the
postcolonial
situation of modern
Pakistan, and,
on the other
hand,
their
experiences
of self and
relationships
in the context of their
religious
lives.
They
found solutions for themselves that involved
making
slight changes
in the semiotic
system
in which the institution of sufism is
embedded,
as well as
perhaps
more
profound changes
in the
ways
a businessman or
professional represents
himself
to self and
others, just
as
many
other
professional
men have done. Incremental
changes
such
as these
give
rise to continual transformations of both sufism and Pakistani office
relationships,
as sufism
gradually penetrates
the
working
world
(see
Ewing
1987b).
The
changes
in sufism are
evident in its institutional
arrangements,
in certain
teachings,
and in the
relationships
between
sufis and their followers.
Nevertheless,
the sufi tradition remains
fundamentally
continuous and
intact.
Wallace has observed that in situations of extreme cultural
disruption
and
stress,
the social
significance
of dreams
appears especially prominent.
Not
only may
a
significant
dream have a
transformative, therapeutic
effect on the
personality
of the individual dreamer
(Wallace
1956:271-272),
but it
may occasionally
result in the
relatively
sudden transformation of the
society
as a whole.34 But even in more stable
societies,
dreams
may
act as a mechanism of
adjustment
and
gradual
cultural
change.
When an individual dreams a
culturally prescribed
dream,
he
alters,
however
slightly,
the
culturally
transmitted dream form and its associated
social
institutions, just
as individual narrators transform a
myth
in the
telling.
This
process
of
alteration
may
take a
particular
direction when
many
individuals find themselves in similar
conflictual situations and
experience
dreams that
attempt
to resolve the conflict in similar
ways;
the result
may
be considerable cumulative
change
in the cultural
system.
Dreams are thus an
arena for the
operation
of culture as a
"system
in motion"
(Boon 1986:239),
the
components
of which exist in
dynamic
tension.
notes
Acknowledgments.
An earlier version of this article was
presented
as
part
of the
panel "Culture, Self,
and the Autonomous
Imagination"
at the Annual
Meeting
of the American
Anthropological Association,
Philadelphia,
December
5,
1986. The fieldwork on which this research is based was conducted in
Lahore,
Pakistan,
in 1975-77 and in 1984-85 and was
supported by grants
from the American Institute of Pakistan
Studies. I would like to thank Michele
Stephen,
Gilbert
Herdt,
McKim
Marriott,
Donald
Tuzin,
Waud
Kracke, Roy D'Andrade,
Melford
Spiro, Roy Wagner,
and the members of the
Triangle
South Asia Collo-
quium
for their
helpful
comments on earlier drafts. But
my greatest
debt is to the Pakistanis who shared
their dreams with me.
'For various
approaches
to this issue of the
dialogic
constitution of
selves,
see James
(1950[1890]:1,
293-
296),
Mead
(1962[1934]:140-142),
Schafer
(1976), Crapanzano (1980),
and
Singer (1980).
Though pop-
ular-and
many scholarly-Western concepts
of self assume otherwise (Erikson's [1956] concept
of iden-
tity
would be a
good example),
individuals do not construct a
single "identity"
or "self." As Schafer has
suggested,
such an
experience
of self-sameness is itself a kind of self
representation (Schafer 1976:189).
Analyses
of
dialogue
in
psychotherapeutic (Labov and Fanshel
1977)
as well as other contexts
(Ewing
1987a)
suggest
that our various self
representations
constitute a
repertoire
of
possibilities organized
into
response
structures or habitual
dispositions
(James
1950[1890]:1, 320;
Mead
1962[1934]:163;
Bourdieu
1977). Various self
representations
are often
radically inconsistent,
but such inconsistencies
may go
un-
noticed,
since self
representations
are
typically context-dependent, resulting
in what
may
be
regarded
as a
contextual unconscious based on habit
(Mead 1962[1934]:163;
Bourdieu
1977:78-79). The
prominence
of one self
representation
or another shifts from one context to another (Schafer 1976:189; Ewing
In
press).
We
may
be
quite
unaware of these
shifts,
and inconsistent self
representations may
never be
juxtaposed,
so that inconsistencies
go
unnoticed.
