Hey.
I'm not very skilled at remembering small details of my dreams, mainly because there are bigger issues that I notice and try to evaluate so forgive me for not offering much information.
I had a dream last night which was similar to a previous dream which left me feeling uncomfortable and basically wanted to ask if anyone has had a similar experience and what you make of it.
I will start with the main issue and present the similarities as I go. In my first dream, which was about 2 months ago, I was running from these random people and it was a dark setting, I was running along a typical main road( like a smaller motorway) but there were no cars..... not that I looked to see if they were there I just remember not seeing any. There was a moment when I was running down a spiral staircase which belonged to some ghetto flats and as I was going I became..... extremely slow, I was pulling on the staircase rail to aid me down the stairs, even when I would jump the last few steps to hasten myself it had no effect and I was litterally pulling myself against this unseen force which was like some kind of glue. This is my main issue, the feeling of running as though I was in water or like a website said 'quicksand'.
The dream I had last night was similar in that I was running away from people again, only this time it wasn't random people, it was the police. And this time I remember seeing my friends in the dream who was also running from the police as though we'd done something. Once again, as I was attempting to leap over something, I believe it was a fence which had some bush growing on it, I became incapable of moving faster than a slug as all the other people were perfectly fine, and catching up with me. I managed to pull myself over the fence and tried hiding within the bush which was growing up the fence but as I was, one of the officers leaped over and landed right infront of me and looked straight at me. I remember seeing his face but unfortunatley don't remember if he was someone I actually knew but it was kind of unsettling, because for one, he was chasing me and I have no clue as to why and secondly becuase it was one of the most personal moments of a dream I have had for a while, mainly due to the fact that he was there for me and we were practically face to face, he went to grab me and then I remember I'm running again, with a little more ease at this point, then I woke.
Can I just add that in the first dream, when I was running down the stairs or trying to run should I say, There was this african woman at the bottom just standing there, and then I noticed my exit point was no good becuase there was this metal gate which was locked......I was able to put my arms through the gate because it was like a railing but I could not fit through it and thats when I woke. The black woman became irrelevant to me when I noticed the gate. Also I felt a strong sense of lonliness in the first dream which was not a factor in the second dream.
Anyway, to finish up, my main issue is with this stiffness stuff. Whats it all about.
Peace
AL.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wizard.gif)

This post has been edited by al_zaine: Jan 25 2008, 08:09 PM

Decending stairs is often associated with self avoidance, putting one's self down, and just not making much progress in life. The sluggish sensation is probably your unconsciousness' interpretation of feeling overwhelmed and just worn down by the path you are currently on. You trying hasten your trip down the stair signifiies cutting corners, avoiding doing what needs to be done to end this current trend in life. The dark setting just underscores the over all meloncholy tone.


Running from the authorities signifies guilt, knowing that you are breaking the law, doing harm to yourself or others or otherwise doing what you believe is wrong. The fence is a barrier that is trying to stop you to look at what you are doing and face personal responsibility. By jumping over the fence you are avoiding the consequences of your actions and ultimately hurting yourself. You running when you were grabbed shows fear, perhaps disdain towards what the officer represented. Perhaps you are trying to break down your moral up bringing, but you cannot complete this process until you fully face it and give it recognition first.



The black woman represent cultural disambiguation, basically a not knowing your own culture or not understanding certain aspects of who you are and where you're family came from. The closed gate represents a barrier within your mind you have not figured out how to open. It likely relates to not understanding an aspect of yourself, or self denial. You must figure out how to ask the right question, or explore the right paradigm of thought to access this gate. You reaching past the bars signifies you desire to open the gate up. You want to progress past this barrier in your psyche.

Thats my take. Have I had similar dreams, yes - but with different meanings. I also do not recall having ever drempt of a black woman either. But generally when we dream of forigners it means there are parts of our own being we do not understand, or maybe even know about. I would red flag this woman in your dreams. If she is a reoccuring aspect embrace her as a spiritual guide and see if maybe she cannot give you the wisdom to open that gate.

