Hi Jerry,

Thanks for your response.

I think that overall the dream is describing the experience and the potential openings from what happened back then, and also gives advice. In very general terms I believe that the wife and kid might be representing repressed emotionality and creativity or repression of creativity due to repression of emotions. As an added note, I was anxious to find them in the dream and make sure they were safe, so while being the killer myself, the dream also pointed that the potential to unblock these portions of myself was/is there. The dentist trying to pull my teeth out was myself showing me that keeping my mouth shut (not expressing myself) must stop.
And having set the context in this part, I believe the dream might have been telling me that the blockage had been removed and the way to inner knowledge (left turn in the river) was open. I believe that I mentioned t before that the scene in the house took place during a summer night but didn’t mention that the following scene in the river was during the day. I think that this transition shows that subconscious matters are becoming accessible to the conscious mind.

The fear on my part was a fear of trusting intuition, again due to the decisions I made at that time, and the dream showed me there was nothing to be afraid of. I would say that the red canoes indicate passion (red) and as you correctly put it (balance). My decision at that time was to reject a job offer which I was not very keen on and instead choose another one, one I was passionate about, but for which I did not get any guarantees. Now, this decision came after the dream, since I had dreamt this on September 8 2012 but took the decision on September 13 2012. On the previous day (September 7 2012), I had been informed that there was a possibility that the position I wanted might become available and was uncertain at the time as to what I would do. Going back to the red canoes, it was a near miss, the military vessel missed them by a few centimetres . I believe the message there was that choosing the ‘left’ way, my passions would cause needed distress (missing balance) but get me to the river Delta.

Sometimes, my dreams have a precognitive character, so when I get a dream such as this that has an effect on me and if there is a decision to be made in the following days I make the choice that scares me and fascinates me at the same time. At least, I try to do this as much as possible. I should further mention that the night I came out to my mom and the night I rejected the the first job for the second one I got my first two lucid dreams. Lucidity lasted for a second or two, but I found this immensely symbolic of my actions for some reason. I assume you will agree with me on this.

Moving on, I think that the military vessel might had been describing aggressiveness or force, but not in a harmful manner, rather in an assertive way. In saying this I will bring the example of breath which is a form of aggression as air is forced out, but it is also necessary for life. Also, the 3 or 4 older men could indicate that wisdom can be aggressive or assertive of itself.

In regards with the second dream of this nature. There have been a few weeks now where I am exhibiting bipolar behaviour. One moment my mind is clear and I feel perfect, the other moment I start making stories in my head (all filled with negativity) and I lose all balance. Shifting between the leading boat and the one following must be indicating this attitude. A switch between fear and being courageous. The merging of conscious and subconscious or deeper issues emerging in the conscious mind is definitely there. I believe this is why I am shifting in the first dream but in the second scene, the one in the road, it becomes apparent that this is the way as I seem to be afraid and not shifting, but still following. I get the feeling that the brown water indicates more the unknown (as I can’t tell whether the water is shallow or deep on both occasions) and in combination with the previous sentence, the dream symbolises insecurity in this way. I am realising this as I write this reply because last night I had another dream of similar nature which I will include here. It seems as a follow up in a way but I will explain later.

Now then, it appears that while fear creeps up there is a decision to continue going left even if this is by following and not by leading. I presume that the young man symbolises assertiveness or a willingness to jump into the unknown without fear. I am saying this because it appears that fear of failure becomes greater as we get older because we feel we have more to lose. So the young man probably represents that portion of myself which jumps into life, a part which I care about and trust or a part which I should trust. That part is leading towards the left, knowing the way, hence to inner knowledge or reality or realisation. There are dangerous but elegant manoeuvres in the river, fascinating, and there does not seem to be insecurity. I presume this is what I earlier took as ‘impulse’ but thinking about it now it appears that there is no insecurity. These are not equal. I would not say that following the river was circling, it appears it symbolises going with the flow. The fact that there were only left turns and no other way to go if one was to follow the flow of the river, indicates that when one is faced with a decision of left or right, the right path is to go left. In saying this i should point out a detail which I remembered about this dream, at some point during the boat ride, while I was in the back boat, I looked right and at the river side there seemed to be an opening where boat passengers could get out and step on ‘ground’.

