Dear Dream Detective:
I work as a dentist.
Over the years, my patients have told me that they have
nightmares about losing their teeth. On such occasions, I
remind them that brushing their teeth is not enough. Flossing
is also very important. What troubles me is that I've recently
started having dreams that my teeth are falling out. The
strange thing is that my teeth are in excellent condition.
Why, then, am I having these disturbing nightmares?
Dr. Milton Millbury DDS
Elmira, New York
Background Clues
The dreamer is presently
getting divorced from his wife after being unhappily married
for 16 years.
The Solution to the
Mystery
Dear Milton:
Freud discusses dreams
about losing teeth, in his seminal book, The Interpretation of
Dreams. He suggests that such dreams have to do with the fear
of sexual impotence. Freud has a point if we understand
"impotence" not in the literal sense, but
symbolically. Let me explain what I mean.
Teeth are our means of
incorporating the outer world, of making what is out there in
here. Naturally, then, teeth symbolize our power in the world,
our potency. Losing our teeth means that we fear losing our
ability to be in the world effectively.
What does this have to
do with you? You're going through a divorce. This means big
changes in your outer life. But it's also a challenge to your
emotional and spiritual life. Changing means dying. To undergo
a significant change is to lose our primary way of dealing
with people, things, events, everything. And to lose our
familiar powers feels like our teeth are getting wobbly. We
fear that without our teeth (i.e. without our old powers,
based upon who we were) we couldn't effectively be in the
world. As a result, we would, quite literally, be unable to
bite into life. We would starve to death. This is what really
lies behind people's tremendous fear of change.
While change involves
death, it also involves resurrection. When we do take risks,
we open ourselves to new powers, better powers. More effective
teeth grow in to replace the old. So life's risks are worth
taking. Like Columbus, we must lose sight of our home if we
hope to discover new lands.
Mark
"Sherlock" Dillof
