Dreams and relevant interpretation I suggest

(Dreams No. 101-to-125)

 

Dream No. 101

I am on the landing of a large building. I am wearing a female policeman uniform and I am near other people I do not know. We are waiting in front of the elevator doors, there are many of them. I have to go downstairs. Doors start opening, a lady goes in then I try to do the same but as I approach the door starts closing and opening nonstop thus preventing my entrance…. I am absolutely unable to go in.

As already stated, a lift represents the connection between what is above and what is below, that is between consciousness and unconsciousness.

A policeman represents our inner policeman, that is our inside part checking that laws are respected. Therefore, with regard to the unconscious, the whole situation would indicate the attitude of somebody who wants to go down to it with the intent of forcing it to conform to the rules imposed by consciousness. This attitude however is inconsistent with the specific nature of the unconscious. In fact, the latter refuses to become "a colony" of consciousness and makes this clear by making it impossible to go down with the lift (doors opening and closing nonstop)

Dream No. 102

A new patient walks into my consulting room for the first time. It is an old man with an expressionless and insignificant outlook that explains the reasons inducing him to consult me.
While he talks, the belief that I will be able to solve his problems very easily grows inside me: I have just to employ the new techniques I have recently learnt consisting of acting on the patient’s unconscious without his being aware of this.
When he finishes talking, I get up from my armchair, get behind the shoulders of the old man and, out of his sight, I start reiterating a gesture with my right hand with certainty and persuasion, without touching him.
I am persuaded that by doing so I will settle everything easily and quickly without referral to the technique of dream interpretation as I usually do, which is so expensive in terms of time and money.

(I cannot remember what a sort of gesture I made, I can only recall that it was a gesture capable of producing the desired result, almost by magic, with no rational explanation).

Suddenly, while I am performing the above operation, the old man changes into a blinding spark, like a noiseless explosion that leaves me amazed and astonished as well as astounded and frightened.

Like the previous one also this dream indicates a wrong attitude to the unconscious.

This dream is by me and I had it at the time when I had a "crush" for Milton Erickson’s hypnosis and Neurolinguistic Programming (that has several connections with Erickson’s techniques).
Briefly, these techniques are based on the belief that a psychotherapist can produce positive changes in a patient’s personality by acting on his unconscious and without his (patient’s) knowledge.
The old man in the dream symbolizes my idea of the unconscious as I had it at that time: something that can be easily "manipulated" as one likes.

The conclusion of the dream, on the contrary, unveils the real nature of the unconscious and its relevant powers to me and, consequently, it induces me to underestimate neither the former nor the latter.

Dream No. 103

I am with my father in a far-away place that I do not know, inhabited by savages. We are there to take some objects belonging to us again but some savages start shouting at us as we are getting too near. So, to avoid being roasted and tortured, we go off but two of them get hold of us and burn our legs to punish us for invading that place.
Felt such a strong pain and fear that I suddenly woke up.

At the beginning of analysis, far-away and unknown places inhabited by people having a dark-skin or talking an incomprehensible language symbolize the unconscious with which we still have no contact and that, therefore, we feel as being far-away and having no relationship with us. In this case, the unconscious is experienced as a warden punishing our attempt of getting hold again of memories tied to the figure of our father.
The dream says nothing as to the nature of these memories, so it will be necessary to wait for additonal oneiric material.

Dream No. 104

A gas-bottle is about to explode in my house, so we arrange our escape but with no panick. My sisters and I pack up our blankets, sheets and other stuff. My father and my mother get the car ready and take care of being ready by the time the bottle explodes.
The atmosphere is almost relaxed and we get on well together. My mother says that when the bottle explodes the whole building, not only our flat, will blow up.

Like other dreams, here too there is a feeling that a long removed emotion concerning the dreamer’s family (the gas bottle is in her house) is about to emerge.
The positive side is that the situation is experienced with no panic and in a relaxed atmosphere, which would induce to expect analysis to evolve without too many jolts or resistances.
Whatever the nature of this emotion, anyway, this will not deteriorate the unity of the family that, instead, seems to draw a increased strength out of it.

