A huge wave washing away everything in its path – how to decipher this image from a dream? Water is considered a symbol of the unconscious, which gives us a hint that it’s time to change our lives.
Alla, 36 years old
“On a clear day, I stand on the seashore, everything around is serene. Palm trees sway over picturesque huts, children play on the beach, someone is splashing near the shore, tanned bodies are on sun loungers … And suddenly I see a huge wave rise and soundlessly grow in the sea. She is getting bigger. Nobody but me notices it. What to do? Even if I start screaming and waving my arms, only those who are nearby will hear me – and in any case, the wave is approaching so fast that no one will have time to escape. And I just keep staring at the tsunami coming.”
Interpretation
Water is life and death. Life originates in water. Europeans have only recently begun to perceive water as a boon – the beach, swimming, walking along the coast began to be associated with relaxation. The island as a paradise is a fairly fresh image in world culture.
But those who have already gone on land, water can destroy. Many peoples, such as the Indians, bury their dead in water. Dead sailors used to be thrown into the sea. The water fed the fishermen, but also took them into its abyss.
Our unconscious carries this threat even into fantasies about other worlds. In the movie “Interstellar” on one of the distant planets, a huge wave threatens the astronauts.
But why do you dream about the wave right now? Psychologists often see water as a symbol of the unconscious.
The wave of the unconscious threatens to overwhelm your “I”. And “I” can not do anything, he can only observe.
This may mean that so many repressed emotions have accumulated in the unconscious that they are ready to break the dam of psychological defenses and flood the peaceful picture of your life. But is it always bad?
Between the ages of 35 and 45, we go through a mid-life crisis. At this time, our old “I” needs a transformation. Then it is really useless to resist the wave that will destroy the old landscape and create a new one.
The old idea of yourself, your life and its meaning is disintegrating, and a new one comes in its place.
A wave washing away everything is either a deep desire to wash everything away so that a new life can come, or it is a counterbalance to the mindsets that are too attached to the current state and prevent change.
Mindfulness helps with frightening dreams. If you remember that this is a dream and the wave is a creation of your mind, you will stop being afraid and can stop the wave or change what is happening.
It is possible to create this fantasy in reality by successively remembering the events of the dream and intentionally influencing them. Sometimes it is important to watch the dream and see that there is no end, but only transformation and continuation.
Pay attention to how your “I” behaves. Are you passive in real life? Passivity in a dream can be explained in different ways: as acceptance of the inevitable, as a secret desire to destroy everything, or as a reflection of passivity in real life, when we, feeling threatened, do nothing.
About expert
Stanislav Raevsky – psychologist, Jungian analyst, co-chairman of the Moscow Association for Analytical Psychology (MAAP).