Plot of the dream

In attempting to understand our dreams, it is important to honour their drama or plot. Dreams appear to be very specific in the way they use the characters, objects and environs occurring in them.

Example: ‘I was walking up a steep hill on a sunny day when my husband came running down the hill with blood pouring from his right arm. He couldn’t stop running. As he passed me he called to me for help. I was happy and peaceful and ignored him. I calmly watched him running fast down the hill then continued on my way.’ Joyce C.

Out of the infinite number of situations Joyce could have dreamt about, this was the one produced. Why? There are many factors that appear to determine what we dream. How events of the day influenced us; what stage of personal growth we are meeting – we might be in the stage of struggling for independence; problems being met; relationship situations; past business such as childhood traumas still to be integrated; are some of them.

If Joyce had dreamt she and her husband were walking up the hill the whole message of the dream would have been different. If we can accept that dream images are, as Freud stated, a form of thinking, then the change in imagery would be a changed feeling state and concept. If the language of dreams is expressed in its images, then the meaning stated is specific to the imagery used.

In processing our dreams, it is therefore profitable to look at the plot to see what it suggests. It can be helpful to change the situation as we have done with Joyce’s. Imagining Joyce walking up the hill on a sunny day arm in arm with her husband suggests a happy relationship. This emphasises the situation of independence and lack of support for her husband that appears in the real dream. Seeing our dreams as if they were snatches from a film or play, and asking ourselves what feelings or human situations they depict, can aid us to clarify them. As a piece of drama, Joyce’s dream says she sees, but does not respond to her husband’s plight.

Our internal ‘dream producer’ has an amazing sense of the subtle meanings of movement, positioning, and relationship between the elements used. Some of these are subtle. A way of becoming more aware of what information our dreams contain is to use visualisation. Sit comfortably and imagine yourself back in the dream. Replay it just as it was. Remember the whole thing slowly, going through it again while awake. As you do so, be aware of what it feels like in each scene or event; what do the interactions suggest; what does it feel like in the other roles? We can even practice this with other people’s dreams. If we imagine ourselves in Joyce’s dream, and replay it just as she describes it, one may arrive at a feeling of detachment from the husband. If we stand in the husband’s role we may feel a great need that is not responded to as we go ‘down hill fast’. In this way we gather a great deal of ‘unspoken’ information from dreams.

Looking at our own dreams in this way can be more difficult, simply because we do not always want to see what is being said about ourselves. See: Techniques for Exploring your Dreams; settings; Secrets of Power Dreaming; Creating a New You

Comments

-Judy 2018-02-12 16:52:50

Today my dream started off pleasant. I was in an old book store listening to a kind women read a lovely children’s book. Then I felt a sense of luring something was pulling me towards an old home I started floating down a hallway with a long mirror as I looked at myself in the mirror I was wear the same clothes I was sleeping in and my eyes wear all white. Then a closet door opened and third was an old dresser with a mirror.. I went through the mirror and ended up in a dark Garage were this old man was standing looking at me floating around him in a circle.. he was standing next to what looked like someones decomposing body that was hunging by a rope as if someone had hung them selves. I look at the old man and wish him peace. Then I hear him stay , “ wait until I get a hold of you”. Then a strong sense of fear hit me and I told myself to wake up.. I woke up in my dream in my bed but I was covered in spider webs then I looked over and there was a thin skinny guy next to me looking down at the blood in his hands . I told myself oh I’m still dreaming and tried to wake up again .. the next level seem like I really was awake b/c I was back in my bed talking to my sister she was telling me about her morning, but seemed a little upset .. I still had a sense of fear that I really wasn’t awake and was trying to figure out how to wake up from this dream… so I ask my sister what time it was and then I heard an Scary laugh . I told myself wake up wake up then I heared my I-phone beep and woke me up . Thankfully

-Kenise 2016-06-26 15:51:20

Last night i dream that someone i know gave me a blue engagement ring with my name on it. And the word (I AM) carved inside

-Crystal 2016-02-07 18:24:37

I just woke up from a terrifying dream. I’m currently pregnant, about 6 months. In my dream, I was at work in the bathroom, then I all of a sudden I realized, down on my right side of my hip and my right side, there was a big gapping hole, viewing my insides being destroyed by maggots and little worms (like in The Strain). My baby was gone and I couldn’t get the maggots off or out of me. I could feel the maggots in my throat and coming out in my mouth. I was panicking trying to get help and no one had any urgency to help me. After struggling for help and asking if this was the beginning of a plague, I was escorted to the ER upstairs. (I work at a hospital) but they wouldn’t see me. No one in the ER would help or cared I was being infested with maggots, instead they were going to have me arrested. I’m not quite sure how the transition happened, but then after a while (back at work, next day) my side was getting healed but now there was a big loose flap of skin over my side hole, and if I touched it maggots would swarm, if I didn’t touch it, it would heal and the maggots started to die.