Dream No. 105

 Mist is condensing on the balcony of my house and little by little it takes the semblance of a woman that seems to look like me. I shut the door not to let it in but mist is spreading and approaching, occupying every space. I am looking at it astonished and frightened. The window hinges are broken so mist could get in through that passage.
I wait for a long time but nothing happens. Then the sky becomes calm and clear again, I am peaceful, the fear caused by the woman having gone away.

The dreamer (a young woman) made this spontaneous consideration: "I am afraid to become a woman, that is an adut, because a woman has an active sexual life".
This consideration can be better understood when I add that this girl received quite an absurd sex-fobic education both in her family and in the college where she studied.
In the end, however, the girl succeeds in overcoming her fear of becoming a woman because she understands that nothing happens and the sky is clear again.

Dream No. 106

I am in a college. I go into the dressing room to change my dresses. I have already taken my dresses off when, suddenly, the room changes into a lift that starts moving. I fear that the lift might stop all of a sudden, that the door opens and somebody comes in and sees me bare naked. In fact, this is exactly what happens, the door opens and some girls come in. I am glad that they are in, I am no longer afraid now. From the corridor, however, two boys are threatening us, they say they will come in and rape two of us. We try to shut the door but this has come out of its hinges so the boys can easily get in. We are all naked and two of us make love to the boys without offering resistance.

At the beginning I was afraid of being raped but now I am very disappointed as in my opinion I was not chosen because of my ugly and fat body. So I through myself over a boy and seduce him. We touch each other’s body with great passion, I am enraptured, I have never had so beautiful moments in all my life. Afterwards, though, I call at a friar that I know is very strict. I fancy crying for the sin I committed and I reproach the friar who wasn’t there to give me blows and avoid me from committing a sin.

I would like to suffer such a deep pain as I suffered some years before when I used to touch my body but a part of myself, that I am afraid of, refuses to feel guilty, on the contrary it regards what happened as something natural. The friar wants to know every single detail and continues repeating that it is a serious sin. I am confused because his words fail to raise repentance in me.

There is not much to be interpreted, I think the dream is self-explanatory. I will only add that during the analysis follow-up it was possible to ascertain that this woman had become obese to avoid having to face risky situations under the sex-temptation profile. In her opinion the fat she had put on would make her "indesirable" and this made her feel safe. She had come for an analysis because she was seized by an unbearable and apparently inexplicable anguish any time one of the many diets she was on started to make her loose a few kilos: the barrier defending her from sexual temptation was becoming thinner!

After saying this, the dream becomes clearer. A conflict between sexual desires and the Super-EGO (inner judge, friar) is represented again. She still a victim of some senses of guilt but now the power of the inner Judge is not as absolute and cruel as it was before. She is confused and surprised at her new way of experiencing her sexuality, she is even frightenened by this part of herself that refuses to feel guilty and that considers sex a natural thing, but now her neurotic defence is going to pieces and she will be able to have a normal sexual life in the future. Before reaching this target, however, she will have to go a very long way, two stages of which are represented by the following two dreams for which I think no interpretation of mine is required.

Dream No. 107

I am talking to a girl which is very different from me. I am fat, have no make-up on, wear a plain shirt and skirt while she is thin, wears make-up, high heels and a short frill skirt.
The odd thing is that while I am talking to her I compare the two girls and find out that it is always me split in two persons. I am very pious, grave, staid, I speak always in a calm voice. On the contrary, she is quite a wordly-minded person, she meets a lot of friends and joins parties. In fact, she tells me that she is about to go out.
I am afraid she might get in trouble and commit sins, so I lecture her but she is annoyed, she does not want to listen to me and goes off.
I remain there and think that the two girls will never come to an agreement because the pious one is stronger, so she will always have the upper hand.

