I’ve had a recurring dream where I’m in public wearing nothing but my underwear. Because I am an active, endowed Mormon, I wear garments. So in my dreams I’m wearing just my garments for everyone to see. In my dreams I’m embarrassed to be seen in my garments. Apparently dreams where the dreamer is exposed, either through being naked or not wearing pants, etc. are somewhat common. However, my dream seems to have a uniquely Mormon component to it. After all, I’m not just being seen in my underwear, but in my secret Mormon underwear. And in my dream I’m very aware that it is my garments on display, not that I’m simply almost naked.
I don’t know anything about dream interpretation. Is it all a bunch of BS? Pseudoscience? Pop-psychology? A legitimate discipline? Dreams are a frequent tool of God in the scriptures to tell us things. Is God trying to tell me something? I didn’t bother trying to answer any of those questions for this blog post. I just googled my dream and saw what I came up with. In the end, I found a guy who calls himself Professor Fecalhorfer (http://thanksprofessor.com/2011/the-loss-of-pants/) .He uses pictures of people with photoshopped dog heads to represent himself. As far as I can tell he is not an actual Professor. But don’t worry; he’s going to give us some great tools for interpreting my dream. Maybe.
So says the Professor: “Clothing is a metaphor for the identity and as such, it functions in the dream world as a mechanism of security. One can don any costume and hide one’s true self from the world; when clothing disappears, it leaves everything “hanging out” for the world to see, so to speak. To dream about a partial or complete loss of clothing, then, is usually equated to the exposure of some aspect of your true personality that you wish to hide from the world.”
When everyone sees me in my garments, there is no hiding my Mormonism. The Professor says that being exposed in a dream in this way represent the exposure of a part of myself I’m trying to hide. Does that mean I’m trying to hide my Mormonism? Am I embarrassed to be a part of this religion? Do I subconsciously want to leave Mormonism? Or is it just something I don’t want to be public? I don’t usually feel embarrassed about Mormonism. The topic seems to come up with some regularity among my co-workers, usually because I find some “natural” way of bringing it up. Mormonism is a large part of my life, and it is on my thoughts very often, maybe even too often.
The Professor says, “If you felt mortified upon losing your pants, it is likely that you are fearful of being ridiculed or disgraced for revealing your true feelings to a person or peer group that may not be accepting of your revelation.” Perhaps in my post-Faith Crisis Mormonism, I’m embarrassed to think that everyone would know I’m Mormon without explaining that I’ve put a lot of thought into it? That they might think I’m an un-questioning member of a “weird” religion?
Should I be worried that I might be subconsciously embarrassed of Mormonism? Is this an underlying issue meaning I won’t stick around in the long run? I’ve used the “?” symbol way too many times in this post. That’s the problem with dream interpretation. There are any number of interpretations based on individual circumstances and the specifics of the dreams, before even mentioning the possibility of the dream not meaning anything. If God is trying to tell me something with the dream I’d appreciate it if he would say it a little more blatantly. Regardless, the dream has given me something to think about, or “ponder” as proud Mormons would say. I’m not sure if possibly-subconsciously-embarrassed-Mormons use a different word.
So, amateur dream interpreters, what does my dream mean? Have you ever experienced something similar? Are you ever embarrassed to be Mormon?
Next time take some selfies! 😉
A) I have had the same dream and never talked about it to anyone because:
B) I think this is exactly how it should be interpreted in my case “I’m embarrassed to think that everyone would know I’m Mormon without explaining that I’ve put a lot of thought into it? That they might think I’m an un-questioning member of a “weird” religion?”
I love so much this religion that encourage me to think and ponder and ask questions and encourage me to look for the truth no matter what it is that I am afraid people will just think that they understand it all about myself because they have met some mormons before.
I have been told in the past that I don’t look mormon. Guess what people….this is because I am not. I am LDS. Mormons believe in Mormon and I believe in God. This is just a light joke to explain how different I feel from “mormons” and non LDS people on the subject of religion.
Anyway I am really tired of all the misinterpretation people have had about me in the past and I really don’t want it to happen again on a subject that is sensitive to me.
I guess in a way my path and who I have become is a sacred subject to me that I don’t want to have in the open.
Thank you for letting me do a little self therapy 😀
Perhaps it is a similar “embarrassment” applied to the sentiment “don’t cast your pearls before swine”.
There is a sacred part to our religion that we don’t start off conversations about. Although, typically, things like the garments are the things people are curious about and may ask you about, but you don’t start off an introduction of the Gospel by mentioning that you wear special underwear that means something to you and symbolizes covenants you made in the temple via very symbolic rites.
I also have the recurring dream; although sometimes I’m naked at first, and the only thing I can find to cover up is some garments, which at first I’m relieved, then a bit worried and embarrassed. I typically start preparing for an onslaught of questions and ridicule when people realize that I’m in underwear and that they are special Mormon underwear. I move from place to place quickly and hide, and think of excuses. Sometimes my worst fear is for a Mormon to see me and report to the Bishop that I’m casually walking around in my garments all the time.
I mostly just look at this as confirmation that I’m fully LDS in my mind, and that my old life is gone, now replaced by the normalcy I feel garments are for me. Before I’d have dreams that I was in underwear, and now this is replaced by what is normal for me. Like when I finally started dreaming in Cantonese on my mission, or when I finally started having regular dreams where I am most definitely married with children, after having been married with children for a while. It’s just your dreams taking on some of the reality of your normal life.
Serious and fun. Thanks.