Thread: Need help... fainting, and fingers cut off!

The first two dreams are both about collapsing, though in one a tower collapses and noone care, and in the other you collapse, and others do care but then you collapse again. Is something collapsing in your life, metaphorically, for example: you might be collapsing from stress, or your old worldview is collapsing, or maybe your plans are collapsing, etc.

For the third dream I think the answers to these questions would make a difference: are you actually gay in waking life? And if so, does your mother know? And if not, do you fear she would be upset and would not accept it?

The finger could be a phalic symbol. Or it could signify a part of your self or of your self image i think.

It's pretty disturbing, and so it could signify that you are disturbed by an aspect of yourself. Personally I tend to bite my fingers (not fingernails, fingers) when I am very stressed, so maybe this is a sign of extreme stress for you as well?

Or looking at it another way, maybe it is about consuming a part of yourself, internalizing it, accepting it - like for example maybe if you actually are gay, could be you showing your mother in your dream that you accept this about yourself.

Or of course, I could be completely wrong, so if none of that sounds right to you, please disregard.

This post has actually been extremely helpful.

To clarify, sorry about not being clear in the first post, is that yes, I am gay in real life. Only two people know this... but what's weird is that I'm pretty sure my mom already knows, or has hints of it. I know that she will accept me for the time when I really will come out to her. It's my dad, who I'm unsure about because he's a homophobe but at the same time wants the best for me. So, I'm confused at my dream showing my mom being alarmed/distressed when she heard me tell the lady in the bus about my orientation.

I don't think the finger slicing symbolized anything sexual.. it's a gross scene to think of it... when I was awake. However, my emotion in the dream itself while cutting my index finger was calm. It's as if I was already used to cutting my fingers, or that I found it completely normal. What's more confusing is that I was cutting it off in a public area, the bus. So, this part still confuses me...

I google'd the building dream and the fainting dream and both of them hint at something inside of me collapsing - so you're right in that aspect. Apparently buildings represent your dreams and ambitions, and could also be your self-esteem. If the CN tower collapsed and no one seemed to care... maybe I internally feel that no one will accept me for who I truly am? Not sure. I've already accepted and am happy that I am gay though. Must be something else..

Well, maybe your dreaming mind was not ready yet to see your dad's reaction because that is the one you are more nervous about, and thus showed you your mom instead, but you are worried about the reaction of a parent, and thus even though it is not the same parent as shown in the dream, the reaction shown was the reaction you fear.

As for the calm at doing something gross and horrible in public: sometimes calm can be a sign of internal turmoil, like the calm before a storm, or crying on the inside not showing the emotion fully externally but its tearing you apart in your mind. I think this dream may be saying that if one of your parents did not accept you for who you are you fear that you would be devastated to a terrible degree.

Extremely helpful answer... I think that solved the dream puzzle. Thank you! Dreams can be a scary revelation of yourself!

1. Something MAJOR in my life collapsed. It came crashing down on top of everything. I thought it would cause major destruction, destroy so many of my structures, but it didn't cause so much damage after all. It's funny how life sometimes comes crashing down around us, we go through major crisis, and others keep going about their lives as if nothing happened. Sometimes they don't even notice; others, they might notice, but think it's no big deal. How do I feel about that?

(Addressing dream #1 only.)

Warm regards,
Sara

confuzzled

I understand the first dream in a different way. I read in it that you are doing something (which in the depth of your heart as wrong: something like errors at work). But, it seems that once you have done it, nobody has noticed it. You are relieved and think that it is over, that you are safe.

The second dream (if it happens after the first dream) means you are hiding a secret (perhaps other than the one you disclosed in this forum about yourself or perhaps this one as well) and are afraid that people around you will know it. It could be the same mistake that you had already made.

The third dream is clear. You are afraid of "coming out of the closet".


HOWEVER:

If you strongly feel that the three dreams have to do with your orientation, then they are interpreted as follows:

Dream 1: You are in an attempt of coming out. You are trying to convince yourself that if you come out, nothing will happen and everything will be just fine.

Dream 2: You are weaker here than in Dream (1). You think that from a logical point of view nothing will happen if you come out. But, you are still afraid of the unknown and the sense of guilt makes you feel that everything will go wrong after you come out.

Dream 3: With this dream coming to you, you have already decided in real life to be more secretive of your orientation. You have decided not to tell anybody in response to the feelings of guilt that you have had.

