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| F LoBuono |
I've been dreaming an awfully lot lately - deep, vivid, personal, complicated ones. You know, the type where you recognize the people and places in them except they're not exactly those people or places. For example, you may be dreaming that you are at home except that it's NOT really your home or, of a person you know but it's not actually THAT person.
They can be so dramatic that when they are bad, we breathe a sigh of relief when we wake and realize that it was just a dream. These are known as nightmares. And, when they are good, we want to go back to sleep to complete them. These are the sweet dreams.
The important thing to remember is that they are an integral part of our everyday lives and give us the ability to cleanse our psyches by allowing us to work out scenarios that would not be possible while we are awake. Therefore, they can offer us powerful and, yet safe, lessons.
Well, the other day I had one of the nightmare varieties.
I dreamed that I was being held against my will in a deep, dark, dungeon-like basement. There were old fashioned boilers in the room which made the air hot, dry, and dusty. The place was dark and ominous, lit only by spare, hanging light bulbs. Shadowy figures shuffled about in the background gloom. I was wearing a sweat-stained, filthy sleeveless undershirt and was shackled with handcuffs. A powerfully built, bearded man was forcefully leading me around by the cuffs which was causing them to dig into my wrists. The more I resisted him, the more he pulled me along, snarling at me as he did. Eventually, he fastened me to a pipe connected to one of the boilers and slapped me across the face before he left me alone in that dreadful place.
Now, I am not normally fearful of other men. Since I was a young man I have been able to take care of myself. I simply cannot be intimidated. However, in my dream I was absolutely terrified of this man. He made me feel impotent and powerless. I had no idea why I was being treated in this manner, but it didn't seem to matter to him. His brutality completely cowed me.
I not only felt helpless but hopeless, as well. How was I to extricate myself from this predicament? No one even knew where I was. I didn't even know where I was! Would I simply be forgotten and die, unknown, in that god forsaken place? The very thought of it terrified me!
Fortunately, I woke to great relief, breathlessly saying to myself, thank god, it was just a bad dream!
However, as was stated in the beginning of this post, dreams do have psychological significance and they may be an unconscious reflection of our internal anxieties, fears, desires, hopes, and fantasies.
So, what meaning was I to take from this nightmare?
Well, for me, I believe that it indicated that I have a terrible fear of losing my freedom. I have always thought that given the choice between life in prison or suffering the death penalty, I would choose death. Surrendering my freedom would be a fate worse than losing my life. Ultimately, we all have to deal with the prospect of dying. However, doing so while being caged horrifies me. Furthermore, being forgotten, as if you never existed at all, just exacerbates the dread.
It also filled me with empathy for those around the world who are falsely accused of crimes that they didn't commit and, also, for those who may be political prisoners whose only crimes were to oppose tyranny. And, this happens not only in China, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. It happens here, too. For those people, it is no nightmare, but, unfortunately, all too real. I woke up. They cannot. . .
*https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/the-importance-of-dreams-what-they-can-represent
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