Sunday, September 3, 2000		Dream theme

THE most striking part of the story The Emperor's New Clothes is the scene where the king goes all over his kingdom without any clothes on. He is unaware of his nudity, and it is only the words of a child that awaken him to the truth.

Such a scene is a common dream for many. Of course, some may see themselves nude,whereas others may see themselves being conscious of their nudity. In our life, the only time when we have never been conscious of our nudity is during our childhood.

Thus such dreams of nudity, where the dreamer does not seem to feel conscious of his nudity, could be interpreted as an unconscious regression to your infantile stage. But if you suddenly find yourself very conscious of your nudity and attempt to conceal it, then your superego comes to the fore.The superego is basically your set of social morals and values which have been inculcated into you. Such a dream is common among those who realise that they have done some wrong and carry apprehensions of being discovered.

There is also another common version of such dream wherein you are conscious of your nakedness but the world at large seems unaffected by it. For example. I am attending a party where all my friends are there, and suddenly, when I look at myself, I discover

that I am totally naked, but no one in the party seems to find anything unusual. This is again a regression to the childhood when no one seemed to mind our nudity.

To see other people naked is a potrayal of repressed sexual desires. But there are always exceptions. I heard about one such dream from a man who loved to try and analyse the true personality and nature of a person; "removing the mask" as he described it. So such a dream for such a person reflects his desire to discover the true person, that is without any artificial covering or mask.

Astrologically speaking, a naked person does not bode well for the dreamer. It predicts a lot of problems in the near future. Now this is where we say that social taboos and morality come to play. To see others naked, foretells evil temptations

which shall make you leave your path of duty. To dream of your nakedness and your attempt to conceal it predicts that you shall seek illicit pleasures, contrary to your noble instincts, but that realising your error are desirous of foregoing those pleasures.