A few months ago, I had a particularly disturbing dream that simply cannot ebb away from my memory. Weeks have already passed since that night but all the more I try to forget it, the more it reappears itself in my consciousness. For some reason, the reemergence of the thought of that dream is as involuntary as my breathing, picking no definite time of the day, sprawling with its intricate details every now and then wherever I go. It is a dream that caught up my attention, far beyond all the dreams that I have already encountered in the past.
Lost in the recesses of an utter sleep, images started to appear before my vision as far as my memory won’t fail me. In my dream, there I was comfortably sitting down on my couch, watching my favorite television show in the silence of the evening. As I began to browse the channels, smoke appeared from behind the television set, rising its way towards the open window just behind it. As I paced my way towards the television, disturbing sounds similar to that of lumbers breaking apart gradually caught my ears. Turning back after my ears grew with discomfort from the sounds, there I saw the entire kitchen burning into flames, engulfing all that there was in that small room. Surprisingly, it was the only part of the house being swallowed by the flames as the spiraling flares cannot seem to go any farther than the very door that separated the kitchen room from where I stood.
As fumes of thick black smoke appear suspended in the ceiling, I rushed towards the exit door of the house only to find out that it was locked from the outside for some reason I barely understand. The path towards the exit door is narrow, and there I hurried myself in an attempt to seek help from my neighbors. The next moment, the disturbing sound suddenly vanished and the fumes of smoke and the spiraling fire disappeared.
That is the dream that still haunts me today. I can barely figure out what it really meant, for I have no previous experience of encounters with burning houses and smoking television sets. The only probable indirect “encounter” is perhaps those that I view in news reports in the late night news. There is, however, an apparent explanation or meaning that I can shed on that dream though I still find it rather inconclusive.
For some reason I fear being trapped inside a burning room. The prospect of death, I think, is as evident and clear in that event. I believe most people, if not all, fear dying and that I am one of them. Yet, I have my doubts as to whether it is indeed the definitive reason behind that dream.
My dream with the fire may be attributed with Freud’s theory of the unconscious. However, it seems that the dream is not persuasive enough as evidence in support of Freud’s theory for one reason. The mere fact that the dream itself is already brought forward into my consciousness as it reappears before my thinking every now and then is one reason to show that Freud’s theory is not fully supported by the dream. It must be noted that part of Freud’s theory of the unconscious claims that these unconscious mental states such as dreams cannot be fully brought forward to our conscious mental states for direct inspection. Yet the very fact that the dream still lingers in one’s thoughts is clear enough to say that the dream has already been brought forward into the consciousness. Thus, it is open for direct inspection.
My dream of the burning kitchen and the smoking television set is not far from reality as it can happen to anybody else at any time of the day. After dreaming about it, it still lingers in my consciousness with its details clearly portrayed like graphical images that appear closer to reality than any of the past dreams I’ve had.
Reference
Thornton, S. P. (2006). Sigmund Freud. from http://www.iep.utm.edu/f/freud.htm
