Had a long and detailed dream last night. I dreamed I and numerous other people were in a large church. It reminded me of the church my cousin got married in. I'm not sure if we were worshiping or doing something else, but suddenly this old Asian man burst in with a bunch of minions. He looked like old Shang Tsung.
http://mortalkombat.wikia.com/wiki/Shang_Tsung They all started causing terror and people were running around and screaming and it was a madhouse.
I decided I should do something, and I looked on the back wall of the church and saw a decorative sword display. I ran over to it and grabbed one of the swords, but it turned out to be cheap and dull. I didn't have anything else, though, so when the old man came over I tried to hit him with it. The blow did nothing to him, though, and he just laughed. He then rounded up most of the young people from the church and put us all in cars.
The cars drove to this cinder block house with a crappy yard surrounded by barbed wire. He made us go into the yard, and I saw a man lying on his belly. He was missing all his limbs but one arm and was moaning in agony. The sight of him was so wretched. It filled me with horror. We were directed into the house, and told only to look, not to interact with any of the people there. The inside was nicely decorated, but all of the people there were in a similar state of torment, moaning in misery over and over. The force of their pain hit me so strongly that I wanted to just collapse and weep uncontrollably and beg for mercy for these people, but I knew that sort of behavior would not be permitted by this man.
After he felt we had seen enough we were taken back outside and put back in the cars. There was a blonde girl sitting next to me in the back of the car, and I was trying to talk to her, but we realized that the car was wired and someone was listening to everything we said. This angered me, but there was nothing I could do about it. We eventually got to another house, which happened to be my parents' house, but this man had taken over it completely. He had us go inside and it was understood that we were to live here and work for him.
I kept trying to text my friend or get some sort of help, but I was being monitored at all times, by lackeys or hidden cameras and wire taps. At one point I was standing in the bathroom and I noticed something shiny in the corner of my eyes. I ended up pulling three fairly large, clear plastic or glass disks out of the corners of my eyes. It was painless, but I found their appearance disturbing.
I decided to confront the old man, who was lying on my parents' bed with a woman lying next to him. I demanded to know what he had done with my parents. He grouchily said they were fine and were living somewhere else now. I then showed the disks I had pulled out of my eyes, wanting to know what they meant, but he didn't seem to care. I then asked him why he wouldn't let me leave. Why had he kidnapped me and brought me here?
At this point the old man got really angry. "Don't be ridiculous!" he growled. "You WANT to be here. You're full of pride. Adults don't have pride, only children! You're just a helpless child!" Somehow I knew that he was referring to the fact that I tried to stab him back at the church. Then I woke up.
I suppose I should mention that I had something of a grand spiritual epiphany before going to bed last night, and was feeling more light and free than I ever really have in this incarnation. This dream really seemed like a test, to see if I could apply what I've learned. The old Asian man was obviously a vessel for my shadow self. Shang Tsung is the archetypal evil sorcerer- a shapeshifter who steals souls and eats them. The Dragon. The king of hell. I felt that the first house we visited was meant to be a depiction of hell, and my shadow was saying "I have the power over hell! LOOK at it!"
In the face of my great step forward into the light, my shadow fears being forgotten/subjugated/destroyed, so it says "You can't be rid of me! Look at all my power and you are nothing without me!"
The church represents a spiritual state of mind to me, and my shadow self wanted to drag me out of that state and put me back in the hellish state of horror that comes from viewing all the suffering in the world. The sword I interpret as representing my will. I attempted to hack down my shadow with my will, which proved ineffective. Attempting to kill a part of my own self was indeed very prideful, and I really wish I would have just remained calm and embraced him instead, which I'm sure would have instantly diffused the whole situation.
By moving into my parents' house my shadow self was attempting to exercise parental authority over me, making me out as a child that needs caring for, is incapable of making responsible decisions on its own, and therefore can be directed at will. Since there were three glass disks that I pulled from my eyes, I think of the holy trinity. The eyes are the gateway to the soul, so I was literally pulling out and observing my own divinity, but could not see it for what it was at the time. All of my true power was right there before me but I was blinded by my anger and fear.
It is true that each time I have become consumed by my shadow nature, it was completely of my own free will. There have been many times I have found myself in dark places, crying about how unfair it is, only to realize that I did indeed put myself there. I interpret my shadow saying "Only children have pride" as a reference to spiritual childhood; a spiritually mature individual having no need to be directed by the ego.
I cannot cut away this part of myself, nor can I let it run rampant and usurp my lifestyle. I must first accept that part of myself in love, then transmute its terrible power. When I accept this part of myself in love without fear it loses its power over me, the two halves are integrated, and I gain that power as my shadow rests within me. Through love I transmute that power to give me strength, tenacity and willpower in my service.
I feel like the last part of the dream was a last ditch effort to make me feel ashamed of myself to the point my progress would be shut down, but I have come too far to be held back any longer by self-hate. There is just no room for that anymore. Therefore, I humbly take the lessons this dream had to offer, thank my shadow for allowing me to learn and grow, and continue on my way.