I have had a recurring apocalyptic dream sequence off and on since I was six years old. The earliest one I cannot forget is that I and assorted family members and members of my local community were in a cave, (a familiar one that I had visited a couple of times even at that young age).

I was sorting through canned food with several others, as we heard the distant explosions of a nuclear exchange muffled by our distance from the impact zone and our depth underground. Many of us crept up to the mouth of the cave shortly afterward and briefly looked out. Everthing still looked fairly normal but eerily still with ashes falling from the sky. Even though I was a very little child I was kind of indifferent in a wierd way. Not frightened just sort of watching and accepting it.

I am sure I have forgotten many of the dreams like it in the meantime, but I know as I was growing up I had that exact dream several times. (never frightened me in my dream but it was a bit shivery to wake up from)

Most recently I have been at a training class about 7 hours from my home - Last week I had a dream that kept me asleep almost all saturday- It was as if I couldnt wake from it. It proceeds as follows:

In the dream, I awaken from the hotel bed and that same ash I have always seen in the prior dreams is coating everything. I see fires and smoke rising distantly. For some odd reason the electricity etc is still working fine at the inn and seems fine in my immediate area. Some people are walking outside, looking stunned - staring into the fires and smoke in the distance. Soot blankets them as well. Cars are in the parking lot - covered as if with dirty grey snow.

I dressed and stepped out into the hotel hallway. People were scrambling about. I dont think anyone was sure what to do. I bumped into a gentleman with a green jacket with a logo that looked like some sort of air service. He approached me and asked if I had a car, and that his buddies took off with the rental last night. It seemed understood that they would not return.

I replied that I did but it was small. For some reason I either ignored or didnt see my coworkers that were in the hotel with me.

The man- a pilot as it turns out, tells me "we need to get out of here- load up everything you can and we will get to my plane. It is at a small airport not too far from here.

We proceeded to stuff our things into my car and headed to the airport. His plane turned out to be one of those small charter learjets. We first take off and head directly to South Africa. We unload our things into a wooded 2 wheeled ox cart and roll it into a hanger. He speaks with a man at the airport and he stands by guarding our things. After fueling the plane we take off again. As if it were understood that we had to go back.

He states that some companies have hired him to go back and pick up an assortment of thier workers and a set of work tools from my company, in south Texas.

The pilot tells me he is very worn out tired and teaches me how to pilot the plane. We go over take off and landing procedures in some detail.

He awakens as we prepare to land the plane. He instructs me to land it with him carefully watching and tells me to let go of the controls if it gets spooky. Still there is destruction everywhere in the distance. There does not appear to be any power now.

I land the plane without incident.

Among the people waiting at the small airport to load up are several people whom I work with (from my base which is in S. Tx. and a couple of good friends, only one of which I have been on speaking terms with in several years. They have some of thier pets with them, as do many of my coworkers. The two friends of mine I encounter are a couple. One of them works for a competing company in my same industry.

There are several other people from assorted companies in that same industry which are waiting to board the plane. My friends quietly board the plane saying little to me- they look tired but relieved. I think the one Ive always been closer to says thank you, very quietly, then somberly boards the plane and sits quietly as do the rest of the passengers. The tools we loaded are jammed into the center isle of the little jet. They are causing everyone a bit of inconvenience and discomfort.

I look apologetically at the passengers and shrug, then I crawl into the copilots seat. My pilot friend tells me we must briefly go back to the hotel which is seven hours by car, only a few minutes by jet, and about a ten minute car ride.

It takes us a bit longer to get to the city where the hotel is because we must avoid the radioactive plumes of smoke that dot the sky everywhere, All of us realize we are being irradiated and have been since the initial exchange but all seem to go on- accepting of this.

Somehow another friend of mine has picked up my mother and a pair of my housecats and we find them waiting for us looking badly worn, and soot blackened. They squeeze into the plane as well. I ask my pilot friend how much can be loaded before we cannot fly. He tells me the little plane is fairly overpowered for its size and not to worry about it.

