Lawrence,
Thanks for the additional information. I could have given an interpretation to the second part of the dream but I felt some further information would be best. When treading in personal matters I rather know more {as I intend to do when I work with dreams in retirement}.
The first part would have associations to your personal life but my sense is, and having some personal knowledge about you as well, your strong character was more in play in the dream's message than personal waking experiences. The change in the dream is likely to be more focused on addressing personal experiences. Especially if there are recent experiences that are in conflict. Your response does seem to indicate this.

Going back to the first part of the dream the backpack probably has associations to recent persona experiences {as well as being the focus I presented in my original interpretation}. Carry/packing a load would be the metaphorical reference.

Opening the doors to the church could represent an opening to the spiritual self {your inner minister}. Living out of that aspect is how you look at life {doors remain open}. It would also suggest it is something you may want to remember in dealing with the emotional conflict the dream is addressing. The camera would be the tool that provides insights {pictures} to this.

The purse is associated with feminine aspects {lady I know}. It is the feminine aspect that represents the spiritual nature of the psyche. Purses hold our valuables, or values. Looking within yourself {camera} is remembering those values you have developed over a lifetime. The right hand would symbolize the social being. It is in your waking life these experiences have occurred, and the issue the dream is wishing to address.

It could very well be there are issues related to your uncle's passing. There may be a need to remember those spiritual values {neighbor lady with a broad smile} in dealing with this issue. As much as we can have control over fear, unconsciously it is always a part of our human animal instincts. Cancer puts fear in us all.
The large stomach may relate to your uncle's prostate cancer {The prostate is located in the lower stomach}. There are opposites involved. Your uncle wants to possess the purse. You refuse. This may suggest an 'opposite' position on your part.

Then there is the issues of childhood. The woman neighbor would have associations beyond what I have mentioned. Your older nephew wishes to know how you received your possessions/values. Was your life different in some way to theirs as a child? Or has their lives, especially the older nephew turned out different, spiritually? It could be the unconscious is trying to help you alleviate fears to do with your uncle's condition {look beyond his cancer also}. In the dream your nephews are with your uncle, perhaps indicating a sharing of some aspect.

You may want to examine those childhood years to determine associations I have mentioned. Your childhood does seem to have been wholesome, with parents and friends {lady neighbor} who were much alike. There may be 'opposites' from that period of time that may provide clues to the dram message. With the inclusion of the positive feminine aspects I do see a positive take in the dream. Not only in your family life but also in your spiritual life. Not fearing death could be one of the aspects coming through.

Speaking of the fear of death. There is an old Islamic proverb from the mystical Sufi that goes:
'When the angel of death approaches it is horrific.
When he reaches you it is bliss'

Being from the mystical side of Islam, a part of Islam that remembers the great creative forces they possessed before the dawn of the strict patriarchal Islam we know today, I see this proverb as re-enforcing my philosophy that there is a better world that awaits us after this life. Much in the terms as Buddhism describes as the next life being better than this one {not that I subscribe to re-incarnation}. My belief is human life is an adventure for the soul and the soul is a transparent energy that exists forever, in some form or no form. No need to fear death if what comes next is going to be better. And as with the first Buddhist saying being 'life is all sorrowful', accepting death would be a natural, and better thing. Which it is {death is a part of all life}.
What do you think?



Jerry