A Dog And Bullets: Post #3

If you scroll down to my last post, you’ll see that I ended up with a list of metaphoric meanings for the symbols of a dream. The dream is about a dog being killed by a bullet at a cocktail party. Now it’s time to reassemble that list into a different version of the same dream. I will restate the dream replacing the original symbols, like “people I know” with the dreamer’s comments about them: “my social network.” I will also add phrases to remind the dreamer that all the symbols are aspects of her own subconscious.

Restated dream

There are a lot of parts of me all in one place having a good time. These parts of me are relaxing and letting off tensions with drinks. This part of me is my social network and it’s merry, happy. I become aware of my surroundings. I see a part of me that was my mentor when I was younger. This part of me was like a father to me. This part of me is there with his favorite, special, loving companion and protector. I am thrilled because I was out of touch with this part of me and missed it. But there are parts of me that are lethal projectiles flying around as well. They are designed to kill living things. I am uncomfortable and I have misgivings. I know something is going to happen before it does, so I move out of the line of fire and barely escape being wounded or killed. But my mentor’s loving protection ceases to exist. I take responsibility for that bad occurrence. There might have been a different outcome.

Commentary

This dream seemed odd in its original form—a dog being shot at a cocktail party. Even when we isolated the symbols and I had the dreamer retell them as metaphors, there seemed to be little cohesion and sense to the dream. But when the dream is reassembled and restated in the italicized paragraph above, there is suddenly a clarity to the message: Even though the dreamer, within herself, seems contented and at peace with the various facets of her psyche, there is a part of herself that has ceased to exist. This part was about protection, and it was an integral part of what had mentored her in earlier days.

Questions for the dreamer

So the fact that this part of her has ceased to exist—destroyed almost violently—is that a good thing or a bad thing? It could be that the dreamer has allowed an important part of herself to fall by the wayside, leaving her vulnerable. But it is equally possible that the dreamer has simply changed over time and no longer needs this old protection. Or is there some other possibility that I have not thought of? There is only one individual who can help answer those questions. That is the dreamer herself. I will ask her tomorrow in my concluding post on this interesting dream.

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