(Carlos - man, age 36)
DREAM:
"I was reading newspaper and I came across an advert that caught my attention – “flat for sale”. I have decided to come for a viewing. When I arrived, there were also five other people who were interested in buying the flat. We all entered the elevator where two men were already waiting for us. They looked like gangsters. Dressed in black, with their faces masked. One of them held a hammer in his hand. The apartment was on one of the upper floors.
" It is joy to be hidden but disaster not to be found.” - D.W Winnicott
The elevator started going up the building. When we got there, one of the gangsters told us to approach the apartment one by one and knock on the door. If someone would knock and no one would come out, then that person would lose 25 out of 26 lives. Two women stepped out of the elevator first, followed by a man in tracksuits dressed in white. In the corridor in front of the apartment we could hear children crying. When the gangsters heard this, they seemed annoyed, and I heard one of them saying “I knew this is going to happen”. Suddenly there was chaos in the corridor. I took my chance and escaped to the upper floor. There I found an old wardrobe. There were four children inside. They told me that they had been trapped inside a wardrobe for several days. Then they started running down the stairs. At the end of the group was a little girl about three years old, she was wearing a yellow jacket and I have noticed a bloody mark of hand imprinted on her face. I was chasing after her, but I didn't make it. The girl ran downstairs before I could catch her and closed the black gate behind her. I screamed for someone to stop her because this was the last chance to find out what had happened. But there were only children around me who were ignoring me. The little girl disappeared on the other side of the gate."
DREAM INTERPRETATION:
Symbolism of the first part of the dream refers to the dreamer's Ego. Carlos is led to the apartment that he intends to buy. This may as well reflect process of building his position in the social hierarchy. Buying an apartment in a dream, may resemble achieving another goal on a professional, or private level in reality. Two masked men represent masculine side of his psyche. The hammer (construction tool) held by one of them symbolizes (generally associated with masculinity) urge to build, to create something: A position? An image? Man in a white tracksuit leaving the elevator on the other hand (of the same token) may point to the hidden need to attract attention i.e to be noticed. When the dreamer arrives, he is told that if he knocks on the door and no one comes out, he will lose "25 out of 26 lives". Such game may be allegory of the dreamer's life, that may itself be (just like the apartment in his dream) filled with emptiness. If we would assume that Carlos would knock, and no one would come out. This could as well indicate that yet another goal that his Ego is chasing would not actually be what he really desires. This fragment of the dream could also be suggesting that he may feel ignored or not heard. The loss of 25 out of 26 lives also leads to the realization that after all, there is only one life. And may be interpreted as the awareness of passing time and one’s own limitations.
The second part of the dream corresponds more with the dreamers’ feelings, which is what the children point to. Whilst hearing them in the hallway, gangsters’ get annoyed and make a comment which suggest that the dreamer's own feelings may stand in the way to achieve another goal set by his Ego or perhaps, to hold certain image of his Persona. In other words, the "hidden cry" may uncover some repressed emotions that the dreamer after all, may perceive as his own weakness. Consequently, when repressed emotions come to their voice it causes a chaos. Carlos runs upstairs, and finds children trapped in an old wardrobe. The children symbolise repressed emotions that are trapped within himself. And the girl in the yellow jacket (the same one [as the dreamer associates] as his daughter wears) whom he is chasing downstairs may suggest that his daughter may in fact be the link to the child trapped within himself.
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