Thread: Oneironaut or cop out?

It sounds like you're moving beyond the stage where dreams are like a video game or a playground, and ready to start trying to solve some life problems with them. This is what dream work becomes about later in life.

About facing monsters - you want to avoid the 2 extremes of violence and running away or submission (AKA fight, flight freeze or fawn). It's just like confronting people in real life, and actually dreams are in many ways testing grounds where you can try out ways of dealing with life situations without the real-world consequences, or maybe more properly where you see the kind of results that will be attained by whatever methods you've developed for dealing with people and problems. Just like in real life, if you go on the attack the other does as well and becomes bigger and stronger. If you run away or become too conciliatory it brings out the predator in them and they also go on the attack. What's needed is the in-between - the human solution. Negotiation. The game of verbal parrying and thrusting - not fisticuffs or pretending everybody is your best friend. You train for it in daily life, by learning how to deal with people when they get too aggressive or try to take advantage of you, and you practice it so it becomes your second (or first) nature. Then it will begin to show up in your dreams.

When I say the human solution it means a lot of things. Like a single dream image it can contain multitudes of meaning, even if some of them seem to be contradictory. As humans we have options that aren't available to animals, such as discussion and negotiation. Animals tend to react to strangers by either going on the aggressive or becoming conciliatory, or as Terry Pratchett says they see everything as either something to mate with, eat, or be eaten by. Something like that, I think I screwed it up though. But human also implies humane - which seems to mean we can find mutual values without resorting to the extremes. Don't let yourself be taken advantage of but also don't try to take advantage. It takes a lot of courage but also a lot of tact.

I used to react to monsters by either attacking or running. Then in here I found out some people project pure love onto them. I tied this for a while and it had some amazing effects. I turned a frightening bear into a pair of my old dogs and we had a joyous reunion. But that's not always the best solution. With some monsters it just makes you vulnerable. It was from Jung that I learned about the negotiation alternative. I called it parrying and thrusting before, and it does involve that, but it also involves trying to find common ground to build trust and friendship on. Treat people like your best friend, but only if they deserve it - make sure they're not trying to betray you first. But you do need to be prepared to thrust and parry at a moments notice when it becomes necessary. I think the point is to learn how to move fluidly between all these modes and to know when it's necessary to do what. Your dreams are essentially a reflection of the way you're living your life, and if you keep encountering monsters maybe you're seeing things in too frightened of a way.

Well I feel like I'm just repeating myself and starting to babble now.