Here’s the dream I had:
I was a soldier in the Iraq war; there was no choice about it. So that I wouldn’t have to hurt anyone, I had a position of serving as target practice. I stood in the middle of a circle, with my right arm extended, surrounded by other soldiers who practiced shooting off my arm. It seems that my arm was not really like a flesh-and-blood arm in that when someone shot it, the arm came off like perhaps a cardboard or tin object in a carnival shooting gallery. It was removed entirely and then just as quickly “regenerated” itself so that it could be torn away again, and again. I was happy with the arrangement, experiencing only the mildest twinge of anxiety that someone else might decide that I was getting off too easily and my job would therefore be taken from me. Then, someone shot and this time the bullet did not remove my arm but instead entered my arm about six inches above my wrist, and I felt this (I did not feel or have sensation of the other shots). It was incredibly painful and I began to cry and beg someone to hurry up and shoot again and remove the entire arm.
I suppose that on the most obvious level the dream seems to say that I have a willingness to sacrifice myself in order to avoid hurting others, and I don’t really feel very pleased with that.
