Wednesday, February 23, 2011

It’s Really Coming Down


I had forgotten this dream, until I noticed the rain and said, “It’s really coming down.”

The Dream: Clark and I are in a car; he’s driving. Behind us a car goes over a very steep precipice; some guy has pushed an unoccupied vehicle over the edge. A moment or two later I see the guy follow. He’s wearing a yellow polo shirt and tan trousers. His outfit reminds me uncomfortably of Clark. I feel helpless, watching this event and being unable to do anything about it. It seems clear it’s a suicide. I can’t watch the jump to its inevitable conclusion. I recount what I’ve seen to Clark and say, “We’ll see this on the evening news.”

Interpretation: My husband Clark represents my animus, the part of me that deals with the demands of work and business. That he is driving tells me that the dream is about issues in that part of my life. I’m on edge (the cliff). I’m clearly frustrated with the direction I’m going in, so I push the car (the thing that gets me where I’m going) off the cliff.

Jung called our mentally healthy, integrated psyche the Self. The fact that I stupidly follow the car tells me that if I don’t change direction I’m going to kill my Self, thus losing what I had apparently gained in the previous dream.

2 comments:

  1. Jeremy Taylor (jeremytaylor.com) writes quite a bit about death in dreams and he thinks it's actually a healthy thing (for the most part - certainly not always). He likens death to a death of part of our old self which needs to die in order that the self grow more. His example is that of an addict - for an addict does need to die to his old self before he can grow into his non-addictive self. I think the color yellow signifies something of importance - yellow reminds me of the sun and its energy and masculinity. Perhaps an old attitude of mine in regards to say, overworking, has kicked in so I need to be reminded of the prior dream's balance and integration by kicking off the old habit of overworking or in my case being overly compulsive. I can easily lose that balanced perspective by getting immersed in daily life again. For, there is some new "news" to read about tonight. Great dreams! Emily

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  2. I hadn't thought about the "death" as a possibly positive development, i.e., parts of myself that are "driven" may be dying. Thanks, for that insight, Emily.

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