# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion > Dream Interpretation >  >  Very very violent dreams....

## Todd82TA

I can't seem to explain it. But I tend to have very very violent dreams. I don't remember very many of my dreams, but most of the ones that I do are extremely violent.

First a little background. I've led a pretty normal life, I've never used drugs, I get drunk on occasion, but I'm a happy drunk when I DO get drunk. I'm 28, married, I have a great job, a nice house, lots of hobbies, and several good friends.  I'm about as laid back as they get. However, I can and will fight back in situations where I think I'm getting taken advantage of (if I feel it's important enough to stand my ground). But overall, I'm pretty laid back.... I don't usually let very many things bother me.. they just don't. I'm very non-violent... and whenever I catch a spider or lizard in my house (I live in Florida), I always catch them and let them go. I'm 6'3" at about 200-205 pounds. I'm in pretty good shape, and fairly confident.... so I'm pretty sure that it's not any kind of a lack of self worth.


But, basically, this is how my dreams typically go... 

I'm usually being attacked. When I am attacked, I always end up winning, but it's very brutal. I mean... I always end up going well beyond defending myself. I usually end up tearing people, limb from limb... beating in faces, all kinds of horrible stuff. 

And just last night, I had a totally random dream that I was living in some sort of weird Mad Max 2 apocolyptic world. I was standing in some sort of a small colloseum watching an event (right on the sidelines). It seemed to be underground, but it still held maybe 1,000 people? It was dark, and the ambience seemed to be torch light. Everyone was filthy... most of them shaved heads, looked like they hadn't showered in months, and they all dressed like they had just come out of the movie the Beast Master, or Conan the Barbarian. So... in the middle of the colloseum were 6 people. It was 3 against 3. It was a fight to the death and most of them had shovels or something similar. At one point, two of the men were attacking this one guy at the same time. (they all looked fairly similar by the way.. in the way they kept themselves, but no one I recognized) This one guy was beaten hard with shovel and collapsed more or less. One of the two guys held the injured guy down while the other one forced both of his thumbs into the injured guy's left eye socket... basically destroying his eye and some white puss came out. The injured guy had this horrible look on his face like he had basically just given up and was accepting the fact that he was going to die.

What the hell kind of crap is that??? And why the hell am I dreaming about sick stuff like that? I like working on cars, smacking my wife's butt when she bends over, playing Atari, hanging out with my friends... normal conservative stuff like that. Where in the world could I possibly be coming out with this stuff? I mean, some of the dreams I have are so brutal that they make Hollywood gore seem on the same level as Sesame Street. 


If anyone has any idea what the hell is wrong with me, I'd love to hear it. I just can't figure out where it's coming from. I've only been in what... a couple of fights in my life and I think they were all in middle school?


Thanks,

Todd

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## Leo Volont

Dear Todd,

This inquiry of yours is a perfect instance of what I have been saying in many regards, that the Dream Persona for most young dreamers is a Primitive.  We can find it remarkable that this young Man, who is ordinarily peaceful, finds that his Dream Persona behaves entirely out of character.   a Dr. Jackell and Mr. Hyde.  Mr. Easygoing when awake, but a Steven Segal in his dreams.  A virtual amoral monster.

And the Dreams are recurrent. 

Well, Todd, if it troubles you that you are so violent, then stop it. 

Dreams are not given and fixed.  You do have choices.  What does it 'mean' that you are so violent in your dreams.  Well, it means that your Dream Persona is insanely violent.   And it is not a good thing, or these dreams would not be repeating.  You are supposed to find some alternative. 

Yes, yes, yes.  You are under attack.  What can you do besides respond in kind.  Well, I'm glad you asked.  In many instances, simply putting your hands up, palm outward, fingers up (the Stop in the name of love dancer pose) will freeze a dream enemy into peacefullness.  At other times reaching out and touching a dream aggressor is enough to quiet them. 

Yes, I once had a dream of being attacked by a frenzied dream monster and found I had to tear off arms and even heads, but the arms and heads would grow back.  But I persisted until the Dream Monster ran out of the energy and resources to grow back heads and limbs and then she backed off.  She turned into a young lady, a teenager, who was pregnant.  My dream friends insisted we invite her along for Icecream and we all piled into the car.  I found it odd at the time that we were now succorring what had only moments before been our worst nightmare.  But the Nightmare never reoccurred.  We had done something right. 

You need to make peace. 

You might even decide to keep your arms at your side and let them kill you.  What is the worst that could happen.   If they were to kill you in your Dream, it would be more a blessing then a curse, and this is why, if you can get killed in a dream and still manage to stay in the dream, while dead, for just 20 seconds or so, then you COME BACK TO LIFE, and it marks a special Realization in your Dream Evolution -- that as far as Dreams are concerned you are Immortal.  The Realization of Immortality in Dreams makes one Heroically Fearless.  It is a pivotal Realization that can entirely transform the way one dreams.   If you KNOW you cannot be killed in a dream, because you have actually come back from the Dead, then you cease to be worried about these attacks that now so thoroughly threaten you.

