"A breakthrough! Oh, my gawd! So that's what you call it? Well, then, picture this---"
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“Good morning, Richard.”
(Richard is my e-mail pen pal and sometime armchair psychologist.)
“Guess what? I have good news! You can thank goodness, along with me, that today I woke up. If not, you wouldn’t be hearing from me - I almost had a heart attack! A rare occurrence from which I’m truly relieved to have bounced back -- A nightmare -- One so frightening it scared me half to death! Startled me out of a sound sleep.”
“Sounds good. Tell me more.”
“Is that all you have to say? You’re supposed to be my moral support!”
“Nightmares are always good news. Something repressed is coming into consciousness. Means you’ve had a breakthrough when they wake you up.”
“Oh, really?” A breakthrough – Oh, my gawd! So that’s what you call it? Well, then, picture this:
It seemed to be nighttime. I was in the dark. All I could see was a huge picture window, bathed in bright moonlight. As I stepped forward a big black bird approached. I saw a span of serrated wing tips heading my way – I took it for a marauding Crow. I must have known there was glass between us because I moved toward it for a closer look. Then I stopped in my tracks, aghast – the blackbird was not that. I could just make out the unmistakable ugliness of the hideous creature and flying mammal, a Bat!
I shrieked but did not jump back. In spite of my fear, I was frozen to the spot. It swooped toward me, looming large, many times my size; then, the final shock. Within the black-on-black shadowy image, successively revealed, the outlines of a humungous caliginous Man! This time I screamed and ran – as its arms reached out, lunged, and grabbed – “Someone’s out to get me!” I exclaimed – and, thank heavens, at once, woke up.
Well, Richard, what do you say to that?”
While I wait for his answer...by way of preamble, why don’t I fill you in? Here’s a bit of background behind my dream sequence that Richard is well aware of, and will enlighten you, too. Dreams are frequently triggered by unresolved issues and real life scenarios, so I might as well work on my own dream analysis, in anticipation of his, and help connect the likely associated dots.
You see, just days before, I had told Richard the latest local news: The first known case of West Nile Virus in Canada, a dead Crow, had landed in my very neighborhood, within walking distance of my doorstep. Of late, what with the SARS Scare, I was already lying pretty low and sticking close to home. What, now? Was no where safe to go? I lamented with Richard at length about my predicament. That while I’m free as a bird, technically speaking, I daren’t venture far afield as would have been my wont. My wanderlust and adventure seeking have been effectively indefinitely forestalled.
In light of these twin health hazards naturally much media time and attention has been devoted to such. I happened to channel-flip to a news segment that featured the merits of fostering and putting up housing for Bats for a war on mosquitoes. What a great idea. Bats have been given a bad rap. Apparently the little fellows eat between 600 and 1000 of the pesky insects per hour! I was intrigued, if a little repulsed. Yes, lets let Mother Nature help so we don’t pollute ourselves while we strive in order to thrive.
Crows—Bats --- I see a connection.
What about the Man?
Hmmmmm. I had engaged in group debate recently, where preferred fighting styles came up. I declared my favored form – “the iron fist in the velvet glove” and “walk softly but carry a big stick” approach, but with sharp words, rather than lethal weapons – and only when extremely necessary. I also ‘bragged’ that this had been most effective when resorted to - all true - on such rare occasions. “I’m like those wild creatures that puff themselves up to twice their size and make such frightful noise as to scare off all contenders without having to fight.” Truth to tell, I wondered secretly if I wasn’t kidding myself. Who’s to say what I’d do in seriously threatening situations?
Here comes Richard!
“Helga has a rescuer from her fears -- Batman!
Give him a big kiss.
If you dream of a spider, give it some milk and it will change into a friendly archetype, like a fairy godmother.
Bats make you afraid but you also know that they will not harm you and they can rescue you from mosquitoes. A Bat symbolizes the solution to your problems, the way out of your fear.
The picture window is your link to the outside world, a kind of voyeuristic reality or virtual reality, since looking outside is not the same as being outside, while inside you feel trapped and fearful.
Your fear gets in the way of solving your problems.
Your association, “Batman”, confirms this symbolism, since Batman rescues people.
Batman is part of you, since it’s your dream. Batman is an alienated power of Helga that you need to own, reclaim and make part of yourself. Make friends with alienated parts of the self and they will help you, and add to your strength and power instead of making you afraid.
Make friends with yourself!
Time to stop scaring yourself and start rescuing yourself!”
“Wow! I’ve always had trouble seizing onto the concept that all aspects of the dream are Me....I’m conscious only of myself as the spectator observer. So, if this is true as dream experts say it is, then I have some awesome and scary powers! Bats are frighteningly ugly up close, with unpredictable swoop and amazing mosquito-killer capacity. Bats help rid the earth of vermin. They affright most people.
Batman – my alter ego and inner invisible man is a hero who rescues me and those I favor and fights against evil!”
What can I say?
“Thank you, Richard!”
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Post Script:
Let it be known I employed a little dramatic licence. Richard has asked me to remind you that he "would never say "Good!" It's very incompetent to confront rather than "pace" the dreamer. Pacing is the competent way to begin; confrontation is incompetent and I would never do that, no competent therapist would."
your title is one of my philosophies exactly. This is exactly what I did. In made friends with myself in totality. Even the bad parts. I use the negative to help strengthen the positive. Anyway when a person knows his weaknesses he can better protect himself from harm. Anyone who ignores their weaknesses and negatives mignt end up being caught by surprise in life. Enjoyed this. GEM
Reviewed by James C. Truman
5/25/2003
Wonderful read!
Now we find out that the night Helga is not the day Helga!
Now we have TWO Helgas to love!
Reviewed by David Coyote
5/25/2003
. . . so, it's 'bite a bug', 'buss a bat'? I always knew there was something else lurking there in that tidy personality - that orderly mind. You are always a joy to read . . .
Helga,
Welcome back! Hear my heart applauding!
Brilliant! And oh by the way, I had already read your last reworked post, I didnt want you to think I overlooked it or otherwise! Oh by the way Helga, shoot me old Richards number there ok?
Smart cookie Id say! Good friend too...
Peace,
Rodney
Farctured Frazzled Folk Fables and Fairy Farces, Part II satirizes popular children's stories into adult-oriented renditions. FFFF &FF, Part II is also available in Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble e-book formats.
Deputy Dave Jenkins sets out to find the murderer of the local high school principal, aided by a voice from the grave that is sometimes helpful and sometimes misleading.
"Murder isn't usually this funny."
Amazon reviewer
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