A recurrent dream progresses...

[Yasjua]

I've had this rather embarrassing problem lately, which is that I get very frightened at night before going to sleep. I feel encroached upon in the darkness, and like someone or something else is nearby, lurking in the shadows... lol

 

Anyway, I've also had almost a week straight of the same basic dream. There is something or someone unfamiliar lurking around the house, but I can never seem to catch him. He's very sneaky.

 

Last night I decided to wear my socks to bed. I'm not sure why. I never do this. They just felt so damn good. And I had the feeling they would help me keep some of my energy while sleeping, as I often fall too deeply into rest and have a difficult time turning back on.

 

Anyway, I slept better and experienced the following:

 

Last night in the dream, I actually caught up with this guy - the man lurking in the shadows. I don't remember how I got outside, but I was in my front yard when I saw him running through some bushes. I haven't left the house yet in this series, so that stood out as significant. It was night time but the street was well-lit by some imaginary street lights my mind set up. I followed the guy until we were on the boarder of the yard and the street. He was holding something like a cane/umbrella and pretending it was loaded with some kind of bullet or magic dart, and he was threatening me with it. He was standing by something like a transparent blackish-silver hearse that I barely took notice of - I'm not even sure it was there. But I noticed that he was holding my dog, Picasso, protectively. He was basically kidnapping my fucking dog. I didn't fight him or anything, our confrontation was largely energetic. I contemplated him and his weapon and He seemed to be on some megalomanic trip of esoteric proportions. I felt that all he could really do is delay the inevitable: that he was to fuck off, apologize, grovel, and give back the dog to me. I drifted out of the dream at some point, without any particular conclusion, but with a very happy feeling that I had found this fucker who has been causing me sleep anxiety every night.

 

No idea what it means.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Yasjua

[eye_of_the_storm]

could be more than a dream

[Apech]

Your dog is called Picasso ... excellent.

[gendao]

I've had this rather embarrassing problem lately, which is that I get very frightened at night before going to sleep. I feel encroached upon in the darkness, and like someone or something else is nearby, lurking in the shadows... lol

 

Anyway, I've also had almost a week straight of the same basic dream. There is something or someone unfamiliar lurking around the house, but I can never seem to catch him. He's very sneaky.

 

Last night I decided to wear my socks to bed. I'm not sure why. I never do this. They just felt so damn good. And I had the feeling they would help me keep some of my energy while sleeping, as I often fall too deeply into rest and have a difficult time turning back on.

 

Anyway, I slept better and experienced the following:

 

Last night in the dream, I actually caught up with this guy - the man lurking in the shadows. I don't remember how I got outside, but I was in my front yard when I saw him running through some bushes. I haven't left the house yet in this series, so that stood out as significant. It was night time but the street was well-lit by some imaginary street lights my mind set up. I followed the guy until we were on the boarder of the yard and the street. He was holding something like a cane/umbrella and pretending it was loaded with some kind of bullet or magic dart, and he was threatening me with it. He was standing by something like a transparent blackish-silver hearse that I barely took notice of - I'm not even sure it was there. But I noticed that he was holding my dog, Picasso, protectively. He was basically kidnapping my fucking dog. I didn't fight him or anything, our confrontation was largely energetic. I contemplated him and his weapon and He seemed to be on some megalomanic trip of esoteric proportions. I felt that all he could really do is delay the inevitable: that he was to fuck off, apologize, grovel, and give back the dog to me. I drifted out of the dream at some point, without any particular conclusion, but with a very happy feeling that I had found this fucker who has been causing me sleep anxiety every night.

 

No idea what it means.

Congratulations, you met your Shadow Self - an esoteric megalomaniac.

 

Grabbing your dog represents an underlying power struggle that you are having with him. IOW, you are currently resisting deepset urges to become or acknowledge "sneakily" already being an esoteric megalomaniac.

 

The answer is to contemplate, understand, accept and reintegrate all parts of yourself, ESPECIALLY those you have cast off and rejected (your Shadow Self).

Edited January 5, 2015 by gendao

[Yasjua]

Congratulations, you met your Shadow Self - an esoteric megalomaniac.

 

Grabbing your dog represents an underlying power struggle that you are having with him. IOW, you are currently resisting deepset urges to become or acknowledge "sneakily" already being an esoteric megalomaniac.

 

The answer is to contemplate, understand, accept and reintegrate all parts of yourself, ESPECIALLY those you have cast off and rejected (your Shadow Self).

Fantastic and simple. thank you.

[Yasjua]

While I think you hit the nail on the head, Gendao, I want to follow up on this thread for the benefit of anyone else who might encounter their Shadow in dreams or in waking life. It took a day of passive contemplation to get at what this interpretation means to me, and I think I've reached some conclusions.

 

The truth is, I do have an esoteric megalomaniac laying dormant in my body/ego. I thought about this and recognized that knowing this is in no way a threat to my sense of self, so I just let it in and accepted it. It's just a fact - I've seen it. That the Shadow would try to infiltrate my home during sleep and kidnap my dog, indicates that this part of my personality is interested in coming out (of dormancy) right now, particularly since I've recently joined a forum (this one) full of incredibly interesting and impressive thinkers. It probably wants to keep up with some of the more "well-developed" personalities here. By being here I have felt an uneasy self-awareness grow, and I'm learning that I have so much developing left to do, so it makes sense that this uneasy megalomaniac character would sneak into my home with some fake magic weapon (the pretense of a legitimate skillset or understanding) and steal my dog (perhaps a symbol of creeping in through my mammalian brain?)

 

I want to tell anyone who encounters their shadow like this, that it is okay to accept the shadow. It takes some self-honesty and confidence to accept that we have less than perfect parts of ourselves, and a bit of discipline and awareness to not become our shadows, but these characters are really just manifestations of feelings we've buried, like inadequacy or fear.

 

After that confrontation in the dream, I've slept very well and have had no fear come up when going to sleep anymore. I've been down the road of the seeker pretending to be realized before and it frankly cracks me up, and I don't think my conscious mind would allow for such a take-over to happen again.

 

This forum has really been a blessing to find and participate in, and I recognize that humility and honesty are much more powerful qualities that synergize better with my current personality than the pretense of esoteric wisdom ever could. I'm really passionate about learning, not necessarily in having all the answers, so I think this part of me can take the hearse back into the lower subconscious and R.I.P.