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## Todd82TA

> _Originally posted by Leo Volont_
> *Dear Todd,
> 
> You might even decide to keep your arms at your side and let them kill you. *What is the worst that could happen. * If they were to kill you in your Dream, it would be more a blessing then a curse, and this is why, if you can get killed in a dream and still manage to stay in the dream, while dead, for just 20 seconds or so, then you COME BACK TO LIFE, and it marks a special Realization in your Dream Evolution -- that as far as Dreams are concerned you are Immortal. *The Realization of Immortality in Dreams makes one Heroically Fearless. *It is a pivotal Realization that can entirely transform the way one dreams. * If you KNOW you cannot be killed in a dream, because you have actually come back from the Dead, then you cease to be worried about these attacks that now so thoroughly threaten you.*




Well, I don't know if I'm willing to allow myself to be killed just yet... but I certainly understand what you're trying to say. If I understand you correctly, you're merely suggesting that I try to take my dreams into my own hands, and under my own control. When I registered on this web site, I found the idea of lucid dreaming to be quite intrieging. It doesn't happen to me very often, but there have been numerous instances where I become aware of the fact that I'm actually dreaming. The dreams for me tend to end shortly after that. I can't remember ever going more than what "feels" like 5 more minutes of thought. This usually happens to me when the dream tends to be more timid... 

The violent dreams bother me, not because they are scary, but because I'm horrified by what I have done. The dream I had last night was not typically the norm for me. In the dream I had last night, I was merely watching... I was simply aware of what was going on, but wasn't having any part of it. In most of them, I'm usually participating. 

These dreams HAVE tended to reduce in frequency. I noticed that they were much more frequent a couple of years ago when I was at my last job (which I still contract for part time). They had basically fired about 40 computer programmers, except me and one other guy. I left them full time and started with another company which was cakewalk. I think they almost stopped completely. But at my current job, there's a lot of stress involved and it seems that they occur more frequently... still not as much as they did a couple of years ago though.

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## Distant Clone

I've had the same problem, and I really have been working on it. It's not so trivial.

Consciously, you are not a violent person, and neither am I. Subconsciously, I still have my moments though. It started when I would get scared and run away from things. Then, I stood my ground and beat the crap out of them. After that, I stood my ground and stared them down, let them bite me, hit me, whatever. I did have a period where I would gracefully and elegantly defeat my enemy in two or three moves, subconsciously. More recently, it's like I'm slipping back into old ways, even attacking relatively innocent bystanders.

I was doing good, but the scenarios started changing. Instead of just one-on-one confrontations, then it become more of a group situation. Either multiple people would attack me and I would start fighting back, or the other would happen where someone would threaten someone I cared about. I had a dream that a fat Simon Cowell was going to expose him genitals to my 2- and 3-year old nephews, exploiting them for a TV show, just to see how shocked they would be. I knocked the shit out of him, bounced him all over the room. That's another chink in my armor.

All you can really do is work on it. You should learn to stand still, and let things harm you to the best of their abilities. You will realize it doesn't hurt, that you can take it. They might even befriend you. I had a dream where a wolf stood up and growled at me, and I stood there unflinching. He stopped growling, and asked if I had any chocolate ice cream. As you practice your non-violent discipline, it will carry over into the dream world.

Lastly, if someone does kill you, the pain will quickly go away, and then you will stand right back up and continue on as if it did not happen.

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## Chainsaw Kitten

Violence is something that comes of natural human instinct in certain senses. If not, then one must at least acknowledge that violence is, and always has been present in this world. You, I and everyone else knows what it is. So therefore it is something you think about, whether consciously or subconsciously. Whether positively or negatively.

I find people who have very violent dreams either are opposed to violence and keep it completely locked up, ignoring the mere thought, or people who obsess and constantly ponder over it. I am the latter of those things. My curiosity of violence, human monstrousness, physical capacity, etc. etc. lead my dreams to be very violent. My death, my killing of others, the abuse of everything in a violent way.

From what I have heard, that you lead a "normal" life, would suggest that it is not something you ponder very much about. This is just a very very vague assumption, so correct me if I'm wrong. 

Maybe you block it out during the day and therefore your mind settles what you do not think about in your dreams. Just a thought.

Try possibly giving these nowadays "unacceptable and evil things" a chance in your mind. Remember, just because you may ponder about violence does not mean you will become a violent person. It is almost exactly the opposite, that with those who block it out it will eventually haunt them and posess them.