All of the dreams, however, strongly show that you have first of all to reconsider what you are doing (whether your orientation, your life, your work) then move ahead in life with steady steps that can give you the sense of tranquility and peace that you are missing.

Originally Posted by confuzzled

However, my emotion in the dream itself while cutting my index finger was calm. It's as if I was already used to cutting my fingers, or that I found it completely normal. What's more confusing is that I was cutting it off in a public area, the bus. So, this part still confuses me...

Sorry I'm late in the game, but I've been contemplating this content on and off for a few days, and spilling beer over the keyboard making it totally useless didn't exactly help my writing either. But now I seem to have both time and a keyboard, so here we go.

Regarding cutting off the finger
The forefinger and even more so the index finger is a pointing device, and as such a powerful part of the body. You show the direction with you finger, you point at somebody when you command him or her, you point out the way for others. Or you can show somebodoy, "Come here, little friend", with your index finger. But also, when a father is correcting his son he holds up his index finger like a threatening sword, and later the son may show his father that enough's enough by holding up his forefinger! -- It's a little staff of power, isn't it?

If you cut off your finger it is a sacrifice you do. Nobody cuts it off for you, you are not forced to do it and it is no accident that you do it; it is a conscious decision to mutilate yourself -- a sacrifice. "I will not command, I will not point out my direction, I will yield." Cutting off fingers were in fact a common sacrifice "among many primitive peoples" (Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend). Self mutilation has been, even in Roman times, a sacrifice to a god or goddess. So cutting off the finger as a sacrifice is a universal, or "archetypal" symbol.

Fingers also has a magical quality; you may not touch this or that without these "antennas" of physical sensation. If you are unsure about some thing, you carefully stretches out the tip of your index finger too feel it. Something terrible may happen, something wonderful, but you use the finger to realize it; it is our connection to the other. If we lose it, we may lose contact with the outer world -- become "out of touch".

From the fingers of the saints, light and fire spread, on the one hand; ET had his magical index finger that could heal, on the other. Our fingers can be nourishing, at least seem to be, when the child comforts him or herself with a finger in the mouth. So there's a magical quality of the finger, which we see referenced several times in the Bible, as in Luke 16:24 - "dip the tip of the finger in water and cool my tongue".

You are uncertain whether it is the index finger or the middle finger that is cut off -- let's pretend it's both (because that is one way of reading it, symbolically). What could both fingers be used for, what would be then be sacrified? The most known gesture with both fingers are the sign of benediction, used for blessings and more, but which comes from the Roman use of: "I shall speak"; in fact, 'benediction' means "speak well". The index finger and the middle finger used together is a blessed sign that you shall talk. Sacrificing them means: "I shall not talk. I shall yield."

The place of the sacrifice is the public transportation, the way of the collective, when the subject of your sexuality is brought up. So the dream may be translated as, in short: "In regards of my own sexuality, I will not speak, as I sacrifice my ability to point out my own direction in life, here at the altar of the collective man."

Then you eat the finger, to confirm what has been done. By solemny eating the finger, you admit, acknowledge, and integrate the sacrifice; to keep it within yourself.

The tower going down in the first dream is a communications tower, so it goes along these lines; there's a communication breakdown going on. But it is not your own personal problem (the CN Tower isn't yours), but a public problem; the unability to communicate these matters is a collective problem. But it doesn't affect you directly.

The need to express yourself does, however. That need is emotional; it is driven by your "feeling function", if you will. When you are at a place that is dominated by the thinking function (math class), the conflict between the inner need and the outer reality is overwhelming, and that is why you faint.

So all dreams tells about the same issue, but from different angles: The society, the personal, and then heart of the matter, the specifics of the conflict: Your personal, silent sacrifice of you own path, and your future ability to speak up, on the one hand, and tell people to .... ... on the other.

The dream is a snapshot of what goes on right now, inside of us, that is the typical dream (and I deem these to be of that category). So this is what's happening inside of your right now, not how things will be in the future. Being aware of what's going on makes it possible to change what will happen in the future; if one is unaware of what's going on, one is in the hands of "circumstances".

Of course, these are mere speculations, I have no idea what's going on inside of a guy on an internet forum, but hopefully this has been some food for thought.

Wakinyan

Amazing interpretation! Well done.