Over the last few months, I have had several dreams on the same theme: I am in Norway and Russia is attacking with rockets.
This obviously connects with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which I have followed in the media and which has impacted me as it has most others in Europe.
Consciously, I don’t really have fears of Russia attacking Norway. (1)
So what are these dreams about?
They may tell me that I have stronger fears than I am consciously aware of or want to admit to. Consciously, I don’t see any attack as realistic, and at some level I may still have fears I am not aware of and that the dreams invite me to get in contact with.
There is also a small chance they are premonitory. (2)
And the world is my mirror, independent of all that. The world and my dreams mirror parts and dynamics in me. Whenever I go into a belief, I go to war within myself. I go to war with reality and I tend to go into reactivity, defense, blame, and so on.
For instance, whenever I believe something about my partner, and especially something obviously painful, I go to war within the relationship whether it comes out in an obvious way or not. (Usually, it does eventually so I get to see it more clearly.)
So the dreams may reflect a fear I am not fully aware of or admit to. They may be premonitory, although I wouldn’t put money on it. And they definitely reflect wars within myself that happen as soon as I attach to stories as true, which is especially clear with obviously painful stories.
Holding any story as true, even the most apparently benign ones, is ultimately uncomfortable and painful because it’s at odds with reality. It’s a kind of war that comes with defense, attacks, suffering, and so on.
UPDATE AUGUST 24, 2022
In the recurrent dream, I am outside the house on the southwestern side. Earlier today, I was outside on that side of the house, and a fighter jet flew low over the house from the southwest to the northeast, just like in the dreams. It was a strange experience and a kind of synchronicity, although I don’t know what it’s about if anything. It’s very rare to see fighter jets here.
These days, with a continued weakened Russian military, any kind of conventional war between Russia and NATO seems less likely than ever. And it also seems very unlikely that Putin would use nuclear weapons since it’s clearly suicidal. (Although his rationality and connection with reality is questionable.) So that makes any premonition seem even less likely than it was.
So why the recurrent dream, and this real-life mirroring of the dream?
There may be something here I am still not seeing. For instance, I often experience a kind of invasion from someone in my life (who wants to dictate my behavior and even internal state so s/he can be more comfortable and not have their own issues triggered). It’s something I tend to dismiss or downplay in my own mind. Maybe these dreams are inviting me to notice it and take it more seriously and do something about it.
Footnotes
(1) It wouldn’t make much sense. (Although the invasion of Ukraine also didn’t make much if any sense, at any level, so that’s not really an argument.) They don’t have conventional military resources to engage in any successful invasions and especially not NATO countries. (In terms of conventional weapons and military, Russia is a mosquito compared to NATO and wouldn’t stand a chance.) If they were to attack targets in Norway, it would mean that WW3 had already started. And it would probably mean the use of (at least smaller) nuclear weapons.
(2) My whole life, I have had dreams of things that later happened – sometimes years later. (For instance, a dream in my teens of living in Oregon, which happened fifteen years later. A dream of living in Latin America, which happened maybe three decades later. A dream of my cat being killed in an accident, which happened a week later. And so on.) By invading Ukraine, Putin and Russia created a volatile situation that can escalate and eventually involve NATO – and Norway – more directly.
It may not be that Russia literally will fire rockets toward the Oslo area. That seems very unlikely. But the rockets in the dream may be more metaphorical and suggest a more direct involvement of NATO and Norway.
I should mention that when the war started in February, I had an unusually bad feeling about it. I had a sense that it would (or could) have worse consequences than most suspected. (I wrote about it back then.)
That feeling rarely happens, and when it does – about world events – it’s often accurate.
When I checked in more closely with my sense, at the beginning of the war, I saw a kind of black cloud moving out from Ukraine and towards the west into other countries. At the time, I want sure what it cold be. And later, I realized it may best fit radiation from a damaged nuclear reactor. I hope that will not happen.