Dear Dream Detective:
Ever since I began my
career as a radio announcer, I've had a recurring nightmare. I
put a tape with some music on for my listeners. I then leave
the room and wander off to somewhere else in the studio.
Suddenly, I realize that I've miscalculated the length of the
tape. It's about to run out and the station is about to go
into "dead air." I run to the announcer's booth, but
the music has run out and the station is playing dead air. I
wake up in a sweat.
Rex Denny
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Background Clues
One of a radio
announcer's primary fears is dead air. Listeners hearing
nothing turn the radio dial to another station. It should be
noted that Rex has a personality type which makes him distant,
meaning that he is very uncomfortable being in his feelings.
The Solution to the
Mystery
Dear Rex:
A person who is distant
attempts to experience life without ever getting absorbed by
anything. He tries to keep his awareness unaffected by
emotions, people and experiences. Being on the radio is a way
of being there with others and yet keeping your distance.
(Incidentally, internet chat rooms are another strategy to
maintain psychological distance). Since your listeners are not
in the station with you, your physical distance allows you to
maintain an emotional distance.
Of course, people can be
insistent. They can demand things from you; your time, your
effort, your love, your money. More essentially, they would
like to collapse your distance and make you there for them.
Your effort has always been to placate them by having them
become self-absorbed through music. When you feel that the
world is totally self-absorbed, and thus no longer focussing
on you, you feel free to withdraw from them. You do this
symbolically by leaving the broadcasting room; you literally
distance yourself.
One of the primary fears
for a person like you is that he will lose his emotional
distance. Since air is a symbol of distance, because in air we
experience "space," dead air symbolizes the state in
which distance has collapsed. Thus your phobia of dead air on
the radio is understandable. You know that without your
distance you will find yourself qualified by the reality of
other people. Most of all, you feel anxious that you will
begin to care for them. Care is an insuperable obstacle to
those who are seeking personal freedom.
Mark
"Sherlock" Dillof