See the previous dream for interpretation.

Dream No. 108

I go into a shop where fancy skirts that I very much like are sold. The salesgirl helps me to chose one and invites me to try it on. I know that it can’t fit me as I am too fat but the salesgirl insists so I try the skirt on even if I can foretell that I am going to be disappointed soon after. On the contrary, not only I can wear the skirt but this is even too large by two sizes. I am astonished and in the seventh heaven. I chose another even more beautiful skirt and come out of the shop very happy.

Then I go to a church and meet a nun. I ask her what to do to be admitted to the chorus, if it is necessary to be always present. She explains to me that admittance is difficult to obtain and leads me to a room where the chorus girls are gathered wearing their Sacred Heart college uniform.
The nun explains that the girls live there, they are very grave and spend much time praying. So I understand that I cannot join that circle because of my style of life which is not as grave as those girls’, I am disappointed and upset.

See the previous two dreams for interpretation.

Dream No. 109

I am in an underground yard and am checking that works are performed according to the prevailing regulations (I am a female policeman). I cannot clearly see the ongoing works as these take place in a half-light area. Works were started just a few days before therefore there is not much to contest.
Addressing the supervisor I tell him to stick to the regulations otherwise I will distrain upon the whole yard. Little farther on, at ground level, there are basins containing liquid cement mixed with other material. The supervisor invites me to put my legs inside saying that only this way I will be able to check the so far executed works for compliance with the regulations in force.

Here we can see another example of a frequent wrong attitude of consciousness to unconsciousness, that is the claim to CHECK IT and even punish it if it misbehaves. Needless to say, the principles to determine what is good and what is wrong are fixed by consciousness!
Inviting her to dip her legs in the cement is the same as inviting her to shorten the distance between consciousness and unconsciousness by taking a direct contact with the elements that are deep inside.

Dream No. 110

From the flat adjoining mine a black woman comes out and starts speaking ill of the previous lodgers. She does it in a much resented way, heaping insults on them.
I take their defences in the same lively way because I know that they are honest and reliable persons. I can feel indignation growing inside me and tell the woman that, if somebody is to be blamed, these are just the ones belonging to her own race, thieves, dirty, smelly and noisy.
This is the first time I let my feelings out, that is indignation and rage, but that woman indeed forced me to do it.

The white woman (the dreamer) represents consciousness. The black woman represents the way in which very often consciousness wrongly perceives unconsciousness.

Dream No. 111

I feel like parting from everybody, doing something special and prohibited. So I go into a garden half hidden by the road, and therefrom I get into a house where a lady gives massages. I do not want other people to know that I am in there. I take my dress off and the lady starts massaging me. There is not much light in the room which is located in a basement… the massage is pleasant although painful.

The scene changes. I pass by a shop window where two very beautiful women are, however their eyes reveal something doubtful that is a look of bisexual persons.

The scene changes. I go inside the previous house again but this time the massage is given by a Japanese man. I am laying on a table, bare naked. Climbing a ladder a person dressed as a nun appears and I am happy to see the presence of a pious person in that place but the Japanese man tells me to be careful because that is not a nun, rather an evil creature that wants to take me away. Other beings dressed as nuns come out of the ladder throwing black sparks against me to do harm to me and entrap me. I am alone to defend myself. There is a black magma mass trying to wrap me up. I look for the Japanese man, I find him but he changes into a huge black devil that rises in the sky. I wake up for fear.

An erotism atmosphere was in the dream. Troubles started when I woke up: I felt DIRTY!

Here is another example of projecting outside what is felt as EVIL. In this case this is represented by unconscious erotic fancies having a bisexual nature.
At the beginning the patient seeks this prohibited experience and gets it of her own free will but afterwards the sense of sin-evil, threaten-danger-fear appears and prevails.

