What do we fear?
During the summer months, I often walk at a mall in the morning for exercise. It is not busy, so I can get in a good, brisk half-hour walk. The heat and humidity make walking outside quite unpleasant here in Florida.
One day this past summer, I was walking in the mall past a jewelry counter in the middle of the aisle. A young man works there who has often stopped me to inquire about my walking. As he learned about me, I made him aware of my interest in dreams. He asked me many questions, and we had some good discussions. On this particular day, he waved me over to the counter and introduced me to a young woman behind the counter. He told her I had written a book on dreams and could see the future through my dreams.
She immediately shrank back with an almost terrified look on her face. Then she said, “That’s scary.” She wanted nothing to do with me, and she kept her distance. Soon after this encounter, I left. The display is close to where I complete my walk anyway, so I was done for the day.
I don’t think we fear the unknown. After all, if something is unknown, what is there to fear? I think we fear what we think might be there to harm us in some way. I think we fear our own projections of things we are afraid to face, thinking we may see them in our dreams.
Maybe this person, like many, has a view that dreams only reveal our repressed, unsavory desires, and she had no wish to see them. Or perhaps she is a pessimist and thinks there is only bad in the future, and she has no wish to see it in the present. Regardless of the reason, her initial reaction was one of fear.
When I first encountered the possibility of seeing my future in my dreams, I saw many positives. I found the prospect very exciting. But many of the people I encounter do not see it that way. They see the negative and think bad things will happen soon enough without seeing them now. They fail to understand the benefits of seeing the probable future.
The probable future is not cast in concrete; in many cases, it can be changed. In some of my early posts, I give examples of a probable future that can be changed. And if it is negative and cannot be changed, we can prepare ourselves mentally and emotional for the future event. Either way we are better off.
I think few people work with their dreams because most would like them to be meaningless nighttime fantasies. Then they don’t have to face their fears. They don’t have to face themselves. Because of this, they are cut off from the enormous potential of their inner selves. They are cut off from their real identities.