Alternatively,
we
may experience painful
conflict or
discontinuity
if
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 69
existing
self
representations
are not
appropriate
in
newly
encountered social
situations,
or if we are forced
to
juxtapose
inconsistent self
representations.
2Wallace observed that in situations of extreme
stress,
a dream could have a
transformative, therapeutic
effect on the
"personality" (Wallace 1956:271).
3By character,
Freud meant an individual's
permanent
constellation of
impulses, defenses,
and subli-
mations (1963 [1908]: 33).
4Following
Peirce
(1955[1940]:99),
"a
sign
... is
something
which stands to
somebody
for
something
[its
object]
in some
respect
or
capacity.
It addresses
somebody,
that
is,
creates in the mind of that
person
an
equivalent sign,
or
perhaps
a more
developed sign [the interpretant]."
Peirce's
theory
of
signs
thus
posits
a triadic relation of
sign, object,
and
interpretant.
51t follows that the self as we
represent
it to ourselves and others is not a cohesive
presymbolic entity, as,
for
example,
the theories of Kohut (1971)
would
suggest.
6The link with a
theory
of action
gives
semiotic
theory
an advantage for
present purposes
over two al-
ternative
approaches
found in
anthropology:
Saussurean
"semiology,"
the decontextualized
study
of the
(arbitrary)
relations among
signs
within a
linguistic
tradition (de Saussure
1966(19591),
or the
popular
but
rather
vague "symbology" (commonly
called
"symbolic anthropology"),
in which the main object of
study
is
symbols
and their
meanings,
the term
"symbol" being
used in a most
general
sense.
7Simmel noted the
discrepancy
that tends to
develop
between an individual's inner life and the forms in
terms of which it is articulated: "Our inner
life,
which we
perceive
as a
stream,
as an incessant
process,
as
an
up
and down of
thoughts
and
moods,
becomes
crystallized,
even for
ourselves,
in formulas and fixed
directions often
merely by
the fact that we verbalize this life. .... Whether
they
are the forms of individual
or social
life, they
do not flow as our inner
development does,
but
always
remain fixed over a certain
period
of time. For this
reason,
it is their nature sometimes to be ahead of the inner
reality
and sometimes to
lag
behind it" (1971 [1908]:352).
8The notion of a "culture
pattern
dream" was
proposed
in 1935
by
Lincoln
(1970[19351),
who made
what
today appears
to be an
arbitrary
distinction between these and "individual dreams" (see Tuzin 1975).
Building
on Lincoln's distinction and
using psychoanalytic techniques
to
investigate
how his native Amer-
ican informants used cultural elements in their
dreams,
Devereux
subsequently argued
that the culture
pattern
dream was a
product
of a
culturally inspired "secondary
elaboration" of an individual dream
(1957,
1969[19511:148). Dorothy Eggan
demonstrated how an individual
may
draw
heavily
on
myths
in
dreams,
using
them as
personal fantasy
to
help
bolster his
ego.
She even
suggested
that her
Hopi informant,
who
dreamed often of a
guardian spirit,
stimulated a
greater
interest in
guardian spirits among
others in his
village,
thus
producing
a cultural
change (1955:453).
More
recently,
Kracke has
explored
how
myths,
when
they appear
in the dreams of
particular individuals, may operate
as a
template
for the
mastery
of new
emotional
experiences
and "offer a store of
culturally
framed condensations of fantasies which can stim-
ulate the
personal fantasy process
for
integrating
difficult new
experiences"
(Kracke 1987:51).
9A
prominent example
from the
ethnographic
record of
dreaming
a
myth
is the North American Indian
vision
quest dream,
in
which,
as
part
of the rite of
passage
to
manhood,
a
boy
is
expected
to receive a
dream from his
guardian spirit,
a dream which determines his future
(see,
for
example,
Benedict
1922;
Hallowell
1966;
Lincoln
1970[1935]).
Within
Islam,
dreams are
important
in
many
social contexts and
have
shaped
the lives of
many
Muslims (see Corbin
1966;
Fahd
1966;
Grunebaum
1966;
LeCerf 1966).
