I picked out a tattoo in my dream

So … I don’t want to be a reactionary or anything like that but one of the trends that has left its … hmm…mark… on me the last few years is the tattoo culture.

Old man yells at clouds in the shape of tattoo

It is all the more easy to remark whenever I come back to Canada or North America in general. It is also more and more visible in Europe (depending on the country and region of course), and you see it a lot more as well amongst celebrities, athletes and so on.

And there is certainly still a stigma that goes with tattoos, at least here in France : like pretty much everything else, things are indicative of your social class. I’m not making a judgment about this so much as I’m making an observation and a statement of fact.

So … why the superficial social commentary on tattoos you ask? Well let me tell you.

So I had a weird dream the other night. As usual, I could not tell you with an ounce of certainty what the dream was about, though there is a vague notion remaining in my mind that it had something to do with lord of the ring or maybe harry potter (neither of which actually figure into this story). In either case I was to maybe be initiated into a group, or had been, and therefore at some point had to get a tattoo of my choice as a sign of belonging.

I remember the consternation even in my dream, since tattoos are definitely not my thing. Outside of the fact that I have rarely ever found one particularly aesthetic, there’s something about their definitiveness that really bothers. And as a final point I think I would be too ill at ease with the judgments I would receive from a lot of people people important to me (family mostly) that I have never even remotely considered it.

Dream logic, however, is different. And so I distinctly remember this dilemma throughout the dream and even as I passed on to another dream of the two main questions involved with the task that had been lain out before me :

1. what tattoo should I get ?
2. where should the tattoo go?

Another amateur thought-stream on tattoos

So, obviously, this dream isn’t the first time I’ve thought about the tattoos. As one who is, at best not understanding them, and at worst horrified at the idea of them, the running question throughout my adult life has been : by why? Why would anyone get one? What does it mean? How do you choose what? and why do you make that choice.

I guess it makes sense, for someone in my position who considers this a big deal to overthink something like this. (In fairness, there are few things in life I do not overthink, be it getting a tattoo, deciding to have a kid, or choose what phone case I should buy).

One thing is for sure (and no judging me for it): I cannot abide the idea of a tattoo as a lark, for a joke, without significance. So, yea, I have a lot of trouble understanding people who get tattoos so frivolously here and there.

Which means that there has to at least a significance and thought put into the process of tatouage in order for me to be able to understand at least and then to appreciate it. And there are times when I actually don’t mind it. For example the idea of the Olympic Rings as a tattoo (that Alex Baumann popularized) was always a draw. But since I never quite made the qualifying times for the Olympic Trials that’s kinda out of the question (sadly). I can also at times see a tattoo which is just aesthetically beautiful, as a piece of art. these tend to be more small it think and less front and centre (i guess less deforming the body, if one can put it that way).

I’d have thought earlier in my life maybe if it was something of some sort of a nationalistic significance (not in a warlike way but hommage to your birthplace) might have been something I could imagine, but that is less and less the case with age.

Another question is do you want it to have a significance for you or to have a message in a more outwardly way. I don’t know if I can answer, but - and this was also the case in my dream logic - it’d have to mean something to me first and foremost.

A tall order?

So the question becomes then what would have a great significance to me, that is somewhat subtle and yet aesthetic, and whose significance would not be applicable to a period in my life but rather all of it?

You can imagine the stress I was feeling when I had to come up with all that, during my dream, since on top of everything else, apparently our group had made the decision to get this thing done before the dream was over!!!

But, very surprisingly (if I’m being honest), an idea started to form in my mind. I could not tell you if it started with the form or the content, but it was the idea of something in the form of a ring, maybe higher up on an arm, something that would usually be covered up by clothing, but that I could see without needing a mirror. And then while I could not justify it being only something geometric. So then what could it be? writing! Writing has meaning and a message and significance, or it can.

This too shall pass

And so, still in the dream amazingly enough the answer came to me : “This too shall pass”. I think I would like to write about that at some point, since it’s something that has always been with me, has cultural significance as well as spiritually.

Here is the short version : This is a Persian maxim meaning “This too shall pass”. The idea behind, which is so powerful and has been since I discovered it as a child, is one that anchored in Iranian culture : that everything passes.

The idea of the impermanence and evanescence of things is a very eastern idea. In the briefest of explanations it is a reminder that nothing lasts forever. This is as much true for good things as it is for bad things.

So if you’re going through a tough time, know that this too shall pass and don’t get down. But if you’re going through a good time and prosperity know that this too shall pass and so don’t get too dependent and hooked on it, because when it does pass you will suffer.

The final aspect of this that really drew me to this as an acceptable tattoo is Persian calligraphy, and the fact that this maxim has seen may incarnations in various calligraphic forms, many of which I have always found beautiful (big fan of person calligraphy here, especially the modern which is has become a mix of calligraphy and painting basically).

So there you have it, before I woke up actually was able to find something that I would be willing to get on me as a tattoo, at least in that dream! Pretty sure I still wouldn’t do it in real life.

But where?

So in the dream the solution was i suppose in the form of a ring around my upper arm, somewhere that is not a prominent display of the thing, a sort of calligraphy in the form of a ring … but i guess i remain open to suggestions !