Mary had a Little Lamb

Ok, so this dream which I had a few days ago seems interesting, and I have a few ideas already for what some of it means, but would appreciate additional ideas:

The dream itself is in my dream journal here:

Love Story at College, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Sheep Farm, and Chaperone - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Some thoughts I already had:

Obviously, there is a power struggle in this dream with the sheep that is supposed to follow but winds up stealing the show. Sort of like back seat driving? That is consistent with my other dreams recently with power struggle politics theme.

The fact that I am at college may be about how I have been learning a lot of new ideas lately, so my mind kind of feels like I am in college again.

It is interesting that I am a young man in this dream whereas in real life I am a middle aged woman. And yet in the presentation, if the girl is the sheep, then the young man must be Mary. :)

The sheep metaphor in part is probably Christian, since I am Christian and Christian symbolism is definitely present in my dreams. I am experiencing more spiritual growth lately I believe, so spirituality is front and center in my mind.

There is that car symbol again just like in most of my dreams lately, and this time the young men in their automobiles.

But what is that chaperone about? And do you have any other ideas that I may have missed?

Edit: Note how in this dream I defend my right to not be in charge. I kind of know where that is coming from. I at times prefer not to be in charge.

Edit2: I detect a sense of humor in this dream, at least I find it humorous.

Edit3: Btw, I do not have a cousin in real life, not literally anyways. None of the characters in this dream were real.

Edit4: The idea of courting or the courting of ideas? I have recently been courting many new ideas which I am not married to yet, but which I am sizing up for commitment to them. Some of these ideas come from Buddhism for example. The joining of Christianity and Buddhist ideas, as I believe the two faiths can work very well together and complement eachother. So that may be part of it, I think.

Edit5: notice how the dream contains two versions of Mary Had a Little Lamb: it is the presentation that we present, but also the young woman follows the young man to school like the lamb follows Mary, and the professor tells the girl she cannot participate just like the teacher in the nursery rhyme turned the lamb out of school because it did not belong there. But then in the nursery rhyme it is explained that the lamb loves Mary just as Mary loves the lamb, and the love between me as the young man and the less smart (simple?) girl mirrors that. So the dream is a variation on Mary Had a Little Lamb with a presentation of Mary Had a Little Lamb embedded within it.

It is intriguing that the early retirement age cousin won the lottery and bought the farm, but she will let the young man and woman go there as long as we will let her come with us. So she owns the farm, but does not take control, lets go of power. There is the theme of power and not being in charge again. Of course, a sheep farm seems like a peculiar choice when one won the lottery, except that "the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want" and as Christians we are commanded to feed the sheep. Winning the lottery in this dream I don't think is about money, but more about having the means to do stuff like raise sheep, having what is needed to raise sheep or to provide the opportunities for courting.

Edit6: The interaction between the smart young man and the simple young woman he loves, as well as the interaction between Mary and the lamb, this could be about the relationship between the conscious and subconscious in my mind. The two are vying for control especially now that I am pursuing lucid dreaming and dream interpretation. The wiser of the two will be wise enough to let the simpler of the two be in charge when that part of me so desires. And it is not straightforward which is the smarter of the two: my conscious or my subconscious, but ultimately it does not matter because we are a team, even when one of us knows better.

The good shepherd knows that his attention should be on the sheep not on the shepherd himself. The sheep may be dumber than the shepherd but in his wisdom and out of love for the sheep, he focuses his attention on the sheep.

I also think that it is not a coincidence that Jesus' mother's name is Mary, and also I read the Gospel of Mary (most likely Mary of Magdala) which is a non-biblical early Christian mystical text, and it impressed me. So this is definitely a spiritual dream.

Edit7: I think I just realized why the chaperone is needed! You see if the courting is about my Christian self courting the Buddhist ideas, then the chaperone is my conscience which decides which spiritual ideas to commit to, to ensure that there is no marriage of ideas that are not compatible with my spiritual growth after all. The ideas are attractive, but the young men have not gotten out of their cars yet, ready to drive to other maidens if needed. I have not committed to embracing Buddhist thoughts yet, and my journey may take me elsewhere. Since I am the young man in the beginning of the dream, I may well be the young men in their automobiles as well. Although in that scene I did not clearly identify with anyone, and perhaps that is because this is one of those dreams where all the dream characters are in fact me.

There might be some small bits remaining.:lol:

DETAILS
Also, the young man means your smart side is young.
It is clear to you that the young learning side is not as smart yet.
I'd see the male as strong, assertive, taking action, in symbols terms.
You saw the dream uses a man and woman to show how you love both these sides of you - the teacher and learner.

THE LAMB LEADING
Your following or learning side took over, so in mid-presentation of your wanting to follow the teaching side, your higher knowing side took your learning lamb out of class, and told her she could no longer participate.
Then you got mad at being left out and insisted that was not fair and participate she must because you were a team. So maybe you realized you could not take over, you must participate as a team.

If you meant you defended your right to not be in charge was when you got mad at the professor that the lamb could no longer participate, I think the starring role should have meant following or learning, but you turned it into leading. So I think you taking charge where you shouldn't be might be what the dream is about here.

LOTTERY
Hence you suggested you move away to raise the sheep idea higher, or of following the teaching.
Apparently that means the related part of you had won the lottery! which bought this large growing area in yourself you could go to as long as this elderly related part went, similar to the teacher.
I wonder if you won by chance, such as chance of going the wrong way first making you see the right way.

