Dreamt I was ill and knew I was going to die, died, then became a ghost

Hi, I tend to have pretty vivid dreams most nights and wake up more often than not remembering at least one dream, and sometimes as many as 3 or 4. However, my brain has managed to outdo itself with the rather surreal nature of the one I had last night.

I cannot really remember the start of it at all, but I know the dream was longer than what I am about to describe. I am an atheist and do not believe in ghosts or any way of people talking to the dead. The only things that were as real-life, were my parents, girlfriend, dogs and a few relatives - all of which I have good relationships with.

I was in a house with my parents, girlfriend, various relatives and others I cannot remember specifically. I was ill and knew I was going to die that day, and the setting was like some sort of pre-death wake. I knew that if I survived that day, then I would somehow no longer be ill, and live as normal again. One of my uncles was telling me that they'd bought me a house for me and my pregnant (not real) girlfriend, and that I was going to live and not die that day. I was crying hysterically throughout and was very scared and upset, as was everyone else there. It got to the evening and I was starting to think I might have managed to make it, so me, my girlfriend and my parents went for a walk. All of a sudden, everyone started crying, and nobody would respond to me when I asked them what was wrong. I then turned around to see my dead body on the floor, with everyone crowded round me. It was like I was in my own world, completely alone, with no way of communicating with anybody. This was the end of this day.

My dream continued with me being in a field with trees. My parents were taking my dogs for a walk and I kept trying to talk to them but they didn't know I was there. I was somehow able to kick a plastic bottle on the floor and began "chasing" them with it, trying to get their attention. After a long time, my parents realised the bottle was following them and thought that it must be me trying to talk to them.

I then heard a voice and was told that I had been given a key. I had no idea what I was meant to do with it as everything had vanished, until a door suddenly appeared. I put the key in the lock and went through to a house where there were 2 old people laying motionless on the floor. I didn't know what to do, but there was a fire alarm in front of me, so I smashed it and set off the alarm. An ambulance came to the house and resuscitated the old people and they were okay. I then went into another room and my dad was sitting on a sofa. I tried talking to him again. He responded and told me that he'd been learning how he could communicate with me. My dream (or memory of my dream) then ended.

I didn't wake up feeling upset like I thought I would have. I'm just rather confused as to what the hell is wrong with me to be having dreams like this haha! Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
James.

P.s. Apologies for the absolute ESSAY :)

Although it would usually be best to have additional general background information about you as well as recent events just before this upsetting but important dream in order to provide an accurate interpretation, a few ideas can be tried out because your dream comes from the deeper layers of your unconscious mind where symbols tend to be more “collective” and less “personal”.

This “deeper layer” is evident by the presence of images such as seeing yourself lying dead and being a ghost etc.

Based on an “as if” language of complex metaphors and analogies, dreams attempt to keep the ego centred as to its overall attitude in order to allow a mostly unimpeded development towards a certain completeness of the personality although of course, the latter is never really possible.

So in this case, because of the shocking nature of the “sentence” that you are going to die at the end of the day etc., it looks like the dream is trying to get across a very important message about certain current viewpoints and ways of dealing with things in general which apparently need to be changed in some reasonable way before they become too set and rigid.

The dream shows this basic situation in a clear though quite devastating way: on analogy, you are apparently in danger of leaving the solid Earth with its positive relationships (your parents, girlfriend and other family members), substituting instead a kind of “airy” and “insubstantial” existence (become a ghost).

The specific nature of the “illness” which could lead to such a “death” is of course what would have to be determined.

A clue could lie in the fact that you’re currently studying mathematics which of course is a very “rational” discipline, and you also mentioned that you are an atheist and someone who doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Apparently very much in contrast to your conscious attitude, the dream shows you as fully believing and reacting in a strongly emotional way regarding a kind of “witch’s prophecy” that you will die unless you somehow get through the day with your illness.

