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| Plymouth Reliant station wagon (Photo credit: dave_7) |
My Dream:
I am driving through an unfamiliar urban area -- a bad side of town that may be on the edge of the urban center. My silver 1960's or 70's looking station wagon breaks down at an area where there is an auto repair garage and some other businesses. I notice that I am in an area predominated by black people. I take my car to the garage to be repaired.
As I wait for my car to be repaired I am confronted by three black men who threaten me and want to rob me. I see that at least one has a pistol. I too have a pistol concealed in my clothes. I take it out and shoot the man with the gun and he appears to fall down dead. One man escapes, but the other, an older man about my age, is detained as I aim my gun at him and tell him to stop. I call 911 to tell them a man has been killed and I am holding another would-be robber at gunpoint.
The man and I are now on a desolate mountain highway at a place where a dirt road or trail seems to be going off into a higher elevation. I keep looking at the dead man to make sure that he really is dead. I call 911 again as it is taking a long time for them to respond.
As I wait for the police to arrive, I talk to the older man whom I am holding at gunpoint. We start getting along but I continue to hold my gun on him since I don't totally trust him. I begin to feel a sense of kinship with him.
Then we are in my house and I'm fixing us something to eat. We continue to talk and it seems like we are old friends. He tells me about a doughnut shop in the place where we had first encountered one another and for a moment I seem to be there looking at the delicious looking doughnuts.
Another black man comes in the living room. He seems to be some kind of stone worker breaking up beautifully colored stones to be used in my house for something. I call 911 again.
Suddenly I am in an old part of a city that seems to be in a decayed state. I go to a huge old theater building. Inside it is vast, empty, and dark. Some men are there. I see that they are emergency workers summoned by my 911 call. An ambulance pulls up to a back door of the theater and a strange looking casket that resembles a sarcophagus is delivered inside to where other caskets are. I know that the the man I killed is inside this casket. They open the casket in order for me to identify him. He doesn't look the same. He's more like a naked white man with a wooden brown look to his skin as though he's been wood stained. I see his abdomen moving as though he is breathing. I tell the EMTs what I am seeing. They say he's actually dead and this movement is a reflex action. The "dead' man starts to get up and looks at me with teeth bared. I'm scared. The emergency workers give him some kind of injection to try to kill him.
I leave. I find myself in my car with my father who is driving at first, then riding in the passenger side, and then he is gone. I am going somewhere, but it is not clear where I am going as I wake up.
What are the racial references about? What do the locations represent? Why does my father, who has been dead for over twenty years, appear briefly in the dream and then disappear?
That was some dream Lee, perhaps your father was there to assure you all will be well.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Very complex. Seems you start out with societies view that all white men are prejudice, but then you go on to prove you are not by fixing the black man food. What were your father's views?
ReplyDeleteYikes! That's kinda scary!!! I had some very vivid dreams after 9/11, about being held hostage/prisoner in the bombed out ruins of a building in the Middle East, surrounded by terrorists.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the part about having that one guy come to your house for food is your wish that people could get along if they just got to know each other in a casual, home setting instead of 'perp and victim'. Maybe you were trying to tell people the guy in the casket was alive b/c you regretted killing him even though it was in self defense. And your father's brief presence? Not sure, unless he was someone you always felt safe with and who would protect you.
Yvonne -- Most of the time when my father appears in a dream it is very reassuring.
ReplyDeleteEm -- I'm sure there is something here that relates to fear of others, perhaps in a racial sense or perhaps relating to anyone different from me. My father was always a very welcoming individual who did not show racial prejudice. He had been a basketball player when he was young and was used to being around blacks so I never got any negative vibes from him in that respect.
JoJo -- I think you're right about my father representing safety and security. In the dream I am getting away from an uncomfortable situation. As in my real life, my father was initially there to help me get away, but eventually I was on my own in the same way I've made my own way as an adult. Thank you for helping me to see this.
Lee
Wow Lee, that's an unsettling dream. When the guy in the casket looked like a naked white man, it kind of reminded me of Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. I think that a lot of times people that we see as a threat are only seen that way because we don't understand them. As soon as we can meet on some common ground and eat doughnuts, (or whatever) together, and realize that we are all more alike than we are different, the world will be a better place.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dream, Lee. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI used to dream about being alone at night in industrial districts. No one was around but I felt like I had to hide. I wasn't sure where my life was going at that point and my mind reflected that in my dreams.
I think our brain jumbles up all the thoughts that worry us and spits out it's own concoction as a dream. That's my theory. . .