CHAPERONE
Yes I agree you saw why the elder part - that seems was not as retired as you thought - chaperoned, or accompanied, you. Along with your other parts necessary to this new scene which represent you being unmarried to your learned side.

So maybe the chaperone is you not taking control and letting go of it. But maybe you had nearly retired that mature idea.
So this part of your farm idea doesn't takes charge, yet oversees things as you say.
Maybe your previous professing was without this balance which is why you rebelled.
This might show the evolution of your command or taking charge. From your following side taking over, to perhaps finding the balance where you listen to the lead and then you can follow in harmony. That can hark back to it was clear to you your young learning side was not as smart, which you then fixed.

Chaperone:
1. A person, especially an older or married woman, who accompanies a young unmarried woman in public.
2. An older person who attends and supervises a social gathering for young people.
3. A guide or companion whose purpose is to ensure propriety or restrict activity:

So your ideas of the chaperone as guide or overseer of potential new ideas to marry fits.
And your two sides act in unison here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RHYME AND RELIGION
You got how the nursery rhyme in the later part fits really well. Who writes the scripts for these dreams?
It almost seems "Mary Had a Little Lamb" should be about Mary and Jesus the lamb of God.
But Jesus didn't follow anyone - except one, and He or She wasn't human! Plus Jesus never got kicked out of earth school.

Maybe you can invent a new religion from marrying two: Buddhianity. Or Christism, which blends the best of them.
Come to think, I am surprised that hasn't happened yet.

Thank you, superman, for the additional food for thought.

Btw, I know I am not the first one to realize that Christianity and Buddhism can go together. I wish I could find and join a group of other people with similar interests, a face to face community of seekers and questioners.

Jesus does not follow in this dream! The young man who is Jesus in this dream plays the Mary part in the play, so he leads. He is wise enough to let the sheep lead even though they are less wise, kind of like Jesus let his followers lead so that they may learn lessons by going the wrong way and because he loved them and realized that he needed to humble himself and be the last to be the first. The professor in this scene may be like the Pharisees, the temple authorities, who think they know better, but not really. Alternatively, this could be a scene about the book the Gospel of Mary that I read: in the Gospel of Mary, Mary (probably Magdalene) after Jesus' death tells the disciples of a mystic vision lesson which Jesus taught her, and Peter objects that Jesus would not have taught her a lesson that he did not teach the other disciples. Mary points out that Peter and the other disciples who should be in charge (the professor) have been hiding in fear instead of going out and proclaiming the message. I think it is a very powerful scene. Edit1: Also in this scene Peter is rebuked for his perpetual inclination to anger, and it is very much a challenge authority scene. Similarly the young man challenges the professor's authority, and I believe that authority should be challenged and questioned not just following the rules blindly.

Edit2: The wisdom we learn from nursery rhymes or for books written for children or from ideas of children themselves. Old age does not guarantee wisdom, and to understand certain things we must be like a child like an innocent like the lamb (not like the professor). The young woman may be my inner child, whom I love or my children whom I love even more. Learning from children is an important lessons we parents take to heart: they have so much to teach us, even if their knowledge is limited in some ways but they surprise by teaching us so much we do not know because we forgot or we do not know because our ideas are limited by no longer being innocent like a child's, and we have with age learned about rules and limits, and thus have limited our inner child innocent potential.

Edit3: Your comment as to winning the lottery meaning that I learned by chance, but following ideas some of which lead to blind alleys. Of course, some lead to a cul de sack but others show a promising new way, and overturning rocks to discover what is underneath with the understanding that there is a risk that a poisonous snake may be hiding under that rock, but it would be a mistake not to check under these rocks nonetheless. Yes, that is my preferred method of spiritual exploration. However, I am not convinced that this is like winning the lottery, because the chances of winning the lottery are small, but seek and ye shell find spiritual truth. There is method to the madness, and while my exploration is not systematic, but my chance of finding worthwhile ideas by continuing to seek is almost guaranteed, so not like the lottery. Though the findings may be as precious or more precious than winning the lottery. I guess the dream does say that the lottery is won, that is a given, so I have won or will win. But winning is not the end goal, and it is the what comes after that really counts: raising the sheep and the courting.

I just meant in the nursery rhyme that Jesus does not follow, not your dream at all. Just the title I meant sounds like it could be about Mary and Jesus.
I could have clarified that because it's the same title as your dream.
So if the lamb was Jesus in that it would mean he followed Mary everywhere. Hehe. It was a joke. He only followed God.

And the chance possibility just referred to that one bit, maybe with the professor causing it. Not of course about all your learnings. But I knew that might be a stretch yet logic seemed to say that detail. I must have gone too far with logic. Ahh. But it's dream logic.

It can be easy for me to put things together or see how they seem to fit but be wrong - maybe seeing things too simplistically or not considering other subtle angles. Even in the sheep raising cause and effect.

So maybe I went right off in many ways, especially where I went different to your thoughts before, as you'd know yourself best.
And the subtleties of symbols, like the professor possibly being negative, can change everything.
I do feel like I am university sometimes as well, in trying to interpret dreams.

D minus.

No no no, definitely not D minus. I really appreciate your contributions, and reading your responses opens up new interpretation options in my mind, so I really appreciate that. Thank you.