Now, my related dream of last night, in fact two dreams which I find heavily related to our discussion. To put this into context, I am a researcher and have recently been facing a major challenge in my work which I haven’t been able to resolve this far. This has been causing me some stress and the bipolar behaviour earlier mentioned.

1) I was in the dream, working as a scientist and had an assistant. It appeared that was very open minded and had a passion for science without limitations (emotional self) and I was working in a laboratory. There was also another me, similar in every aspect, a researcher too in the same field as myself with the only difference that he had removed his heart, that is he had physically taken his heart out of his body (logical aspect). I found out that he wanted to find me and kill me and we ended up facing each other in an old factory. All this was taking place during the day. At that point I started processing the situation in the dream, became lucid for a fraction of a second and then woke up.

2) I found myself happily diving from a pier into the sea. I knew i was on holidays and asked where, an older man told me i was in Italy and to confirm that I checked the map. In fact i seemed to be moving higher and higher above the ground and zooming out, to confirm my location, the ground looked like google maps/earth but I was above it in real time, zooming out, I was not aware of my body. I could not make out the town names or figure out if I was actually in Italy but I did notice that the sea was very clean and had a beautiful blue/green colour. I then found myself at another spot, swimming, I decided to dive again and someone grabbed my feet and pushed me so i started gliding on the surface of the water at a relatively high speed. As I was moving I almost hit a guy around my age who was swimming on my left. It was a very happy dream, considering I love the sea and I was really enjoying it.

So my interpretation for dream 1 above seems to be confirming that there is an inner struggle between my emotional and logical self. It appears that the emotional self is attempting to use its creativity to do science as science should be done while the logical self is removing all emotion (take out heart) and attempts to eradicate the emotional self. It appears that this conflict emerges due to old structures which have been productive for a time but do not serve a purpose anymore (old factory). They are however rigid (loads of metal structures in the dream) and it is a meeting of the two portions (emotional self faces logical self in the factory) that can resolve the conflict. I have not analysed this much further. The fact that this was happening during the day indicates that this situation has now become conscious or maybe that it is a situation that is only conscious and is starting to infect the subconscious too.

In the second dream, I was happily diving in the sea. I should say that it is a rare occurrence of finding myself swimming and certainly do not remember me swimming in blue/green perfectly clear waters since i started recording my dreams. This far this appears to be a breakthrough where the conscious self is happily exploring the subconscious without the need for boats, suits or any kind of protection. The fact that I asked where I was, the older man replied and I had to check for myself indicates some control or trust issues. But it doesn’t appear to be major. In fact, I believe it shows that i am starting to find my own answers and using my abilities (flying above the map) to do that. The second dive was assisted by someone holding my legs, this appears to be a push forward from someone who was already immersed in the sea before I found myself back in the water. I presume this could indicate the inner help available to assist push forward in the explorations. The fact that i got relatively anxious about hitting the person of myself indicates that i still have worries about what I might find of myself in the subconscious which could be coming the opposite direction. This could be ideas or portions of myself I may not be comfortable with or with which there is conflict (going opposite directions). Instead, I did not crash into the person and that shows that ideas and portions of myself only need examination, and that there is no need for conflict. It could also indicate that it is the logical mind that is starting to examine this ideas/portions without the need to crash them but rather with a willingness to examine them. Also the clear seawater probably indicates lucidity, clear view, the blue colour possibly indicates knowledge and the green is either the colour of emotions associated with the heart or might indicate 'freshness'.

I should point out here that the job I initially rejected was in Italy and i have been having second thoughts about but i was not aware that there was so much inner conflict regarding that decision back in September 2012.

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William,
I apologize for not responding sooner. I have another project to do with the local animal shelter I have involved myself and that is requiring much of my time lately. But the cause is worthy, trying to help save as many animals as possible in my county.

Your dreams are quite involved and you seem to have a take on what most have to offer. I will take a look at your latest dream and see what is there. And I will comment more on your latest response.

