Dreams & Their Interpretation(s)
Dreams About The Ego
Killing the Weeds
I am carrying a container of weed killer with a thin tube coming out of the top.
I am careful not to touch the tip of the tube because I do not want to get poison on my fingers.
I walk along a patterned brick path that
is up against the foundation of the house and let the poison fall\
on two large weeds that have sprouted up in the cement joint between the path
and the house.
Symbols
Poison: That which kills something undesirable.
Walk: The ego's individual journey.
Patterned Brick Path: The underlying pattern of life: the scared Self. This suggests a sacred journey.
Foundation of the House: Base of the personality.
Weeds: Offensive or less desirable growth; negative aspects of the personality.
Personal Meaning
A few days befoer I had this dream I made a speech to a group of male authority figures.
Two of them had disagreed with something I had said, and to my surprise, I had been devastated by their implied criticism. I lapsed
into a mild depression that lasted for a couple of months, and I became obsessed with the idea that my death was imminent.
This dream dipicted my ego's ambivalence about my journey (walk) to the sacred (patterned brick path.
In order to continue with my soul-making initiation, it was necesary that my destructive, inappropriate needs
(weeds) die. One of the most troublesome and tenacious negative aspects of my personality was my need to conform.
My ego's fear of displeasing patriarchal authorities was extremely powerful. It lay at the base of my nature
(foundation of the house, and it was so vigorous that it could even force its way through the cement joints
of my solid spiritual path. While part of me wanted to kill (poison) my fearful, conforming
nature weeds, at the same time I was afraid of the pain and discomfort this would cause. I was afraid to be true to myself,
afraid of being criticized for being different. My frightened, immature ego did not want to suffer and die (get poison on my fingers).
This dream marked the beginning of my realization that my ego's fears, not forces from outside myself, were the cause of my discomfort. I began to question
my powerful need to conform.
Cultural Meaning
Religious literature is filled with references to the detah of the ego. Christ said that unless people are born again they cannot see the kingdom of God.
This is the underlying psychological meaning of his death and resurrection: The old ego - the one that cares more about staying 'safe' and getting our way and avoiding
discomfort than it cares about the work of soul making - has to undergo the death phase of the initiation before we can be spiritually reborn.
Our egos feel safe as long as we conform to the expectations of our parents or the standards of our culture. But conforming prevents us from developing our individuality.
Overcoming the need to conform requires that we give up seeking the approval of others, and that we let go of the fear of criticism and suffering that has ruled our lives.
It means we must stop acting like the Pharisees - to whom outer appearances were more important than inner realities - and be honest with ourselves and each other.
We can begin to overcome the need to conform by allowing the Self's priorities to take precedence over our ego's desires. this is never easy. It is so painful that it often feels
like death. We might even come obessed with the detah of the body, as I was at the time of this dream. In my experience,
dreams about death and a powerful awareness about death in waking life usually accompany the death of the outmolded aspects of an old, immature, conforming ego.
We aquire more courage to depart from comformity as we work with our dreams. Dreams consistently convey an astonishing truth that our fearful egos have great difficulty grasping:
The Supreme Being actually wants us to trust our own inner authority.
This dream is from Jean Benedict Raffa's book 'Dream Theatres of the Soul'. Go Here for more on Mrs. Raffa, her book, and her works.
