Social Circles

The Dreamer is outside in a public setting.

There are multiple social circles of unknown people. In one of the circles is a woman, Anne Helmer, who the Dreamer knows from grammar school and high school. The Dreamer wants to link up with Helmer, but he can’t get into her circle. But he doesn’t try anything to get into her circle. The Dreamer only fixates on the possibility of belonging to the circle that Anne belongs to.

Then the Dreamer is outside in a different social circle. He belongs to this circle which includes his Wife and unknown friends. They are playing a modified game of Uno. In this modified game, the players only start with one card. The Dreamer wins the game by playing a card with the number 10. Then the Dreamer is hungry. Then the social circle is in front of a kitchen. The circle is watching the kitchen, like a chef’s table. The kitchen is cleaning up. The clean up is making music. The Dreamer is enjoying observing that situation.

Then the Dreamer is outside, again observing social circles of unknown people. Again, Anne is a part of one of the circles. Again, the Dreamer fixates on joining Anne’s circle, without success.

Context: Anne is a woman I knew in grammar and high school. I’ve had dreams about her before where we’re friends. I looked her up: she’s now a psychologist. I’ve recently become interested in psychology again. I’ve been fantasizing sometimes about becoming an analyst, but that would be a new social situation for me and I am not sure that I will belong in that group, but I have not taken any action to test that feeling, besides reaching out to a psychotherapist to begin exploring the field as a participant in the therapeutic process.

Associations: I like to play cards with friends. I like to go out to eat with friends. I like the Chef’s table. Easy fun.

Feelings: fixation, frustration, fun

Interpretation: This is a dream about an attitude toward society. The Dreamer is trying to “break in” to a circle that “Anne” (the psychologist) belongs to, but he never calls to Anne and does not make any real effort to assess if that group is a good fit for him. The Dreammaker suggests that the Dreamer might be more “at home” playing card games and going out to dinner, or an alternative interpretation might be that the Dreamer could take some initiative to assess if that crowd is a good fit for him.