Just to add a few ideas, I think that the repeating dream about the exam holds the key to the problem being shown in much more detail in the airport dream.
In general, an institute of learning and its exams would tend to represent, on analogy, certain expected collective roles and attitudes that an individual in a given society is expected to meet as part of fitting in with the group.
For instance, schools and colleges are mostly funded by taxes and/or “established” alumni groups which have certain views and standards about what constitutes a “good education” etc. etc.
So in your overall situation, there may exist some ongoing but perhaps mostly unconscious anxiety in yourself about the degree to which certain outer expectations of others in general are being met by you in your role as a professor.
These unconscious concerns might be motivating you to behave in a certain “desired way” too much of the time through a perhaps almost compulsive “chase” (running through the airport at times) to obtain various outer signs of status such as a PhD. and a larger house for example.
The idea of an intellectual pursuit might be shown in the current dream in the form of the airport.
Planes are “technical” and “mechanical” objects and, of course, fly through the sky which in turn is generally a symbol for thinking and the intellect overall.
Also, an airport is mostly run by collective agencies and governments, again suggesting the idea of “group values” as opposed to more individual ones.
Naturally, there is nothing inherently wrong with such group beliefs etc. as long as the individual is able to pursue their unique path in life to some reasonable degree.
As JohannaB pointed out, “going home” is involved, and perhaps this includes the idea of your own personal uniqueness being a goal.
From what you’ve written about your life and the important context for the dream which this has provided, it’s clear that you have passed the meridian of life where your career and family life has generally been well established.
Once the first half of life has been passed, dreams often spontaneously begin to indicate that certain potentials and skills etc. that the person had to leave behind in the hard struggles of the first half of life should be looked at with a view to developing them in order to round out the dreamer’s overall personality.
These aspects of yourself perhaps are partly symbolized by the tourists in the airport who are going to visit Tangier; that is, they could symbolize the idea of certain potentials etc. becoming more “familiar with” and “integrated with” you as symbolized by Tangier itself.
The incident with the unattended bag could be meant to show how certain collective values etc. are very active in your life in a particular way.
For example, in our times, an unattended bag would very soon be taken away and even blown up as being a suspected terrorist bomb by the airport anti-terrorism squads.
But in this case, the “collective authorities” don’t bother with the bag, perhaps a way of saying that certain inner values and outlooks etc. are not going to interfere with your usual hectic pace for instance, the idea being that you yourself would have to take some appropriate action regarding your usual “baggage” on your own.
The “baggage” could also additionally symbolize certain outworn habits of thought and action which could potentially “blow up” and cause great damage to yourself and others if not dealt with in some reasonable way over time.
You might be only vaguely aware of these habits etc., maybe partly symbolized by the hectically running Chinese man and Spaniard who are “foreign” to you and not fully understood.
Running to find the plane in time is something like the idea of not doing well on an exam because certain collective “goals” have been set (e.g. the departure time of the plane is collective and not something an individual can control).
Maybe the dream is hinting that any change in your behaviour will be hard to make because you really enjoy the hectic nature of your life at some basic level (enjoy the sound of the baggage wheels which is like a race car).
Then perhaps the dream changes pace in order to show what the real means of your movement forward overall as a person could be, that is, by way of the garden.
A garden can symbolize the soul and its enclosed space has a feminine feeling to it where things grow slowly and have to be attended to quietly and with patience.
Your so-called “feminine” side is also suggested by the image of the begging woman, perhaps pointing to the idea that some areas of your emotional life aren’t being nurtured enough overall.
As JohannaB pointed out, perhaps there are certain issues that have to be looked at more carefully and it doesn’t look like this can be a straight forward or uncomplicated task.
For example, obtaining your PhD. apparently is not necessary in order to continue at your present university and therefore pursuing it may have its origins mostly in wanting to lessen any mostly unconscious fears you have that some colleagues might be questioning your “competence” as a professor.
Also, enlarging your house could possibly be a way to enhance your status in the community but isn’t strictly necessary because according to your own words, it’s already beautiful.
As a general suggestion, it would appear that relieving yourself of these two issues would help to lessen the need for an increased income at this time.
However, I’m not underestimating how difficult slowing down or calling a temporary halt to these two very complicated issues would be at this time.
If any of these additional ideas seem to make some sense in your personal circumstances, you might like some books by analyst James Hollis regarding how to make the best of the second half of life.
Also, if by chance your emotional reactions etc. have maybe caused some upsets at times, here is a paraphrase of some ideas on the subject of what the “emotional” and “feminine” side of life consists of by analyst Marion Woodman:
1) Presence in the moment, the here and now; for example, paying complete attention to a person that you’re dealing with and not letting your mind drift to other matters. Presence in the moment includes not dwelling on yesterday or tomorrow.
Also, avoid the “if only” attitude of mind, e.g. “If only I had taken Swahili in college, all would be well now”.
2) Awareness of the body; for example, muscle tension, or the pure joy of complete relaxation.
3) Apprehension of beauty through the senses, having emotions about this, valuing this aspect of the here and now.
4) Receptivity. Being non-critical. Listening to someone, accepting them completely. A feeling of resonance, relationship.
5) Separation from the mother’s body, being one’s own person.
6) The “process”, the “journey” being more important than “reaching the goal”.
7) The acceptance of and reflection on paradoxes as well as the non-causal, e.g. you dream of a white horse and the next day, a white horse escapes from a circus and runs by you on the street.
8) Accepting all of life, its ups and downs, limitations, and restrictions.
9) The need for the regular practise of reflection, meditation.
If you think over all of the ideas which you’ve received about the exam dreams as well as the current dream, and if something seems to continue to make sense in the overall approaches, then the exam dream should stop or at least occur less often, especially if you take any actions which seem to be appropriate in the circumstances.
I hope that these additional ideas can be helpful in some way to explore the important personal messages contained in these dreams.
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