Pursued by a Mother Bear

[anti_nation]

Could anyone help me find the meaning of this dream? The dream is in BOLD. I dreamed of bears again. Bears have become a very common object in my dreams lately. (4 or 5 instances in the past two weeks) Specifically a mother bear and her one cub. Sometimes grizzly, other times polar. I haven't quite figured it out. Some dreams I'm being chased, some I'm trying to help them get away from humans, some I'm just watching them from a distance. The bears never seem to be hateful or angry, but just aggressively curious. The cubs are always playful, innocent, and harmless. I saw a grizzly bear cub acting all playful in the living room of my childhood home. I walked out in the backyard. I saw toys littering the grass, a beach ball, plastic bats, a sandbox with plastic shovels and molds, a swing set, all toys I had as a child. I saw the mother bear by the fence's gate. It had spotted me and began running after me. I darted inside the house and closed the sliding glass door just in time. My mother appeared. She told me maybe I should just try to be friendly to the bear that was chasing after me. I reluctantly agreed, knowing in the back of my mind that the bear meant no harm to me, but that I was just afraid. I went back out into the backyard. The mother bear was sniffing something along the edge of the fence. I held out my hand towards it as if I would to a dog, palm side up. The bear approached me and sniffed my hand, nuzzling it with its wet nose. Then it proceeded to headbutt me, and climb on top of me. I toppled to the ground under its immense weight. The bear affectionately laid on top of me, but it was too much. I felt smothered and crushed. I began struggling, pushing back, trying to turn myself so I could breathe. The bear got up and let me go, and there was no more aggression between us. I can give you guys the details of my other dreams of bears as well if it will give any clues. My best guess with this symbol: I have a deeply seeded anger/hatred for someone from my childhood that I've been working on letting go but haven't quite gotten there yet. But these bears don't feel angry. Personal info: I'm 22. Just had a child. Live independently. Work a relatively stress free job. I'm not sure what else would be useful information regarding this. I'm normally really great at decoding my own dreams as well as others; in fact, I've wanted to start helping others out on Dreamviews with interpretations but I haven't had the time. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou, guys.

[Azucara]

Hello anti_nation, since you just had a child, could the mama bear be your wife/girlfriend? I know from experience that new moms can be really intimidating. "You have to do it this way!" and stuff like this. She's aggressive but she still loves you. Kind regards, Azucara

[Athanor]

It’s great that you’ve provided background information because this always helps to improve the accuracy of an interpretation. And just to mention that it’s very unlikely that this dream and the other ones about bears are related to giving up anger/hatred for someone from your childhood. That’s because dreams use complex analogies and metaphors that all the same closely mirror an actual issue that the dreamer has. So the idea of anger/hatred would likely be described by using truly “attacking” images where you, the ego, would be in a genuinely threatening situation, meaning that an unconscious repressed content, for example, could “harm” you as a person by slowing your growth and self-development as a person overall. Also, the eminent psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote in his autobiography “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”: “I was never able to agree…that the dream is a ‘façade’ behind which its meaning lies hidden - a meaning already known but maliciously, so to speak, withheld from consciousness. To me, dreams are a part of nature, which harbors no intention to deceive, but expresses something as best it can, just as a plant grows or and animal seeks its food as best it can.” Because grizzlies and polar bears are basically “mythic” animals which have frightened and fascinated human beings for tens of thousands of years, they carry extra meaning when they appear in the dreams of modern people. Evidence exists that since Paleolithic times, bears have been venerated as being kind of links to the “other world” which we now would call the “unconscious”. People viewed them as being not only massively wild and potentially destructive, but also as being able to guide and help human beings at important times of their lives. So I’m guessing that, because you’re a new father, the “mothering side” of your unconscious mind has appeared on the scene in the form of a mother bear to help you adapt to this new and hugely important role which has faced literally billions of men over the ages. This is probably the “feminine” side of your psyche in contrast to the “masculine” and “helpful brother” aspect which you experienced in earlier dreams. In addition, animals in dreams symbolize the dreamer’s connection with and overall attitude toward natural instinctive reactions, strong emotions, vague feelings, intuitions and even cold thoughts and actions that are sometimes needed to defend ourselves and others in certain situations. So in effect, the recent dreams about the bears could be trying to emphasize your need as a male to stay in touch with this side of yourself in order to interact more fully with your partner and child now and in the years ahead so that the whole family will grow and develop more deeply overall. This might not come naturally because generally speaking, our society doesn’t encourage males to be in touch with, for example, a sensitive intuitive side of themselves. This idea might have shown up in the dream where you were defending the bears from humans; that is, you were possibly being shown that you’ll have to make an effort to listen to and trust vague, instinctive feelings as a father and not, for instance, only adhering to certain “traditional” ways of fathering that might not fit the actual situation being dealt with. In the current dream’s very first scene, you come upon a playful cub in the living room, suggesting that “play” and spontaneity should perhaps be even more important to place at the center of your day-to-day “living space” now that you’re now a father. The mother bear appears in the back yard. In dreams, “back” and “behind” usually are related to the unconscious mind, so it fits that she appears there having emerged from your unconscious psyche. The fact that the house is your childhood home and that the back yard is covered with toys and other items from your childhood is probably once again emphasizing that, contrary to perhaps some common beliefs, becoming a father is not only just a time to become more “serious” and “responsible”, but in addition, an effort should be made to keep “play” alive as well as possible during the busy years ahead. Strangely enough, “play” has been shown to be a good method of uncovering some helpful ideas about what to do in a given situation. As an example of a really big issue that needed to be worked at and somehow solved, the well-known psychiatrist C.G. Jung ran into some very bad times after his split from Sigmund Freud in the early 1900’s. He didn’t really know how to move forward in his life after he was essentially ostracized from psychiatry circles in contrast to previously have been thought of as Freud’s “Crown Prince”. A game from his childhood kept coming to mind over and over, i.e. his inner instincts were trying to help him. But the idea that his childhood pastime of making little villages out of stones and pebbles was what he was supposed to do in order to solve his impasse seemed too ridiculous to be plausible. After resisting such a “childish” idea for some time, he at last began to spend an hour or so each day at lunch by the shore of the lake beside his house constructing his little village. He found that while engaging in this “play”, many ideas, memories and thoughts would spontaneously come to mind which turned out to be very helpful in facilitating decisions about what to do next. So maybe part of the meaning of the playful cubs in your dream is that, in spite of likely being busy with work and the baby, it could be beneficial to keep alive at least some aspects of photography, playing music and filmmaking which you’ve enjoyed in the past. That way, you can help to keep open a connection with the helpful resources inside your unconscious mind. The problem is that, as probably partly symbolized by the frightening aspects of the friendly mother bear, the ideas and potentials etc. inside yourself that appear might sometimes seem like a very heavy burden (e.g. the mother bear almost inadvertently crushes you). But your mother’s encouragement to accept the bear in the dream might be a way of saying that accepting life in general has its good and not so good sides to it but it’s necessary to do our best at becoming as complete as we can over time. Anyway, without knowing very much about you, this way of looking at your dream might not fit your personal circumstances very well, but I hope these ideas can be helpful in some way. Please feel free to ask any questions or to make any comments about this particular way of looking at your dream.

[anti_nation]

Thank you so much for replying, you two. I think you're both very right in your translations. You guys are so awesome!