Last night I had a dream and the dream was the following: I dream that I was climbing a very high pole, and it led way up. I was obliged to go up the pole, and I had a kind of rubbery ring around it tightly fit to the pole, which I dragged with my feet to give support. This ring became very important to me. I kept my eyes open all the way up and then when I knew I was at the very top because of the feeling that it was in the clouds, I rested on this rubberish ring, and fell asleep (in my sleep)
I woke upon suddenly realizing (but still asleep) that it was time to go to my job. was relieved in thinking that “god that was a close one, I could have fallen down the pole while I was asleep,” and slid down. It took less time to slide down the pole, and as I saw the ground appear beneath me, I woke up, and it seemed like a second time.
I have no idea if there is a kind of correlation between this type of dream and a kind of tragedy that has a play within a play. Thanks for any response.
I see Your point, but isn't that interpretation rather too obviously Freudian? After having had Jungian session, that kind of stuff allegedly disposed successfully, wouldn't more depth be implied by a dream within a sleep that' in turn is within a sleep?
My daughter who is an avid sky jumper, had asked me about my wanting to go skydiving, and I think she taunted me, (I still doo) herself aware that it has become known common knowledge that I have no tolerance for heights. That being the case, wouldn’t it be a stretch to extend some kind of Oedipus problem to a general anxiety of more spatial proportions like agrophobia? I have never in my life come across such an extended analysis, nor have I ever had a dream like that. Or maybe even an existential homophobia within a context of mortal fear? But maybe dreams are less casual, as to be able to be connected with explanations which seem far fetched. I don’t know, but it was terrifying.
For example, they say, that if you have a dream which consists of the vision of falling, then if you do not wake up before hitting the ground, then you may not wake up. But the objection to this is, if that’s true, you wouldn’t be around to recount Your dream.
Honestly that’s kind of funny, and I just thought of a lame one regarding dicks, (it’s also slang for policeman): 2 dicks are talking, and one says to the other, “the other day this guy came up to me and said ’ you, dickhead’ and I din’t know which way I should take it”. The other cop, being less then bright, replied “no no, that’s not it, he din’t wan’t you to take it, he wanted to you to give it.”
The pole may represent an arduous task you have to accomplish within your lifespan. I say task because you said yourself you were obliged to climb it, it’s not something you necessarily want to do, whatever it is, it’s not a recreational or leisurely activity, but it’s something you have to do. I say arduous and within your lifespan, because, there’s something all encompassing and monolithic about a pole that stretches onward and upward to the sky. The fact that it’s phallic in nature is probably no accidnet. Sexual themes often get incorporated into our dreams, after all, dreams represent the right brain becoming increasingly active whilst the left brain powers down, retires, they’re the doorway to the subconscious, our instincts and emotions, so naturally our sex drive, one of the two most powerful drives, the other being food, takes over here. The question is, does the phallis represent more than just sex, is it meaningful, or just an inconsequential aspect of your dream. I think it has meaning for you. You’re stroking a pole you don’t necessarily really want to be on, so who’s pole is it, obviously it’s not yours, otherwise you’d be enjoying yourself. I’d say the pole represents the system, the corporation you work for, you’re being emasculated to the system, your sacrificing your manhood and independence in order to be an effective employee. Even if you don’t presently have a job or a career, we’re all tied into the system to varying degrees. We all want something from it, we all need things from it, so we have to serve it to varying degrees in order to get these things. The system is not a friend or a family member, it’s an abstract entity, socieyt, the state, the corporation, so helping it doesn’t come naturally to us, yet it’s something we have to do in order to feed and clothe ourselves, or pay our debts, or win a court case, or whatever business you have with it. This comes less easily to a man, hence climbing the large phallis isn’t something that comes naturally to you as a man, you have to forsake part of your manhood in order to accomplish this, but it’s probably necessary to some degree.
The cock ring keeps you tied to the system, so even though when times are tough, and you feel like giving up, you won’t plummit to your doom i.e. you won’t become a drunkard, or a crackhead or a thief, commit suicide, show up to work and shoot your boss in the head, divorce your wife and go on a road trip, things of that nature, the cock ring, whatever it is, is what keeps you grounded, it could also be something that the system needs, it could be something that helps keep the system hard and thriving in addition to saving your ass.
It could be an ability you have, a strenght, a talent, something that gets you though the day, a set of principles you have that help you cope with stress, some routines, some wisdom, or perhaps something outside of you that gives you an edge, an advantage, maybe your religion, a person that helps you cope, things of that nature.
This symbolizes one the one hand your wilings to stay cognisent of what’s going on around you, your disciplined, you don’t want to fuck up and fall of the corporate ladder, you want to remain lucid so you can effectively deal with whatever challenges should arise. On the other hand it reprsents your longing to complete the journey, perhaps your approaching the end now, and your anticipating retiring or victory soon. It also represents your faith that you have that you can endure no matter what life throws at you, you will inevitably achieve victory.
Success, now you can retire, devoute yourself to hedonistic or spiritualistic comforts, or your wife, or whatever gave you that strength to complete life’s journey. Now it’s time to die and go with your God.
Are you a religious man, or was the inclusion of God in this sentence a coicidence? The ring could represent your spirituality.
It’s the tragedy of life, it’s that Greek figure what’s his name condemned to pushing the rock up the moutain only to have fall back down again over and over, order ab chao, life death rebirth, the continual integrating and disintegrating of all things from people to planets, never being wholly complete or incomplete for all eternity. The ring that kept you glued to your corporate masters, the idea that consequences don’t matter and at the end of the day you perform your service for you masters without understanding it or having too much stake in it, is what makes for good slaves, the idea that the servents, the ones who service the masters in the here and now will be rewarded in the after life. It’s your opiate, it’s what helps you push through, thinking God will sustain your lfie and will be there to greet you at the end of it all, with rewards for your efforts.
You’ve made it clear, your reward is not in this life but in the after, you still feel tied to this world, to your survival, naturally, or the survival of your family if you have any, so you must press on for their sake, and you must also be a good servent like you God wants you to and serve society and your corporate masters well. Your reward is not in the world, so you don’t care, as long as you do the best that you can do, you don’t care about the outcome, you leave the rest in your Gods hands. All this is a dream, an illusion, your reward for being a good servent is in heaven, the last shall be first, the first shall be last, meanwhile your corporate masters don’t adhere to this philosophy, they believe the world is very real, and they haven’t come here to serve, do their duty and then go with GOd, they’ve come here to conquer. Their philosophy is the opposite of yours, they believe the first shall be first and the last shall be last, but your philosophy suits them well, they take advantage of your servile nature.
The ring is also your bondage, it keeps you being slavish and servile, never experiencing true freedom and your true, individual self, it keeps you conented to be born and die a slave.
The fear of repeating the dream over and over again, having to repeat the same task, is your fear that all this might be real, and there is no end to it, you want it to be an illusion, you want to the rest on your ring forever.
Haha I’m glad you posted this here, it’s actually an ingenious dream, your dream mind is very creative, it’s captured the essence of the human condition within an organic gif.
For you the dreamworld is more real than reality, life is a dream and when you die you wake up, it’s the will, faith, taking over reason, reason tells us that this probably is the only world and when you die here that’s it. What you fear is waking up from a dream within another dream, you want to obtain moksha, fullness, completion.
There are no absolutes, no absolute completition or incompletion in this world, just an endless cycling of life and death without end, the meaning must be found within if we are to affirm reality.
According to Jung, dreams are a way of communicating and acquainting yourself with the unconscious. Dreams are not attempts to conceal your true feelings from the waking mind, but rather they are a window to your unconscious. They serve to guide the waking self to achieve wholeness and offer a solution to a problem you are facing in your waking life.
Eyes in the dark: thank you for your insightful interpretation. I think you may be on all points, and I think that you may come close to want is going on in the unconscious part of the dream. The correspondence of its content as it relates to any conscious activity, if there is any, is like a jigsaw puzzle, trying to line up edges that match, the external shape fitting the internal shape of the pieces of the puzzle. This is why , in my dreams,for a while now, I factor in these concerns, not with a "rational" point of view, but one which for better description is defined as "surrealism". In fact, if someone were to describe, the only venue, by witch I could describe my own point of view is: I am a surrealist. I am a follower of Andre Breton, for one thing. It is an absurdest position, but with less breaks in the perimeter, and less fragmentation, but at the cost of retaining a distorted wholeness. This is my conscious take off, from where my dreams come from. So as to the dynamic that you interpret in terms of motivation, achievement in my work, relationship issues, etc. Your correct interpretation is filtered through an original distortion. With this in mind, words cease to have common connotations, and the interpretation you attach to them are effected by this filter. The reason I disclose this, is because you have no idea of the element of fear realizing that when you are waking up, then you only woke up, into another dreaming state. It implies a surrealistic distortion, that is consciously creating in your still sleeping state,b that perhaps you can not wake up. So, on one level I was relieved that I managed not to fall of while asleep on top of the pole, on the other hand on another level I actually know in my dream that I was still asleep, but woken. This is a very disturbing thought in fact it is the most disturbing dream I have ever had, not in terms of it being monstrous, or horrifying, but inn the sense of it's cognitive doubt. I wish I could describe its dreamlike cognitive confusion, have you ever seen any of Alfred Hitchcock's works? Perhaps the film with kim Novak, where the protagonist has a fear of falling over and over? It is the closest I can get to the feeling, and the feeling of being constrained from ever finding out why? And I believe, in a successful analysis even though this conscious surrealistic restraint.
This is a cop out. I can, and indeed I have interpreted other peoples dreams before successfully, at least to the satisfaction of myself, the dreamer and all those present. Not saying I’m an expert, just a little hobby of mine. I don’t have any Freudian or Jungian theories clouding my judgement, I use logic to interpret dreams, I try and match the symbols, sights and sounds with feelings and events that might be going on in that persons life.
I don’t care about Jung, I only care about my own intelligence and figure out existence for myself as much as I can. For me, dreams are the language of the sensual brain, the language of symbols, metaphors and similies, they’re us trying to make sense of the world and our feelings and our desires through our more primitive, primal side of brain, that thinks in sights and sounds, in concretions as opposed to abstract words and sentences. This language, as bizarre as it is to our waking selves, can be understood by the left brain to some extent, and be decoded.
There’s a common language to an extent in dreams, images and sounds often carry similar meanings across individuals and cultures. This is probably due to the fact that the language is partially innate, and also that we share common expereiences, and derive similar meanings from them, like if you dream you’re a bird, and you’re happy as a bird, you probably desire freedom from your troubles to explore, to have new and exciting experiences, or to see things as a whole, to transcend go beyond, we wouldn’t say you desire stagnation and to be content with your little hovel and bondage now would we? No, we might say this if you dreamed you were a rock inside a cave though. There’s a logic to dreams and that’s why they can often be analyzed.
That’s a blind assertion, dreams can also serve as a window into other peoples thoughts and feelings, where’s your proof that they’re made for others only, do we not have language, can we not share them with others? They weren’t made for any purpose, there is no purpose, they just happen to exist and we can make use of them. You don’t want the mystery taken out of life do you, you want to keep life emotional, vague and subconscious.
That’s not what I’m here for, I’m here to illuminate life, that’s what philosophy is, illuminism, if you want to perpetuate ignorance and mystery then you’re in the wrong place. It’s also about thinking for yourself, so forget Jung, no I’ll tell you what the nature of dreams are.
Actually I do, I’ve had this dream before, it stems from the fear of never being able to wake up, to be trapped in the illusory world forever or until your body dies, to be stuck in a coma.
For me, this was the least intriguing part of your dream, I focused more on the content rather than the dream within a dream aspect.
That being said, I’m sure your surrealist way of looking at life and your doubting nature also has to do with the dreams within dreams, that’s something I missed, or skipped over to some extent.
I don’t disprove of Jung, I’m quite fond of some of his theories on the unconscious, the subconscious and personality, but I’m not bound by them. I come here to think for myself and share my thoughts wih others. If I wanted to hear what Jung had to say, I’d read Jung, I want to hear what YOU have to say, and I’d appreciate it if you’d extend me the same courtesy(not speaking to you specifically,James)
The pole represents some high goal that you have insisted upon accomplishing such that you focused upon ensuring that there was something keeping you steadily capable of climbing (the ring) toward your unknown goal (in the clouds). But after getting closer and into the fog of the unknown, resting such as to sleep and clear your mind, you know that you have to come back down to the ground (the pragmatic realities of life rather than foggy goals in the clouds).
How would you even begin to know what is in the person’s unconscious.
That, is the very reason, others cannot interpret dreams for someone else.The conscious element of the dream lies in its remembrance, the unconscious element lies in its mystery and perplexity. Half conscious, half unconscious, the dream acts as a bridge between the known and the unknown.
Yes it's probable. Scenario of what was going on in my mind, but what's bizarre about the whole dream is this element of falling asleep in my dream. How could that relate to knowing I had to come down, if I interpret your interpretation correctly. How is a knowledge of being asleep , because that's what it has to be, relate to this lofty goal I am trying to achieve? Is it that I really don't believe in it, that I know that's only a dream?
And another thing: when I woke up in my original dream, I was incredulous as to why I have not fallen off? What can this mean? Can it relate, to this goal? And my feeling that I have to come down?
Thanks for your analysis guys, at the time it seemed like such a puzzle, but it seems like a jigsaw puzzle, and the pieces are beginning to fit into some kind of an image.