Dream No. 112

I am by the sea and the atmosphere is joyful. I am with my father and we are laying in the sun. There is a lot of people and the sea is fantastic. A strong desire arises inside me but I am afraid of admitting it with my father: I want to take my swimming-suit off and lie naked in the sun. My desire surpasses my fear and I go to my father even if I can easily imagine his severe denial. In fact he says that it is not moral but I insist and, in the end, we come to a compromise: I will enjoy being naked in the sun but when we are back home I have to be ready to get many vigorous spanks: I return to the beach, I take my suit off and I feel very well.
Afterwards, I go back home holding a stick in my hand in order for me to be spanked (I know I committed a sin) but I am disappointed because my father doesn’t want to punish me any longer. On the other hand I am persuaded that his punishment would have been of no use because I am however planning to behave in the same way again.

In this dream first of all we find exhibitionism, then a father as an authority that prohibites, allows, scolds and punishes. Anyway, punishment is only apparently such. As a matter of fact, the dreamer, in her real life, gets sexual excitement when she is spanked. This explains why she is very disappointed when she finds out that her father no longer wants to punish her. And she is disappointed also because punishment would have allowed her to silence her sense of guilt because, in her dream, spanks are not associated to a sexual pleasure but to a fault.

You will say: "But, in conclusion, spanks are a punishment or a pleasure to her?".
The answer is: "They are both of them" because the unconscious knows no contradiction and can take the liberty of playing these odd tricks that would shock the followers of logic.

I am disregarding all Oedipus implications in this dream as they are not so evident to the eyes of somebody who is not as cunning as a psychotherapist has to be.

Dream No. 113

A sad atmosphere is in our dining room. My mother is with a strict priest, an old-style one, that wants the whole family to pray. He starts from my mother, shuts the windows and begins to confess her with rigour.
My mother seems to be bewildered and I strongly dislike this priest so, without attracting the attention of the others, I make for the exit but my sister says that the priest has to confess me too because of my serious faults that are causing my mother to miss her safety.
This seems to be nonsense to me as I know I have no faults, I have nothing to do with the malaise striking my mother and, on top of this, I cannot stand priests that judge and sentence. So I run away but the priest starts running after me. I have to run quite a lot because the priest does not want to let me go.

The priest here represents the Super-Ego that is our own judging and punishing part. Apparently the way the dreamer considers the situation is thoroughly different from the priest’s. In actual facts, the dream being hers, senses of guilt are inside her and oppress her giving her no respite.
Incidentally, her senses of guilt are connected to masturbation and erotic fancies connected thereto.

Dream No. 114

I am in a slightly lightened room and my family is with me. Our life goes on in that room and here terror starts: souls of dead people come out of the walls, one by one, and they assault us penetrating into us. Everybody is shouting due to the fear aroused by those beings. At a certain point we decide to leave that place and the sacristan offers to drive us with his car to a very pleasant site but my moral tutor (a tall, very strict priest wearing a frock) orders me not to go and tries hard to keep me there.
We hurriedly jump on the sacristan’s car while the priest continues to run after us. He clings to the fender to slow the car down and keeps ordering me to halt as he has to punish me. I am ready to be punished but first I want to go to that pleasant site. But there is no way of making that priest leave us in peace.
The car goes on very slowly and the petrol is about to get exhausted. We succeed in refueling the car but we keep going on very slowly.

Here we can see the representation of the dramatic conflict between the drives addressed to pleasure (in every sense) and an hypertrophic, strict, despotic and punishing Super-Ego.
The ongoing freeing process manages to find the energy required to be fed but evolution in the whole is extremely slow. What the conclusion will be is not known yet. The moment illustrated by this dream is a very critical and delicate one. A thrust towards freeing seems to slightly prevail but nobody can say if the process will have a successful result, therefore it is necessary to be very cautious, the therapist must make sure that the next step forward is made only when the patient’s legs are strong enough.