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## Leo Volont

> _Originally posted by Chainsaw Kitten_
> *Violence is something that comes of natural human instinct in certain senses. If not, then one must at least acknowledge that violence is, and always has been present in this world. You, I and everyone else knows what it is. So therefore it is something you think about, whether consciously or subconsciously. Whether positively or negatively.
> 
> I find people who have very violent dreams either are opposed to violence and keep it completely locked up, ignoring the mere thought, or people who obsess and constantly ponder over it. I am the latter of those things. My curiosity of violence, human monstrousness, physical capacity, etc. etc. lead my dreams to be very violent. My death, my killing of others, the abuse of everything in a violent way.
> 
> From what I have heard, that you lead a "normal" life, would suggest that it is not something you ponder very much about. This is just a very very vague assumption, so correct me if I'm wrong. *
> 
> Maybe you block it out during the day and therefore your mind settles what you do not think about in your dreams. Just a thought.
> 
> Try possibly giving these nowadays "unacceptable and evil things" a chance in your mind. Remember, just because you may ponder about violence does not mean you will become a violent person. It is almost exactly the opposite, that with those who block it out it will eventually haunt them and posess them.*



Yes, violence is natural.  It is also primitive.  The most unimproved dreamers have no trouble at all in attaining to violence.

But often it is futile.  Guns jam.  Fist fights come to nothing.  The Dreams are telling us that violence is something of a second rate solution to our problems. 

Read over what myself and Distant Clone had to say, each from our own indepedent traditions and sources.  The Evolution of our Dreaming has lead us to more effective means of conflict resolution then primitive violence. 

Also, I like to imagine that Dreaming is designed by the Collective Consciousness to make us all more Civilized.  Civilization really can't work in a state where everyone is prone to violence.  We have only to review the Present Situation and History of the Middle and Near Easts.  Within the last 1000 years waves of extremely barbaric tribes from North Western Asia (Huns, Mongols, Manchus, Turks) rode forth and largely eliminated the Original Peoples of the Near East.  Today, I would be surprised if even one Ethnic Persian could be found.  Although these Barbarians had swept into Civilized Zones and had adopted much of the Civilized framework for behavior... even becoming Religious... still, it is their repeated and uncontrollable urge to violence that keeps this entire Region unmanageable and almost ungovernable.   Eventually Violence must be renouced.  First one generation and then another.  With each generation, Civilization becomes more possible, more viable.  

Our Dreams try to point the way, but we have to be discerning enough to see it.  For many Dreamers, it may simply appear that they have to grapple and fight in utter futility for an entire lifetime of Dreaming, and they never see the alternatives that are being pointed out, or would see any alternative to the most stupid violence as unmanly and outside of their Precious Warrier Code. 

Anyway, I see the French Flag.  France has been civilized for quite a few generations now.  The French naturally resort to any number of alternatives to pure violence, being famous for some degree of behavioral versitility.  When there had been a Catholic Civilization of Europe, the heart and center of it was France.   yes, Civilization runs in the veins of the French.  Don't take that for granted.

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## unclesirbob

FIGHTS : Fighting in dreams often links to very powerful emotions. Its a very male thing and usually quite easy to spot. Just think back to the day before the dream. What was the source of aggression in your mind. Did you feel resentful? Did you feel drawn into a heated and difficult situation or did you start an argument? Just simply ask yourself what annoyed you the day before!

KEY WORDS(Try to spot these quotes in your own feelings - especially think of the day before) :
- "He should respect me more"
- "I hate it when things do not turn out right"
- "Why am I always a failure!"
- "confronting him"
- "I just cannot stop thinking about it"
- "I cannot accept it"
- "an epic struggle"
- "struggling against something "
- "reasons to avoid doing something"

http://www.geocities.com/hairybobby2000/dr...essayfight.html

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## unclesirbob

Hi Todd

well you are taking these dreams as literal representations of the truth. But dreams use symbols. Actually many of these are easily interpreted. Fighting in dreams can be linked simply to the word 'fight'. think of how you would use that word in real life... "I have been struggling with learning a new computer package. Its been quite a battle" or "I have been fighting against my boss who wants me to meet a tough deadline" 

actually dream interpreting is not so tricky. There is one thing that makes dreams easy to crack. The vast majority of dreams relate to new thoughts and feelings. Its related to the way the brain is organised. During the day we store memories up in short term memory banks. Its only at night that we work through these thoughts and start to intergrate them into long term memory banks. 

Try this : Write down some quotes which encapsulate your thoughts. Eg

"I am feeling really down today. I want to achieve recognition. I am really fighting against the image people have of me. I wish they would recognise my talents"

"yesterday I did some light jogging. But my foot has really not healed yet. It seems permanently injured. Maybe I should go to the doctors"

"My kids are arguing again. I managed to talk to them and get them working together"

Now read through those quotes again and see where the word FIGHT appears. 

http://www.geocities.com/hairybobby2000/dr...dreamessay.html Dream dictionary

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