Dear Dream Detective:
I had a nightmare the
other night that I was microwaving something and then noticed
that the microwave oven was leaking radiation. I woke up very
anxious.
Thorton Buncombe
Binghamton, NY
Background Clues
The dreamer, a man in his
late thirties, owns a building contracting business. He is very
busy, working on several projects at once. The little time that
he does have to himself he spends in an illicit relationship
with a married woman. He complains of feeling exhausted, needing
to slow down and wishing to regain his sense of the big picture.
The Solution to the
Mystery
Dear Thorton:
The deadliness of speed,
of life lived in the fast lane, is the theme of your dream. The
microwave oven in the dream symbolizes your effort to get it
fast, to have what you want without waiting. The microwave is a
monument to the impatience of the modern age. But a fast lane
life has side effects, which are symbolized by the microwave's
leaking radiation. The radiation can cause cancer and cancer,
which is thus implied in a dream, often symbolizes the
pernicious effects of egotism. This is because cancer cells --
in their uncontrolled speed of growth-- do not consider the
survival of the organism as a whole, but merely their own growth
and self-aggrandizement.
It should also be noted
that the microwave oven, like all containers, is symbolic of the
female sex organ. Your illicit relationship with a woman who, in
less "enlightened" ages people would call
"fast," is also symbolized by the speed of the
microwave oven. Likewise, microwave cooking, unlike other forms
of cooking, does not leave much of a mess. Symbolically, you are
seeking to avoid a "messy" relationship, one in which
sex results in pregnancy. Thus the prophylactic quality of what
you seek in a relationship is belied by the fact that the
microwave is leaking. In other words, your dream is warning you
that your relationship may result in pernicious side effects.
Lastly, a sealed container
(the microwave oven) is an alchemical symbol. Alchemy is the
science of converting our leaden desires into the gold of
self-knowledge. Alchemy requires a sealed container, known as a
crucible. You're then symbolically placed in the crucible.
Finally the crucible, with you in it, is placed over a fire! The
crucible symbolizes a situation with no exit -- either you must
evolve into a person who is superior to the situation, or else
be destroyed. You're interested in watching other people, those
women with whom you become involved, undergo transformation in
the fires of suffering, but you are naturally hesitant to dive
into the crucible yourself. But the crucible/microwave oven is
leaking, meaning that you have lost your status as a mere
observer.
You are still fairly young
and hungry for the fullness of experience. How then to live? If
your lust for life were directed inward, toward finding
yourself, your life would soon bear fruit. Of course, even
self-knowledge must be pursued with patience. A Buddhist sage
once recommended for those searching for themselves: "Make
haste slowly."
Mark "Sherlock"
Dillof
In each
issue of The Dream Detective, we shall analyze another dream.
E-mail your dreams to Mark. Please include relevant background
information. If your dream is chosen, it will appear in The Dream
Detective! Names will be changed to protect the guilty, and
letters will be re-written so they are more concise.
Pleasant dreams!
