COLUMN: Intertpreting dreams can be tricky business
For many, this column was a distant memory. But by some stroke of absolute fate, I am back at the university and thus Mixed Nuts has returned.
I think it was just a dream that started the whole thing in the first place, which is why I have decided I needed to share a recent dream with you all.
About three weeks ago, I awoke, following a very eventful trip to London via dreamland. But that wasn’t the odd part of the dream. Let me sum up – it was raining (also not an odd thing), I was taking pictures trying to get the “prize winning photo,” I was staying in a 125-floor hotel with NO stairs (our room was on the top floor), the elevator plummeted to the lobby just as we stepped off onto our floor.
Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, thought this was out of the norm. I was taken into a hidden door so I could take pictures, all of the people I was with tried to check out and the front desk lady wanted them to stay, which I did. Everyone else left.
I did not wake in a cold sweat, but I was very amused to say the least. My friend Jared was not as amused as I was, you see, in a fit of frustration in the dream, he was cussing like a trooper (this is very out of the ordinary for him).
I decided I had to know what this all means, so I got my hands on a book called The Dream Encyclopedia by James R. Lewis.
Oh what answers I found there.
I am going to change my entire life and am basing it all on the dream.
Now, some might say that it is not a good idea to make life choices based on a silly dream, but this was borderline revelation – after all, it was set in London, how could it be anything but revelation.
According to the book, I am a repressed, nervous, self-conscious individual on the verge of a life-changing transition moving toward a new phase of personal development.
Go figure.
Let me break some of it down for you. Darkness, fog and the doors all mean unknown forces or fear – a feeling of being lost. (Hey, I’m lost in this column.)
This is nothing new, most people will tell you I have been lost for a very long time in a maze of wondering what I am supposed to be when I grow up. I still don’t know. I think I have surrendered to the fact I will never know.
Oh to have the life of a perennial youth – tell that to my body, it seems to think I am 28.
The fire, the elevator, the discovery of hidden passageways, hallways and the rain all project movement to a new phase of life, even if it is unfamiliar. I guess this refers to the fact I am starting graduate work and moving toward my inevitable adult status. Argh!
The most telling part of the whole dream was the lack of stairs in this monolithic hotel.
The book states this displayed a lack of concern over social status for the dreamer. Right. I am sitting here in my Nike hiking boots, Tommy jeans, Abercrombie turtleneck and an American Eagle ball cap and I don’t care about social status – you decide.
Now, according to the Justin Berry Book of Dream Analysis, this dream means so much more.
The beginning is really my repressed desire to live in London. I think that is a given.
The only other dream that took place outside of the United States was the time I dreamt I was Caesar and was putting to death all the people I hated at school. So, London is the winner of the place I will live someday.
The rest of the dream speaks about the fact that I have never really given up on the life of an actor.
I think it is all part of some twisted movie in my mind. If I really go to be part of Towering Inferno, then my dream would be the way I would write the script.
I have also repressed desires to be a photographer and marry a rich woman who leads me through her hidden doors. In fact, when she pulled out the key to open the hidden door, this must symbolize the woman who will open the door to my heart (gag) and I will be my true love.
I guess that could be bad though – in my dream, she left me after she opened the door so she could go have dinner with “daddy.” This is really the story of my life.
So, with that in mind, I am seeking ways to relocate and find the hidden life changes. After all, dreams are never wrong.
Justin Berry is a graduate student studying public relations. Comments can be sent to features@statesman.usu.edu