[NF] Dream Interpretation: A city I mistook for a mall?

[Athenian200]

Here's a dream I remember from a while back that's never quite left me:

I was standing in the middle of the mall, but all the shops had been replaced by shops from various video games I had played or websites I'd visited, and there were Roman soldiers standing outside each one that I was afraid of for some reason.

So I tried to sneak past them, with a couple of companions who distracted the guards in a couple of places I couldn't sneak past. A blue-haired girl wearing silver and a blonde boy wearing red. When I was just before the entrance they said, "Okay, we've got to split up now. Good luck."

There was one more guard who seemed to be patrolling in a pattern I thought I had figured out, and I made a run for it at the right time, but just then he changed his pattern, shouted "Hey!" and came running towards me. I ran faster, but he eventually caught me and stopped me.

I asked him for some reason, "Why were Roman Soldiers pursuing me in the mall?"

He just rolled his eyes at me and said, "We're not Roman soldiers, we're Greek soldiers, you idiot." Then I asked, "Well, then, why were Greek Soldiers pursuing me in the mall?"
He said, "Are you that stupid? It doesn't make sense for Greek Soldiers to be in the mall, so obviously either this isn't a mall, or I'm not a Greek Soldier. I'll save you some time. This isn't a mall." I asked, "If this isn't a mall, then what is it?"

He smiled at me and said, "Now THAT is the question I've been waiting for. This is a new place, you've never been here. You've been assuming it was a mall because that was what it was most similar to that you knew of. Look at it differently." I said, "I don't know... a medieval marketplace?" All of a sudden, a few of the shadows or dark areas turned into objects associated with a medieval marketplace. He then said, "Good guess, but try to focus here. What quality do you know is missing from this place? <pointing to himself>" Something clicked and I said, "Greek architecture and objects?" And suddenly most of the mall illusion turned into a Greek city. I was near the exit.

He clapped and said, "Well done. You've managed to piece together a reasonable representation of an unknown place from your memories. If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way now..." I called out, "Wait! You were pursuing me in the first place. You still haven't told me why." He said, "Oh, I nearly forgot. We had a message for you. But first, I have a question for you. Why were you trying to avoid us?" I answered, "Well, because I didn't know why you were there, or why you were pursuing me. I guess I was afraid I was going to be arrested or attacked." He sighed, "But you haven't committed any crimes. That can only mean that you're paranoid, guilt-prone, and expect to be treated unfairly. Oh, well, here's the message. Good luck." And with that, he walked off.

I opened the letter (which turned out to be from my companions), and it said, "Sorry we couldn't tell you about the Greek soldiers being our friends, or the 'mall' being a city. You had to figure it out for yourself. Anyway, we're going to meet in a maze. This letter should take you there." And as soon as I looked up from the letter, I saw I was with my companions again, in front of a maze. At this point everything became a blur, but we rushed through the maze easily, and got what we were looking for. Then I said goodbye, and woke up.

I keep wondering what it means... I had it and wrote it down a long time ago, but I remembered it recently when I heard House say on TV, "If something doesn't make sense, one of your assumptions has to be wrong," and it somehow reminded me of this dream.

 

[Into It]

Here's a dream I remember from a while back that's never quite left me:

I was standing in the middle of the mall, but all the shops had been replaced by shops from various video games I had played or websites I'd visited, and there were Roman soldiers standing outside each one that I was afraid of for some reason.

So I tried to sneak past them, with a couple of companions who distracted the guards in a couple of places I couldn't sneak past. A blue-haired girl wearing silver and a blonde boy wearing red. When I was just before the entrance they said, "Okay, we've got to split up now. Good luck."

There was one more guard who seemed to be patrolling in a pattern I thought I had figured out, and I made a run for it at the right time, but just then he changed his pattern, shouted "Hey!" and came running towards me. I ran faster, but he eventually caught me and stopped me.

I asked him for some reason, "Why were Roman Soldiers pursuing me in the mall?"

He just rolled his eyes at me and said, "We're not Roman soldiers, we're Greek soldiers, you idiot." Then I asked, "Well, then, why were Greek Soldiers pursuing me in the mall?"
He said, "Are you that stupid? It doesn't make sense for Greek Soldiers to be in the mall, so obviously either this isn't a mall, or I'm not a Greek Soldier. I'll save you some time. This isn't a mall." I asked, "If this isn't a mall, then what is it?"

