The Monkey Steals my Eyes

[ButterflyWoman]

I found this dream kind of amusing, at least after I woke up. It wasn't so funny at the time I was experiencing it.

In the dream, I was in my parents' house. This always represents the past, or who I used to be, that is, the person my parents raised, rather than the person I am now (that's what transformation will do for you ). This is the second night in a row I dreamed of their house, which is odd. In the previous dream, I owned the house, no parents in sight, no ghosts, nothing, but I was working on converting the house into a restaurant. Seems I'm turning my past into something nourishing from which I can profit.

Anyway, the dream last night was again set in my parents' house, and they were not present at all. A lot of other people were, though. There was some sort of convention going on, perhaps it was a political convention or something of that sort, it's kind of foggy now. At some point, I was sitting in what used to be my room doing something like putting on some makeup or brushing my hair and some creature suddenly popped in and snatched my eyes out of their sockets! This wasn't painful, but it was very annoying, and it was pretty much instantaneous. Somehow, I could still sort of "see" (not clearly, but enough) and I found my eyeballs sitting on a tabletop and I popped them back in. Then some other stuff happened (not sure what now) and as I was walking down the stairs this creature reappeared and this time I got a look at it. It was sort of humanlike (I got the idea that it was "a person") but it looked like monkey.

And it grabbed my eyes again, much to my annoyance. I went back upstairs and called my husband and told him my eyes had been plucked out again, and he asked how that could happen. I said I didn't know, that it was just very quick, and I asked him to help me find my eyes. Happily, they were nearby (why the creature kept stealing my eyes and putting them right back where I could find them I have no idea). I could see them a bit, and they were a bit worse for wear, scratched up, had some bits trailing. I was concerned that they wouldn't work properly, but we rinsed them off and I popped them back in. Still, I kept my eyes closed for a while because of the apparent damage to my eyeballs. I wanted to give them time to heal, thinking that the tears and natural enzymes of my eye sockets would help (and it did).

The reason I find this amusing is because I think the creature that kept stealing my eyes was a representation of the "monkey mind" that comes and distracts me. It wasn't malicious, exactly, and it put my eyes back where I could find them, but it kept coming up out of nowhere and snatching my eyes away, thus forcing me to stop whatever I was doing and go and look for them.

Also the fact that I could see without them, at least somewhat, is, I think, a message about being able to see without my physical eyes. It's a very un-subtle way of showing me, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

That damned old monkey mind, jumping in all the time and distracting me and blinding me, especially when I'm integrating or re-purposing my past self... What a pain!

[Beekeeper]

If this were my dream, I'd agree with your interpretation, however, because ascending and descending stairs have become an indicator of approaching or failing lucidity, respectively, I'd see the monkey's actions as not just indicative of what stops you "seeing" generally but as a part of your dream consciousness trying to make you see that you're dreaming.

The last dream I had where I was ascending stairs was actually extremely instructive for me. I was with a former student from many years ago. He's an identical twin, one of my dream symbols that references the astral body. I wanted to show him something instructive on my computer screen and he said he had it all on tapes. So we ascended flight after flight of stairs. We were almost there when I decided it would be indecorous to go into his room. At this point we parted ways and I began to descend. On my way down I stopped with various groups on different floors, one that was watching "Lost in Space" and another with a weather girl (whether girl) . It occurred to me that being overly decorous or overly worried about morally correct behaviour places unnecessary restraints on relationships that are already entirely appropriate and is very much locked into a very physical way of perceiving ourselves and others. It doesn't sound like much now but it was quite an insight straight after the dream.

[ButterflyWoman]

If this were my dream, I'd agree with your interpretation, however, because ascending and descending stairs have become an indicator of approaching or failing lucidity, respectively, I'd see the monkey's actions as not just indicative of what stops you "seeing" generally but as a part of your dream consciousness trying to make you see that you're dreaming.

Interesting. Hmmm. The house always has stairs because it is actually my parents' house, and that's a big old two story Edwardian with a basement and a full attic. I've never dreamed of the basement or the attic, but I very often go upstairs or downstairs when I dream of the house (once I went upstairs with Brad Pitt, yes, to my room, hubba hubba, but the dream didn't turn out that way in the end, dangit *sigh*).

Anyway, it is interesting that I was coming down the stairs when the monkey darted out and grabbed my eyes, and in order to find them, I had to go back upstairs. Hmmmm. I don't know why I didn't realise that I couldn't possibly have my eyes plucked out of their sockets and have them still be okay. That should have been a good lucidity trigger!