A Dream With A Shocking Noise: Post #3

 photo courtesy of getlinkmixedcloud.com

A musician dreamt that a string broke while he was tuning an exotic instrument. The sound was so violent that it scared him awake.

What is interesting about this dream experience is that some of what happened, such as being noisily shaken awake with a sudden jerk, are common to individuals re-entering their bodies too quickly following an out-of-body experience. The question is: Can those same movements also be considered as dream symbols, and analyzed accordingly?

We have chosen to consider the physical jerk, the fright and the emotional reaction of alarm as part of the dream, proper. And as we worked on the dream interpretation, we incorporated these “symbols” into our dream analysis. As you read the reconstructed dream, below, you will see that those symbols fit neatly into the dream as a whole.

In retelling the dream, all I have done is to add occasional phrases, such as “There is a part of me…” These remind the dreamer that all dream symbols represent aspects of himself.

The reconstructed dream

There is a part of me that is experiencing excessive, startled surprise. I’m involved in using the part of me that determines the pitch of my own instrument. I’m observing what I think of as the base of my structure—like a pyramid. This base has an air of ancient mystery and hidden secrets.

I am working to correct the wires in me that are under tension and that produce a clear sound, often beautiful. This is associated with my life, my vocation. For me, it’s all about the struggle to be good enough, to excel. It’s about trying to be artistically sensitive and to do something beautiful.

But instead of being predictable and ordinary, I find that I am observing something in me that is exotic with a completely different concept of sound. What the “Eastern” parts of me—who are accustomed to this—admire and strive for, the rest of me, in the West, considers unpleasant. It’s a completely different design than what I’m used to seeing on my own instrument. It’ something in me that is alien to my training and culture. As such it seems both foreign and fascinating.

I’m adjusting this aspect of myself so that the pitch and instrument sound right. I’m “fine tuning.” That’s literally what I am doing. But sometimes, when the part under tension is old or under stress, it deteriorates and is no longer usable. This is not something that feels good, because I’m in danger of being hit and even injured; it’s scary. Really, it’s more the threat of a possibility than a real problem. No aspect of myself—the colleagues within me—has ever been injured. But, it’s upsetting.

In this case it results in an auditory shock within me. It’s abrasive and startling. It’s overwhelming and terrifying, like bringing a destructive, dangerous end to whatever is the target. All of this gives me a real, physical reaction that I find alarming. I am jerked awake.

Initial comments

While “tuning” his inner “instrument,” the dreamer is “jerked awake.” The jerking was not part of the dream, yet it fits perfectly into the dream’s theme.

We’ll ask about it tomorrow.