Hopefully, dreams simply represent mechanistic
brain function (i.e., they are a form of hallucination)
and not any sort of alternative reality...
Why? Because if dreams (especially vivid, well-remembered ones) are actually  "real" occurrences, then I am a criminal murderer in that reality. Note, I HAVE been paying more attention to my dreams lately. Perhaps I should begin writing them down.)
The other night, I very vividly dreamed that I came out to my car and saw a man pouring something into my tank. I asked him what he was doing, and then checked out the jug he had poured into my tank. It was not gasoline, but what I felt was cooking oil, or something like that.
I asked him what the hell he put into my tank, and he started becoming aggressive. I noticed he was a very big man, so I grabbed the billy club I keep behind the seat (I do so in real life!) and turned to face him...
As I turned, I noticed I was empty handed, and HE had the billy club. He grinned at me, brandished the club and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
At that point I snapped. (I distinctly recall a powerful feeling of fear mixed with rage.) I reached into my car (under the blanket I keep on the back seat in real life) and pulled out a PISTOL (which I don't have in my car in real life!) and as he dropped the club and began scuttling back in terror (I could see it in his face) I EMPTIED the piece into him, and fired the last shot into his head as he lay helpless and gasping... even as the COPS were watching me across the street..!
This would be COLD BLOODED MURDER, folks... no defense. (As in all my dreams, I lacked any common sense or discretion!)
I don't remember much else, except that I was sitting in front of a judge, who was debating whether to hang me, or skin me (I think..!)
Have I just had a REALLY stupid dream here... or did I visit "Hell?"
OR... do I have the soul of a predatory murderer? The "real me", my "soul"... unconstrained by my rational "spirit" perhaps?
Did I encounter a real person here, and shoot him? (Perhaps an ex-carnate, or a living dreaming person?)
OR... best of all... this is just flatulence my brain produced (perhaps feedback from too many action movies, even though I don't normally care for most action movies and haven't watched one in a long time..?)
Any thoughts here?

B-man

This post might belong in the dream forum.

If the fellow you killed in your dream was an aspect of yourself, what would that mean to you and how would it change the interpretation you give to the dream?

If true, you are fighting down a part of yourself which you suspect is giving you tainted fuel to use in your vehicle.  

This "aspect" of you tells you not to "defend" your Self, yet reinforces your fears right in front of your face. So you kill him because he is annoying as all heck....

So, who is the judge and what is your attitude in your self-imposed court?  

Perhaps there are more layers of meaning in this dream that you have not examined yet.

blink

What blink said (I've done that), also "killed" aspects of other people/society/circumstances that I needed to learn I was totally capable of mastering (like ridicule, ignorant hatred, that sort of thing).

In Jungian psychology, the shadow is that aspect of my self that is unacceptable to me.   The shadow is normally a person of the same sex whom the dreamer finds threatening because it seems insane, very silly, presumptous,  or violent.  According to Jung, the key to unlocking such threatening dreams is to "befriend your shadow."   

Right now, you are in some sense pouring the wrong kind of spiritual fuel into your soul's tank.   You are a debunker rather than a "player."  Still, this site retains a powerful hold on you for reasons you can't quite understand. 

You are afraid that if you actually took a new faith or spiritual discipline seriously, that quest would fail and you would feel humiliated.   The same cynicism that you direct at spiritual quests would be turned against you through feelings of spiritual ineptness.   That fear finds symbolism in the vandal's odd ability to seize the billy club you were brandishing and threaten you with it.   

But your shadow self is pointing the way to true freedom and spiritual progress.   You must not simply try to gain the upper hand against your paralyzed cynical self; you must kill it.   But your shadow is warning you that this will be very difficult.  The cops are watching across the street and the judge is debating whether to skin or hang you.  The cops and judge symbolize religious family members whom you feel now sit in judgment on you.   It will be so hard for you to give family members you don't respect the satisfaction of seeing a new and more humble B-man on a spiritual quest.   They might even imagine that their prayers have been answered. Ugh!  That would be intolerable to you.   So your shadow dream forces you to experience those fears as well.   

So what then is the message?   Despite all these unpleasant side effects, your shadow self insists that you must kill your paralyzed cynical self and, for the first time, pour real spiritual fuel into your soul, so that you can move on with your life. 

Your dream is a very standard Jungian shadow dream with unique imagery.   If you wish, I can share comparable shadow dreams with you if that might help assess this interpretation.

Don the berserk shrink. 8)

This post might belong in the dream forum.

If the fellow you killed in your dream was an aspect of yourself, what would that mean to you and how would it change the interpretation you give to the dream?

If true, you are fighting down a part of yourself which you suspect is giving you tainted fuel to use in your vehicle. 

This "aspect" of you tells you not to "defend" your Self, yet reinforces your fears right in front of your face. So you kill him because he is annoying as all heck....

So, who is the judge and what is your attitude in your self-imposed court? 

Perhaps there are more layers of meaning in this dream that you have not examined yet.

blink
******************
Thanks again, blink! And Happy Holidays...
My attitude was almost an "I don't care" in front of the judge, as best as I can figure it... combined with the (intellectual?) knowledge I'd done wrong. After all, that guy SURRENDERED (dropped my billy and tried to flee..!) before I shot him, AND I used EXTREME excessive force by shooting him when he was down - so I couldn't plead self-defense.
The judge? I don't recall seeing his face (other than having an impression of an archetypical late-middle-aged "authority figure.")
Weird, eh?
Oh, and DON... good response. Stand by for a P.M.
over the next couple of days, when I have more time to comment on your comment...

B-man

B-man,

I remember having a nasty series of dreams after going through my divorce and keeping my cool on the conscious behavioral level at the time.  I never said anything nasty to my ex or in front of my kids regarding this devastating happening, as it was at least to me, while it was happening-but-at night, for a period of about 2 years, Wow!  Anyhow, my dreams were always of him and I having a knock down, drag out fights in some sort of walk-up tenement from an earlier period from now time that ended when we were both exhausted.  Finally they ended when I had accepted that the relationship had to be viewed from a different angle, on my part at least.  I was finally able to let it go as time passed and I started to gain a larger perspective about being human and realizing that the relationship served its purpose but now I had a chance to check out areas that I could not while in that former situation. 

He actually did me a favor in the long run but if I didn’t allow the dreams to do their thing and explore past them, I suspect that I would still be having them.  Looking back it seems that it was more about my ego vs. his, my being right vs. his and a lot about power-who has it vs who doesn’t.  Now my safety truly does lie in my defenselessness because what really is the worst that can happen? So he kills me.  Then I kill him.  And the dance goes on.  But what actually happened in our case is that we both grew in many ways, aged, and continue to love the sons we brought here. 

Meanwhile, keep on truckin’, Love Jean