Dream:
(Vienna, woman - age 28)
"I was in the university where the guy who I'm now seeing studies. I am sitting in his classroom near him. Strangely, the classroom from the dream is at the same time my grandmother's room. The room that I still remember very well from my childhood. I could always "hide" there when my parents had an argument at home. Suddenly the lecture stopped and the man came up to me. He was smiling but at the same time I could see that he was angry that I came to see him.
“Don’t you think I understand? The hopeless dream of being. Not seeming, but being. Conscious at every moment. Vigilant. At the same time, the chasm between what you are to others and to yourself. The feeling of vertigo and the constant desire to at last be exposed — to be seen through, cut down, perhaps even annihilated. Every tone of voice is a lie, every gesture a falsehood, every smile a grimace" - Ingmar Bergman - "Persona"
I could understand that he reacted that way, but I still felt bad as my intentions were good and I just wanted to see him and to make sure that he is doing alright. He asked me to leave. I didn't feel offended or anything like that. I just slowly packed my things and left the classroom. Suddenly, I found myself in a hospital corridor. In some sort of waiting lounge where I stood in front of a very strange couple. The man was much older than the girl, and they had an odd vibe, but they suited each other well at the same time as a couple. The girl said I could sit next to her but there was no chair or anything for me to sit on. I told her that I need to tidy up my backpack and fix my shoelaces. Then a nurse came to me, an older lady. She wanted to check my nails because they were painted silver and she accidentally took the paint off my right thumb. There was no pain or blood or anything like that, and I could easily put it down. I went back to the classroom to return some books from the backpack. The class was now empty and I found my grandmother's cupboard there. While unpacking, I found some books that I thought were interesting and decided to keep them inside my backpack. Next, I found myself at what looked like the reception from my elementary school and I met two of my friends who used to be a couple at the time I was going to that school. They split apart later in life and never came back together. It was nice to see them together in the dream. We chatted for a bit and I left the building. I noticed a person on the street who I thought was the guy from the beginning of the dream. I decided to walk beside him, but on the way I pretended I didn't know it was him and hoped he'd notice me and join me. He did but as he got closer to me I realised I wanted him but some random girl."
Dream interpretation:
The classroom reveals itself as a container of emotional charge which resonates with Vienna’s younger Self. Emotions that came to life in her dream are directly related to the relationship with the friend whom she visits, nevertheless these emotions simultaneously arouse the marks of her grandmother's room that she remembers from her childhood. A place that she associates with comfort and peace where she could find shelter when her parents had an argument. In the given context visit to the place where her friend studies may resemble a fear of rejection. The dreamer somehow feels that she invades her friend's ground; she becomes disappointed that the man speaks a language which she doesn't understand. At the end she is asked to leave, which she obeys. In that way she is taken out of her comfort zone i.e grandmother's room. To put it differently, the dreamer unconsciously associates the man from the dream with the shelter that she could find at her grandmother's place when she was a child. Yet, she is disappointed with what she receives in reality. In the second part of the dream, Vienna is in the hospital corridor, where she encounters a strange couple that in fact materialises emotions that represent parts of her own psyche. A complex created in the past and brought to life in the dream, for some reason calls for her attention in the present time. The couple in the dream invites her to join, but she replies that she needs to tidy up her backpack and make shoelaces. This manifests the dreamer's intention to break away from the complex they represent. The backpack symbolises an emotional baggage and the situation reveals that to move forward (fix the shoelaces) and break away from this subconscious struggle the dreamer needs to work something through (in the dream: tidy up the back pack). The nail polish represents the dreamer's Persona i.e how she wants to be perceived in reality. The silver colour that comes off her nail reveals that she may be tired of keeping the image of herself. Silver marks something pure, noble; an image she strives for but which is unable to stay on the surface of her fingernails. Returning to the classroom which is also her grandma's room, indicates a regression to the younger self. The book which she decides to keep in her backpack may be a reminder that, despite her great desire to break away from complexes brought back in the dream, she still intends to keep certain feelings from the past or perhaps is not yet ready to let go of something from the past. At the end, she leaves the building. Vienna decides to go along with a person whom she recognizes as the man who she visited in the first part. She hopes that she will be noticed and eventually the man will join her, but eventually she turns out to be totally mistaken, which may reveal a subconscious suggestion that she should take matters into her own hands rather than chase something that in fact does not exist.
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