Swiftly we jump into my car that has been left waiting, We return to the hotel and pick up a friend of his and several bags of something, I believe they turn out to be gold or silver, at least some form of exchange that is still recognized. The friend has also gathered many cans of food and boxes of what look to be serial and has them in gathered in plastic bags. We load them into the friends pickup.

As we head out I toss my car keys to a man smoking outside the hotel lobby. I tell him, enjoy while you can its a great car, its a sort of a sad joke- but its understood by the man. He gives me a nod. It appears he is worn completely down. He says thanks, now I can get the hell out of here. I see him head back into the hotel. There are almost no cars in the lot or on the street, It seems like they have all driven off somewhere.

Everythings still covered in radioactive grey dust. It looks like ground zero from NY 9/11 everywhere. The power has gone out by now, it is daytime but almost dark outside.

It hasnt been 20 minutes since we left the airport when we arrive back, shove the food into the cabin and the man finds his way to sitting on one of the tools (the tools are round- about 4 inches in diameter and about 10 feet long each.) He sits about halfway into the cockpit. The pilot has loaded the other 'stuff' (the 'money' ? gold or whatever it is)
and we take off again. We head again for south arica. This time we have to stop somewhere before we reach our destination, for fuel. A good bit of the 'gold' or whatever is removed from the back of the plane and pays for the fuel.

We land back at the airport in South Africa where the air is still clear and the sun is shining. We put everyone elses gear into other carts that appear to be oxcarts. The tools get lain out on the floor in the hanger with my own belongings.

My mother, friends, coworkers and other passengers head out across a wide grassy plain, the airport is in the middle of absolutely no where. It seems as though its in some kind of national park. A group of gentlemen greet us in green jeeplike vehicle and point us toward what looks to be some kind of safari lodge.

The people are distributed into various rooms with myself and the pilot helping unload thier things. It seems like they will all be staying there. I wave to my mother and my friend that brought her to the airport comes with myself and the pilot back to the airport. We settle in at the hanger. The last bit of the dream I am in coveralls working on the plane.

It was so odd and so detailed I slept almost all day. When I finally did wake up I had to look out the window- just to make sure the world was still out there.

I have had a few dreams that might repeat a similar theme once, but apart from falling dreams I also had as a child, none of them have had a theme that repeats fairly often across years- except these apocalyptic ones. The story is always fairly similar. I always survive with assorted others, not always family members, and I always lead them to hunt out food and water, then we all wander off to a semi safe haven.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 40, Texas

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by they way, I wouldnt feel hurt at all if I could stop having those dreams. They frighten me when I wake up, and when I wake up its always late and I am always in a cold sweat. Any insight into stopping them would be welcome.

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Dawn,
A very long narrative that will take some time to digest. I will do so later today when my time is not so limited. I want to give as good an interpretation as possible and not let time be a deterrent.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 57 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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Well the end of the world can be translated into many everyday emotions. Such as when an exboyfriend talks about how upset he is and how he cannot possibly live without her. Its just a symbol for day to day feelings. Its excpressing how we feel. Young children may constantlky touch on day to day fears about how bad things can be. They maybe for some nreason see other people who live in an unfortune poverty ridden state. That there own well to do lifestyle is not the normaility that they see. That people can live in other ways...

Dream dictionary

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Dawnstorm,
Your detailed dream is far beyond interpreting in a manner that covers every aspect of the dream. Not many dreams are as full as this one. The jest of the dream seems to be related possibly to your personality, more likely observing recurring and continuing responsibilities that you must undertake. Your outlook on life may have much to do with these dreams, and that being;
things often 'seem' to be very difficult for you even in the mundane everyday existence you live. But beyond that you are able to overcome, take control and survive.

Do you have an outlook on life where you often fear your life could fall apart in an instance {an apocalyptic outlook on life}? This may be reinforced due to responsibilities you have in life that help create your fears. You feel the weight of responsibilities is on your shoulders and failure will be letting everyone down. This is an outlook you may possess but because of realities in life, perseverance, and the need to uphold your responsibilities, you overcome and survive.