    -Anna - Tony's Assistant 2016-02-10 11:32:50

    Dear Crystal – Thank you for mentioning that you are pregnant. I trust this will be a helpful read for you too; http://dreamhawk.com/pregnancy-childbirth/childbirth-as-initiation-2/
    What I see in your dream is that you become aware of a valuable “Life lesson”; do not interfere with an inner cleansing and healing process.
    Maggots in a dream are a symbol of life or effects in your life, that have sprung from parts of yourself that are no longer growing or properly given life. The effects however, are usually efforts on the part of nature to cleanse, heal or deal with the situation.
    The inner, psychological cleansing starts with you working in the bathroom and with the maggots cleaning out your “inner world” and when you decide that you want to get rid of the maggots you release them through some form of oral expression; “I could feel the maggots in my throat and coming out in my mouth.”
    When you continue to ask for help (interference), you get the message that they are going to have you arrested.
    Being arrested is a symbol of stagnation in the process of healing.
    So the plot of the dream suggests that this is about “letting things happen”; do not interfere with a healing process; “and if I touched it maggots would swarm, if I didn’t touch it, it would heal and the maggots started to die.”
    The art of letting things happen; action in non-action; letting go of oneself, as taught by Master Eckhart, became a key for me… The key is this: we must be able to let things happen in the psyche. For us, this becomes a real art of which few people know anything. Consciousness is forever interfering, helping, correcting, and negating, and never leaving the simple growth of the psychic processes in peace. It would be a simple enough thing to do if only simplicity were not the most difficult of all things
    Please continue reading at http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/letting-things-happen/
    and also see http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/the-lifestream/#Open
    Anna 🙂

-Amber 2014-10-11 15:13:46

I keep having this reoccuring dream about this house/apartment/flat. I’m not sure what it is as I never see the outside and can’t get to the outside. I wander around in pretty much a blank state. no feelings or thoughts really. There’s a huge room through a doorway that’s open and it’s an almost bare living room. A couch and a rug and a fireplace and table with a lamp by the wall. There’s no colors but a brownish red for everything but the ceiling. The ceiling in each room is a beige color. Walls are this dull color. Off of that room is another living room or something. It has a piano and a rug with windows. It’s bright but still dull inside. If you look out the windows all you see is sunshine. Like there’s no ground or sky. There’s a bedroom off of these rooms with a glass wall that can see the first living room but you can’t see it from the living room. On this glass wall is a small table and a mirror. There is a plain bed but it’s big just sitting in the one corner. There’s no doors. The bedroom has a pretty glass doorway entrance. This room is really white but with the drab look all the same. There is a armoir between the windows on the far wall and candle sconces. There’s a flat wall with nothing on it but you hear something coming from it. There is a keyhole that when pressed a handle pops out and it opens to a really dark small room with 1 window with piercing sunlight and a desk and chair that’s really old looking. Sturdy but worn. There are some papers and books lying around. If you attempt to exit the house it’s a circle between these rooms. Off of the piano room is a dining area. Like a mall restaurant. Everyone and the food looks the same bleh with no smells or recognition. Behind this room is a hallway. The hallway is drab white. There is a door to the right and one in front of me. The door to the right is a linen closet with towels and things. So I grab a towel and open the other door. It’s a huge but drab bathroom. There’s only a door and a tub with a winodw way up on top with only sunlight. The tub is large and has a curtain that’s a reddish brown and white. not really a pattern like it’s just thrown on there. I try to take a shower and everyone is interrupting me asking if I want some of the drab food (they said it was from mcdonalds and bk) and their voices are all the same. When I let them in I recognize them but its all bleh. So they finally leave and i – for whatever reason – attempted to pleasure myself while they were interrupting but not when they stopped. There was no feelings with it or from it. So then I decided to go and bother the other door in there. I open it and it has 2 toliets on the floor (all you can see is the lids on the floor next to each other) and a sink that was normal. So I went out of there and touched the wall. There was another door hidden and behind it was another drab looking apartment with more rooms. There was a cabinet right next to the door so I went in it because I was interested why it was the only thing with bright colors. It was older and white with some flowers. I went through and found tons of ballet flats. I said to myself “none of these are my daughter’s size… no wait..” and one was a black sparkly one in her size that was a dance shoe. I began looking through the whole thing for another and on the shelf above it was a ny yankees shower curtain with rings I decided to put on my crappy tub and tear down the other one and a crisp white sheet. I took them and heard someone coming from inside the other rooms. So I shoved all the other shoes that didn’t fit my daughter back in the cabinet and grabbed what I was taking and shut the secret door. I heard someone on the other side who was pretty heavy yelling about how the mess happened in the cabinet. I put the things I took on the other wide of the tub and waited to go back in to see what else was in there (maybe the person would leave?). So then I got out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom (which skipped the dining area on the way back completely) and I put the things on my bed. My bed was white with rosewood frame when I got back and a canopy and a sheer valance. I didn’t feel anything but bleh but when I touched the bed it was soft and comfy. I jumped on it and went to sleep. I’ve had the dream about the other rooms except the bathroom and dining area. There is a way to the other apartment from beside the armoire as well despite there being windows that show all the sunlight. It leads to another living room in the other house/apartment and I went in and lit their fireplace then came back. I’ve had these dreams and explored for over a few months. no idea what they mean though. Usually the same thing and there’s always another room that’s drab and often a living room.

