JUDGING PEOPLE BY THEIR APPEARANCE

 A young woman in Chicago writes about a dream she had after meeting a new couple.  She considers herself a fairly normal person, who fits in well with middle America.  The couple she recently met are very pale, with mohawks, sharpened teeth, and piercings in their temples and chins.  The woman wears black makeup, lipstick, eyeshadow, exaggerated eyebrows and nail polish.

While they seem nice, and the mutual friend who introduced me to them is as normal American as apple pie, I am cautious about opening up to them because I can’t figure out what kind of people they are.  They don’t have children and they are very quiet, not open enough to share information about their private lives.  I don’t know how they feel about life, politics or religion.  I learned they lived on a completely empty farm, and several nights after I met them, I had a dream about them.

In the dream, I am visiting them on their farm.  The farm looks normal enough, but when they invite me into their house, I’m blown away.  From the outside, the house looks small.  But once I’m inside, there are so many unexpected rooms, it’s like a castle.  The first room they show me is a collectible room, where they’ve collected dolls representing all the different countries of the world.  Some of the dolls are beautiful.  Others are ugly but vividly represent the country they come from.   Some are in boxes on open shelves; others are hung on the wall; and still others are displayed behind glass cases.  I can’t believe the variety of the dolls.  I’m amazed that this couple has gone to so much trouble to collect and display dolls like this.

This isn’t difficult to interpret.  First of all, the fact that the house looks small and simple on the outside, but is large and filled with many rooms inside, suggests that Dreamer has prejudged them as simple, uncomplicated people with very little complexity to their feelings and thoughts.  Her psyche is telling her, “Watch out, there’s more to this couple than you imagine.  They have the passion to feel strongly enough about something to focus their lives on collecting, arranging, organizing and displaying the items which engage their passionate concentration.  In the process, they have acquired knowledge and information most people don’t possess.

Another room has different containers of dirt where small plants are thriving and others aren’t doing so well.  They explain to me that they are conducting an experiment on different types of soil which would grow best depending on what’s in the dirt.  I can see it’s taken a long time to prepare and keep track of the experiments.   The containers themselves are made from recycled wooden, plastic and foam materials.  They believe in recycling everything.   Again, I never imagined they would feel so strongly about conserving the earth.

Another prejudgment gone wrong.  Dreamer assumed that the couple’s quiet demeanor suggests they tend to be indifferent about world issues, and this part of the dream is showing her that the couple in fact cares strongly for the state of the planet they live in.  They not only believe in saving the earth from unwarranted pollution, they want to improve the condition for humanity by participating in experiments to grow more sustainable food produce.

They show us the other rooms and it’s more of the same.  The layout of the inside  is like a maze, one room leading to another, leading to a hallway filled with other rooms.  One room has furniture made of different recycled materials… beach wood pieces, plastic, and pieces of metal.  Finally, we go outside and there is a crowd of protesters throwing rocks and small pieces of junk at the couple.  They shoo me back inside and assure me they won’t let anything hurt me, but they make me promise not to come out no matter what happens.  I do what they say and watch as they approach the protesters.  People start throwing things at them, but they remain calm and try to talk to the people.  Some of the protesters are shouting at them, but again, they hold their hands out to offer peace and calm instead of anger and violence.  The dream ends there.

It seems to me the Dreamer was suspicious and unwilling to trust the couple because she didn’t know them well enough.  This dream is showing her that they are moral, responsible people who treasure and love many things about life.   They care about the planet and the people who live on it.  And they are respectful of people’s privacy and well-being.  Their protection of the Dreamer suggests that they are trustworthy, dependable people who will always have everyone’s best interests as a priority.

Sometimes when we aren’t sure we can trust new people we meet, our psyches will send us a dream showing us what to expect of them… whether they are friends who can be loyal and trustworthy, or whether their interests and priorities are contrary to our own.  I would assure the Dreamer that in this instance, the new couple she has meet are “keepers.” 

Happy snoozling and fair weather ahead to you all!