Dream Recovery

[wlotus]

My dream last night was weird, to say the least. The country had been taken over by a group that did not allow dissent of any kind, public or private. We were not allowed to think for ourselves or express whatever opinions we had, even if we did think for ourselves. People who did not submit to the group/cult were beaten and ultimately died from malnutrition and harsh treatment, if the beating didn't kill them right away. We were forced to stay within a compound, where only those who were accepted into the cult were treated well. Members dressed all in white. Everyone else was dressed in grey and treated like slaves.

As per usual in situations where I feel oppressed, I asserted myself and made my displeasure with the status quo known. But at some point I realized it was a matter of life or death; I could be killed, if I did not at least pretend to have submitted. After I tried to escape, I was shut in a room with a cult member, who was supposed to beat me with a guitar. He only pretended to beat me, banging the guitar against the wall and floor, instead. When the door opened, I pretended to be beaten into submission. Then I fixed my face in a neutral expression and answered with full submission when the cult members questioned me. They were convinced of my submission and gave me a white robe to wear. I even had to give up writing in my paper journal, but since I was a new cult member and asked if writing was okay--I was careful to write non-critical things--I was forgiven and not punished.

At the end of the dream, I was allowed a visit with my father, who was in a wheelchair. He was weak from having continually resisted the cult and being mistreated. They roughly wheeled him into my room, hinting he wouldn't make it through the night. The next day they deposited his empty wheelchair outside of my room. I knew they had killed him after our visit.

I usually resent being awakened by the 'phone, but this time I was glad.

Comments

[verucas-chaos.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is some dream. Kind of puts me in mind of tales such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Scarey. Whenever I dream like this I just can't help but wonder where it came from...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale, too, except there was nothing about sex and childbirth.