Exhibit Nine: Acquired by the Dream Gallery 28
January 1999
'In the Bag'
Feeling
The Picture
Your feeling reactions to a dream are keys to its interpretation. These are my feelings. If this were a scene in your dream or life, how would you feel about being there?
Although the man is in the
bag, I feel he's in control of his situation. He holds a knife and seems to know how to
get out. He doesn't seem upset or stuck. He seems cool and confident. I notice that he's
holding the knife in his left hand. As I'm largely right handed this makes me feel that he
has unusual dexterity and capabilities. Rather than escaping from a difficult situation,
or living out an early fifties James Bond movie (clothing and scene style), I feel the man
is waiting to jump out and surprise someone for fun. The dog seems to be giving the game
away and I feel the man senses this but is confident that he'll still create the desired
impact when he emerges: 'Surprise!'. The feeling for me here is frivolity, but I wonder
who he wants to surprise and why.
The Symbols
Symbols in your dreams often relate to your personal memories and associations, so always consider those first. Then let your mind play with other, more general possibilities. They will not all apply! Just open your mind and notice where the symbol seems to fit and make sense of the rest of your dream.
The first obvious symbolism here is a cliche: 'in
the bag'. Dreams often play out cliches, so this could be part of a dream about something
being 'in the bag' for the dreamer: in other words, something which has been achieved or
won. If this were the case, the dreamer would have to ask why the man who is 'in the bag'
is trying to get out. The man may be symbolic of the dreamer's male side (outer world,
assertiveness, competition, logic, intellect, action ... or the dreamer's world of work).
In this case the dreamer could be feeling that something about work/their outer world is
'in the bag', while the dream warns that it may not be 'in the bag' for much longer. The
dream could be revealing the dreamer's unconscious thoughts about a need to free or let go
of what is 'in the bag'. When the unconscious is not in accordance with the dreamer's
conscious desires, the unconscious always wins .. be warned!
An alternative symbolism for this picture, if it
were part of a dream, is 'birth'. If the whole dream storyline were available the
symbolism would be clear, but as an exercise in understanding the language of dreams have
a look at the birth symbolism here: the bag is the uterus, the womb. The birth task is to
widen the opening of the neck of the sack (cervix). The knife could symbolise the
episiotomy cut often made to assist a birth or the cutting of the umbilical cord. The
dreamer would be dreaming about whatever he or she is metaphorically giving birth to in
waking life. Giving birth to a man rather than a baby, the dreamer is probably giving
birth to something already fully developed which will not
need much extra attention or nurturing and which probably has application in the outer
world.
The left hand, unless the dreamer is left handed,
often symbolises our 'handling' of our inner world. (The left side of the body, in dreams,
is often our inner world.) The picture symbolism could be "cutting something out or
freeing something within the dreamer's inner world, to be freed in the outer world
too." My own feelings about this picture (in 'Feeling the Picture' above)
reveal my personal symbolism for the left hand as "unusual dexterity and
capabilities", so such a dream, for me, might be about discovering and using my most
unusual capabilities to get something in my life birthed and out there.
Animals in dreams represent an aspect of the
dreamer. Dog symbolism varies according to the breed and the dreamer's personal
association with the type of dog, or the feel of its personality in the dream. Dogs can
also be dream cliches: feeling 'dog tired' for example. Is this dog in the picture a
terrier? Does it symbolise something the dreamer is 'terrified' about? In this picture the
dog is wagging its tail, wanting to play. It symbolises, perhaps, a playful aspect of the
dreamer that's eager to get things 'born', out there and moving along .. could the
dreamer, in his or her excitement, be 'giving the game away' and in danger of lessening
the impact when the right moment comes?
The time period in this picture is not modern.
Such a dream can show a link between the situation the dreamer is in today and something
which happened in the period conveyed in the dream. Alternatively it may suggest the
dreamer has 'fifties' attitudes .. or could be a dream pun relating to the dreamer's age
(50's). (Is this a fifties picture?!)
The Questions
Here are some questions the dreamer of such a dream picture might ask to work towards a complete understanding of the dream.
Try these yourself: just give your 'gut reaction' answers to the questions - your answers will surprise you in the insights they deliver. The key thing to remember is, "Don't THINK about your answers - give quick gut reaction replies". Your unconscious will deliver.
If this process can work powerfully for this image, consider how infinitely more powerful the insights are when the image comes from one of your own dreams - direct from your unconscious!
* Who is the man?
* In this dream, where was I? Was I the man or was I watching him?
* Who does the dog belong to?
* Which room is this?
* Whose room is this?
* Why is the man wearing evening clothes?
* When do I usually wear evening clothes?
* How would I be feeling if I were dressed like this man?
* What do the fifties mean to me?
* If the dog could talk, what would he/she be saying?
* What does the man want to achieve by getting out of the bag?
* Why was the man in the bag in the first place?
* Imagine you are the man in the bag, about to use the knife to get out. What life
situation are you in now which feels like this?
* Imagine you are the dog, barking at the man in the sack. What life situation are you in
now which feels like this?
* In this life situation, what is the bag and why do you want to get out of it?
* What is the best way to achieve this?
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