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ATTACK/ATTACKED/ATTACKER
In looking at many dreams in which attack takes place, it is obvious
that there are many degrees and forms of attack. So attack or being
attacked can represent many things such as feeling attacked or
threatened by ones own impulses such as anger or sexuality; feeling
surreptitiously attacked by other people and their attitude to you or
their remarks; a subtle sense of being attacked by age, or a serious
attack by an illness - one speaks of an asthma or virus attack for
instance, but also one may be attacked by a poison, or food if one is
allergic to it; one might personally attack an issue or a project, and
so a dream might depict one attacking something in this sense;
confidence may be attacked; it is a common term in sport or business,
and so may refer to attitude or energy. This aspect of attack may also
refer to ones beliefs, or to other peoples, which may be attacked and
threatened; attack is also sometimes a form of defence, so may suggest
defensiveness about some issue or aspect of ones life. A positive side
to attack is that we often feel attacked by an emerging new insight or
positive personal change. We feel it as an attack because it threatens
our old way of life, our habitual way of ding things and thinking
about things.
It is important to define or be aware of ones response to threat or
attack in a dream. Experiments in connection with dreams in which the
person runs away from attack, or is very passive, show that if the
dreamer visualises changing the situation and faces attackers, their
dreams and even waking behaviour changes radically. Passivity in dream
situations may depict the innate feeling that we are helpless in
dealing with the feelings involved. This usually dates from past
experience, perhaps in childhood, where in fact one did not have the
strength or maturity to meet what was happening.
Occasionally attack in dreams shows a desire to be attacked in order
to live out forms of self punishment or sadism. In most such cases
this desire arises out of a need to remember, and make fully
conscious, punishment or sadism that has been practised on the
dreamer.
Being attacked: This dream usually arises because
in some way you are repressing, in conflict with, or frightened off
your own emotions, sexuality or anger. Occasionally the fear is about
ones own potential or expanded awareness.
Attacked by animal:Feeling under threat from
external events or internal emotions, impulses or ideas; feeling a
victim in relationship to others and self; taking a defensive
attitude. The repression or fear here is in regard to your own natural
urges. Sometimes our dreams put into animal form someone who we feel
is expressing anger toward us.
Attacked by shadowy or frightening figure: Our
childhood traumas and fears may take this guise in a dream. So in this
case the attack is depicting our feelings of fear and pain surrounding
those past issues. How we meet such an attack is important. If we run
from it, the trauma may remain largely unconscious, and therefore
capable of influencing our behaviour negatively. Better to explore it
or change it. (For help doing this see Stand
in Role under peer dream work.)
Attacked by animal: Introverting one's own
aggression or sexuality; fear of one's own natural urges; anxiety
about aggression in oneself or other people; feeling attacked by an
external person.
Being the attacker: This is more positive, as you
are not being passive and hurt in your dreams. But you are still in
conflict with whatever it is your attacking. Considering that what you
attack is probably a part of your own personality, it might be better
to meet it in some way. Positive self expression; defending oneself
against something one feels threatened by; attempt to destroy some
urge or feeling in oneself or others. The word attack is also used in
many ways, so might refer to an 'attack' of an illness, or 'heart
attack'. Can express the difference between feeling threatened by a
work/relationship/sex problem, or feeling challenged by it in a way to
stimulate creativity or research.
Bird attacking: Fear of ideas, ideals or opinions;
verbal attack by others; fear of the Self - a view of things that may
destroy ones present more limited views or opinions.
Sexual attack: This has many aspects, and can at
times be a re-playing of previous sexual attacks, or an expression of
fear concerning them. But we also create dreams of sexual attack when
we are frightened of our own feelings and desires. Grof gives the
interesting account of a woman who experienced many images of sexual
attack. He says:-
.... whenever a boy friend initiated even the most innocent
sexual approach, such as touching. embracing, or kissing, she was
overwhelmed with terror. It seemed to her that when such a situation
occurred, her lover was actually changing physically and assuming
animal features. Repeatedly, she fled from these situations in a state
of panic anxiety and never wanted to see her partner again. Episodes
of this kind were repeatedly relived .... with details of the physical
setting, as well as the physical sensations and emotions involved.
From
Realms
of The Human Unconscious, by S. Grof. Published by
Souvenir Press.
Someone else being attacked: Anger or aggression
toward another; killing off an aspect of oneself represented by the
person in the dream. If the person is someone you are in relationship
with, it suggests an attempt, however short, to distance oneself from
them emotionally. See: fight;
War.
Example: I had this dream at a time when there was a lot of talk
and anxiety in newspapers and on television about nuclear war. In
the dream a nuclear attack had been announced. I immediately thought
of my children who are away in boarding school. I go out into the
street to see if I can get to them, but realise it is hopeless. In
the street everybody is walking about as if it were a holiday
Sunday. I realised there was no time to get to my children so
decided to join the people on the street. John C.
John had this dream at a time when there was a lot of media coverage
about nuclear attack. It is therefore most likely dealing with his
real fears about how he would deal with such an attack if it happened.
Example: Whilst suffering from nervous exhaustion three years ago.
I had a recurring nightmare that left me feeling totally worthless
and wretched. In it I underwent an indecent attack upon my person by
my father. I was about four or five in the dream. It was not the
attack in itself that left me with these feelings, but rather the
look my mother gave me shortly afterwards - making me feel like a
specimen in a jar. In the dream I sensed she had refused to be his
wife fully, until he had got us into our own home again. I sense she
is blaming me for not being able to continue with this threat, and
that once more she will have to suffer my father's attentions
because of me. There is no one to help me so I decide to leave. I
pack a small case, which I believe someone gets for me. In reality I
did try to leave home at this age but got no further than the bus
stop across the road. Maria.
Maria gives no indication of whether she was abused by her father,
but the dream is certainly dealing with the sexual politics of her
parents.
Example: Several men attacked me and were trying to drag me off
somewhere against my will. As the dream progressed, or replayed, I
began to realise that it only appeared like an attack because I was
resisting the process. In fact the men wanted to show me something
that was important to me. They were being quite gentle, but because
of my resistance, it felt to me like an aggressive act. My thoughts
about this are that this may represent the way I feel about events.
Because of underlying anxiety, I feel events and changes, such as
losing my job are very threatening and difficult to bear. In fact no
harm has come from these events at all. The dream suggests that I am
being led somewhere if only I would go along with things. Albie R.
Useful questions are:
If I take the images away what are my feelings about the attack, and
where am I meeting those feelings?
Is there any way I can change this dream? (For help doing this see
Stand in Role under peer dream
work..)
What are the underlying issues here? |