Your uncle seems to try to ward off the tragedy in a kind of equivalent “magical way” by buying a house for you and your pregnant girlfriend along with making a sort of declaratory statement that you won’t indeed die.

One way to look at this attempt to stave off the worst is as follows: your uncle’s thinking is something along the lines of “No young man should ever die” and he supports the denial of this possibility by giving you and your pregnant girlfriend what’s necessary to successfully start off in life and in having a family, namely, a house.

This news doesn’t calm you at the time (still crying hysterically) and of course, doesn’t stave off your “death” later.

To follow along in this way of thinking, it’s possible that you could be in danger of denying at some basic level the “irrational” in life, that is, the fact that young people do die or are crippled with horrible diseases etc., that poverty is everywhere etc. etc.

As to how your atheist sentiments might play into this, in a sense, “God” can be viewed essentially as being the “Irrational”, some force and reality which can easily thwart the goals of the ego at the drop of a hat at any time and in an endless variety of ways, and therefore, any such “God” has to be denied existence, also partly of course because it isn’t “rational” in being “good” but allowing “evil” to exist everywhere.

This isn’t meant to suggest that the dream is saying that you have to stop being an atheist and join an organized religion, only that perhaps the “irrational” might have to be let into your conscious awareness and acceptance in a more basic way.

The dream could also possibly be hinting that if you perhaps continue to resist a deeply unconscious fear of the irrational and the unexpected (partly because maybe your innate personality type isn’t generally geared to dealing with this side of life very easily), such a resistance could potentially lead to a severe “deadening” of your life in a sort of powerful retaliation from within (it’s evening and you think you’ve beat the “curse” but you end up dead anyway, and “It was like I was in my own world, completely alone, with no way of communicating with anybody”).

In a practical sense, it’s as if those parts of our unconscious mind which aren’t allowed an adequate level of conscious awareness and development become “angry”, expressing themselves in “unreasonable” and “crazy” ways such as feeling down too often even though our career etc. is going okay, or in obsessive, illogical fears of having a physical illness when all tests prove otherwise etc. etc.

In the next scene, you are basically shown as being cut off from nature and the instincts (wandering as a ghost in a pleasant treed field where your parents are taking your dogs for a walk).

The apparently empty plastic bottle probably contained water or some other drinkable fluid before, suggesting that there might be a strong need for maintaining better contact with the emotions (water) in order to make some connection with the future, potentially “united” and whole you (your mother and father).

This is followed up by another “irrational” situation in the scene where a voice out of the blue says you have been given a key and a door suddenly appears, again supporting the line of thought that the “illogical” can often be very helpful (e.g. dreams, intuitions, fantasies, gut feelings, moods, ideas out of the blue etc. etc.)

In this case, there is an “emergency” where two elderly people have to be saved and this is successful, perhaps suggesting that certain “wise ways” related to relationships have to be rescued.

This incident does indeed “help relationships” because you’re then able to have at least some contact with your dad. Perhaps your outer dad has a certain approach towards life overall which may be a good model for you to look at and from which to adopt certain useful parts that suit your personality in some reasonable way.

The resuscitation of the old couple seems to be a key positive scene in the dream so perhaps you could try the method of focusing on each element in it (e.g. the key, the door, the old couple lying of the floor, breaking the fire alarm, the ambulance attendants, the successful resuscitation), and writing down every spontaneous memory, thought and feeling that comes to mind about each component of the scene.

Then by sifting through what emerges, a basic clue about the meaning of this important scene should hopefully become clearer.

The way we feel upon waking is actually considered to be part of the dream, so perhaps not reacting with at least some fear and dread about the “going to die” part but instead only with some general confusion, may possibly be reiterating the idea that you might not tend to be emotionally alive enough to certain potentially negative trends in how you’re leaning towards approaching life in general.

However as mentioned, without knowing anything much about you, this approach to your dream may not fit your personal circumstances very well, but I hope these ideas can be helpful in some way.

Please feel free to make any comments you wish to about this particular way of looking at your dream.