I think your onto something. People will say to me 'It must be have been difficult..'
And I respond with " Not really. It's what I've always done. I don't even think about it anymore."
I'm not trying to be tough, it's really how I feel. It has been this way for as long as I can remember I was so young when these issues came up that I couldn't possibly remember how or why I chose the path I did, let alone the difficulty of it. Hence a world of nightmares that I have come to see as home, yes?

thought it was 'too late' to go slowly.
I've realized just how immature I actually am and thought 'I'm 27, I should not be acting this way' and that if i did not 'grow up' I would be left behind. I know 27 isn't old but I recall from my psych class that it is around the age we stop 'growing' and become set in our ways.
But your words have been so inspiring that they have changed my perspective; 27 years is nothing to a lotus flower. I can take my time to grow, and I will.
Thank you.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 27 Seattle

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Kaze,
My response about your possibly needing more psychological help was prompted by your last response to my post. I can not help if you do not recognize the associations from my interpretations. You have to recognize 'the opposites'.

The titles of your posts, 'can't remember and wont stop raining, suggests there are deeper issues within the unconscious that need attention. Your responses to other posts also illustrate the deeper conflicts. As much as I wish to help you resolve these internal conflicts I am limited to what I can do. I do suggest another trying psychologist if the last one you visited said there were no real problems in your emotional life. Dreams do not lie. Interpreting them is one way to understand what is really within the psyche. My may be presumptuous, even to the point of being a bit arrogant, but in my years of interpreting dreams I have learned to read dreams and when there is an abundant number of symbols and/or motifs that point to an internal aspect, I trust my 'Jungian' insights that they are true. Or close enough to the truth. So I hope you take my advice as constructive criticism.

Not that you need to refrain from posting your dreams. As you have witnessed over the pass two days there are those who wish to help who have posted their comments. This is one of the valuable assets of the Dream Forum, the generosity of those who do care. Over the years this has always been true. I attribute this to the Jungian approach to self help and the inherent spiritual aspect of the psyche. Those who do post on a regular basis are either already 'jungians' or are on the path of being so. A 'jungian', and I use that word with a small j so not to heap praise on the man but his philosophies, is someone who has begun to understand the 'secrets' available within the psyche. The 'secrets' are not really secret at all, they are merely inherent knowledge we all possess but few dare to explore. They have to do with the emotions. Exploring ones emotional life, that is the beginning to learning, and understanding such 'secrets'.

If I may I would like to expand on the subject of secrets in my response to your post. As you already know dreams use the language of symbol and metaphor to reveal the 'secrets' within the psyche of the dreamer. And to better understand that language we can look to mythology {the universal language of the soul/psyche} to help us understand what our dreams are trying to convey. Perhaps a good example of how symbol and metaphor are used in myth we can use the story of Jesus on the cross {understanding that all religions are myths}. To believe that this really happened requires faith, something I have little use for when it comes to spirituality. But if you apply the story to your personal life, the death and resurrection is what needs to happen to you. A death to the ego centered/material life and a resurrection to the spiritual Self. This application of Jesus on the cross, his death and resurrection, is a metaphor for the personal life. And when you apply it to your life you begin to understand such 'secrets' of the psyche. And understanding symbol and metaphor is where Joseph Campbell's teaching become so important. He was the master of symbol and metaphor.

One other great example of Jesus and metaphor comes from the Gnostic text the Gospel of Thomas. These are 114 parables, symbolic language, spoken by Jesus {read the story of the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels-its enlightening to say the least}. For me the most valuable parable is 108 {108=9, the number for the Goddess in Greek myth, or the feminine aspect in Jungian psyche}. Here is that parable:

Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."

Apply that to the individual. He who becomes like Jesus becomes Jesus. Not a 'literal' thing but metaphorical. In other words WWJD. Do as Jesus would do in every instance of your life and you become like Jesus. "I shall become that person".
And the the 'hidden things' are those 'secrets' I spoke of. It is purely a psychological thing. To learn to think in symbol and metaphor opens up a whole new world. You can take everyone of the 114 parables and read them metaphorically and they begin to have real meaning. Even the bible, when read metaphorically, takes on new meaning.
Parable 113: His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"

"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."

Unlike the teachings of the bible which tells us we must bring God 'in', the heretic christians of the 1st century believed that God is already 'within' and needs only to be recognized as being so and brought out. This is the 'Jesus' within, a metaphor for living a life that Jesus would want us to live.

Now that you are thoroughly confused, the Gnostic teachings are pure Buddhism. Buddhism is a psychology and not a religion. I will let you read the relationship between the two from a page at Wikipedia, Buddhism and Gnosticism. Note the reference to Elaine Pagels. Early on she has been a great influence in my understanding of metaphor, symbol, religion and true spirituality.

Sorry to get off subject. But I want to illustrate the importance of understanding what is 'within' is so important to what happens 'outside'. That can come from self understanding by way of Jung's Individuation Process or getting help from a trained psychologist, preferably a Jungian psychologist. At the age of 27 you might need to do the later.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 60 Murfreesboro, Tn

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Hi Kaze,

I am glad my words have inspired you, but please don't mistake them as my believing that you would not benefit from the help of a mental health professional, because I believe it may be very good for you. And, as Jerry said, you would probably be best served by a Jungian therapist. I recommend a "mature" Jungian therapist.

The nightmares are you, too. They reflect the things you have repressed, clearly show the opposites Jerry refers to. You have constructed a waking life persona to protect you from those early life things. Again, this is not a bad thing, it is a coping mechanism. Many do this. We could say "all" to varying degrees.

Some say that nightmares are the most important dreams, that they grab us with such attention, as they are really trying to get us to work at reconciling the issues they portray.

Your dreams are trying to show you this double world of you.

Sam, in his response to your "won't stop raining" dream, gave you a real godlen nugget, if you will look carefully at what he shared.

You have the you that has "transcended" (can walk on water, and the Brahaman) as opposed to the you who is drowning in the rains of your inner world. The balance is somewhere in the middle. You can only achieve this by entering into the deluged wasteland and brining the two you's together.

I can't help but wonder if you are into spiritual/religious studies. I do because I know that "escaping" to such can also be a coping mechanism. What really happens is we escape our own selves.

Another way to look at that dream is perhaps to see it as the Brahaman (some above, Godly aspect within your psyche) charging you to be the heroine, to enter into the inner landscape of your life, to enter into the deluge, to stop the rains, so that the lotus may then grow from the muddied soils.

Sam's interpretation makes very solid sense. The masculine aspect of you (the you that can help you "do" in life, to live a balanced life) is currently overcome with the weight of your inner world.

Another way to look at the bridges is to say that you may need to build bridges back to your emotional aspects that need healing, to reconcile the division you have created within yourself, to save that you who is drowing in the deluge.

The deluge can depict sadness, but in my way of seeing things, the rains can also portray healing and renewal.

But you have to do the work - and the guidance of a Jungian would be very beneficial to you.

These are powerful dreams. Some (many) mental health folks "don't do dreams" - and it appears to me that the keys to your psychological work is being presented to you in your dreams. That is how it is supposed to work - especially when the waking life personality cannot "see." The dreams become the guide and will give a Jungian the needed information to help steer you along.

If you should consult a Jungian, I recomment brining all your dreams along with you.

Clarity

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