Some people don't think dreams mean anything

[Tobin S.]

But I just had one that has affected me in a way that only a few have in my lifetime. I'm writing this at about 2 in the morning. Rarely does a dream wake me up in the middle of the night and move me to write. I'll relate the dream.

I was on the road, but not in my truckerly way. I was sort of like a hobo. I ended up in a prison somehow. There was a lot of violence in the prison. Men were killing each other for sport. The guards and prison administrators knew what was going on but would not do anything about it. I did not want to get caught up in this violence, so I made it my mission to lay low and not do anything that might get me in a fight.

One of my friends was in the prison with me and he was like a superstar in there as far as the games went, but I tried to keep contact with him to a minimum.

The men in the prison would challenge each other to knife fights, and the fights would be to the death. They would be watched by the other prisoners in the way that school yard scraps are watched. The knives that the men had were not like homemade prison knives. They were like the kind that can be bought in the outside world.

One day, one of the men in the prison challenged me to one of these fights. We were up on a very high level of the prison. I had done nothing to provoke him. I think he just thought that I was an easy target- a resume builder, I guess. I turned and ran, but he was faster than me and caught up to me. Knowing that I could do nothing else to avoid the fight I turned as he approached. He took a swing at me with the knife in his hand. I blocked it and the knife fell to the floor. I then started pushing him over the edge of the railing that went along the walkway. The fall would have meant certain death.

Then I woke up.

If you look at it from a Freudian perspective, it might be construed that the dream had a sexual nature to it with the knife being a phallic symbol. It could be about me conquering my fears of sexual inadequacy, and fear is the theme of the dream. It also sort of fits with what's been going on in my personal life if you look at it from that perspective. I'm in a relationship involving sex for the first time in a long time and we are good for each other in bed. That is a big deal to me.

But I wrote about challenges here before and that's also a theme of the dream. I've backed down from challenges in my life many times. Sometimes I think I'm making progress in some area of my life then I hit a road block. Instead of trying to work through it, I give up. I was forced to deal with a challenge in the dream, and I succeeded in overcoming...well, sort of. Because, you see, the dream ended with me waking up before I actually killed the prisoner who attacked me. I had him up against the rail and going over, and then I woke up. I did not see him die. I am dealing with a big challenge in my life right now so that angle seems to fit, too.

Or it could mean nothing, I guess. Maybe my brain is just trying to process information gathered in during the day in it's weird way. It certainly is a creative way to do it, though. What do you think?

[HereSince1628]

1. I interpret dreams more in terms of personal issues

I get the feeling they are generated out of things I'm thinking about
So, as you wrote this seems familiar to you I think that's on the right track.

Of course sometimes dreams can be pretty bizarre and may have more to do with my brain scrambling three television shows and a book into one dream and trying to resolve some shared feeling from them. So I stay away from "Crimal Minds" and the "Kardashians."

For me a prison would likely mean I'm stuck in some circumstance.

The notion that there are "games" suggests that there may expectations about behavior that is like playing a position in a game...something you do, maybe something that protects you in your prison but that you don't see as something you 'are.'

The knife fights I'd take as the existance of threats.

Then I try but can't escape from a threat and must deal with it (maybe it's a deadline)
I succeed in disarming it and push the cause (the attacker) away.


I'd be prone to interpret the dream as my brain trying to deal with thoughts about being stuck on needing to act
in some way that you dread but must deal with. And the outcome of the dream suggests you CAN.

[Tobin S.]

2. Thank you, HS. That makes sense.

I own a semi right now. I'm also engaged to be married and I want nothing more than to spend all of my free time with my fiancee. The truck is the trap or prison. I can't find local work with it and I have to be out on the road 5 days a week. I'm also not doing very well financially with it (hobo?). I'm looking for a way out of the deal right now and it's going to take some work- a challenge, I guess you could say. I think I can see a way, and I think I can do it, but I am fearful about pursuing it.

[elleng]

3. You can do it, Tobin, I'm sure of it.

As HereSince said, dreams are generated out of things we're thinking about; mine surely are. And when I think about them for a bit I often come to an Aha moment, which helps, as in 'That makes sense.'

Most recently I had a dream about a large gathering, including lots of former acquaintances. Nothing bad but a LARGE sheet cake, and I indulged in a few pieces of it, that is, sampled the varied flavors/icings. SO what'd I do yesterday? BOUGHT a piece of fancy iced cake in bakery department of grocery store, and been eating it (in bits) ever since! Still haven't quite figured out the dream, but maybe relates to variety of friends/acquaintances been running into on FaceBook? AHA!!!

:hi:

[rbnyc]

4. Or...

...your subconscious mind could be feeding you an awesome screenplay.

I love dreams and I think they are very important. I think your dream has to do with you finding power and maintaining integrity at the same time. But I read and am writing quickly because I'm on a naughty internet break at work.

;-)