LEE ~
ReplyDeleteFor dinner that night did you have
pizza with black olives on it?
If so, how did you feel
about the olives as a topping?
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Holy carp! That seems like one crazy mixed up dream. I couldn't hazard a guess at it's meaning.
ReplyDeleteI had a rather bizarre nightmare last week, that was like something out of my childhood, but never do I remember having such a detailed dream at this that traverses so many different locals.
Eve -- I think there is definitely something to the getting along with others concept in this dream.
ReplyDeleteDG -- I think it's more than just the thoughts that worry us. It's a jumble of those and many other things that have crossed our minds during the day and relating those images with other perceptions we may have. I often wander in strange places in my dreams.
StMc -- Not sure what I had for dinner, but since my wife doesn't like pizza very much we rarely have it. If I did have a pizza with olives then they would probably be black olives. But actually if I did order a pizza for myself it would be with anchovies and onions and maybe something like jalapenos. I'm sure you were really expecting me to answer your comment so I did.
I like to humor my readers in any way I can.
Faraway -- I commonly have long involved dreams but I usually don't take time to record them. This one impacted me in a big way on that particular morning.
Lee
Whoa! Scary dream. Not sure what it all means.
ReplyDeleteLEE ~
ReplyDelete>> . . . But actually if I did order a pizza for myself it would be with anchovies and onions and maybe something like jalapenos.
Ahh, well, there's the answer then.
The dream was created by your subconscious mind which feels guilty about being prejudiced against Black olives.
Essentially, you're a pizza-topping racist and the inner voice inside you has a secret guilt complex about it.
Any other dreams you need me to interpret for you? (Joseph had nuttin' on me!)
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Too many options for me to try to piece together without knowing you and your life better. I will say it sounds as puzzling as many of my own dreams, though.
ReplyDeletePaula- It was scary at the time, but the closing part of driving away was comforting.
ReplyDeleteStMc-- I've always known you were the go to guy for quality dream interpretation. You should open up a store-front spiritualist shop and tell fortunes.
Carol -- You're right that dreams are so personal that it's really difficult to come up with a one size fits all interpretation. I do like these complex dreams that I can remember.
Lee
Hi Arlee, very interesting dream indeed. I will not try to analyse it but I will look at it again later (have to dash out somewhere)and hopefully offer a pointer or 2. In the meanwhile, keep the dream in yr awareness and remember it is NB to NOT make an immediate interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing yr dream from yr UNconscious .. and I will get back to you. It may be an idea to underline the verbs as a beginning ... and see where that takes you. .
What are the stones about? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSusan -- I'd be interested to hear your take on the interpretation. The idea of looking at the verbs in the recounting of the dream is helpful. I look at the verbs like "drive", "confront", and "leave" exemplify common actions in many of my dreams. The fact that the concept of leaving at the end of the dream may signify not only my escape into a more comfortable zone, but also the entrance into the waking state. (maybe?)
ReplyDeleteTonja -- The part about the stones is indeed puzzling. I think the stones represent value and creative force which contrasts the two black men--one who is a robber and one who is a craftsman. One of the men is trying to take something from me and I try to establish a bond with him. In the same scene the other man comes in to add something of beauty and value to my home. Two sides of the same person? Who do the two men represent?
Lee
Hi Arlee, just stopped in at home for a minute and found yr dream and yr comment .. .yes the verbs are interesting ... driving, breaks down, notice, notice, take, repair, wait, confronted, threaten, see .. etc etc ...
ReplyDeleteI think for the moment the most NB thing is to consider that all the people in yr dream are men i.e. the same sex as you are and it is useful when this happens to see those figures as yr shadow - i.e. that each male in the dream contains an aspect of you in some way. This is looking at it in a Jungian way ... not always the case that individuals in dream of same sex represent yr shadow but this is usually the case.
another aspect is that you were driving; not on a train or any other form of public transport. so you were in control of 'vehicle' or destination as it were. I have to dash out again - will do some more considering the most of which you must do obviously! But see what yr next dreams bring from yr unconscious .. and look back at previous dreams to see if there is some sort of thread. You have already noted that 'themes' sometimes appear ...
And yes the stones are significant . .. basically an inert substance but they able to be crafted indeed ... perhaps you could use that symbolism in some way?
Susan -- I think there is also a significance to the fact that at first my father is driving and then after I start driving he eventually goes out of the picture. Driving is a common theme or symbol in my dreams, but I would mostly attribute that to the great many years where I worked at a job that entailed much driving and the fact that I find much comfort and pleasure in driving.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional insight.
Lee