What was that about?

[JoannaB]

Ok, as some of you may know from my past dreams, cars tend to feature prominently in them - oh, when will I recognize them as dream signs in a lucid dream? Here is the link to the two dreams: (1) Vacation in Bears Country with Car and Credit Card Troubles; (2) Spies and Memory Wiping - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Both of these dreams have the requisite cars, and both of them include husband and wife interaction. In the first though I am carrying the broken down car. And in the second I am the husband not the wife. Anyway two weird dreams on one night. I have not yet felt inspired to interpret them myself, so would appreciate any thoughts of what they can mean: Some background trivia: my husband is indeed a huge Green Bay Packers fan. For anyone who does not know they are a football team, and the Chicago Bears are their buggest rivals. I had just started looking into Native American spirituality a bit, and i think being in Bears country may also be a bit about that, the bear as mystical creature. I had just discovered that one of my credit cards had expired. It's pertinent that my husband and I share all finances so whether it is his card or mine does not matter in real life. My young sons had recently been talking about wanting to be spies when they grow up. The memory wiping reminds me of the movie Men in Black. Also i have been concerned by how little i remember from my own past. I grew up in the Cold War in Poland and then moved West, which may be pertinent to spy stuff on my mind - not that I or my family were spies, at least not that I know. Our car has a check engine light on, so should probably take it in, but it was not that car that was broken in the dream, come to think of it the dream car was unlike either of our two cars. However, while I suspect that all this trivia is pertinent, I wonder whether these two dreams had some deeper meaning as well. Edit: Another piece of pertinent trivia: my family will go again in less than a month on vacation to a lake house on Lake Erie in Ohio. And first time we went, I hated it, but I noticed how much my boys loved it, so we went again and the second year, I really enjoyed it too. Now we go for a third time. So there is a reference to that in the first of the two dreams. I am thinking that the two dreams are somehow related, and not just because they occurred in one night. They feel like two parts of one whole somehow. Just like in the first dream, I carry the car instead of driving it, I am the husband in the second dream instead of being the wife. The other common theme is the entering of enemy territory: Bears country for Green Bay Packers fans in first dream, and the spies entering enemy territory through checkpoints in second dream. And as already mentioned both dreams feature car(s) and husband and wife. Of course the second dream is in most ways more bizzare and it has the more shocking ending, but my superhuman strength in the first dream of carrying that car is also weird - though in the dream I did not think anything of it, it was as if carrying a car were routine.

[Superman1]

dream 1: Bears country vacation with issues ENEMY TERRITORY You went to an area in yourself you normally are not, or maybe to get away from things, that favored your male or in-charge side. But not the whole thing, not the uniform, just part. Not the hat or role, not the shoes that you would walk in, in this aspect. But maybe just the basic or main area, to cover you. Though bear may mean what you said, maybe bear country means the potential danger or out of control wildness here. But maybe even better is the Chicago Bears are the biggest rivals of your husband who means your in-control driving side. BREAK DOWN So your driving or control broke down. The wheels already came off this venture! So you were left with no choice probably but carry this part the hard and slow way - instead of the other way around. With one hand might say it had no weight to it anymore, little substance or reality. But you carried it in your open view to take it to be fixed. EASY FIX Hence your in control side was already there, which realized it would cost you nothing because this driving area in you should already be fixed, but failed. It's like you already had done work on it, so you could basically pick up where you left off. In fact you did pick up where you left off - literally. That could be why it was so easy to pick up, after all. CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE But you still need valid credit, and to check that. But your in-control side was expired - it broke down. So of course your other side had to give yours. It was what broke it, and that needs to learn it. IN CONTROL So, you had to look to your control side on what to do. You hated this outing, or endeavor, the way it went. Maybe you took a vacation, wanted to enjoy your driving abilities, and that is why it failed. You failed to still do the needed work or control. Anyway, you were not going to think anything of it, because you knew the young control part of you loved it. (I guess not your real boys did.) __________________ REAL CONNECTIONS VACATION "First time we went (on your real vacation in Ohio), I hated it, but I noticed how much my boys loved it, so we went again and the second year, I really enjoyed it too." This seems to connect with you doing what you hate in the dream for your own benefit, because you know you will soon love it and enjoy it. CREDIT CARDS I had just discovered that one of my credit cards had expired. It's pertinent that my husband and I share all finances so whether it is his card or mine does not matter in real life." It seems the dream used your expired card in a meaningful way, symbolizing your in-charge credit had expired. It's like your reality is like how your dream or inner experience is becoming: it's pertinent that your husband side and you share everything ~ like all value or credit. dream 2: spies and memory wiping SPYING ON YOUR OTHER SIDE Now you are the male or in-control you, spying though not experienced, on the other side of yourself that may be suspicious, or kind of an enemy, opposite. Separate from your other side who is learning this control, or power, or being in charge side. You needed to check something at one point. FEMALE LEARNS MALE You gave the male side of your story. Then went back to coach your female side in which story to give - learning the male story. You waited long, only to discover you didn't need to help your learning side to make it through to the other side of this mental checkpoint! It had learnt the needed control or quality to pass. That seems to flow on from the easy fix from before. You had already learned quite a bit. SPIES LIKE YOU meet MEN IN BLACK Now, passing that test, you had the chance to help the network of other areas you may need to spy on, to improve yourself. To gain the information you need for your intelligence, which you had wanted to be involved in. However, you understood, once you integrated both sides of yourself, learnt what you wanted, the memory of who you were before and what you were involved in would be erased. THE PRICE OF CHANGE Maybe part of you thought you could function successfully with part of who you know yourself to be now. But really this is your fear of change. It's quite profound. It's transformation. And you know your previous self will be gone and, like a butterfly, its previous form will be no more or just partially remain. Another part of you thought this destruction would be too much, especially after doing it a lot of times because you would change more all the time. This must indicate how much you are changing, how much sacrifice must be made to do it. And perhaps that you may not want to change so much, or so soon. So maybe control comes into this again, and a new form of being in charge. Can seem a bit daunting. YOUR WILL, or YOUR WON'T So you advised yourself to make a will - of what exactly your will is I suppose, or what specifically you will leave to your future self to become that - if you would like to 'kill' your old self which you unnecessarily feared would make you like a vegetable - totally without movement - because your old self would be gone. I gather that's what it means. Or your fear you'd fail. Or perhaps you were just going a bit too fast, and it became too much at once. __________________________ TRIVIA - I mean PROFOUNDIA At the start, you asked about cars in dreams: "When will I recognize them as dream signs in a lucid dream?" I thought maybe when you have the full control of one, because then you will be lucid in that way in life. It seems to make sense.