Hey there Acid. I appreciate your input and have considered the implications, most of it qiute illuminating. I agree that I put myself down alot and don't feel as though i'm making any progress in life apart from in decadance. I am very worn out on the path I am on, if you can really call it a path, its more like the Not Path path because it leads to Nothing, vouching for the melancholic theme of the first dream.
the "sluggish" feeling first encountered on the staircase is to me more than a sense of overwhelming, it was more like trying to stop me running... running away from the people who were chasing me, I don't know why they were chasing me, I don't even really know whether they were angry or not all I know was I was being chased and was being 'intercepted' by this unseen force. Maybe I should just go to the people who are chasing me instead of going away from them.

I don't recall having a sense of guilt in the dream nor that I had done anything wrong, its just they were authority figures which I guess can suggest running from responsibilities and order. My life right now is not exactly chaotic and I try to have routine but the routine is living a bad life. Bad because I don't take advantage of my capabilities or simple test them, instead I stoop and wither.
I really like the part about the fence being a barrier/obstacle. Your opinion on this is resounded throughout this post and considering now, these barriers/obstacles were the central theme in the dream next to the sluggishness when not needed,lol.
Trying to break down moral upbringing is a good one, I definatley need to think about this more.
Whaterver is the reason behind these sleep imaginations I shall attempt to face and recognise.

Again, your interpretation of the gate being a closed region in my mind which I am trying to reach or open is awesome and kind of so obvious, I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself. Just shows you how unaware I am of my own thought processes and symbology. It's kind of like the gate blocking the entrance to paradise, Eden. Although I know that beyond the gate I was tring to get past, it most certainly isn't the end of the 'path', it's not the final destination. Once I get past that gate I will at some point come across another gate, unless I don't create any obstacles in my life and thereby operating freely in all directions.
The black woman who I saw standing by the gate was the first time I have ever seen her and so far the only time. As you said, I shall 'red flag' her and see if there is any information she holds.

There are other interpretations which pop up in my mind when reading over this, many maybe's.
Tell me what you think of this, its short..... In the dream world isn't everything upside down? reason being is that I had a thought that I was maybe running not down(although thats how it appears in the dream) but I was running up, up into waking consciousness, the dream world has been percieved as the underworld by many cultures and maybe the black woman was the avatar of the underworld(my dream world) and it was her who put the gate there to prevent me from re-entering waking life where I will forget what has occured and to also face those issues. I thought that this could also explain the "sluggishness" as some form of reversed gravitational pull.
Tell em what you reckon, is it plausible?

Peace
Al.

I don't know that we dream upside down persay. I certainly don't see why that is not a possibility but in all that I have ever studied of dreams I cannot recall having come across any study or scientific basis that physiologically in a dream state we are percieving things upside down or inverted from normal reality. Maybe there is some such evidence that I just don't know of. In my opinion in dreams, the laws of physics don't apply. And in such a hypnogotic state, a state of mind where reality doesn't make much sense and the mind is left to try and adjust as best as it can, I cannot see why one would not percieve things as upside down. If you journal about your dreams I would make note of these dreams and see if there is a common trend.

