V The following is a complete case illustration of working the dream. Case Illustration: A., a 36-year old clinical psychologist who had been studying imagery and dream work with me, reported a dream and a subsequent correction of the dream that he did. In the dream A. found himself working in a laboratory on a project of creating some sort of special food to end the word’s hunger. He knew that the pressure was on to quickly finish the work. The experiments were done on human subjects, and more and more subjects were required. Suddenly A. found himself strapped in a chair with electrodes attached to his head. His head hurt. A. started pleading with the chief researcher explaining how immoral their actions were. At first the chief did not want to listen, but then A.’s uncle appeared, a few researchers sided with A. and his uncle and the debate started. Debating was permitted in the laboratory. The two “camps” were equal in the art of debating. No solution was in sight and A. woke up. In his waking life three months before the reported dream A. got engaged to a woman he had dated for two years and with whom he was “very much in love.” Shortly after the engagement A. started having light but frequent headaches. A. said that though consciously very happy, he could be unconsciously fearful about marriage, which was “a headache to consider”. A. was instructed to write down a question every night before going to sleep: “What do these headaches tell me about me?” A few nights later A. had the night dream presented above. Upon awakening A. started “working the dream”. He asked himself the first question “How do I feel after awakening?” The answer was: “Concerned, unsettled. The debate was not resolved.” The second question was: ”What is the theme of the experience?” And he answered to himself: “It was about food, and the means of providing food to the world I dwell in.” The third question A. asked himself was: “What is the setting?” The answer was: “Laboratory. A place for learning, for experimentation. Experimentation with human subjects who are in demand.” The fourth question was: “Is there an between what I just experienced in the dream and my waking life?” At that point A. had an intuition about the connection between providing food, the pressure that everyone in the laboratory was under, the need for more subjects and his waking life. A. realized that though happy about his upcoming marriage he was “secretly” worrying about how he would provide for the couple, since his fiancé was a student and did not have an income. He was thinking about the ways to expand his practice, was more reluctant to see patients with low income at a reduced fee, and generally was more concerned about how much he earned and getting more “subjects” rather than how much he was helping his patients. The “two camps” (2—conflict), A. realized, were: the chief’s camp-- a quality of himself that is demanding, unscrupulous, and hungry for success; the uncle’s camp--(A. said that for him his uncle was always a symbol of uncompromising dignity and honor) a quality of himself which has faith and always knows what is right. A. recognized that he was making an error of predicting the future that “it won’t be enough”, and another error of responding to the “Pavlov’s bell” of social conditioning that he must provide for his wife. A. realized that he was facing two conflicting and equally strong pulls; one toward living in the moment, having faith, and being true to his love and the other toward fear of “what if”, and the desire to protect himself from possible danger/hunger at all costs. After his insights A. decided to make a correction. He sat in an upright position, closed his eyes, breathed out three times, and mentally stated the intention of doing the exercise: “I am doing this exercise with the intention to be true to my love, and to live in the present.” A. entered his dream at the point where correction was needed. A. found himself strapped in a chair while the “camps” were debating. Using his will A. freed himself from the straps by kicking those who attempted to stop him. More people joined him and his uncle in subduing and arresting the chief and a few of his loyalists. Then the laboratory was blown up and the researchers decided to teach people of the Earth how to provide for themselves. Then A. exhaled once slowly and walking out of the mirror opened his eyes. The whole exercise lasted no longer than 30 seconds. As a result of working with the dream and making a correction A. “knew in his heart” that he did not doubt his desire to marry the woman he loved, but that he was challenged by fear. He made a decision to “witness” his thoughts and to use his will to dismiss any concerns about the future as lies. A. also decided to discuss his financial concerns with his fiancé. Within a week the frequency of A.’s headaches diminished and disappeared.