A weird sun and a failed attempt to take photos of it

Hello people, I had this dream a few days ago and it has puzzled me enough to look up an internet forum where someone could help me interpret it :P
So here goes:

I was standing on the side of my town's main road when I noticed how weird to sun looked. It had the form of a red, spinning ring (when I woke up later, I realized it looked exactly like an item from a videogame I used to play. The item is named "Ring of Red Death", but that name didn't appear in the dream and I don't know if it's relevant). It looked nothing like the sun, in fact watching it didn't blind me at all, but I knew it was the sun. It was surrounded by blue clouds, basically piercing them. This weird view didn't scare or alarm me, but I was aware it was an anomaly (the sun is not supposed to look like that!).
I found it to be an imposing or even solemn view, or at the very least a rare view, so I decided I absolutely needed to take a photo. Incidentally, I was just a few meters away from my home (I do live on that street, the dream matches reality here), so I rushed back home to get my camera. I took the back entrance to my house since it was the shortest path from where I was (this also matches reality).
I remember getting my camera and two extra lenses, all of which I own in real life and I can recognize after the dream. The camera and lenses I took with me are the ones I use the most to do my real life job, which is videography (although the camera can also take pictures, needless to say).
After getting my camera, I turned it on and looked up in the menu for the option to leave my name printed on the pictures I take. I couldn't find the option (which doesn't exist in my real life camera), so I moved on.
To carry the lenses, I decided to put them in a bag (probably the black one I use in real life, but I'm not sure - it didn't feel like an important detail). At that point, I decided that for whatever reason, I needed help carrying the small bag.
Magically, someone appeared in front of my house's backdoor and offered to carry my bag. His identity didn't feel important and I can't recognize this person, even after the dream.
I got back to the side of the street where I previously was and noticed that the sun had moved. Maybe it was partially covered by clouds now, I don't remember clearly, but what I remember is that the view wasn't as pretty as it was before.
I remember thinking something like "damn, I was too slow. Oh well, I should take the picture anyway".
By the way, the stranger that helped me carry my bag had already become irrelevant by this point.
I looked through my camera's viewfinder, and noticed that the view looked slightly out of focus, muddy, dirty. Through the viewfinder, the weird sun and the clouds surrounding it didn't look amazing anymore, they looked kinda low resolution, kinda lame. Kinda like the difference between advertisement photo of something vs the real thing: the real thing never looks as good as the advertisement (this has nothing to do with the dream, I'm just trying to explain the difference).
Noticing this disappointed me, but I was still going to take that photo.
So I tried to take the photo, but the camera's shutter would get stuck every time I tried to take the photo. I was not able to take the photo no matter how many times I tried, and I was puzzled by it. I knew my camera was in order and I knew I was using an electronic shutter (I knew that in the dream, and it matches reality), so there was no reason for this malfunction to happen.
I didn't know how to fix the problem, so in a last-ditch attempt I decided to try a different lens on my camera. I put my bag on the ground and looked for the other lens I had with me. As I was switching camera lenses, the dream ended.

Any thoughts?

Although in order to provide a more accurate interpretation it would usually be best to have some additional general background information about you (and a description of events just before the dream), it’s safe to say that this is an “archetypal” dream, meaning that it came from the deepest layers of your psyche.

This is shown by the presence of the very weird sun and of the magical helper who disappears because these are very far away from everyday life.

This type of dream usually appears at some very important transitional point in the dreamer’s life. The idea is to show the dreamer her or his overall objective situation so that moving forward can be more effective.

Of course, because dreams use the language of metaphor and analogy which can be very complex, it’s usually very hard to connect an archetypal dream in a practical way to what’s going on in the person’s life, especially without knowing anything much about the person.

But an image of the sun in a dream almost always represents the vital, life-giving centre of the person’s psyche.

Its round shape relates to the idea of a contained group of unique potentials which must be made real in the outside world.

The latter need is suggested in your dream by the main street and by your house which are from “real” life.

Basically speaking, the analogy related to a house is that the latter is “shelter” against the elements and other threats on a physical and psychological level.

So overall, a house symbolizes a kind of complete system of adaptation to everyday life with each area and room of the dwelling representing various aspects of the personality.

For instance, an upper area like the attic can represent mostly thoughts while the basement symbolizes areas of the personality that tend to be unconscious to varying amounts.

In your dream, you enter from the back. In dreams, “back” or “behind” usually represent a connection with the unconscious; that is, with something you’re probably not very aware of. Similarly, an unknown man appears at the back door to help with your bag.

The reason that you return home is to get your camera and lenses in order to take a picture of the unusual sun.

Doing so could represent a habitual reliance on a normally useful, but generally “mechanical/electronic” way of “framing reality” and making sense of it.

But the dream seems to say that this won’t work well enough in understanding the unusual nature of the sun which has appeared (e.g. you get back too late and the image is no longer as attractive).