OK last night I had what must have been the worst dream in my living memory, I don't want to bore you with details but I don't want to leave anything out that could be needed. Already the dream is trying to escape me, so lets go.
From what I can discern it starts with me going into the bookies(betting shop) with a friend who wins some money and gives me a small amount to try my luck, so now i'm gambling on the machine and doing well, i'm winning..... not sure how much but know i'm winning, anyway this next guy who I know comes to me.... in reality he is a big guy and feared buy some because he was ruthless -smashing toes when they wouldn't pay up for drugs - but in the dream he had a more menacing build, wider, but I didn't fear him he's my friend. We both went to the shop to get something like a drink I think, I remember it was dark, the whole dream is quite dark. We go into the shop and it looks like your typical kurdish offlicence and when we were approaching the fridge area a female emloyee who was hold this white box was standing in the isle, I proceeded to walk past but my friend took ahold of the box and the both of them were playing tug of war with eachother for what seemed like seconds when finally the box broke and all of a sudden my friend just whacked this woman straignt in the side of the head with his fist knocking her against a fridge door, its seemed so random and very violent, so unnecessary was it to me that I asked him, "why, why did you do that", we both knew the police were coming so we're looking to bolt. Next i'm outside on familiar terrian, though I know this road has no offlicence but I just go with it, not even looking back to see the shop, I start to run. Ah once again this seems all to familiar, I can't run somethings holding me back, through sheer determination or will the only way of beating this rigidness is flying.... it feels so great, i'm untouchable, i'm moving fast but it's hard to control and its like I fall back into the stiffness where i'm fighting to move one foot infront of the other and fighting to fly again just to get out of there, I can feel the fear. I don't know how but then i'm at the guys house, or should I say room, its one room which reaches round giving the impression of two rooms. We're just jamming there and an older-good friend of mine appears there, and we all set off for bed, all in the same room. This bit is for me where it gets too much, almost like a dream within a dream which upon my awakening into reality makes me question if its real and the fear remains for a minute or so.
Its dark and we're in our beds "sleeping" and then the menacing guy is standing over me, all I see at first is just a silhouette but I know its him and then he bends over and reveals his face which just looks emotionless almost as though he does't even know what he's doing..... I think I intuit this mostly(in the dream) because then I make the 'conscious' decision to try reasoning with him all the while thinking to myself, get the f%*! out of there this guys going to kill you. I remember forcing myself to just lay as though safe so not to give the impression I was feeling threatened. I knew I could sway him, I just had to remain vigilant and it payed off, within a click of the fingers he's back in his bed, I remember it so much, I looked over at him and saw his face- he was sound asleep as though he never got out of bed, I thought f%*! this and slowly and quitely proceed to put my socks on.... something cause him to wake.... even my good friend and i'm still trying to get dressed, i notice something very unusual....theres this white pipe sticking through the front door, the exit, there was some numbers written on the side of it and a small bit of blood which was worrying, especially when my good friend came round the corner with evil intent in his eyes, an evil smile and blood on the side of his face. The two of them now wanted to kill, I don't know why, I just knew to get dressed quick and get out, basically I got out of the room and was in this corrider of what seemed to be a hosptial, and I guessed it was an asylum, there were random people plotted about and I proceeded past the to this 'main desk' which was busy and directly behind I saw the staircase which I took as the way out, next I was outside and it was a place that i'd never been to before but it felt like it was in the city, I tied to run but again I could hardly put one foot in fron of the other, I turned back and see the two of them looking out of what appeared to be a car park window, they let of this terrifying laughter as though to say, we're coming.... i'm in terror trying to run and I see infront of me stairs going up to this possible airport desk but it could have been a train but I knew it was transport out of there. As i'm fighting to go, i may have called out for help because all of a sudden about 3-4 people who all looked familiar took my arms and was pulling me towards the lobby, I feel confused but safer, I just want to get out of there. One or two of them get either hurt or killed trying to help and the next thing I know i'm at the looby then I awake, but the fear that they were coming for me remained for a minute or so.
I never want that dream again, it never seemed to end, and I couldn't make out anything other than fear. What the hell was the white pipe sticking through the door and what was the numbers on it about, I may never know. What was the whole dream about, i'm hoping someone can help me with that, what I do know is I never want that dream again.
Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate it.
Peace
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wizard.gif)

This post has been edited by al_zaine: Jun 12 2008, 05:26 PM

I would take this to mean that either you are taking risks in life or that you desire to do so.



From a Jungian point of view you should ask yourself questions like "how are you like this friend of yours?". What qualities does he have that you exhibit as well? Then to me this guy represents a force either within you, or around you that is intimidating or inspires fear. I know you said he is your friend but he only might represent fear, not in the since that you fear him, just that he represents fear - to some degree. It doesn't have to be fear either. It could be power, brute force, a bully.



I'm not sure what an offlicense is. Is it some kind of music club or dance hall? The image I get is more like a popluar bar - which may symbolize the desire to have fun and socialize. And places like bars or night clubs naturally tend to be fairly dark anyways. But the theme of darkness could represent regression, self destruction, or hidden thoughts/emotions/memories. Darkness tend to be a common thing with my dreams. Personally for me I think darkness is just what I am accustomed to since I tend to be more active at night. So the dark theme might simply represent what you are more comfortable with and nothing more.


