parables, as  having  a message to be shared. As  a  writer,
his concern is to use a phrase spoken by a poet in one of
Howard's dreams  about  writing, "to be a messenger and
deliver the message."
     Just what kind of messages is Howard delivering? The
question is  asked by the more circumspect psychologist
within   me.   Some   of  Howard's  dream   messages  are
clearly personal  and even the dreamer within  me shrugs
in non—recognition of the imagery. Many of the dreams
deal with Howard's struggle to be a writer. Some of these
have  clear  messages   to  any of  us  wrestling  with   the
demands  of creativity. ( A person seriously interested in
developing creative writing  from dreams  would  do well
to  study, in conjunction  with Dream Journal, Howard's
book  of  prose  parables,  A  Blessing  Over  Ashes, also
available   from   Tree   Books.)  Then   there   are   many
dreams  dealing  with  Howard's  relation with  his father,
who  died  midway through the journal.  Those of  us who
are sons can  identify emotionally  with the stories these
dreams  contain.  Connected  with  the  symbol of Father
are  the many dreams concerning Howard's investigation
of  the meaning  of his Jewish heritage. Here  we can get
a  sense, whether  we are Jewish or not, of  the ability  of
dreams   to   unearth  the  root  values   of  tradition. And
finally,     there     are    many     dreams    that   transcend
personality  and culture, that deliver  messages about the
eternal  cycle  of   being  that   is  discovered  within  the
symbolic  life: "There  is  a  lady  at  the center of  things
whose job it is to fix and sew tattered robes."
     I   know  from  experience  that  there  is  a difference
between   dreaming   dreams   of   great   truth  and  being
consciously aware of the truth. Many of our  dreams  are
oracles  that  go  unrecognized.  It   happens to  me  quite
often  that  someone   will come  up   to  me  and, for  no
apparent  reason,  tell  me  a  dream   that   so profoundly
delivers  a  message  that  I   really  needed   to  hear;  the
dreamer  himself,   however,  will   regard   the dream  as
merely  interesting.  And so with Howard's journal, since
reading  it  has  provided  me  much  illumination, I  can't
help  but wonder to what extent  is Howard aware  of  the
messages  his  dreams contain. My curiosity is  satisfied

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