A Dream About Falling In The Water: Reviewing The Basics (Concluding Post)

Yesterday, I showed how a dreamer, who had a dream about falling in the water, took the symbols from his dream and commented on each one. He was trying to expand his definition of each symbol so that he understood it as a metaphor.  (Scroll down to my last post.)

Retelling the dream

Today, we’ll reconstruct the dream, replacing each symbol with the metaphoric definition that the dreamer came up with. In addition, we will insert short phrases or words that remind the dreamer that all facets of the dream are describing aspects of himself and his own inner conflicts. These are phrases like, “There is a part of me,” or “within myself.” What follows is the reworked dream. As you read, think metaphorically:

There is a part of me that is a close sibling to me. It is a younger aspect of myself, but totally mature, and lots of fun. These two parts of me are near an aspect of myself that is teeming with life and activity. But this part of me can also be an obstacle. The two of us have to get to our destination, and we want to use an aspect of ourselves that lets us arrive while staying dry. The vehicle we’re using is versatile, but also unstable and requires skill. This younger part of me makes contact with this vehicle at its most unstable part; he is ill-advised. The vehicle is uncontrolled with no equipment to steer and guide. Somehow, he makes it, temporarily, to where we are trying to go. There, he finds equipment readily available that is designed to clean and sweep. He could use it as a substitute, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t take it seriously; he is just playing around. Suddenly, he finds himself in contact with the essence of life, something we can’t live without. It is a mishap that he doesn’t want to have. At first he is only half immersed, then totally. He is trying to save himself from further annoyance and embarrassment. This isn’t going to go away easily; it will stay with him uncomfortably.

Discussion

What an interesting dream! The dreamer has a goal, and he puts his “younger self” in charge of reaching it. But he doesn’t want to “immerse” himself in anything—like the “essence of life”—that might make him “uncomfortable.” He doesn’t take seriously the “readily available” equipment to help him “sweep and clean” things up. In short, he wants to get somewhere in his life, but doesn’t want to put the work in that it will take to get there. Too bad! It seems that life makes all this happen anyway, and the results are going to stay with him.

This dreamer was stunned by the accuracy of the message; he completely identified with the reluctance it described. He was even nervous about how life, essentially, forced the issue for him. But he was also grateful for the dream’s message which forewarned him that life would now be different!

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