Much of this attitude probably stems from childhood since parts of the dream recur starting from childhood. You possibly inherited traits possessed by a parent who had the same attitude. Is that the case, one or both of your parents possessed this same attitude? That could explain the origins of your apocalyptic attitude and why you had such dreams early in life.

Let me know your thoughts and perhaps we can discover other possibilities to your Apocalyptic dreams.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 57 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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As I got older my mom sort of had apocalyptic feelings. But owing to the early dreams and the way they shaped my outlook and have troubled me that may be my influence instead of the other way around. I dont recall her being that way when I was little. She was more the keep involved scoutleader type.

Since kindegarted I was fairly picked on as a kid. But not severely until I got to be about 8.

After that point a team of guys started beating me up with regularity. They would wait in the busline and steal my lunchbox.. and clobber me with it. And swing me around and throw me by my long hair. (they didnt stop as years went on. Several bones of mine got stress fractured or cracked. Only one to cast level- and fortunately it was just a long bone crack that only needed a light cast- not the full plaster job)

I am sure this contributed - I know it gave me other nightmares but the same old cave one continued just exactly the same until I was in highschool- when it started to get more detailed and evolved into more complicated dreams with the same theme.

Maybe the first few made my attitude gloomy and brought on some of the picking on when I was little? I know I retain a little of that gloomy overdramatic style. I am guessing thats from trying to get adult attention to get those guys to stop, it never worked. Maybe a pattern of behavior now I dont have very good control of.

That would explain the apocalyptic part of it. The fact I am leading people is strange to me. It did implant the desire to lead as a kid but Ive never fully figured out how to do it.

I can lead- and in a classroom setting Im quite good at it . Outside of that though- I'd say my skills in leadership are a bit mediocre, at best. It has good moments but when it goes bad its um from a fairly bad failure on my part. Sometimes I just dont know how to fix a situation all that successfuly, or to make a guy do something he really does not want to do.

I've got a pretty good IQ- probably not so much as it tested when I was a kid - so sometimes I may be over proud and sensative about it. (I know my spellings gone to pot- probably keeping up with my deplorable grammer)

Could this be somehow related to what you are speaking of? The only thing that irritates so much is the young age they started at. (may have served to screw me up) And how to get rid of them. I cant wake up when I have them - at all- till the dream decides its finished. Thank God they arent all that frequent, and have never happened on a worknight.

-Pardon me for my habitual over long typing, and rambling style. I am trying very hard to understand all this-

Thank You though. I appreciate your insight

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Dawnstorm,
The experiences you spoke of as a child could very well be the nexus of your apocalyptic dreams. The stimulus in childhood often carries over into adulthood. Depending on the individual such experiences may or may not be enough to present an unconscious apocalyptic attitude. But normally that attitude would be reflected in your waking hours.

How is your outlook on life in the present? Are there apocalyptic feelings in any part of your life? any Unless there was sevier trauma resulting from those childhood experiences, the dreams you have now should reflect more of your present life's condition. Of course for some such childhood experiences, even though not traumatic but influencing, could still haunt you in your adult years. Do you feel those childhood experiences are still a probelm for you?

Gerard

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Gerard,

My life seems to stay hanging on fairly tenuous financial grounds and at a fairly high stress level.
Maybe some of it is hasty choices. As for the things in my youth affecting me- some do- I got beaten up pretty badly, then something that happened to me right after army basic kind of reinforced some of it.

But apocalyptic, I dont know- there is one thing I caused myself which was betraying the trust of some of my closest friends that sometimes makes me feel really alone and miserable (and very guilty- regardless of the circumstances). But not apocalyptic.

Upset is different. Id think I dreamt of people hurting me, but that never happens. Think its just a feeling of unfulfilled promise? (you are making me think very hard)

DS

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