RE: Common Dream Symbols: Falling, Finding an Unused Room, Being Late, [Part 3]
I have a dream! Haha! I'm no MLK but I actually had a dream I remembered. And, now that I've had it (again), I realize that it is a dream I've had many times through the years. It's basically very simple.
For some reason I'm driving a car (or a truck, RV, van...it's been many different vehicles) but I'm driving it from the back seat. I can barely see the road and I'm having to almost "guess" which way to steer. I'm driving at a high rate of speed and oncoming cars are hurtling by as my vision gets narrower and narrower. I can't slow it down and my vision of the road keeps getting smaller and smaller until finally it disappears altogether and I'm literally driving blind. I'm still flying down the road and I can't believe I'm not hitting anything. At this point, I realize my eyes are closed and I can't for the life of me get them open. I'm "feeling" the road, trying not to move the wheel too much, and praying I don't hit anyone and I'm listening for all I'm worth for the sound of the wheels going onto the shoulder so I can figure out where I am on the road. It's very scary. I have literally tried to pry open my eyes with my fingers and I can barely get them open. When I do, I just catch fleeting glimpses of the road rushing by and then they lock tight again. It takes a while, but eventually I realize I'm in my bed and it's not real. My eyes are still locked shut for a few seconds until the fear subsides but then I finally snap out of it completely.
Any thoughts?
Since you know from part 4 of the series that driving is about striving toward our ideals or goals you'll also be able to see that "not being in the driving seat symbolizes not being in charge of the direction of your own life." Trucks and vans often symbolize career so those dreams will have that as the theme. The fact that your vision narrows until you're blind means that you have a narrow view on life and/or career and literally can't see where you are going. This is because you aren't in control. "Feeling (the road)" and references to wheels are both about your heart. The dream wants you to follow your heart more. FEEL and "LISTEN" (for all your worth [see the pun there?]) to your heart. Put your all into THAT.
The question now to ask yourself is WHY are you in the back seat? What decisions are you making based on fear that someone else taught you (study hard and work hard so you can get a job you don't love but has good money so you can buy things that keep you in debt and make you a slave to money, for example [I'm reading Poor Dad Rich Dad at the moment, if you can't tell])? It could be as obvious as choosing a career your parents insisted on (versus what your heart wanted) because that's what good children do. In this case they weren't driving the car so I don't think that example applies to you. Your issue seems to be more with feel like you can't see where you're going and don't feel like you are in control.
If your life is not driven by what your heart desires then it will feel, to your soul, that you are not in control. This is not a call to be greedy and selfish (though dharma often appears that way to those who are still on the karmic path) but it is a call to express YOUR self and not what you were taught was right by others (who may be not have been right). The dream says you need to feel and listen to your heart and put your all into that. Then you will gain the vision you seek.