Tuesday, December 11, 2012

My Misspent Youth – Confessions of a Business Major

Yes, it is true. When my friends were taking Eastern Religion, History and Pottery, I was drudging away in the B-School and the Computer Lab. I realize now that this might have been something of a mistake.

Here’s how I saw it – who needs language, literature, poetry, and art? I had double entry accounting, macro economics, and debugging Pascal programs! I will also confess that at 19, I found psychology and sociology deadly dull and seriously lacking in practical usefulness. Ah me!

So, where does that leave me now? Well, I’ll tell you - my inner Self would probably complain that the dream symbols available are poor indeed. But still my inner Self trudges on, doing its best, with the few meager symbols. But… what else will I understand except meetings, reports, and brochures?

Business-Speak


Business imagery has confused my dream interpretation at times, because early on, I assumed that if my dream location was work, populated with work friend, it must be about work, right? Not true -  business symbolism do not always refer to work situations. Maybe the business world just supplies a useful phrase. Maybe that work friend demonstrate the character trait that needs illustration. So, I had to learn to be careful in interpretting ‘business-speak’ in dreams. Below are some interesting phrases and images that have popped up for me - they will demonstrate the terrible dearth of images that I suffer with.

• Investor relations – advising that I invest more in personal relationships
• Value Added Reseller – advising that I look for situations that reflect my values
• Swivel chair – advising that I turn and look at a situation from all angles, 360 degrees
• PR interviews – advising that I get out and speak to more people
• Cell phone – advising that messages are coming in over the air

What About You?


Maybe you ‘re in the same boat. You could be, especially if you’ve been doing time in technology, science, IT, accounting, or some such 'brass tacks' occupation. And ‘double especially’ if you just started trying to understand your dreams.

Is God Gone or Just Hidden?


What does all this mean for our inner and spiritual lives? Are we then all just soulless products of a modern  technologically advanced culture? Not necessarily - but again, it’s easy to assume that work-a-day symbols refer to our jobs or companies, missing the point and leaving us confused. I’ve found something different entirely. It’s just that corporate life is my point of reference and so my dreams often speak in those terms.

The kind of imagery that we might expect – lots of crosses, Jesus, God the Father, Angels, halos, blood, and sacrifice are entirely missing from my dream life. It’s a fact. But I also recognize that I don't control my dream images, and neither do you. So, there is no use being embarrased by the images that do appear or the ones that don's apper. Its best to just deal with the imperical facts, as Jung taught us, and carry on.

After identifying what was missing, I have begun to look at what is present. And I find messages of a spiritual nature coming through mundane dream situations, without alot of fanfare.  I don’t think that God and the Spirit have left us, and I believe we often are reminded to hold on to faith and hope. These are very helpful and supportive dreams.

Let’s look a bit closer at some of the dream symbols from work situations. Anything can be a symbol. Any phrase, or action can give us a hint.

Symbols for God and Higher Power  – Biblically think of the burning bush, transfiguration

• Energy or  Electricity (abbreviated GE, also a gigantic worldwide company)
• Higher Power (abbreviated HP, also a gigantic worldwide company)
• Engine/turbine (power beyond ourselves)
• Connecting to batteries (connecting up to the power)
• Laying underground electrical cables (connecting to the fundamental source of power)

Faith, Hope and Love

• Recovering an almost lost diamond (Don't lose that diamond, as in the Hope Diamond)
• Embracing a Christian friend (hold on to Faith)
• Tranparency (inner blood showing through to outside, not hiding our love)

For more, there is a blog on this topic, Faith, Hope and Love - Uncovering Christian Symbols in Dreams


I hope you don’t suffer from my terrible lack of interesting symbols. I hope you dream of wonderful talking animals, auras and light, and other truly remarkable things.

Me? I better work on broadening my perspective.

Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk

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