He smiled at me and said, "Now THAT is the question I've been waiting for. This is a new place, you've never been here. You've been assuming it was a mall because that was what it was most similar to that you knew of. Look at it differently." I said, "I don't know... a medieval marketplace?" All of a sudden, a few of the shadows or dark areas turned into objects associated with a medieval marketplace. He then said, "Good guess, but try to focus here. What quality do you know is missing from this place? <pointing to himself>" Something clicked and I said, "Greek architecture and objects?" And suddenly most of the mall illusion turned into a Greek city. I was near the exit.

He clapped and said, "Well done. You've managed to piece together a reasonable representation of an unknown place from your memories. If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way now..." I called out, "Wait! You were pursuing me in the first place. You still haven't told me why." He said, "Oh, I nearly forgot. We had a message for you. But first, I have a question for you. Why were you trying to avoid us?" I answered, "Well, because I didn't know why you were there, or why you were pursuing me. I guess I was afraid I was going to be arrested or attacked." He sighed, "But you haven't committed any crimes. That can only mean that you're paranoid, guilt-prone, and expect to be treated unfairly. Oh, well, here's the message. Good luck." And with that, he walked off.

I opened the letter (which turned out to be from my companions), and it said, "Sorry we couldn't tell you about the Greek soldiers being our friends, or the 'mall' being a city. You had to figure it out for yourself. Anyway, we're going to meet in a maze. This letter should take you there." And as soon as I looked up from the letter, I saw I was with my companions again, in front of a maze. At this point everything became a blur, but we rushed through the maze easily, and got what we were looking for. Then I said goodbye, and woke up.

I keep wondering what it means... I had it and wrote it down a long time ago, but I remembered it recently when I heard House say on TV, "If something doesn't make sense, one of your assumptions has to be wrong," and it somehow reminded me of this dream.

I love that episode. Hahaha. OK, I'll give this one some thought.

 

[Into It]

I love that episode. Hahaha. OK, I'll give this one some thought.

And I will also say that, as a person who remembers dreams every night and places them fairly high on his heirarchy of importance, I have NEVER had a dream like that. With so much dialogue from my dream characters?? No, sir.

 

[Athenian200]

And I will also say that, as a person who remembers dreams every night and places them fairly high on his heirarchy of importance, I have NEVER had a dream like that. With so much dialogue from my dream characters?? No, sir.

Ah. I usually don't remember my dreams, but the ones I do remember usually have a lot of talking in them, or at least a memorable quote. That could be because I'm very left-brained, I guess.

 

[Into It]

I would Expect the INFJ to be the most right-brained type. Tied with or superior to the ENFP, (introversion I believe would give the advantage.) So...that's cool, because most INFJs probably wouldn't make that claim about themselves. After thinking about your dream, I fear that any interpretation I could offer would be useless for the most part. As I said in someone else's dream thread yesterday, dreams are meaningful, and they are not random (at least SOMETIMES for sure). But for someone who hardly knows you to make a guess at it and have more than a random chance of being right about its true meaning sounds like a bogus science, unless there has been much study done on specific recurring archetypes. To me, it just sounds like a dream...It is very likely though that it had to to with memories you had within a few days prior to having the dream.

 

[heart]

Ant, here's stating the obvious there's definately a theme of mistaken assumptions. Seeing the good guys (the greeks) as the bad guys (the romans) but it sounds like you already know this. Are you mistaken about some aspects of yourself? Your life's path?

 

[Phantonym]

My guess is that you've been avoiding dealing with some issues in your life while you already know how to deal with them. Trust yourself, the answers are within you.

Or, you've been abducted by aliens and they're doing some nasty psychological experiments on you.

Anyhow, good luck with figuring this out.

 

[Athenian200]

Ant, here's stating the obvious there's definately a theme of mistaken assumptions. Seeing the good guys (the greeks) as the bad guys (the romans) but it sounds like you already know this. Are you mistaken about some aspects of yourself? Your life's path?

I kind of thought that my mistaken assumptions might be my perspective on the world rather than myself. Technically, I could be mistaken about anything, since I don't know anything for certain.

I feel most drawn to figure out the symbolism of:

1. Mistaking a Greek for a Roman.

2. Mistaking a city for a mall.

3. What assumption or form of processing did both errors have in common?

I think those are supposed to be symbolic of a larger mistake I'm making in my assumptions about the nature of reality, but I can't tell which ones.

My guess is that you've been avoiding dealing with some issues in your life while you already know how to deal with them. Trust yourself, the answers are within you.

Or, you've been abducted by aliens and they're doing some nasty psychological experiments on you.

Anyhow, good luck with figuring this out.

It could mean that. But I don't know what I think I don't know that I do.

 

[Phantonym]

But I don't know what I think I don't know that I do.

I'm not even going to try to decipher this at the moment. It's way too early in the morning and I'm afraid my brain would explode. But it's going to haunt me forever.