That was the case with a social worker who had a dream about
getting into a physical altercation with a homeless man. This dreamer has
devoted his life to helping those who are down and out, and to have a dream in
which he picked a fight with a destitute man was really upsetting to him. He
had to be reminded—as I so frequently remind my readers—that dreams are not
to be taken literally. Although the imagery of this dream was unsettling to the
dreamer, its only reason for being offensive was to be sure that the dreamer
brought the images all the way back from his subconscious into his awakened
consciousness. As we will learn as we examine the dream in the next few days, “homelessness”
in this case means something entirely different.
A dream about a
homeless man
In my dream I’m out
for the evening with my wife. We are going somewhere in the downtown section of
our city—maybe to a nice restaurant, although that’s not really clear. We come
to the entrance of the establishment and have to climb a flight of stairs
because our destination is on the second floor. We climb a few steps and are
suddenly confronted by a homeless man who is standing in our way. I ask him
please to move, but he becomes belligerent. Because I am with my wife, all of
my protective male instincts suddenly come into action. I threaten the man, and
when he acts unimpressed, I grab him by the collar and literally throw him down
the stairs. I look down and see him lying unconscious and bleeding, injured
from the fall. Next, my wife and I are running from the scene. We get back to
the car and are driving away. But even though this is the city, we find
ourselves on back, unpaved country roads, trying to see out the windshield into
the murky darkness. I feel fear and an adrenaline rush. Then, in the final
scene, I am walking along the corridor of a hospital. I look to my left, and
there, lying in a hospital bed with an I-V tube hooked up to him, is the
homeless man. He is cleaned up, shaven and in a fresh, clean hospital gown.
Seeing him makes me feel strange and unsettled—hopefully he will get better,
but I'm guilty and ashamed.
Initial Commentary
Dreams are about the dreamer. As you ponder the storyline
above, try to imagine what aspects of the dreamer might be symbolized by a
belligerent homeless man.
More on Wednesday.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment