A Simple, Shocking Dream

  While contemplating this week’s blog, I remembered this simple, yet shocking dream someone shared with me.

   The Dream:

  I walked into a dark alley and met a guy with a hood over his head. He was paying me to assassinate the president.  He said he’d give me half the money up front and half later. After I left him, the majority of the dream was like an action movie.  I went to the White House, broke in and fought my way to the oval office. The president was sitting in a chair with his back to me.  He said, “I’ve been waiting for you.” The president turned around and he’s me. I very casually pulled the gun out and killed him. I go back to the alley and the guy pays me the rest of the money.  He takes off his mask and it’s me again.  So I am paying myself to kill myself. Strange dream.

  This dream fascinates me. Our dreams are most often populated by people we know, people we don’t know, and almost always, just one of us. To have a dream that features the dreamer as an instigator of murder for hire, the assassin, and the victim of the assassination. This dream appears to be designed to capture the dreamer’s attention.  Let’s break the dream down a bit further.

   One of the most helpful things you can do to begin to solve the dream’s mystery is to turn your attention to what immediately jumps out the first time you hear the dream. This, for me, was that the dreamer is the source of his own destruction, and how casually the dreamer didn’t hesitate to end his own life. Nonchalant self-destruction is an obvious immediate conclusion, but what about the money he’s paying himself? What about the fact that the dreamer’s identity is masked until the last possible moment?

  What about the phrase “I’ve been expecting you?”

  First, let’s get one thing right. Death in this dream does not translate into physical death. How can we tell?  The dreamer was not President of the United States at the time he had the dream, nor will he ever be the President.  This dream takes a drastic turn if a sitting U.S. President were to have it.  Since the dreamer is an average citizen then we can look at the dream as a metaphor.  What then, can physical death be a metaphor for?  Professional death. Emotional death. Psychological death. Or a number of other unpleasant things. But how can we tell which death the dream is referring to? We look for clues inside the other parts of the dream. Many times the dream won’t give specifics because frankly, it’s nobody’s business.  In other words, the source and type of death could be very personal to the dreamer and the dreamer will be able to recognize it at the appropriate time.

  Second, let’s take a look at the setting and a few symbols to gain as many specifics as we can.  The setting in the beginning of the dream is a dark alley.  The dreamer meets himself in a dark place.  A dark, confined space is the origin of everything that follows. In this dark confined space, the dreamer is given some money and deadly instructions by a hooded figure. This is quite a dark dream, not only because it deals with murder but because there are so many dark things; the dark alley, hidden face, and an overall air of secrecy.

  After the dreamer fights his way to the oval office, the secrecy returns. The face of the President is hidden.  Yet, the assassination seems to be expected. So what should we make of the words “I’ve been expecting you.” Simply, the dreamer expects destruction is at the end of the road on some level, whether he consciously knows it or not. This revelation happens at the end of the dream to show that the dreamer may not be able to identify that now, but will be able to see that aspect of the situation in hindsight.

  Next, the dreamer returns to the dark, confined space and gets paid the rest of the money.  Here he is shown that he’s the one who instigates this whole process of destruction.  The dream ends there and we’re not given enough information to know how this destruction comes, but that also tells us that the destruction can be stopped because it’s all up to the dreamer.  If there’s any good news in the dream that’s it.

  But what about the money? In the context of this dream, money represents something of value, and it’s the money that gets the ball rolling to destruction. If we’re given any hint of the source of the destruction it’s right here.  The dream doesn’t show what valuable thing it is, but it’s valuable enough for the dreamer to take action.  Beyond that, it’s nobody’s business but the dreamer’s.

  Lastly, why is the dreamer the U. S. President in the dream and not a senator, or CEO, or an average citizen? The answer is quite simple.  Being the President is indicative of the highest position of authority possible. If you’re looking at the life of the dreamer, which we should absolutely do since the dreamer is the dream’s focus.  This dream is all about the dreamer making his own decisions.  There’s no room to place blame on anything or anyone else.  The dreamer makes the decision to carry out self-destruction or to not carry it out. Ultimately the responsibility rests with the dreamer — that’s why he appears at the President.

  One thing that’s easy to forget when pursuing understanding the mystery of a dream is to ask — why was this dreamer given this dream? The answer is sobering, as we’ve seen. The dreamer has the power to choose destruction for his life or to choose to construct a better life. This is a warning dream and a great example why a person should never shrug off what seems too mysterious to understand.

  What dreams have you discovered were communicating to you important, even life-changing messages? Post in the comments below.

  EB

        Photo credit: The U.S. National Archives via Foter.com / No known copyright restrictions