Poetics of Wonder: Dream-Consciousness and Transformational Dynamics in Sixth-Century Miracle Stories 1

Abstract

This chapter investigates evidence in late sixth-century miracle stories of the experiential role of what must be many different kinds of noncommon-sense states of consciousness. Modem psychologists approach the great variety of these modes of consciousness from an experimental angle. The sixth-century bishop and hagiographer Gregory of Tours tells us an extraordinary story in which he lets us see how this can happen in the religious context. The memory image of the miracle story instantly focuses Gregory&s;s attention on discerning, and affectively experiencing, a non-spatio-temporal dynamic of the “really real” reality taught by the Church. A story of a miracle which Fortunatus himself saw yields first-hand information, and therefore perhaps a more trustworthy report. The evidence from different cultural contexts appears to indicate that affect-laden images, especially when experienced in an imaginal or dreamlike mode of consciousness, can in fact give transforming messages to the body.