The female employee within the context of a bar/night club type setting might represent a part of your personality, that is feminine but is the key to understanding what is in the box. Instead your dominating masculine side, took over and forced her to give up whatever was inside the box. This bit of a spat (your friend hitting the girl) could represent a greater conflict between the masculine and feminine sides of your personality.


The act shows impulsiveness, lack of self control, perhaps issues with anger even. It underscores a possible conflict between aspects of your personality. And by conflict I don't mean a mental health crisis, just a part of yourself doesn't communicate very well with the rest of your self.

Police represent duty, authority, in the context of dreams they can respenet mental control and discilpline. If you do something where you know the police are going to get involved it represents acting in a manner that goes against duty, authority etc etc. I don't know what kinds of activities you engage in in your real life, but dreaming about the police could symbolize the need to check yourself before you end up busted. I can't tell you how many times paying attention to this has helped me stay out of trouble - legal or other.



The running and flying represent engaging in activities that allow you to avoid your responsibilities or baggage in life. But you know that you can't hide for those things for ever, hence the fear. If you know someone is going to catch up to you, then it is fear of that person. If it is something you are avoiding (like emotions or memories) then its not fear its anxiety - which will get worse in the future if that is the case.



Your subconcsiousness is attempting to make you to pay attention to something, to be aware of something. More than likely whatever it is is within yourself. But it might be external as well. You should consider both thoroughly.



The menacing man represents your shadow self. This can come in many forms. In your dream I think it is more like a menacing fool. Don't think of "fool" like you would an idiot or someone stupid. Instead think of the fool as more like the guy who really knows what he's talking about but no one listens because they think he's full of it. The fool is also a person without direction and who has a degree of gullibility. The fool as represented by the shadow self who depicts no emotion with no awareness to what he is doing, represents an inability within yourself to properly or maybe appropriately express emotions.

Remember, no matter how nightmarish your dreams may seem, they are still only dreams and you should not fear them. Fear only leads to self doubt which hinders growth. Embrace this shadow self as a teacher and it will manifest in ways that have more obvious meaning.



The "reasoning" is how you deal with this shadow self character in real life. Whatever it represents in real life, you deal with it through intellectualization. A psychological term that is used to refference false logic, or misuse of reason. People use intellectualization to distract themselves from the real problem, or to minimize it or otherwise feed into a negative pattern that prevents a person from really fixing anything. Its very common for drug addicts especially - but not by any means limited to them. In your dream you reasoning with him (intellectualizing) pacifies him - he goes to sleep. But you know this is a person you are bedding down with, meaning it is a part of you. As such you know it will eventually wake up to manifest itself again.



It'd be easier to interpret the white pipe if you could describe it more specifically. Was it like a rain gutter or exaust of some kind? Without any additional details I would have to combine it with the blood on it and assume it represents a hole, or, dysfunction within yourself that acts like an emotional leak. Blood represents life, life is full of emotion. So to lose either could be representing by a loss of blood. Again, like your big enforcer friend, the friend in this dream is taking on a similar role. The friend who looks like he wants to kill someone could represent the same things as the other friend at the offlicense.



Walking down the corridor of an asylum filled with strange people is fairly easy to interpret. It simply represents being in a time of mental and emotional strain and feeling unable to connect to others. This does not have to be in any extreme sense. Maybe your mental fraustration is simply being behind with the bills for this month. Maybe you are dealing with some bad relationships with others. Or perhaps you having difficulty in confiding with another person. It could be any number of things.



Being in a place you've never been in before represents situations in your life you are not sure how to handle. They could be interpersonal, or things within yourself. Cities tend to be meccas for socialization and intermingling. So I would guess that perhaps you are having some strain on some relationships with others in your life.

I kind of lost you with "them" you didn't really explain who they were. But I'll assume that they still represent your shadow self, once again it is trying to make you aware of something and they are telling your it is unavoidable.



Terror represents being in a situation that may be life threatening or unfamilar. People often fear change. So it could represent that as well. Transportation, or any vehicle often tends to resent a medium that will enable a person to travel in life. Wanting to get to that transport represents a desire to change. Asking for help from people you know in real life represents a willingness to reach out to others to get that help in order to make the right changes.

