An allegorical dream in which our pilgrim runs into a roadblock and tries to find his way out
I woke up from a dream this morning. It was vivid, strange and a bit frightening.
I was on a road trip to visit my parents
Traffic was at a standstill in the lane ahead of me as I approached a huge bridge.
I followed another car onto an exit ramp that was filled with construction activity and road workers. I drove as far as I could in the midst of all that road work until my car ground to a halt in what seemed like some white slag heap of discarded road material of some sort. I was stuck.
I got out of my car, grabbed my coat and set off to find help, someone to get my car loose.
I first entered what I presume was the office for this huge construction project. One woman lectured me for being so foolish as to get stuck in that heaping pile of whatever it was. But I somehow remained very calm and composed. A former co-worker who no one seemed to like but me and a couple of other people, offered to help me find a towing company, but for some reason none could be found that afternoon.
I bid farewell to the two kind ladies who were trying to assist me. I continued on, worried that my parents would be concerned about what had happened to me.
I entered a huge and massive city, on foot still, and thought I’d better try to find a cab to take me to my former childhood home, but I couldn’t find a pay phone to place a call. (This was obviously pre-cellphone/ Internet).
I found myself wandering in a poverty-stricken section of this massive city. In the near distance I could see towering skyscrapers. It was incredibly dreary and depressing, smoky and dark wheee I was, reminding me of scenes in a grim Dickens novel at the beginning of the industrial era with coal smoke darkening the skies. I entered one building expecting to encounter toiling Cockney accented men, women and even children laboring at long day jobs. But this was not England at the turn of the 20th century. It was presumably the present day when this bizarre, rambling dream took place.
I thought to myself, my God, what terrible working conditions and poverty. But then I found myself in bars or small stores and everyone seemed pleasant or having a good time.
I continued on, entering one depressing area of the city after another, trying to escape each scene that was more like a movie set than reality, toward clearer, lighter, and less polluted areas off in the distance. It was sort of analogous to that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and friends begin their journey and behold The Emerald City far away. I would recognize a familiar and comforting scene from my past only briefly and then I’d feel lost again in some area of the city that seemed alien and dangerous.
I was still looking for a pay phone or help because by this time I was feeling more and more lost.
Finally I entered a building where others seemed as lost as I was . I was told to be seated at a long table and was soon served a meal, as were the others. It occurred to me this was a soup kitchen in a homeless shelter. I ate my food, which which didn’t taste too good, then got up to leave only to discover that I had lost my coat somewhere, and it was cold.
I was out on the street again, still lost and disoriented. Once again I passed an endless parade of strangers and stranger scenery and buildings.
I continued my search for a pay phone or cab so I could finally get home.
The first part of this dream shows that you miss your parents and all the roadblocks and construction show that you can’t get to them because they are gone. I also got from this that you feel like no one really understands you or gets who you are. Finally, the end tells me you feel lonely. I could be wrong but that’s just what I get from it. I like trying to interpret dreams.
@happyathome In many ways you are right. Drewm interpretation is so subjective, however, but I do feel there is a psychic connection between our waking a mind dreaming selves that occurs for a reason. And it’s not just the brain cleaning out toxins and debris. Lots more going on.
Yes, my parents are gone and I wish I could communicate with them to find out more about what the other side is like. I’m certainly not a materialist.
True that few people understand me, but at the same time I’ve given very few that opportunity and even then maintained certain walls. Still do. But a lot of me has appeared here at OornnDisry the past 23 years. 🧐😊
Lonely? Yes and no. I have more interests that could occupy me in several human lifetimes, but I do miss having someone to share my discoveries with. But I’m so used to a lifetime of inner and outer solitude that most of the time I would not trade places with those who have partners.
This is the first time I’ve ever written down a dream, it had such an impact on me. I kept trying to remember the details as I wrote. I’m now glad I did and hope to record more dreams in the future. So thank you for being the first person to interpret one of my dreams. That’s why I posted it here and at Prosebox. It was very interesting reading what you had to say.
@oswego I look forward to reading more of your dreams. I am fascinated by them and I agree there is so much that goes on in our brains while we sleep. It is all so very interesting!!!
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Wow, I like the interpretation of the above noter, very insightful.
@startingover_1 Indeed. Very insightful. That’s the right word.
@oswego I would add that when I have “you can’t get there from here” dreams, it’s usually because my life is turned upside down and I’m frustrated that I don’t seem to be accomplishing much. Usually the best indicator of what the dream means is how you were feeling in the dream. Angry, afraid, frustrated, happy, etc. Your longing to return to your home, but constantly being thwarted might reflect the melancholy you felt when you sold your mom’s home and you know that you can never go back there, at least not in the “returning home” sense. The part with the strange new surroundings could reflect how you feel about your new surroundings; out of place, trying to figure out the new people around you, wanting to be in more familiar surroundings. Everyone in your new surroundings seems “pleasant or having a good time,” but you feel “lost and disoriented.” I think that’s pretty much normal in a new situation. You just have the added benefit of having spent several years in depression and caring for your mother (which had to be kind of surreal, not what you’d call a “normal” life), so that adds to the disconnect from the world that you feel. Your brain is processing all this and trying to help you find your new normal.
@startingover_1 Wow! That was a powerfully insightful dream analysis, and I think it’s absolutely accurate. Although I am settling into my new apartment home, I still feel a sense of disconnect between two completely different lives: caregiving for Mom and living in a large beautiful house versus Mom’s passing two years ago and my recent moving out and sale of the house (which could end up being dragged out unexpectedly, causing added stress, but we’re not going to give it away in this market, even though it needs a number of repairs).
And, yes, my brain is truly working hard to process all this, plus all the other scary and surreal events going on in the world now.
Thank you for this thoughtful interpretation. It has meant a lot.
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