Andrea’s Personal Pantheon

Cycling -> past the Kaiser-Friedrich-Memorial-Church to the sea

Sometimes I am traveling by bike in my dreams. There is the Kaiser Friedrich Memorial Church, and then, next to some rocks, there is a wonderful river that leads to the sea. The water of the river is turquoise and completely transparent. There are already a few people swimming in it, and I also really want to dive into that river. However, it is not easy to get there because of the rocks.

The dream then has different endings. Sometimes I suddenly find myself swimming in the water, but it’s a bit scary. An animal approaches and it’s not entirely clear whether it is a hippopotamus or a crocodile. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get to the sea yet. Maybe it will happen, but maybe not.

It seems to be about longings, although it’s not clear to me what they are. But every time I drive past the Memorial Church and see the river, I am filled with joy.

Churches as such have a strong fascination and appeal, even if you are not a member of these religious organizations. So much

collective energy, blood, sweat, tears and hopes have flowed into and are tied to these buildings. City halls and palaces may have been de-dedicated or razed, but these monuments to collective madness will likely endure to the end.

The Kaiser Friedrich Memorial Church has something particularly sympathetic due to the unrepaired damage from the Second

World War and of course is also one of Berlin’s landmarks.

I like to explore my dreams because of the shift from the real to the unreal. The transition is so fluent. In our dreams usually we do not even recognize the situation as unreal. I’m not interested as much in the absurd (like melting clocks) as in these thin lines, where reality shifts. When I see the rocks and the river behind the church in my dream, different places and times are merged into one situation and while feeling, that this is not quite normal, I’m welcoming it as my reality.