About dreams and dreaming. I don't try to analyze many of my dreams, only those that I feel out of the ordinary or important. Having found a balance in my life through many, many years of self therapy {Jung's Individuation Process} I understand that my dreams are merely a reflection my conscious attitudes and waking emotions. And because I have been able to 'slay' most all the dragons in my life I know where I am, have found a balance and don't have those past issues to deal with any longer {as most people do, and which takes up much of their dream time}. Because I have reconciled my past I can concentrate on the present when looking at my dreams.

Just last night I had a dream of driving a new type tractor trailer truck {a lingering reference to my father's profession}, learning how to maneuver it properly. But also within the dream I was going over the website I am designing to do with the animal involvement, trying to put paragraphs together properly, using proper grammar in the paragraphs, etc. This dream was a reflection of my current preoccupation {although there will always be references to the past} and knowing the two are associated makes it much easier to interpret the dreams. It also demonstrates how dreams help resolve issues, even those that may seem minor to someone else. But in reality the dream was addressing crucial elements of my intent because I want to articulate in the best possible way the importance of the animal issue I am involved. Anything less will not help resolve the issues, doing it right can.

I mention the seemingly unimportant aspects of my dream to illustrate that little in a dream is unimportant. One word misinterpreted can mean the difference in whether a person proceeds correctly in their waking life. The only way to verify an interpretation is to look to the waking life and see if it fits. If you try to make it fit when it does not, then the interpretation of dreams falls back to an ego controlled event and instead of a metaphysical assisted experience. To make an interpretation fit when it really does not is a dishonest act and the one sure thing about dreams is they are about truth and honesty. I think this is important to realize when interpreting dreams, especially your own dreams. If the inner self has become the ruler of the psyche it will not be such a difficult task to understand dreams and find correct associations in the waking life. But if the ego is still top dog {as is with most people}, dreams can become another tool of the ego's deceitful ways. This is why it is important to undergo the death and rebirth of the self. But as Campbell put it, not only a death and resurrection but a complete annihilation of the ego so it will not raise its ugly 'head' later on {the death and resurrection motif of Jesus on the cross}.

Jerry

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Hi Jerry,

I'm not in a hurry :-).

My main rule regarding dreams is to follow the emotional responses during the dream. For example in the boat/road dreams I was anxious/afraid but the dream in a way forced me to follow a direction, in those cases left. I take that as a 'face your fears and trust the outcome' nudge.

On other occasions I found myself being afraid of a situation, then a scene in the dream had me getting involved in said situation and after that I felt a feeling of bliss in the dream. Again, I take these as small pushes. A lot of the time these situations actually play out in my waking life and then I always find myself 'choosing' (sometimes not using my logic) to act in the same manner I acted in the dream. very often I get synchronicities after such dreams.

For example I had a dream concerning an attitude I held towards a friend. In the dream I was holding the same attitude, keeping a distance. During the entire dream I was unable to roll a cigarette to smoke, sometimes I had no lighter, other times I had rolling papers which were not mine and in the end of the dream, because my rolling papers were wet and would stick one on another. Towards the end of the dream I saw that my attitude had changed towards my friend and I felt really good about, that was the point that my rolling papers also got stuck together. Two weeks later, several scenes presented in the dream started occurring in my waking life over a number of days. My friend was involved and my attitude was one of distance. At some point, I found myself spontaneously cutting that distance between us and really approaching my friend from a much different perspective. As soon as I did that, I tried to light a cigarette, it turned out that my rolling papers which i had left on the table where wet and I could not roll.

This of course would be meaningless to someone who did not have a similar experience or in fact to someone who did not have such a dream, but to me it really says a lot.

In any case, I normally know when I'm on the right track when I get synchronicities like these. Seemingly small things that happen in the dream, appear in one way or another in my waking life and I get a flas of intuition about the moment.

So it is mostly the dreams that i have strong emotions within (love, fear, anxiety, bliss) that make me reconsider my attitudes towards anyone and anything especially when those attitudes are based on fear of something, guilt, anxiety, jealousy and so on and so forth.

Regards

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