A Baby, A Dog & Decomposition.

[Alliss]

In this dream, I'm carrying my youngest son in my arms. He has a baby's body but his facial features are more mature (he's now 10). My old dog, who died 2 years ago, is walking beside me. He's jumping up, attempting to take my son from me, as if he was trying to get a toy off of me. I keep holding my son up higher, to put him out of the dogs reach. Eventually, my dog managed to get hold of my son in his mouth and refused to let him go. Then the dogs face begins to decompose, with my son still in his mouth.

In dreams, my youngest son often represents my inner, spiritual self. So that's possible here, but of course it's also possible that this dream represents my son in a literal sense, as I'm very protective of him and he's quite dependent on me. This would fit the dream, but I can't place  the dog part and decomposition into it within that context. I must be missing something.

[eye_of_tiger]

Alliss,

I would not place myself in the same advanced class of dream interpreters as our knowledgeable friend Rook, but could I please at least offer one passing observation and interpretation about this dream of yours?

The three main elements which are your son in a baby's body, your old dog which in reality died a couple of years ago and its eventual decomposition into its component elements, speak to me of the inevitable consequences of the passage of time.

Nothing at this physical level lasts forever. Time modifies physical matter, including the atoms and molecules which make up the bodies of all living creatures (human or non human).

Perhaps the underlying message of this dream is for you to make the very most of your relationships and life in general, while we still have them. To learn to better appreciate the fragile and temporary nature of your situation at any particular time throughout your lifetime (even a baby boy grows up and adults change and most pets die before we do), and to accordingly recognise how precious quality time spent with those people and pets whom we love really is as a consequence of ongoing and relentless change.  

And to be able to come more fully to terms with this unavoidable, uncomfortable fact of life, but still find happiness and comfort in knowing that everything is unfolding as it should. Always much easier said than done. A very hard lesson for anyone to have to learn, but ultimately we must all learn it one way or the other. Dreams are often a softer more gentle way of introducing this lesson to us, in preparation for waking up to it in our outer world.

What do you think?

EoT

[Alliss]

Thank you, EoT

I think that's a very good point and an angle that I'd previously missed. I was thinking about time in the context of it being related to the past, but time passing by hadn't occurred to me. I do feel as though I don't take enough time to live in and enjoy the moment. I will endeavor to make more effort to keep myself in the present.

[Rook]

Hi Aliss

I feel that in this dream your son is representating his actual self.  What I am seeing is that you see him as being younger than he actually is (mature face on a baby's body).  You want to protect him and you are lifting him higher and higher, but ultimately you can not protect him forever.  He will eventually face the world and all it's problems, in particular that of death.  It is the one inevitable part of life, and no matter how high you hold him, it will one day happen.

As EoT states, it is important to take stock and enjoy what time we have.  Perhaps you need to spend more time enjoying life with your son and consider how protective you are of him?  Perhaps protectiveness is out of balance with enjoyment?  Speaking as a parent, this is a stressful thing to balance.

Best wishes,
Rook