Dirty Windows Show Clouded Truth

Thu., March 2, 2000

Nancy Huseby Bloom The Spokesm

Dear Nancy: I am a widow in my 70s. Last year I met Joseph, a wonderful man, who felt like a soul mate.

After his wife’s death wife the year before, he let his townhouse go (quite literally) to rack and ruin. It was so filthy when I visited him that I didn’t want to take a shower or cook in the kitchen. It was the worst-kept bachelor digs I’ve ever seen! Of course we kidded about it and he said he would clean it up after I left.

The other strange thing about him was that none of his children would speak to him, and I never found out why. I had this dream when I returned from my visit. He passed away a few weeks later. - Dorothy

I walk through a house until I reach a room that has a wall of windows. Joseph, who has his back to me, is whitewashing all the windows, every inch of them. I just stand there watching him, saying nothing.

Dear Dorothy: Webster’s Dictionary is sometimes a very enlightening place to look for possible meanings of dream symbols and actions. One meaning for whitewashing: “… deceptive words or actions used to cover up or gloss over faults, errors or wrongdoings, or absolve a wrongdoer from blame.”

When we spoke on the telephone you said you didn’t understand why Joseph’s children wouldn’t speak to him. It was bothersome, because, in your experience, he was perfect. I understand that love can be blind and that we always want to think the best of those we love, but no one is perfect! We have all made mistakes and have faults. This doesn’t make us bad. It just is.

Dream windows often symbolize our perception and the way we look at the world. If the windows are clean and clear, our perception of a given situation or person is usually right on. But if the windows are dirty, we’re unable to see the truth and our perception is clouded.

Your dream shows Joseph whitewashing every inch of the windows. Perhaps your intuitive self was telling you that he was trying to cover something up, that things weren’t as they seemed. Were you doing the whitewashing by not looking at the whole man?

I suspect that his children’s alienation, coupled with his dirty home, triggered this dream. Even though you laughed about the filth with him, I’m sure some inner alarms went off for you. Perhaps this perfect man wasn’t so perfect after all.

Reader’s tip

Dream experts agree that most dreams comment on recent experiences of waking life. With this in mind, it’s probable that tonight’s dream will be a reflection of today’s experiences. Therefore, it’s important to include comments about the previous day’s experience in your dream journal. This will provide a bridge, consciously linking you to the meaning of your dream. Without this link, your dream journal may seem to be just a collection of fantasies and illusions and have no connection with your waking life.

Journal entries ground our dreams and makes them a useful and insightful tool for our daily lives.

Do you find yourself visiting a particular dream location again and again? If so, send me examples for a column which will soon address this phenomenon.

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