We’re focusing on an upsetting experience that a young man
had while trying to board a plane. This is a waking dream—an incident that
occurred during the day while this graduate student was awake. It was a waking
dream, and as such, it can be interpreted in the traditional way.
This dream plot, as it was told by the dreamer, presents a
situation that is common in dreams. Scroll down to my last post and look at the
dream. You see that the actual incident is told in the second paragraph. The
longer first paragraph is simply background information. But because it was
important to the dreamer to relate it, that makes it part of the overall
experience. As such, it is important to include it as part of the dream.
Isolating and
understanding the symbols as metaphors
We begin with the “Tell me about it” part of the dream
interpretation process. This is where we try to understand each of the symbols
as metaphors.
Tell me about…
* MBA: It’s an advanced
degree to teach me to be in charge of a business.
* Intense stress: It
takes all of my concentration and is exhausting at times.
* Brother: We were very
close growing up and are still friends even though we have less contact.
* Cabin in the wilderness:
A retreat; a place to get away from it all and recoup.
* 13: The first budding
into manhood. It’s really a confusing, crazy time.
* Knives: In those
days, hunting knives symbolized manhood and power.
* Carry-on bag: Used for
the items you want access to during travel.
* Left it in my bag: I
forgot it was there.
* Fly to another city:
I was going to a conference on running a business.
* Textbooks: The main
source of needed information for my studies.
* Study: Acquiring the
knowledge I need.
* Extra weight: It didn’t
seem any heavier than I had expected it to be.
* Can’t get on plane: I’m
detained by security.
* Miss my flight: I don’t
go to my conference.
* Searched and grilled:
They were trying to find out my motives.
* No one believes me:
They didn’t believe I was innocent.
* Put in jail: I’m
incarcerated—put in a holding cell.
* Out on bail: My
parents pay them money and I am temporarily freed.
* Convicted felon: It’s
a serious black mark on my record, and it’s permanent.
* Light conviction: Mild
punishment.
* Who will hire me?: With a felony, it’s hard to find anyone
willing to risk giving me work.
Initial commentary
If you look at the section immediately above and simply read
through this dreamer’s comments, you find that there are themes running through
the narrative (think metaphorically): being educated to run a business; early
signs of manhood; acquiring needed knowledge; carrying extra weight; don’t believe
my motives; serious black mark; a risk to finding work.
On Friday, we’ll reassemble the dream into a story and begin
the process of figuring out what this dreamer is trying to tell himself. The
clues are already evident.
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