Being chased

Being chased in a dream is the dream's image of energy going into distance from something rather than into meeting it. The pursuer is rarely the real subject; the real subject is what would happen if you stopped running and looked. In shamanic traditions the pursuer is often read as a disowned part of the dreamer; in psychological terms it is the figure carrying what has been split off and refused. Being chased is distinct from being attacked: in the chase the contact has not yet been made, the running is itself the subject, and the dreamer's effort is going into the gap rather than into the encounter. The dream brings the chase when something in your life — a feeling, a person, a piece of information about yourself — has been at your back long enough that the running is now the shape of your days. A chase whose pursuer is masked or never quite seen is the dream marking that you have refused even to look back long enough to identify what is behind you. A chase that reaches a wall and forces you to turn is the dream telling you the encounter is finally happening, and the pursuer is usually smaller than the running made it. A chase through a familiar place — your own house, your childhood street — is the dream noting that what you are fleeing belongs to ground you already know. A chase that continues with no end is the dream noting that the avoidance has become self-sustaining, and the cost of the running is now greater than the cost of the meeting would be.