10Obeyesekere (1981)
has
explored
the
personally
transformative value of certain cultural
symbols
in
ritual contexts for
religious
ecstatics in Sri Lanka. Such
symbols,
which he calls
"personal symbols,"
afford
at a
symbolic
level the resolution of
opposition
and conflict and have both sociocultural and
personal-
psychological
referents.
Although
I
agree
that the
"personal symbol"
is an
important conceptual
tool for
investigating
the
relationship
between cultural forms and
personal signification,
it is
arbitrary
to
suggest,
as
Obeyesekere does,
that
only
certain cultural
symbols
are articulated with individual
experience
and
op-
erate
simultaneously
on the levels of culture and
personality (see Obeyesekere
1981:44-51).
I would
argue
that from the
perspective
of the individual
actor,
all
symbols
are
organized self-referentially
and can serve
such functions.
1See Grunebaum (1966:7-10)
for a discussion of several sources of medieval dream
interpretation,
including
Nabulusi's (1641-1731) encyclopedic guide
to dream
interpretation,
which includes
principles
of
interpretation
that are
essentially
the same as those used
by
modern
Pakistanis, though NabulusT's
were
more
highly
elaborated. Daim (1958)
has summarized and
analyzed
the dream
theory
of the
legendary
Ibn
Sirin (d. 728),
whose work he takes to be
representative
of Arabic dream
interpretation.
Grunebaum also
discusses sufi
approaches
to
dreams,
with several references to useful sources on the
topic
(1966:14-16).
'2According
to
Peirce,
three
types
of
signs
can be identified in terms of the
relationship
each bears to the
object represented
in the
sign relationship:
the
icon,
the
index,
and the
symbol.
The icon has some
quality
in common with the
object
it stands
for,
such as
physical
resemblance. The index "refers to the
object
that
it denotes
by
virtue of
being really
affected
by
that
object" (1955[19401:102).
Peirce limits the
meaning
of
the term
"symbol"
to cases in which the
sign
refers to the
object
that it denotes
by
virtue of a rule or
convention;
there is an
arbitrary relationship
between the
sign
and the
object
which is established
only
within the
symbol-using
mind
as,
for
instance,
is the case for most
linguistic signs (1955[1940]:114).
131t should be noted that not all Pakistanis have these
beliefs,
and
certainly
not all
experience prescient
dreams and the
like;
even within the same
family,
there will be different
emphases,
if not
actually
different
belief structures.
70 american
ethnologist
'4One's
pTr may
even be
already
dead at the time of the dream. This does
not,
at least
according
to some
Pakistanis,
affect the
relationship
between
pTr
and
disciple.
'5Self representations always
exist in
relationship
to
representation
of others. A new self
representation,
such as that of sufi
disciple,
acts as an
ego-syntonic image
which attaches itself to and
displaces existing
self
representations.
These earlier self
representations may
be
conceptualized
as a
developmental
"chain"
of
images
which involve attachments to an
authority figure
in
ways
that
emotionally replicate
childhood
patterns.
The new
representation may
be transformative and
healing,
because earlier
images
had become
unacceptable (ego dystonic), resulting
in conflict and
vigorous
efforts to
repress
what were felt to be un-
acceptable
wishes and needs. This "attachment" of a new
symbolic
form to old
configurations
is
essentially
the
process
that Freud described in his discussion of dream
formation,
in which
repressed
material attaches
itself to
insignificant "day
residue." Freud labeled this
process "transference,"
and understood the rela-
tionship
between
patient
and
therapist
in similar terms (Freud 1965[1900] :601).
i61n Peirce's rather
complex
scheme for
classifying
all
possible sign relationships
into ten
categories,
a
cultural
template may
be understood as a "rhematic iconic
legisign" (Peirce 1955[1940]:116).
The dream
template
is rhematic because it is
pure possibility-that is,
the
template
is not itself
any particular
instance
of a
dream;
it is iconic because it has some
quality
in common with the
object
it stands
for;
and it is a
legisign
because it
operates
as a
general
law or
type,
the
way
a
diagram
does. A
particular
dream is an
interpretant
of this "rhematic iconic
legisign,"
and this
interpretant is,
in
turn,
a
sign
with its own
interpre-
tants.
