#20 I Saw a Bear in the Projects (Animal Instinct)

I’m known for forgetting my dreams. Not my hopes and aspirations, but those free-flowing thoughts that come to you in the wee hours of the night. Whatever craziness my subconscious mind conceives in those twilight moments where I’m in and out of the terrestrial world are usually forgotten as soon as I open my eyes.

Well, this morning was different.

I jumped up from my sleep sometime around 3:34am, looked around and saw nothing.

He was gone.

I was safe.

It was just a dream.

It all started with me walking out into the courtyard of this large building complex. I have no idea where but I’ll assume it was a project in Brooklyn.

The night sky was clear. I could see the stars out, which is rare for a New York skyline. As I walked further into the courtyard, that’s when I saw him.

There, dangling precariously on a tree branch that didn’t look sturdy enough to support his weight was a big, black bear.

I have no idea what a bear was doing in the projects but there it was inching up this branch, which was bending backwards as he moved slowly towards the tipping point of the branch.

Finally, it broke, sending the bear plummeting down to the ground. The fall was only a few feet so the bear’s safety was not an issue but mine most definitely was.

Once the bear got its bearings (no pun) together it noticed it wasn’t alone. Our eyes locked and I took flight.

I ran.

I never looked back but I could hear the bear in hot pursuit. I could sense its mass of flesh, fur and claws barreling towards me.

I’m not sure how but I soon found myself running up the stairs of my old apartment from childhood. I burst through the front door and headed straight for my room. I closed the door behind me just as the bear reached the threshold of my room.

I wish I could say I felt safe, but I recall the door to this particular bedroom well. It’s the one with the door that never closed properly because the top hinge was broken.

Of all the bedrooms in all the apartments from my past this is the one I run to for safety?

The bear pushed up against the fragile door and it’s snout burst through the crack on the side, while I tried my best to avoid being mauled. I pressed my back up against the door and pushed back as hard as I could. The bear did the same with more success.

With each thrust it made against the door, the farther I flew from my rooted position on the floor. It wouldn’t be long before…

I woke up.

He was gone.

I was safe.

It was just a dream.

Now I’m not really the one for big dream analyses but it’s been quite a while since I had one that I can actually remember. Besides, my homegirl told me she had a dream about a bear recently and was going to look it up. I never heard back from her on that, but I decided to do my own research.

One site said:

The appearance of a bear in a dream is a good example of dream interpretation as being culturally shaped. For many of us, bears are not very good companions and they represent ill temperament. In Native American traditions, however, they take on a different meaning. For the Navajo and Crow Indians, the bear is a father or grandfather figure that possesses wisdom and knowledge of the sacred.

Well, my grandfather was very close to me and I carry a lot of hurt around about his passing. But why would my grandfather want to chase me through the projects? I searched for more.

Another site said:

A bear in a dream is a very rich and complicated dream symbol… Bears are solitary animals and they are generally not predatory animals. A bear is only aggressive when provoked, and as such times he is dangerous and deadly. Bears in dreams may represent a period of introspection and depression. However, this may be a part of a healing cycle, where the dreamer has retreated into himself in order to regenerate and in order to create something new and valuable in his life... The interpretation of the bear in a dream may be influenced by your perception of it and by the events in the dream. The bear may represent qualities in your character or specific aspects of your personality. Bears are usually associated with danger and aggression, but this is a very narrow view of this powerful dream symbol.

This one seems to make a little bit more sense. I am going through a period of introspection with Ramadan and have been thinking about a lot of my flaws and things that I need to work on to be a better person. Perhaps the bear was a manifestation of that.

I came across another site that likened bears in dreams to some sort of authority figure.

“The bear in this dream could be saying, ‘Pay attention and learn something, do not rebel against that authority you will only hurt yourself otherwise…’ An evil bear of a terrifying bears, such as bears that are trying to kill of are chasing you, could speak of a fear of something in your life, like a fearful or painful situation of the present or past. The key is if you are afraid of something you don't have peace.”

What do you think of the dream and what it could mean? What do you think about the various meanings for bears in dreams? Have you ever had a dream you couldn’t decipher? Or are you someone that doesn’t give much thought to the meaning of dreams? What was the weirdest dream that you ever had?

Speak your piece…

***FINAL DAY TO VOTE***

Today is the last day to vote in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards. Winners will be announced this Friday. Thanx in advance if you've already cast your votes, but did you tell a friend to tell a friend to vote NWSO? Did you use a different email address to vote again? Whatever the case be sure to vote by CLICKING HERE.