    -Tony Crisp 2014-10-13 7:58:53

    Amber – The house that is all bleh is your inner world. You cannot get outside of it because you cannot escape from yourself. Many people try to escape from themselves by doing all manner of things, like drinking, having wild flings, taking up being a comedian or actor, drugs or leaving what seems a boring life. See http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/inner-world/

    But the sun is shining if you shifted your inner world slightly, you can see it through windows. I remember wandering through a landscape I didn’t like and I asked myself how can I escape. The answer in the dream came clear. You cannot escape because it is the world you created, the only way out is to change.

    Here is an example of how the inner world can be changed by understanding the symbols and by asking yourself questions.

    Example: I dream I am in a landscape and notice that everything is brown; the whole world is brown and lifeless. There is also a feeling of solemnity or dullness. I have enough lucidity to wonder why the world of my dream is so brown and dull. As I ask this I become more aware of what feeling the brownness expresses. It is seriousness – with no room for humour or fun. The feeling deepens, real enough and clear enough to look at and understand. I see it is my father’s attitude to life that I have unconsciously inherited. I realise how anxious he always felt about life, and how I took this in. That is how I became a ‘brown’ person. I see too that I do not need to be either brown or serious anymore.

    Then, as I watch, the landscape changes. There are trees, plants and animals in brilliant colour. I wonder what this means, and the landscape begins to spin until the colours blend and shimmer. Suddenly my body seems to open to them, as if they are spinning inside of me, and with a most glorious feeling a sensation of vibrating energy pours up my trunk to my head. With this comes realisation. I see how stupid I have been in my brown, anxious existence, how much life I have held back. The animals and plants are the different forces in my being that blend into energy and awareness. I feel I am capable of doing almost anything, like loving, writing a song, painting, telepathy, or speaking with the dead. This sparkling vibrating energy is life itself and can, if I learn to work with it, grow into any ability or direction I choose. I wake with a wonderful sense of my possibilities.

    See http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/the-fundamental-process/ and I suggest you practise imagining yourself back in the dream house and asking the question, “Why in such a wonderful and varied house do I feel everything is bleh? And how can I change it?”

    Tony

-Kritika 2014-08-15 3:32:45

I was asked to report in a new office location. I meet my boss and when i try to find a restroom i end up outside the building. I keep running around so many times but couldn’t enter. The time flys and I am so concernd that my boss would be angry on me. When i keep trying to enter through various routes at last a guy helps me to cross and jump over a number of blocks and we reach my cabin.

-danielle nicole 2011-05-11 12:39:41

I just woke up from the worst dream of my life. In my dream, there was a man, who my family knew was a serial killer and had been doing things in my town. He knew that we were watching him, so he plotted an attack on us. Not only did he show up, he brought a whole team of men and women in two cars with sledgehammers and weapons to come hurt us. He knocked on the door, so my mom and I pretended that we were a dog scratching on the doorway. We ran upstairs and they entered, stealing everything in my house – including my bike on my porch I had told my dad to hide. My mom and I hide in an upstairs bedroom, trembling. Two hours later we came downstairs to look for my dad. I told my mom to expect the worse. He was killed, in the downstairs bathroom, sliced up with a razor and covered in blood. We called 911 but no one was interested in helping. I decided we needed to do research on this man to figure out more about him.

The dream went on and on, us preparing for him, him and his men showing up. Some children were added into the dream – we all were getting sick and dying. There was nothing in the house, and we had nothing to offer these men. We sent a woman, who claimed she loved him, with some cherries to talk to him. I kept wanting to run away and fly away as this man was capable of a massacre.

    -Tony Crisp 2011-05-17 11:35:46

    Danielle – You are suffering an awful attack of anxiety. As you can see from the dream, it goes on and one and becomes more and more convoluted because that is how anxiety works.

    Your anxious fears have fastened onto a mass murderer, and you have built an awful fear around it. If it is still bothering you I would suggest seeing a doctor for treatment for anxiety.

    Sometimes such fears are burnt out with the dream such as you had. If so that is good.

    Tony

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