Sunday, May 6, 2001		Dream theme

WHEN Icarus in the Greek myth `The flight of Icarus’ creates wax wings to fly to the sun, as he nears the sun his wings begin to melt and he falls down to meet his death. Such a scene could be an excerpt from a dream. It is common to see yourself develop wings and to fly or to fly without wings in your dream. The feeling of weightlessness is predominant in such dreams. But as per ancient theology, it is not the act of flying but other symbols in the dream such as clothes nudity, feathers, places over which you are flying which have more dominance.

As per the Indian theorists, to see yourself flying generally predicts favourable journeys. But if you are flying downwards then failure shall meet you, and if it is vice versa, that is you are flying upwards, then success shall be yours. They also predicted medical problems related to gastrtis causes. As per the Western theologists, dreaming of flying high through space denotes marital calamities. On the other hand, to fly low indicates a weary state of affairs from which you shall recover. If you fly over muddy waters, such a dream warns you to beware of enemies trying to harm your personal affairs. To fly over destroyed buildings signifies ill-luck and gloomy surroundings. Instead, should you notice greenery below you, you might suffer a temporary embarrassment but shall, in the end, gain lots of prosperity. To see the sun while flying signifies useless worries. To have black wings while flying portends bitter dissapointment. To fall while flying signifies your downfall. But should you wake up before touching the ground you shall succeed in recovering yourself. To dream of flying with white wings above green foliage foretells advancement in business and success in love.

Psychoanalytically, dreams of flying and weightlessness are to do with lack of inhibition and freedom. It has to do with releasing yourself from self-made inhibitions. Many psychiatrists have even associated such dreams with sex and sexuality. It is also associated with our infancy stage, wherein being thrown high in the air is a usual play which evokes a lot of excitement. Flying upwards is also associated with moving upwards to a spiritual appreciation of our lives, while flying downwards is to try to understand our subconscious and its hidden factors.

Sexual interpretation comes easily to this dream considering the nakedness and the up and down movement. But it is the last symbol of the house of her childhood which changes the interpretation of the dream to the dreamers regression to infancy. Here, nakedness is not uncommon and the up and down motion is the act of being thrown up by your elders and being caught as you come down. The inability to get down is the self-realisation that infancy is a matter of the past. The recurrence of the dream is her unacceptability of this fact in real life. When the lady was given the true interpretation of the dream and told to stop delving in the past, the dreams gradually petered out.