Dream No. 115

I am in the bathroom washing my face when I hear noises coming from behind the sink. I watch and see a big mouse coming out that disgusts and frightens me. I immediately come out of the bathroom and shut the door. I want to go and get a broom.

Again a bathroom as a metaphor of analysis: the patient feels that disgusting and frightening elements are coming to surface from his unconscious and refuses to get in contact with them; on the contrary, he would rather defend himself by eliminating them (broom) because he has not yet digested the belief that the only possibility to get rid of these elements is to "go inside them", recognizing that they are ours and metabolizing them.

Dream No. 116

I am driving a sport car. It is daytime and I am in full light. The traffic light is green but when I get there it shifts straight to red skipping the intermediate yellow phase. I am afraid I have no time to go by but I manage to shift gears, from forth to second gear, and I stop with no problems.

The dreamer feels he owns energy and "sprint" (sport car). He is also able to effectively face sudden and unexpected situations.
One could think that this dream represents the fulfilment of a desire but the patient remarked that now he owns quickness of reflex also when he drive his car in his real life, which he did not have before.

Dream No. 117

I am washing my underpants stained with urine. It is the same kind of underpants as I used when I was in my college. The lower part is already clean and I am moving to the upper part. I have some difficulties but I think: "All considered, they can be easily cleaned!"

When the dreamer was at school, he was the subject of homosexual approaches from one of his mates. He refused but, in spite of this, ever since he kept the feeling of being "dirty " inside himself and, before starting his analysis, he had mentioned this to nobody else.
Now he understands that getting rid of that unpleasant feeling is not too difficult.

 Dream No. 118

I can only remember that I saw a perfectly running bike. It was mine and the sense of a new discovery was there.

A bike is a strictly personal vehicle characterized by the fact that it moves thanks to the energy of OUR OWN muscles. For these reasons it represents our capacity for getting on in our life with our own resources.
In this case it works perfectly well but it has not been always so, this is only a recent discovery and therefore it produces an even greater satisfaction.
This sort of dreams comes only when one is approaching the end of the analysis and, to stick to the subject, before getting there it is necessary….to cycle much indeed…often on rusted bikes having flat or however poor and deteriorated tires.

Dream No. 119

I was at the entrance of my office. I had placed a bursting device on the armchairs. It was a switch connected to an electric pile; two wires started from the pile and their uncovered ends reached the gun powder; another two wires started herefrom to reach a powerful explosive that they would burst. Almost without realizing it (or without being able to stop) I turned the switch on. I understood that the wires would set fire to the gun powder and from here bursting would extend to the very explosive. I thought I would be completety destroyed, yet the powder was not firing. I also thought that being not a matter of seconds I could perhaps do something like removing the wires, tearing them up, but I was unable to do anything, I seemed to be locked. I was there in anguish, hoping it would not burst and, at the same time, waiting for the fatal explosion.

The dream stops here. The explosion was not taking place which made me happy, but I was as well worried that it might happen any moment, in fact, the process required just a few seconds so it might still occur.

It is the same situation as we met in many other dreams. The background changes but the meaning is always the same. I am nevertheless reporting the dream (and others will be reported later on) because it is always interesting to notice the inexhausted creativeness of the unconscious, its capacity of using always different images to illustrate a same idea. Here is the feeling that analysis primed a process destined to lead to one’s own (dreamer’s) destruction. The explosive consists of the removed unconscious material that was kept away from consciousness throughout one’s life assuming that it was dangerous. Analysis is now bringing that material back to surface thus originating a fear that everything will blow up.

That’s all as regards the dream. In dreamers’ real life, such a fear proves to be baseless (except for cases of proclaimed psychosis that can be easily identified. The so-called "dormant" psychosis, mentioned in the books, I haven’t met it yet. In my opinion, however, it would not be too hard to detect it through the refined sensitiveness of a skilled psychotherapist).
After clarifying this, the almost constant feeling of danger experienced by patients undergoing analysis can be explained bearing in mind that although its play back occurs today it dates back to childhood when the personality was being formed therefore it was weak and unable to cope with the strong emotions experienced at that time.

