# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion > Dream Interpretation >  >  The Out of Control Car Dream

## Leo Volont

The Out of Control Car Dream

This is a very common dream motif, to be in a car that is in some degree out of control.  It takes various forms  to find oneself in the back seat of a driverless car, driving at night without lights, or to be in a car with a dysfunctional driver, not to exclude other variations.

The other night I had a relatively optimistic version of this Dream.  I was on the passenger side of the front seat, with several people sitting in the back.  I noticed that the driver was having a difficult time controlling the car.  While continuing my conversation with those in the back seat so that they would not grow alarmed I reached over and helped out the driver with both the steering and the brakes.  I noticed that the driver had been fumbling with the ignition key just as the control inputs became very difficult.  The engine was off which turned off the hydraulics to both the steering and the brakes, but the car was going downhill and would go no slower simply because the engine was off.  So I whispered some reassurance to the driver and restarted the car and showed him that the steering and the brakes work much better with the car turned on.  Then the driver was able to establish a reasonable level of control for himself. 

Overall, this was a favorable dream for me.  I behaved well.  Even if the inept driver whom I was helping represents a inept facet of my self, by the end of the dream even he was functioning better than before.  

This does bring to mind another car related dream I had had recently.  I was again on the passenger side and a little old lady was the driver.  There was a huge accident in front of us, and we were impacted a bit, but the little old lady panicked and over-controlled us off the main road to a run off that took us down the side of a hill virtually as steep and deadly as the side of a cliff.  This was one time that I used some Lucid Control to intercede into the Dream Content.  I clapped my hands and the car froze in its precipitate dive down the hill.  I went around to the drivers side and helped the little old lady out of the damaged car, and then clapped my hands again to allow the car to again resume its drop to destruction.

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## Seeker

Interesting Leo.  Out of control automobiles are a common motif in my dreams as well.  However, I am always the one driving.,

I have often puzzled over this, as I have only been in one automobile crash in my life and it was quite minor.  Why is it that one dreams of such thing?  I for one am quite happy about it since the surge of adrenaline I feel as the crash occurs always triggers lucidity in me.

I know you are heavily into Architypes, but could you classify this motif?  The Car Crash Archetype?  Or on a deeper level, perhaps some underlying fear of losing control that manifests itself in a crash?  Sounds like you and I might have a common issue here.

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## Inspirer

Of course there is no second Leo Volont to write a nice long long reply to your own dream, isn't there.  Let's see what the rest of us can do to subsitute.

Of course my first thought is to imagine you as a dream interpreter on this website, looking exactly like your avatar, and the driver being someone else having a dream for you to help with.  But that's absurd, I'm sure your existence doesn't revolve around this website, it's just a hobby.

What's strange to me is that you experience being the passenger.  I'm guessing the driver is your waking conscious self, while you as the passenger are a streak of wisdom from within.

One mysterious factor in dreams is the point of view, or who you are.  If everyone in the dream is yourself then what determines which person you experience being?  It might be variable which part of the subconscious creates the dream.

Sorry I have nothing religious or historical to say, not my finer points.

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## Leelu

[quote]Of course there is no second Leo Volont to write a nice long long reply to your own dream, isn't there.  Let's see what the rest of us can do to subsitute.

I found that amusing  ::D:  Anyways... About who 'you' in the dream represents. Inspirer has an interesting theory on that. Sort of a figment of yourself. Or maybe it represents you as a whole, and you in reality seem in controll of yourself, and therefore be able to help others.

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## Inspirer

I have read dreams where the point of view changes from one character to another and I'm quite mystified.  My guess is that a dream can come from various parts withing, and the beholder is just the part causing the dream.

As for Leo's dream I'm sure all the people in the car are himself, so why the front seat passenger's point of view?  That's the part of him that's dreaming.

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## Inspirer

I have read dreams where the point of view changes from one character to another and I'm quite mystified.  My guess is that a dream can come from various parts withing, and the beholder is just the part causing the dream.

Indeed an important part of uderstanding anything is asking the right questions, like the timing of the dream, and the timing of waking up, and what varies and what stays the same in repeating dreams.  As for Leo's dream I'm sure all the people in the car are himself, so why just the front seat passenger's point of view?  That's the part of him that's dreaming.

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## Leo Volont

> _Originally posted by Seeker_
> *Interesting Leo.  Out of control automobiles are a common motif in my dreams as well.  However, I am always the one driving.,
> 
> I have often puzzled over this, as I have only been in one automobile crash in my life and it was quite minor.  Why is it that one dreams of such thing?  I for one am quite happy about it since the surge of adrenaline I feel as the crash occurs always triggers lucidity in me.
> 
> I know you are heavily into Architypes, but could you classify this motif?  The Car Crash Archetype?  Or on a deeper level, perhaps some underlying fear of losing control that manifests itself in a crash?  Sounds like you and I might have a common issue here.*



In a few dreams in my life, and a few dreams I've seen on this page, cars represent the physical body, especially in the sense that decomissioned cars represent death or the memorial remains of those who have died.

Ordinarily, most of my Car Dreams have involved my driving, but now that I have gotten into the 'advice business', I'm often only along for the ride.  But the last few times I have driven have not gone badly.  

Cars do provide a very handy Archetypical Symbol.  No one is more conscious of Image then the Car Manufacturers, and people are more than willing to identify with what they drive.  Then there is History.  Bronze Age Aristocrats dreamt of Chariots.  Europeans dreamt of horses.  Chinese dreamt of oxen.  Our Dreams symbolize the Physical in what we ride.

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## Leo Volont

> _Originally posted by Inspirer_
> *Of course there is no second Leo Volont to write a nice long long reply to your own dream, isn't there.  Let's see what the rest of us can do to subsitute.
> 
> Of course my first thought is to imagine you as a dream interpreter on this website, looking exactly like your avatar, and the driver being someone else having a dream for you to help with.  But that's absurd, I'm sure your existence doesn't revolve around this website, it's just a hobby.
> 
> What's strange to me is that you experience being the passenger.  I'm guessing the driver is your waking conscious self, while you as the passenger are a streak of wisdom from within.
> 
> One mysterious factor in dreams is the point of view, or who you are.  If everyone in the dream is yourself then what determines which person you experience being?  It might be variable which part of the subconscious creates the dream.
> 
> Sorry I have nothing religious or historical to say, not my finer points.*



I was thinking of the Driver being an aspect of myself.  That means that something in my self would turn off the key to my life, thinking that coasting down in a dead car would be better than going ahead under full steam.  Well, maybe, but compared to most people my life has been one adventure after another, with a great deal of risk taking along the way.  

And then, several weeks ago, I was passenger for a little old lady, whom I also helped in the course of the dream.  

I think I am being Trained in helping people.   Helping people IS, afterall, a new skill.  I have been a Teacher, yes, but perhaps not the best of Teachers.   One needs to be able to stay back except for emergencies.  For instance, decades ago, when I learned how to fly airplanes, I can't remember a single time that the Instructor ever reached over and touched a control.  A good Teacher needs to let the person he is helping do almost everything.   I intervened with the Little Old Lady after the car was already doomed.  In the case of this man, I started intervening with the steering and breaks when we were already well off the road, and it was by feeling the stiffness of the steering that I discerned that the driver had shut off the engine, and thus the hydraulics.    Hmmmm.  It seems I would be dealing with somebody in a state of Depression -- someone who thinks shutting down would help.

Perhaps there will be followup dreams to help me zero on what's happening here.

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