The Dream:
First dream-I saw 2 white rabbits, a Mother and child. They have
been through difficulties and both are suffering. The Mother's ear
is torn off, but they are clinging to one another. Both are starving
and the Mother slowyly starts to eat the child rabbit. First, the
tail, then bits of hair and skin, then once she reaches for the eyes,
I awoke, screaming.
Ann,
There are some days I have more time to give interpretations than
others. Often it may a couple of days if my 'work' {social duty}
requires my attention, or if I have a lot of interpretation requests.
Yes, repression is a prime candidate for the dreams you have.
Childhood experiences are our foundation and anything that disturbs
the 'innocence' of childhood {white rabbits}, and there are many, go
with that person into adulthood. These experiences are often
'repressed', the person tries to block it out so not to feel the
emotional pain. Repressed emotions are what Jung termed the 'shadow'
aspect www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/shadow.html of our psyche, the
repressed experiences and memories. They often are controlling of the
waking life, predisposing a person to act in a way that may not be
obvious to the person, or natural to the person. All too often the
underlying causes of their actions are directly related to their
experiences from childhood, or other traumatic experiences later in
life. Or a whole life of experiences of dis-function that may all at
once boil up. This happens often at mid-life. Everything begins to
change, the marriage is stale, the are children are grown, the body
ages, death is a reality, the past revisits seeking acknowledgement
and resolution. What we call the mid-life crisis or crazes, and it is
experienced by both men and women. The degree of upheaval
{earthquakes in dreams} depends on the individual, their make-up,
nature and nurture.
Children from families where there is an addiction, where the child
is denied the proper love and attention required for a healthy psyche
{ www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/psyche.html}, these are candidates for
repressed emotions and lived experiences. An alcoholic parent, or an
abusive parent {physically and/or psychologically} can be destructive
to the child's psyche. These wounds are carried with the child/person
throughout their life. As the evidence points, a child who has
parents that are abusive are too often abusive themselves abusive
with their children. The underlying cause, while not being the sole
contributor to one's actions, makes a person act out, from past
imprinted experiences. The parent drank excessively, so too the child
as an adult.
There is a remedy. Jung says confronting the 'shadow' is the best way
to truly eliminate the influence of repressed experiences. You have
to acknowledge these experiences in a conscious manner. Often it also
means confronting other people in your life who had great influence
in your childhood and may have betrayed the trust and 'innocence'.
But once you confront that demon, consciously admit it exists, put it
in its place, that burning empty feeling finds comfort and new
resolve. You have slain a dragon {metaphor in dream and mythology}.
You can not understand anything that you do not know exists. And just
as the community benefits from the knight of King Arthur's Round
Table {mythology} slaying the dragon, the community of the psyche is
the whole person, all the other aspects of you are, your persona,
your creative self, your spiritual self. Because of a short circuit
they are become disfunctional and you can never, no matter how hard
you try find balance and harmony in life. When you acknowledge the
truth of the experiences, they are no longer hidden, the mask is
removed and the emotions can flow freely with great relief. It
effects your mental and physical health.
Jung saw from the dream a direct link to the unconscious mind.
Whereas Freud saw dreams as a disguise, Jung saw them as compensating
the conscious waking mind {conscience} to what is really happening in
one's life. The ego/persona sees things one way, people around you
may see something different. Your comment about the third person,
looking in, is exactly what the dream is. You are represented in
someway by all the people the dream, they are a part of you, and your
life is a play. In the dream you are the director, players and the
audience. To understand the dream you need to learn is to interpret
the symbols {in your dream, the mother and baby rabbit, among
others}. Jung provided us with a map to provide an understanding of
symbols in our dreams. These symbols are metaphors for you, they
represent you, your emotions, all the aspects that make you who you
are, your true desired self, balanced, a harmonious life. Even at
mid-life.
In your dream, the motif or main theme were the rabbits. Rabbits can
symbolize a lot of things, sexual if your Freud, but with the white
color the metaphor intuitively points to innocence. Mother and child
rabbits {could have to do with your real mother and she as a child,
you as the mother and the child, a range of possibilities} suffering
says to me innocence is suffering, and if the dream is a play about
you, then you go in that direction. What has to be determined is in
what aspect does this dream motif and its metaphors actually fit your
waking conscious life. Other symbols and motifs within the may point
to something that is legitimate. But ultimately it is the dreamer who
knows for sure.
If you are a witness of violence in your dreams then you may have
repressed memories and emotions of some violence in your past.
Actions can be literal in dreams were as symbols are are almost
always metaphorical. But the actions can also be metaphors of your
actual experiences of violence. You in your dreams are looking on,
and the intent of the dreams is to get your attention to the reality
of past experiences. As I have said, the dream compensates the
conscious waking mind what you already know unconsciously. There is
unsettled business and life is not satisfactory until it is settled,
or at least put in a proper place where you can grow personally, and
spiritually {not to be confuse with religion}.
What affects the mind affects the body. You probably don’t sleep well
and that alone will tire you. But the mental stress can be
debilitating. Science has shown us this link time and time again. The
body is made of many organs, the mind being only one, working
together to make you human, and with energy. A clog, even
psychological, can disrupt the whole system. It is much like car,
good maintanence, the inner parts as well as the outer parts, is
required.
You must have suspicions to what the underlying currents are. You
would do well to read some of my pages on Jung’s ‘Individuation
Process’ { www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/shadow.html}. There are real
clues in your dreams that can lead to the truths in your life.
Understanding the psyche and how it functions will start you a path
to better understanding of yourself and those things that may be out
of whack. It will take DISCIPLINE to ‘slay’ the dragons, but not to
try may do you in.
If you have questions, follow-up observations you wish to share,
please write. If you are in agreement I would like to place your
dream in the Interpreted Dreams Forum
www.tnnweb.com/mds/diinterpreteddreamlist.html . I use only first
names. If not, please add to the conversation if you have questions.
All dreams are a learning experience. Everyone is different even
though we have inherent traits.