On the other hand, even in this distressful dream we can see that the idea that " the powder was not firing" starts to peep out. In other words: "my fear is not confirmed by facts". It is however too early to feel absolutely calm!
This means that during this phase of the analysis, the fear that an explosion might still occur is predominant, yet the reassuring process has altready started, it needs only to be eased and let come to conclusion.
Once they reach that stage, and only at that time, patients wonder at their previous fear of certain psychic contents and…. regret they did not start the therapy before.

Dream No. 120

I was on a ferry-boat that was grounded on the beach of an island, in Southern Pacific. The ferry was not damaged so there was no risk of sinking (in my real life I never travelled to Southern Pacific nor elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean).
Natives could be seen on the beach. The weather was fine, the sun was shining, the sky was clear and it was hot. Some other people were on the ferry that was not very crowded. I was helping the crew even if I was not one of its members, at least I stayed with them. Natives staying on the beach were not hostile but it was impossible to communicate with them.
I do not know how, but suddenly we disembarked and we were in a town having no telephone and there was no other way of getting in touch with the rest of the world.
It was a modern town, with high buildings, but no cars nor other vehicles were in the streets and electricity was missing. We climbed on foot up to the top of a very high building to take an overall view of the place. We cound not reckon our distance from the nearest island nor we could guess where we could get help from. Yet we knew that help was not far-away. I was not frightened by what had happened rather by what was to be done afterwards.

I was my same age. The ferry was suited to cover only short distances, it was not a large vessel as one would expect to take to reach a far-away island in Southern Pacific.

Several and very interesting elements make up this dream. Let’s examine them one by one.

This dreams, like all the others, is the true photograph of the emotions-feelings-thoughts troubling deep in the dreamer’s psyche at that time.

Dream No. 121

I have set fire to a tree and I notice that fire is spreading to the trees nearby along a line both on the left and on the right. Consequently I start looking for the equipment suited to put it out.
At a certain point I am holding a hose deliverying water but I cannot succeed in throwing water up there, on the foliage of the trees, where fire is burning, so I ask a person to go and find a nozzle to be placed at the end of the hose in order to concentrate the bolt of water and address it higher. I make an effort to remember where the nozzle is but I cannot find it. I am also looking for something else that might help but meanwhile fire spreads. I see something that seems to be fit to the purpose but afterwards I realize that it is of no use.
Seeing the danger, I ask my neighbour to help me and tell him to ask others to come. I get into the house and I notice that no traces of fire are there, everything is calm. I know however that fire is actually on the roof, it is only a matter of time. I think I might call the fire-brigade, it is not the case of trying once again by myself , I might fail and fire might not be stopped.
I also think that my neighbours might ask me to refund the damages they suffered. Perhaps this is another good reason for calling the fire-brigade.

Here we find a worry for having set a fire that cannot be put out or kept under control. It might seem strange but fire, in dreams, often has the same meaning as water, it represents emotions, more exactly their characteristic of spreading to the other psychic elements in a destructive and out-of-control way. This is just the same effect produced by water when it overflows, invades and submerges.
Sometimes this fear is shown by the dread of going mad that is losing one’s self-control. As already stated, this fear is not justified at present but it was appropriate at the time of childhood.

What is coming to surface from this dream is in conflict with the conscious behaviour of this dreamer that seems to be a person able to face every aspect of his personality.
Of course, I will have to take into account what comes up from the depths of his unconscious, not what can be seen on the surface. In other words I will have to be very cautious and strengthen banks before allowing all upcoming water (emotions) flow in.

Dream No. 122

I am in a swimming pool together with my daughter (she is less than one year old). She wears life bands around her arms, I try to help her to swim by holding her under her belly. I make an attempt to leave her and I am amazed to see that she is able to get away with it.
It is strange, not long ago I was sure she could not swim, however I think this is a good thing as I will thus be able to have a good swim and relax, the baby being able to get away by herself.

