Dreams, symbols, and questions
Most dreams, if not all are symbolic, especially recurring ones. I’ve been having a few that were worth noting although I’m in the dark about what they might mean.
One is a scene out of an action film, with a protagonist hero being chased by two gunman jumps on a boat sitting in a canal and starts up the engine. when he gets in he realizes that the boat is really a floating enclosed tank containing a 15 foot shark. The two gunman run along side the tank as well, and after they kill the motor they jump inside the boat only to be surprised/eaten by the shark, or meeting another untimely death (drowning, concussion, shooting, you pick). The protagonist then smugly goes on his way and like a movie cliche, he realizes that he has lost braking control of the boat, and a low-lying tunnel is right ahead. He jumps off the boat in time. The shark, of course is set loose and it is revealed that this is a mutant shark that uses its amphibious traits to climb over the canal, and into the street. The protagonist runs along the canal banks, and it is revealed over the loudspeakers in the street that the military is searching for a rouge navy admiral who is on the run.
The interesting thing about this with this recurring dream I’ve played all different characters, the running protagonist, the gunman, even the shark.
In last night’s dream I was in the role of the general/admiral, and running along the canal embankment past a brown row house, overhearing a mention of a free performance later that evening by to young women walking by, one of whom seemed to notice that I was running from something. Down the street and into an office building, then through the double doors opens a sort of a town square, where people are singing the finale of the free performance, old people, middle aged people, young kids.
At this point the dream melded into another recurring dream that has different theme all together, again, different takes and perspectives on a similar event - a free concert in the middle of a town square. This one I’ve been in the various perspectives, a passerby, a performer of various different ages, a composer of music, a producer handling logistics. Usually when I’m coming from the perspective of the passerby I’m literally “passing by” - on my way from one dream to the next, usually in the middle of a song, or right at the grand finale. In some sense I’m never there for the whole performance, but at the same time I don’t feel like I’m missing out on much either. The performance is almost like an afterthought in the dream, which usually ends or fades into something else.
The new dream is definitely symbolic, this one I am raising a child who goes from infant to toddler in the course of the dream, roughly an afternoon. I go from being semi-unsure changing diapers and dealing with the usual projectile emergencies, but mostly because we cannot communicate with each other effectively. The strange thins is that she grows older and bigger in the course of dream, which is in a single day. As she grows older I feel more comfortable with the idea of being a father.