In addition, you couldn’t get the feature to work that would add your name to the pictures. This suggests the idea that successfully finding and capturing your “identity” and meaning (as connected with the symbol of the sun) won’t tend to work by using just “mechanical/electronic” means which are possibly symbolic of using only the intellect and the rational.

This idea is also suggested by the blue clouds which apparently surround the “Red Circle of Death”, blue usually symbolizing the mind and thinking.

The circling sun and its name apparently came from the early failures of X-boxes where a red circle would appear on the controls. Again, this suggests the idea of, “failure”, “intellectual circuitry” and “virtual” reality instead of “earthy” reality.

Persisting in using this rational method to capture a dimming view of an important potential (e.g. the viewfinder reveals only a slightly out of focus, muddy and dirty scene) is shown as being unhelpful (e.g. the shutter won’t work).

So it’s possible that something happened before the dream that in some way might potentially harm your moving towards an all round development of your personality, therefore symbolically “hurting” the sun.

For instance, you might have passed on trying some kind of new type of opportunity, or decided on a certain course of action etc. etc. which from the dream’s point of view was a mistake.

A clue might have appeared early on in the dream where the red, spinning and weird sun didn’t scare or alarm you, but instead you just wanted to get a good picture, maybe to sell it somewhere for “ego” reasons.

This might possibly show that your values and emotional side could tend to be too “erratic” and “weird” like the spinning sun is, and needs to be “brought back to normal” by paying more attention to it.

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything much about you, this way of looking at your dream might not fit your personal circumstances very well, but I hope that these ideas can be helpful in some way.

Please feel free to comment on, or to ask any questions about, this particular way of looking at your important dream.

Thank you very much for your detailed answer.
I'd like to add some details about my life, if that proves helpful in figuring out the dream.
Without going too much in depth, I've been struggling with personal issues for several years, which include a strong resentment for my parents and a disconnect with people in general. Outside of the people I work with, I've had no contact with friends, and I don't have a girlfriend either.
In this situation, my mental well being was mostly compromised (including periods of great loneliness), with a negative outlook on life and a thought process that was toxic and unproductive.
In the last year I've put in a lot of effort in trying to fix the bad sides of my personality, the way I relate to people and my outlook on life, and I think the results of that effort are showing (mostly - I still hate talking to my parents). Even though things have gotten better, I'm still having an hard time forming new friendships (or connecting with old friends). From that point of view, I'm still pretty lost.
The other important event in my life right now is that I'm looking for a new employer. Although I know what I'm capable of and what kind of work I'm suited for, the uncertainty that comes with having to look for an employer does make me anxious.
Hopefully this description will prove helpful :)

Hi again,

Your description of the past few years clearly shows how difficult things have unfortunately been for you, and it perhaps confirms the idea mentioned in the interpretation that dealing with emotions, values and relationships could be the main stumbling block in improving things even further.

The red color of the spinning sun also suggests that this area of feelings is continuing to be “disrupted” (since red usually symbolizes this part of us), and, as you described, this is apparently getting in the way of not being able to make new friends, contact old ones or to even feel at ease when speaking with your parents.

Of course, the stress of looking for a new employer adds a lot to this difficult situation. Maybe during the job hunt, you could try practising just a little the idea of keeping up front what your genuine feeling reactions are to the people you’re meeting.

This is probably safe to do because you’re confident of your skills and abilities, so the technical aspects of getting a job will likely take care of themselves.

In other words, this could be a kind of exercise that can be extended to any contacts with others, whether in a retail area or on the phone etc. etc.

Later on, you could think things over and ask yourself why you had this or that reaction in a given situation.

In addition, maybe brushing up on your assertiveness skills could add another layer of confidence when dealing with others in various circumstances.

If you feel doing this might suit your personal situation, I often recommend reading a couple of time-tested and reliable books, “Your Perfect Right: Assertiveness and Equality in Your Life and Relationships / Edition 9” by Robert Alberti and Michael Eammons, and “Asserting Yourself” by Sharon and Gordon Bower. These are available on such websites such as Amazon for example.

Another book you might consider is “Emotion: A Very Short Introduction” by Dylan Evans.

As you said, you’ve made very good progress so far in improving things, so there’s no real reason that this can’t continue.

So best of luck as you sort things out over time!

I'll check out those books, thank you again. :)

I personally thnk this dream is chiefly focused on your work. You already made the connection with the sun and the ring of death, so thay would suggest an end to something, or that perhaps you are just running around in circles and not getting anywhere, and given that you have a camera in the dream it seems logical that it is related to your work. The fact that you are taking photos definitely indicates to me that things are not flowing in your job and you are stuck. You are trying to make a name for yourself however you take the shortest route and someone is carrying or has offered to share some of your (work)load.but you havent stopped to consider this - how does this relate to your work in real life? You have seen an opportunity but when you think about it it seems quite lame. You are still approaching things in the same way you have always done but not getting the results you want much to your frustration. The dream is telling you to see things from a different viewpoint and see what happens. I love this analogy with the camera lens! Hope my little interpretation sheds a little light to your situation :-)