Labratory Talk

Some time ago I had a dream where I was living in a large old house. The house was located in a small village by the main road and the villagers frequently came by to look at the house. The house was open for public because of its architecture etc. I had my own modern appartment upstairs, but nobody ever went there.

The dream started as a lot of people from the village had come to look at the house. Downstairs had a large library room and behind that an old labratory. The labratory had been out of use for years and no one had taken care of it. It was a mess and quite dirty as well. The labratory was a main interest amongst the visiting people. They hardly looked at the library, everyone was gathered at the labratory walking around, investigating. I think they were looking for something. Possibly there was a rumour that something had been hidden in there.

I was standing in the library looking at the people. I didn't want to go into the labratory, I never went there. I didn't believe in the rumours and couldn't understand what was so interesting about it anyway. It was just an old ugly room to me. I wanted to leave it alone. The behaviour of the people annoyed me. There was an entire beautiful library and whole house to look at and they gave all their attention to the labratory!

Now then...I've read that a house is the most common symbol of the self in dreams. That comes as no surprise to me. I often feel like this dream in real life. People think that they don't really know me until I've shared my deepest and darkest secrets with them. At the same time I'm worried that after they see the labratory, that is all they ever see. The way I see it, my painful parts are just a small part of me. The majority is like the library: beautiful and much more interesting. The good parts are what makes me me, I don't wish to be defined through my bad life experiences.

Isn't it funny how a deep and meaningful conversation usually means sharing your dissappointments and problems and sad stories? Why should it be any less deep and meaningful to share the good and the beautiful? This is not to say that our labratories aren't important and that we shouldn't talk about them. Let's just not forget that they are not everything. Don't let them be more than they are.