This post has been edited by Acid09: Jun 16 2008, 08:18 PM

Hey,
I just want to give a thanks to you Acid for your input in this thread and for having the time to delve into my mind through what limited dream descriptions I have offered.
I had a dream last night and it got me thinking about dreams again so I decided to go over some that I posted here and I have to say, you really impressed me with your wisdom.



As I read over this section of the post I felt you were absolutely spot on. I'm beginning to realize now what my dreams are trying to convey to me. Thanks to you Acid. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bigwink.gif)
cheers!

Your welcome! Sometimes its a hit and miss but the stuff I tend to be correct about tends to never leave people indifferent. Either way I'm glad I was able to help to help and I hope you continue to improve understanding your own dreams and I hope it helps you to understand yourself and make you more successful in life.

Behold, another dream I had which I feel I must understand, atleast in part.
I don't want to make this an online dream journal or anything but i've never had a dream like this, it really felt when I woke that it had significance and the interp sites lack in variety.
I'll jump straight in and I'm going to skip aload from the beginning because its somewhat vague and precarious.
Basically, i'm in my home where i've just arrived from a shopping center where I was with a friend, for some reason(I knew why in the dream) I have to get home and end up leaving the friend behind as I jump on a bus and he's still making his way out the shopping center. I get home, i'm in the kitchen making a coffee and out of nowhere my friend who I left behind appears in the doorway of the kitchen quite calmly and with a pleasant smile.... i'm taken back at the speed, how did he get here so soon. I straight up, hand on heart ask him and I qoute "Are you a demon" his smile grows with a look of bafflement and replies assuredly "No". We work our way into the main room where my Mum is, with approx 3 random people chatting away. In reality we very very rarely have people over. Me and my friend start playing console(which I don't have) and I decide to go upstairs... keep in mind that I live in a block on a housing estate, 2 floors up from ground level..... when I get upstairs I notice my cat(which is all black, both in reality and the dream), he's in my mums room(nothing new) and he's right at the window, practically looking out down onto the balcony below where some random people from the main room I guess had decide to gather, there talking must have got the attention of my cat. I go over to him and tug at his body to bring him in but he's adamant and ends up leaping out of the window...aiming toward the balcony just below but his paws push away from the wall below the window as he leaps and he misses the balcony and before my eyes and in horror I watch as he falls towards the grass at the bottom, outside. I see him land, quite well too might I add, I capture a mental image of his position and tear down the stairs of my house full pelt, shout to my mum and anyone else who cares to hear that the cats outside. I leave the premises and I'm outside running round the block to the grass behind the building only to find no cat, i'm looking desperately around thinking all the while "he couldn't of got far, where is he". furthering the perimeter, i'm at what seems like -and i'm presuming- an outdoor cafeteria, people are doing there thing, some sitting, some walking, nothing special....but no cat. I make my way somewhere else which is when i'm at what seems like a theater. There are many seats, its kind of dark and there are many people, the set up from all that I saw of it was like a semi-circle and i'm facing them so whatever they were there to see was situated behind me. I'm just looking for my cat, thats all I have in mind. I see my mum sitting in one of the seats in the front row and i go to her saying something along the lines "I can't find Winston" and I drop my head in sadness which is when I notice something under my mum's chair and its my cat Winston. I feel such great overwhelming joy for but a moment, I reach down and grab him straight away and hold him to my chest, arms wrapped round him. As I made abit of a ruckus in all the commotion people are taking interest and as I make my way up the theater steps to leave i'm telling certain people who are being inquisitive that its just my cat jumped out the window and I take him home which is when I wake up.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wtf.gif) Quite a ride huh
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by al_zaine: May 2 2009, 09:31 AM

