I am taking over my father’s house. Although similar to what I remember and am familiar with, it is all also slightly different.
Two neighborhood kids are used to having free reign in the house. They retreat to the basement when I arrive, and leave completely after I am firm and persistent with them for a while. Their father walks his dog in the yard and is upset with me, but I am firm and clear with him as well.
There is a sense of it being necessary for me to be firm, clear and stand my ground for a while, until it all realigns.
I then walk into a grocery store and find two guys (immigrants) there acting in a threatening and abusive way to the employees and customers. I walk up to them and ask them, again in a firm and clear, way to stop. They get angry with me and through a quite intense dialog, we eventually find mutual respect. (They are upset about liberal whites not understanding conservatives from asian cultures, in this case Afghanistan or Pakistan.)
Throughout this dream, there is a sense of things having gotten somewhat out of control through neglect. It is necessary to be firm and clear, in a respectful way. Either cooly, or if appropriate more warmly, friendly.
The rascal children escaping down into the basement is a dream image classic. I follow them and flush them out, and also deal with their father being upset about it. The angry men is also a dream image classic, in this case leading to a mutual respect through a dynamic and gritty dialog.
I am taking over my father’s house in the dream, which may point to working more consciously with certain patterns inherited from my father. Taking them on and working with them more consciously. Cleaning it up through being firm and clear.
This dream also seems dark night related. This last phase of the dark night has been one of more relaxation and healing, and I notice it is time to bring in more of the firmness again.
One example is my stability practice which used to be very disciplined (hardly ever gross distractions, and could clean up most of the subtle distractions through intention), but recently – over the last few months – has been a wreck. I have been lucky to get to two before getting lost in thought. (This may also have something to do with the pneumonia and recovery – which has lasted for quite a while.) In any case, it is quite clear that it is time to sharpen this up again.