'7According
to Freud
(1965[19001),
dreams are
products
of the individual
psyche. Though
Freud noted
the existence of universal dream
symbols,
such as
flying,
which have their roots in universal human child-
hood
experiences,
he demonstrated the
idiosyncratic significance
of the
symbols appearing
in a dream. He
stressed that in order to discover the
significance
of
any particular dream,
the
interpreter
must have access
to the dreamer's "free associations" to the dream.
Nevertheless,
in his
interpretations
of the dreams of his
patients,
he made
heavy
use of the
culturally organized imagery
and
knowledge
that he shared with those
patients. Culturally organized imagery
is the
"vocabulary"
out of which the initiation dream is constructed.
"8According
to
Corbin,
this is a
diary
of visions entitled Kashf al-asrar
(Uncovering
of Secrets), which
Ruzbehan assembled at the
age
of
55;
it is based on
experiences
that
began
in his fifteenth
year (Corbin
1966:388). Corbin calls these
experiences "visionary
dreams." Muslims do not
typically
make a clear dis-
tinction between dreams and
visions,
since both are believed to come from the same
sources, though
whether one is in a
waking
or a
sleeping
state when one receives a
visionary experience
does reflect the
level of one's
spiritual development (Corbin 1966:384;
Meier
1966:422).
19The
encoding
of the dreamer's
high spiritual
rank is also
suggested by
another detail. When Ruzbehan
Baqli
looks at the two
sufis,
he sees his own face in
theirs, indicating
that he himself is one of the saints in
the dream.
20The seclusion of
women,
for
instance,
makes the distinction between inside and outside
particularly
salient. Even the
interpretation
of the Koran is based on this
type
of contrast.
According
to
many sufis,
the
Koran has an esoteric "inner"
meaning
and an exoteric "outer"
meaning.
The
body
is also
conceptualized
in these terms: the
physical body
is exterior and the
spirit
is interior.
21That this is a
bodily image
is
suggested by
the final
segment
of the
dream,
in which he notices seven
openings through
which God shows himself to the
dreamer, suggesting
the seven orifices of the dreamer's
body.
22As Freud sees
it,
the manifest content of a dream is
merely
the outcome of extensive
symbolic manip-
ulations (the "dream
work")
on the
part
of the dreamer. Freud was interested in
exposing
the latent content
of dreams
by identifying
the
symbolic processes by
means of which
unacceptable
wishes and conflicts
buried in the unconscious are
disguised
and translated into the manifest content.
23Freud used the term "overdetermined" with reference to dream
symbols
to mean that several
separate
trains of
thought converge
at and are
expressed by
the same
image (1965 [1900] :317-318).
24For the
purpose
of
illustration,
we can take the
analysis further, tentatively hypothesizing
that under-
lying
the immediate stress of "culture shock" is a
regressive
wish for oral
dependency, perhaps
stimulated
by
the recent
experience
of stress and
expressed
in the
image
of
being
fed. Ahmad Sahib reacts with
anxiety
to the
expression
of this
wish,
as if
giving
in to it will lead to abandonment and unendurable loss.
251n the context of modern
Pakistan,
such a transformation is not
implausible. Particularly
since
Partition,
many
such Pakistani men are able to
operate
in a business and
professional
world which is infused with
Western values and
language,
while
simultaneously maintaining public reputations
as sufis
(see
Ewing
1987b).
26Muhammad Sahib
explained
that at the time of the dream he had
already
met Sufi
Sahib,
but since the
pTr
of his dream did not
appear
to resemble Sufi
Sahib,
he had
thought
that he must have seen a different
sufi with the same name. When he later discovered that the
pTr
of his dream had the
appearance
of
Miyan
Sher
Muhammad,
who had been Sufi Sahib's
teacher,
he then knew that Sufi Sahib was
actually
the
pTr
in
his dream. The dream also
proved
to Muhammad Sahib that Sufi Sahib had taken on all the characteristics
of Sufi Sahib's teacher and for this reason had
appeared
in the form of
Miyan
Sher Muhammad in the dream.