OK there has to be something with my cat leaping from high places because last night it happened in another dream only this one was worse!
I don't know if anyone will read this but I have to write it because it was quite an intense and realistic dream.
There was alot invovled, but i'll stick to the best parts.....
The dream must've been on a festive day, I believe it could've been Easter I was walking past a petrol station where I had earlier brought aload of chocolates(I'm 75% sure some were egg shape)... its dark at this point but the petrol station has its own light source. Anyway I notice as me and my friend are walking past a blue carrier bag on the floor in the station and I remember its my bag of chocs I must have left behind so I goes over to get them, on my way... either in a car or walking a group of black guys around the same age as me turn up and one notice me heading towards the blue bag and takes an interest, believing something of worth to be in the bag or something dangerous because as I bent down to pick up the bag the guy whips out his gun and pulls off a shot which hits me... I remember it feeling so real, the sudden gun blast, the stunned jolt from myself as i get hit and this rapid burning sensation that just felt wrong. In all the drama God knows what happened to my friend, he wasn't in the dream for a while after that. I remember next being in the petrol station and trying to get help and telling someone i'd been shot, looking down to show them there was a bloody spot on my shirt in the lower right side but the person Iooking could see the real wound and lifted my shirt to reveal a bullet wound in my chest, now I begin to worry. It all gets abit hazy at this point but I remember some kind or government service turns up, one looked rather different as though they just came or were on their way to a party, because he had mauve face paint and mauve spikey hair. At one point I was instructed to hide under two wooden stalls/chairs for what reason I have know idea. Anyway.
By now i'm making my way home wondering whats the reaction going to be when I turn up, thinking to myself 'I can't go in there like this'. As most times, theres aload of people at the bottom of my block of flats just hanging around, they don't trouble me or anything and I make my way up the stairs. As I open my front door i'm met by my cat Winston who is standing on his back legs with his front two waving claws as to keep me out, it suprised me, then he walks past me coming out on to the balcony and walks to the gap that runs along the bottom of the barrier, turns his head to look at me for a split second then just throws himself over to my absolute shock, funny thing is though that my cat is all black save for about 5-6 small hairs on his front and when he leaped he became all white and I looked over the balcony and saw him falling and saw him land.... on his back.... and my heart was torn with emotion.... but then i notice he begins to move slightly. All I remember saying is "what the f**k is this. what the f**k is this" and i look to the stairs to run down them and my friend was coming up them and he saw me upset and still wounded and had a look as though 'what now'..... last thing I remember from the dream is running down the stairs thinking this is just to much, i can't take it and I wake up.
Maybe I died on the stairs? I must have been losing blood. The dream just ended and I woke up and had to check my chest straight away and get to grips with my surroundings. If i knew i would have this same dream tonight, I wouldn't go to bed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif)
If you read this far, wow, you're awesome. And if you could shed some light on any of this dream most importantly for me I guess would be the cat leaping to its death part that would be even awesomer! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif)

This post has been edited by al_zaine: Sep 9 2009, 09:45 AM

Ok, its been 3 times that i've had a dream where my pet cat jumps of my balcony. Twice its been of the back balcony and once of the front. Everytime I experience the same strong surge of emotion and everytime I find him and wake up. I rarely if ever have a reoccuring dream so the cat in my dream must signify something. any idea's????????????

Perhaps you are simply worried about losing your cat? Cats themselves can symbolize a whole slew of things. I most associate them with mystery, stealth, curiosity, magic and feminism. A balcony may represent a threshold or boundry you are worried about crossing. Kind of like living on the edge maybe?

Oh my! There's dreams that seem to have no relevance and then there's dreams that are all too relevant!
I had a dream that I was either in my room or asleep in my room when my Mother came in or called to me upset about something. She said I needed to see this. It was on the t.v. It came across as though someone payed for airtime for a special message. It was my Dad (He's actually not my biological Father, and he left me, my mum and my younger brother, who is his actual son, when I was about 9 years old). We haven't spoken in a long time, maybe 4-5 years! I saw him in his car and we waved at each other roughly 6-8 months ago. Any back to the dream.
I looked at the T.V. and my Dad was on it, being quite emotional which is something he's not known for and he was apologizing to me for not being in touch and how he's unable to contact.
I don't remember much more than that really but throughout the dream and upon waking I just found it strange and uncalled for.
Now when I get on the comp I find its only blimming Fathers day today, of all days! I was aware that Fathers day was just around the corner for about a week now but I never knew what day, so I find it peculiar that I would have the dream the night seeing into actual Fathers day.
Is it a message? is it from God, my Higher Self or the subconscious? Is it possible that my dad had me on his mind and we were both sleeping at around the same time and it was his mind projecting these thought forms from his subconscious into mine?
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

This post has been edited by al_zaine: Jun 20 2010, 08:19 AM