Pedestal

To place apart, to separate, to place above other things, to idolise, value or worship.

To feel special or to make special; to place above other things; to idolise or worship. Putting someone or yourself on a pedestal can be like seeing that person is “above you” This detracts from you because you are neither superior nor inferior when you are a whole person. See whole

Sometimes we put people on a pedestal not to idolise or look up to but to mock, to humiliate or to destroy.

 Example: After they had walked up a wide, elegant, white marble staircase, Eleanor became terrified, “because on that landing was a small white marble coffin on a pedestal.” Eleanor screamed and woke herself up.

Example: The Great Metaphysician, a faceless figure is enthroned on a pedestal made of rubbish. The figure is consciously or unconsciously an ironical representation of the man who strives to discover the “truth” about metaphysics, and at the same time a symbol of ultimate loneliness and senselessness.

Example: Deeper musing upon this theme revealed to me that the habit was also a convenient tool of society. If the religious can be placed on that alabaster pedestal, the rest of us are “safe” as well as “saved.” So I looked at this rigidity and all the structures in the past that had contributed to it and a mantra began to form: “Laughing at what life has held.” I allowed my breathing to deepen and entered into a meditative state… an image formed: People I recognised wore the faces of so many “masters” who had stood in for the voice of the One Master in my life-I faced them and laughed … at first a nervous giggle, then a full-bodied laugh and finally a cacophony of hilarity. Soon stillness settled and I felt a movement-the bodies were forming a circle, joining hands, a new smile upon the lips of the faces. . . the mantra changed to: “Laughing with all life has held.”

Example: He told me what he did to this woman and how he tortured and killed her but he got emotional when talking about me said he would never hurt me and that he put me on a pedestal. Which in real life he does, he adores me and we recently found out we are expecting a baby. He is such a kind gentle person, loved by everyone that’s why it has shaken me so much I do not understand it.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What did I feel about pedestal and what was on it?

Was something on – if so what was it?

Have I ever put someone on a pedestal – or ever been put on one?

See Emotions and Mood in Dreams – Working with associations – Inner World