Use Of Cliches In Dream Imagery: Post #3

A dreamer, who dreamed about his shoes being used as basket balls, started to work on the symbols by pretending that he is a novelist. He tries to imagine how he might use each of his symbols as a metaphor to help describe a passage in a book he is writing. You can scroll down to my last post to follow his process in detail.

In the meantime, what follows are the metaphoric descriptions of his dream symbols.

Symbols described as metaphors

* Pick-up:  Impromptu, unscheduled.

* Basketball:  Fun, diversion.

* Me:  The being who I am, the one that thinks and is alive and is aware.

* Other guys:  My friends and my social circle.

* Good time:  Enjoyment and releasing pressure.

* Pair of shoes:  What gets walked in. They protect sensitive skin and nerves from the hard ground.

* Tied together:  It helps keep them from getting separated from each other, but it limits mobility to the point of a real hindrance.

* My shoes:  I think of the expression “walking in my shoes” which means taking on my own responsibilities.

* Shoot basket:  Score points.

* Made it through the hoop:  Successfully negotiating my way past obstacles.

* Balanced on the backboard:  It had to have just the right distribution of weight to stay in place.

* Teetering:  It was on the verge of being moved from its current place.

* Lose balance and come down: Fall from its perch.

Restating the dream as a metaphoric message

It was now time to reassemble the dream as a metaphoric message to the dreamer. We would retell the dream. But this time, we’d replace his symbols with his descriptions of them. At the same time, we would insert phrases and words, such as “There is a part of me” to remind the dreamer that all the symbols are aspects of himself. What follows is how the dream re-emerged in its new form.

Restated dream

There is a part of me that is involved in something impromptu and unscheduled. It is fun and a diversion. This is being participated in by the being who I am, the one that thinks and is alive and is aware. Also participating are the parts of me that are my friends and make up my own personal social circle. All of these parts of me are involved in enjoyment and releasing pressure. We are having this fun by using the part of me that gets walked in—the part that protects sensitive skin and nerves from the hard ground. This part of me that gets walked in is in a configuration that helps keep it from getting separated, but it limits mobility to the point of real hindrance. I am taking on my own responsibilities. Parts of me are scoring points and successfully negotiating my way past obstacles. I have to have just the right distribution of weight to stay in place. But I’m on the verge of being moved from my current place and falling from my perch.

We’ll discuss this dream in depth tomorrow.

If you enjoy these posts, please feel free to leave a comment.

Or, follow the discussion uninterrupted.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to learn how.