The dreaming mind might portray the body or the self as a building; but it might portray any number of things as a building, and the self or the body as any number of things. The notions 'buildings in dreams represent the self' does us no good; in fact, it does us real harm, by distracting us from what is actually going on and preventing us from thinking about the problem in a useful way.

(I don't mean to villify the writers of dream dictionaries; many of them clearly take dream interpretation seriously. Dream dictionaries have been around for thousands of years, and it's time we faced the fact that they're a poor learning vehicle for dream interpretation.)

The basic trick is to look at the behavior which the object directs the dreamer into, and ask how that behavior is a metaphor for an abstract situation in the dream reporter's inner life. Once you understand how to do that, you will be a dream interpreter.

What, then, are the salient bits about the building? The building is dark; the dreamer is alone; the dreamer is wandering in the building. The dreamer is unable to see; the dreamer is isolated; the dreamer is lost and wandering. This happens after the dreamer is unable to find her boyfriend, so it's a good guess that the inability to find her boyfriend causes the isolation, the not seeing, the lost and wandering.

It's not difficult: but you need to really pay attention to what is actually reported rather than what you imagine is reported.

It helps if you have a broad understanding of the kinds of life situations and emotional events that might confront a person. In general, this is a good thing to have: the traditional name for it is wisdom. That which it produces is insight: and, in particular, if you are to be a good dream interpreter, insight is your line.

Very frequently, we will have parts of ourselves which we have lost touch with -- for any number of reasons. If you've ever been wound-up (or maybe depressed), finding it difficult to focus, feeling generally ornery or put-upon, and then realized that you were angry about something -- that's what I mean by loosing touch with parts of ourselves.

When you're not in touch with a feeling you have, that feeling is still there, and it will do things and alter your experience of the world even though you're ignoring it. It also will appear in your dreams.

In general, but not always, in dreams, when we dream about other people -- and especially crowds -- that represents ourselves. It represents parts of ourselves we're not currently in touch with. If the character is a friend, it's a part of ourself we know is friendly; if it's someone we know (a good friend), it's a part of ourself we're in touch with; if it's a stranger, it's a part of ourself we're unaware of; if it's an enemy, it's a part of ourself we fight against.

In short, the relationship we have in the dream to the other person tells us what our relationship as dreamer we have to that part of ourself.

In the case in question, the dreamer was angry at herself for the shape her relationship with her boyfriend was in. The parts of herself that were communicating with her in her dream were both friendly and unknown to her; thus they were played by people who were her friends, and yet strangers.























#