Abstract

Vulnerability

The state of being open to being hurt — the specific cost of allowing real contact.

Vulnerability in a dream is the dream's image of the specific cost of allowing real contact with another. Vulnerability is not weakness; vulnerability is what it is to be a person who is not pretending to be invulnerable. The dream brings vulnerability when something in your life — a friendship deepening, a relationship in a moment of honesty, a piece of work shown without armour — is requiring the willingness to be reached. Vulnerability chosen and held is the dream affirming the honest opening. Vulnerability offered and withdrawn the moment it is met, with the guards going back up at the point of contact, is the dream noting that the opening was offered as gesture rather than lived as state, and the contact that was almost made has been refused.

Related symbols

A dream within a dream

Awareness doubling on itself — the dream pointing at its own structure.

Ambition

A held intention to reach a higher level — a forward orientation that directs the use of one's energy.

Anger

A hot energetic response to a boundary violated — a signal that something not okay has happened.

Anticipation

The forward lean toward a coming event — present time coloured by what is expected next.

Autumn

Harvest and letting go — the phase that is fruitful and falling at once.

Awe

The response to something larger than the self — humility produced by accurate perception of scale.

Disclaimer: For entertainment and self-reflection only. Not a substitute for professional advice.