Would you like to describe The Garden for the Electric Dreams community?

H: The Garden has many levels to it (kindof like dreams, I suppose!). My stock answer is that The Garden is a community of people who care for our planet and each other, and support each other as we grow. We use the Internet and other ways of doing that. From another perspective, The Garden is a spiritual family or "tribe." The way many of us feel about each other is like the way you might feel about a friend that you have just met, but feel you have known for years, and you end up spending all night sharing with that person. From yet another perspective (since this Interview is about dreams!), The Garden is based on a real dream I had that the Internet could become a place of love, peace, beauty, and understanding.

VQ: So, in this dream were there many other people, or other strong images?

H: Basically, the dream went as follows:

I descended to an area which was extremely noisy, with lots of flashing lights etc. The place was filled with video games. I felt this place was Hell. Then, as I walked past, a beautiful plant or flower appeared in one place, then another, and another.

I woke up and immediately realized that I had just discovered part of my life's work -- that the Internet (and our high tech world) could be transformed into a "garden" of love, peace, beauty, and understanding.

VQ: How do you personally regard dreams?

H: Since The Garden, which is a major part of my life's work, came from a dream, I would have to say that I regard dreams as rather important!
I have had several other dreams that have made an extremely big impact on my life, offering me critical insights into myself and my life's work. My perspective is that life is largely about learning, and dreams allow me to learn about things in a different way, on different levels, than my waking life. Partly this is because I have so many control issues that it is only when I'm asleep that I'm able to be fully open.

I keep paper beside my bed and write down my dreams immediately (or else I forget them), and since I wake up frequently at night, I write down a LOT of dreams. Since it is dark, however, I can't always read what I have written the next day!!!

VQ: Do you often discuss your dreams with others?

H: Rarely. I have never shared The Garden dream with anyone except my wife, and was rather hesitant to share it here. My feeling is that dreams, in most cases, are lessons meant for us as individuals. The meaning of those dreams, symbols and so forth, are based on our own experience and perspective. In general, I don't feel it's useful to share my dreams with others, since those dreams weren't meant for them, and may be interpreted in a dramatically different way, which may not be useful for me or them. As I just wrote those words, I realized that my perspective (on sharing dreams) is based on certain assumptions of who I am as an individual, and what type of relationships I have with others. I would be open to reconsidering the value of sharing dreams with certain people, under certain circumstances, with certain intentions, if appropriate opportunities arose.

Yours,

Habib
Host of The Garden
Web: http://www.thegarden.net
Email: habib@thegarden.net
ICQ: 7649155