A swimming pool is a small size sea-unconscious. Water is not as deep, therefore it is safer, and moreover, help is at easy reach. Yet it is water and the mother is surprised to find out that her baby can get away with it.

In this baby we can see either the childish part of the mother and her real daughter. In fact, formerly the dreamer believed that the birth of a son/daughter would have taken her away the possibility of taking even a least part of her time for herself. She wanted to have all her time for herself. Now she finds out the the task of being a mother is not so totally demanding as she thought and feared.

Following the other interpretation, the dreamer finds out that the baby inside herself is perfectly able to feel emotions without being overwhelmed with them as she feared for a long time. The result of this discovery is safety-peacefulness as shown also by her oneiric production that increases, lasts along the time and is richer in meanings not disguised by censure.

Dream No. 123

I have to go ahead in an underground tunnel overcoming many difficulties. There is a light at the end, it is the exit. There is some vegetation hindering my movements but I understand that it consists of no thorns but flowers. I will have to find my way out all the same, cut the vegetation but it is completely different now, I have no feeling of being scratched.

The conclusion of analysis is approaching. Work-fatigue are still required but now opening one’s way through pleasant elements (flowers) is involved. The unpleasant part of the way (scratching thorns) is over and the dreamer feels he is next to "get out".

This is the reward of analyis, mainly for the dreamer and in part also for the analyst. It is not true that an analysis consists in establishing a contact only with the unpleasant elements of one’s psyche. But this is found out only when the end is near!
If it were possible to move this discovery from the final part to the initial part of the analysis, everything would be easier and… shorter.

Dream No. 124

Near the sea there is a girl mourning the loss of her father (who was a drunkard and lived under the bridges).
Some people ask me to try and soothe her but I am too engrossed in my thoughts so I come up with the excuse that it is not right to pester somebody who decided to stay by herself to cry her sorrow.
Afterwards I go to soothe her and, suddenly, her father appears and starts talking to us.

In her real life, the dreamer’s father had died many years before. Her relationship with him was not good for a lot of reasons and mainly because he fell short of her expectations. And she firmly believes she can recall him with no regret, without suffering for his loss. On the contrary, things deep inside herself are much different, but she does not want to have anything to do with it and she refuses to get in contact with that part of herself mourning the loss of her father. She refuses and comes up with the excuse that she is busy with her daily life tasks that, therefore, she uses to take her mind off her sorrow.
In the end, however, she overcomes her resistance and this enables the figure of her father to come back allowing her to re-establish a contact with him.

When I suggest this interpretation to my patient, she is very doubtful until I specify that there might be a tremendous difference between a father in the flesh and his image as idealized according to the expectations of a daughter. It is possible to suffer for the loss of this image and, at the same time, be indifferent to the loss of the real father.

Dream No. 125

I thought that, thanks to a cooperation policy with Arab countries, Italy might obtain a Northern Africa territory in franchise from them. This way we could talk again of an Empire. The whole matter however could not fully convince me, it was excessive, dangerous and perhaps even offensive.
On the other hand, thinking of France I said to myself that it is possible to be great even as a Republic with no Empire.

As already stated elsewhere, Africa often symbolizes the unconscious. The first part of the dream, therefore, expresses a very frequent attitude of our rational-conscious part with regard to the unconscious: it wants to colonialize it, it considers it to be a land of savages where civilization is to be brought.

In the second part of the dream, on the contrary, an opposite attitude appears, the dreamer understands that this claim is excessive, dangerous and offensive for unconsciousness as well as for consciousness. He understands that one can be great even giving up the fancy of an imperialistic control over the unconscious. This acquisition is the essential premise to give start to a "cooperative" attitude to the unconscious which is the only attitude producing tangible results.

 

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