Sunday, June 15, 2003		Dream Theme

Dreaming of murder
Vinaya K. Manhas

COMMITTING a murder or seeing someone being murdered, or even dreaming of your own murder are either dreams of wish-fulfilment or stem from insecurity. Either way, they succeed in evoking a sense of fear within the dreamer. As per Indian thought, seeing yourself murdering someone in your dreams is perceived as an ill omen. You shall tread on an evil path and the consequences of your wrongdoings shall result in your downfall and a bad ending for you.

After seeing such a dream, it is a warning for the dreamer to mend his/her ways otherwise the end is not far. Should it be your own murder that you see then do not fear, it is an indication of good times ahead and means you’ll soon be making up with your enemies.

To witness someone else's murder as a third party and to see the murderer notice you and run after you to kill you, warns you to be careful of a third person who could be out to destroy you and is waiting for you to make a wrong move. Be careful not to involve yourself in any wrong act after this dream. As per western thought, to see a murder in your dream augurs ill for you. You shall suffer because of the errors of others. There shall be an overall ebbing in your life. Should you be the murderer, then again it portrays a bend in your mind towards evil acts, which shall bring forth a bad name for you. To see yourself as being murdered portrays your enemies working against you to bring forth your downfall.

Psychoanalytically, murdering people in your dreams portrays a regression to childhood, where the simple outlet to anger towards someone would imply a death wish for that person. In certain instances, such dreams could also predict our hostility towards a particular aspect that the person is representing in the dream such as cheating, lying, killing of love upon the end of a relationship, the desire to do away with authority by seeing the murder of a person who represents authority such as teacher, father, boss, etc. to see our own murder means that things that are out of our control are destroying us. We are aware of it but are helpless towards the situation.

A man of 44 would often dream of running with his father chasing him with a sword, trying to kill him. He would try to save himself by ducking behind something. But his father would cut off everything he took refuge from.

A classic example of a castration dream. The childhood fears of the man, concerning his father, have not ebbed in adulthood. The fears may have simply got transferred to other authoritative figures in his life. To end these dreams the person shall have to get over his fears first. He needs professional counselling, as this fear may hamper his dealings with people in authority.