27The extent to which the manifest content of these initiation dreams rests on a cultural
template
is further
demonstrated
by
the fact that both dreams conclude with the name of a saint
running through
the mind of
the dreamer as he
awakens, although
that name is not
actually spoken by
either of the saints in the dream.
the dream of
spiritual
initiation 71
28Miyan
Sher
Muhammad,
who was Sufi Sahib's
spiritual guide, belonged
to the
Naqshbandi
order of
sufis,
rather than to the
Qadiri order,
but Sufi Sahib claimed links to both orders and held
monthly
rituals
in honor of
cAbdu'l-Qadir GTlni,
thus
accounting
for the latter's
appearance
in Muhammad Sahib's dream.
29Freud also discusses the use of
homonyms
and
punning during dreaming.
He observes that a dream
will often abandon the
meaning
that a word
originally
had in the
thoughts
of the dreamer (the latent content)
and
give
it a fresh one consistent with the
imagery
of the manifest content of the dream. This is
particularly
true of
speeches
that occur in dreams. Such
speeches typically
are
amalgamations
of
fragments
of utter-
ances that have
actually
been
heard,
a kind of
"day
residue" that is
being
used to
convey
another
meaning
(Freud 196511900]:454-455).
30The
possibility
that Muhammad Sahib tries to use his intellect to
compensate
for disturbances in his
affective
functioning
at a
pre-verbal
level is also
suggested by
the fact that the saints do not offer him food
in the
dream,
an omission that derives its
significance
from the
"vocabulary"
we have seen
employed
in
the other initiation dreams. He receives words when he needs sustenance.
31Muhammad Sahib
began
our conversation with an account of
why
he had first come to Sufi Sahib. He
had had several
motorcycle
accidents between 1967 and
1969,
which he attributed to
repeated episodes
of
mysterious
water and even blood
splashing
in his face as he drove. The
accidents, particularly
the
first,
had caused some serious head
injuries
and had
impaired
his
cognitive functioning
and
memory.
Then in
1969 he had
begun
to be bothered
by
some kind of female
apparition
that
repeatedly
tried to suffocate him
in his bed. Because of the
apparition
his wife
sought
out Sufi
Sahib,
who cured him of this
problem
and
also of the
problem
of water and blood
splashing
in his face. After he met Sufi Sahib he continued to suffer
from headaches and had
difficulty
even
reading newspapers.
His
job
involved
budgetary responsibilities,
and he could
only
work two or three hours a
day.
His doctors had
begun
to attribute his
ongoing
difficulties
to
psychological problems.
32Neither his
experience
of
mysterious happenings
such as blood and water
splashing
in his face nor his
possession experience
fit
easily
into his
cognitive
orientation-he was
highly
educated and
spent
much of
his
professional
time with
Europeans.
His
possession-like experiences
of
spirits
were
intrusive, disruptive,
and evidence that his defenses were
failing.
These
experiences suggest
that he was
experiencing
consid-
erable
regression
in his
psychological functioning
in the face of the stresses associated with his head
injuries
and
job
difficulties and found himself unable to defend himself
against
the intrusion of
disturbing thoughts
and
impulses.
Under these
circumstances,
he formed an intense attachment to Sufi Sahib. He was
explicit
about certain transference elements in this
relationship,
which he
expressed
in a
culturally
standard
way:
"He is
just
like a father to me." He used Sufi Sahib as a "self
object,"
who functioned to shore
up
his
defenses (see Kohut 1971:26-27).
33When I met him in
1976,
after his dream
experience,
he was
spending
two or three hours
daily serving
his
pTr-answering
his
telephone, doing errands,
and
sitting
in his
presence.
He
spent
so much time with
Sufi
Sahib,
he
said,
"Because I love him. I find in him
parental
love."
34Wallace was interested in revitalization
movements,
which often
rely heavily
on dreams as a source
of
inspiration
for social action and
change.
These are situations in which individuals have been
severely
disrupted
and face irreconcilable
conflicts,
and old cultural forms are
violently
transformed.
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submitted 1 March 1989
accepted
21
July
1989
74 american
ethnologist