[JoannaB]

Thank you so much, superman! That does indeed sound right in many ways. Did I ever mention that it is my husband who studied theology (whereas I studied political science, which then morphed into another major though) in college, and yet now I am questing spiritual growth in directions that it turns out he studied already or that meet up at least tangentially with his thoughts, so I will come to him with a for-me-radically-new idea, and expect to be termed a heretic or traitor, and to my surprise we wind up having a profound spiritual conversation in which I discover that while yes our spiritual paths do diverge of course (how could they not), but strangely enough the more I think that I am diverging the more we seem to be converging in some ways as well. On a related note, when I read your interpretation of my dream, I had a sudden new spiritual understanding of a biblical passage that had always made no sense to me and had disturbed me and I did not get: it's where Jesus tells people to follow him and leave their family etc. It occurred to me that God is indeed calling us to follow him on this spiritual journey, and since the spiritual journey is personal and a different path for each person (unless one is a fanatic in a cult, even two people of same faith will not believe the same things), and thus going on the spiritual journey takes one away from family and one risks one's former self dying as your said and being resurrected as someone completely new, but as I am discovering this leaving of family does not necessarily mean that one is diverging away from family at all, but one needs to be fully willing to follow one's spiritual path at the risk of diverging from family and the risk of death of former self; however, one may then find that one has not left one's family behind at all, when one takes that leap. In fact it is probably a sign of being on the right path, when family members who are each on their own spiritual path, risk divergence, and then find convergence of ideas instead. (Sorry, I seem to be having trouble with run-on sentences this morning, and trying to correct, but if my sentences appear odd, well, at least I am aware that they likely are.) As you I think know from former communications, I already changed my personality profoundly at least once, when I was a young person and became open minded, and I think my personality is indeed now undergoing another profound change. I used to think that day dreaming fictional stories to myself was essential to my well being and was mostly reading fiction, now I am mostly reading non-fiction and my mind is filled with spiritual growth, dreaming, intuition, enlightenment and empowerment ideas. Anyway, thanks, as usual, your response helps me look at my own dream in a new way, and then I have new and interesting ideas.

[Superman1]

THEOROLOGY and PRACTOLOGY Your husband studied theology could fit the dream meaning as even another facet. That he was there before, and you meeting up with him, on both levels. It's almost like he is your dream man. Though of course he could have had a different motive for studying than you, If his was just academic; yours is 'non official' yet more real as in learning, practicing, or becoming. Even that fits symbolically. If he is the knowledge, you the student. JESUS and REALITY Yeh, it can sound like Jesus was saying reject your family. I think one of the worse ones for misinterpretation he said was: "Only through me will you be saved." And it sounds like you are gradually being 'born again.' One of the best interpretations I heard was that sin is error. So it follows logically that you are basically resurrected to the degree you see and correct error. NO LOSS and YES GAIN Yes, it seems unlikely individual growth will create a separation with any family member, when you think, but only in difference of ideas. Or unlikely the worse case scenario that one will reject you for following your own path. It's just the blind fear of you dying and what you will lose. It will make you more interesting, and whole, so would bring you closer if anything. So really the divergence risk is probably within one's own mind, diverging with your old self. As long as the others are willing to let you be yourself, and free. In fact the opposite would likely occur. They admire you, want you to, if it nakes you happy, etc. And maybe even be a little jealous! It would make you more fulfilling. Everything benefits. Which is probably all running on from what you said before, as well. What you are doing is everyone's dream, in one form or other. Probably a god measure is what you gain in you, you gain in others or the outer world.

[JoannaB]

Oh, with my husband his studies definitely were not just academic. While it is not his profession (neither of us works in a profession that is directly related to our studies), but he has a life in which he applies his theology studies a lot. He is a good man. Very involved in church, teaching young people and children, community service, bible studies, etc. Thanks for the additional thoughts superman! PS: As for the "born again", I would rather not go there, since it is usually associated with a very different type of Christian than I identify as - too many connotations in a different direction.