I was wondering what it means to dream of seeing fire balls hitting the earth and destroying whatever they hit. I had a dream that I was here on earth living like a normal person, and then I went outside my house and noticed fire balls coming from the sky - landing on houses and the ground.
My next door neighbor’s house was hit, but it did not burn all the way. I heard a loud scream that someone was being burned. I looked and it was my sister. I ran to rescue her and tried to turn the flames away. My sister was fine, and I was not touched. A lady saw us and told us to go into the cellar of her apartment, and we did. Everything seem to be deserted. I was surprised that someone was looking at us, and saved us from the fire.
Well, my thoughts about this dream are like the Bible says - that the Lord will end the world with fire this time.
Please help me to understand this dream. I am hoping that for Y2K the world will still be here.
P.S. I tried to research why I had this dream, but nothing that I am doing or watched recently has anything to do with it.
--Anonymous, Age 22, Female, Single, Boston, MA, USA
Hi Anonymous -
You’re not the only one who has had an “end of the world” dream recently. People have been dreaming of suns that don’t rise, of milky white clouds that envelop the planet in a chilling freeze, and of doom sayers who go from door to door - warning everyone to “go ahead and kill themselves” - for “the end is near.”
The advent of 2000 was hyped as extraordinary for many reasons. If it wasn’t the Y2K bug, which threatened the planet’s physical well-being, it was the curious power attached to the revolving digits of the new millenium. Some people hoped for a supernatural transformation of the planet - a benevolent spiritual force which would usher in an era of light and life. Others, various religious groups included, predicted that prophesies of Armageddon and Judgement Day would be fulfilled.
If you believe in a loving and forgiving God, and if you believe in good old human “can-do,” January 1, 2000 was a great day. The new year arrived with nary a hitch - Y2K or cosmic.
People who secretly hope for “Armageddon” and “Judgement Day” scenarios usually do so from a position of powerlessness. Because they do not believe in their ability to help make tomorrow’s dreams come true, like spoiled sports at a birthday party, they wish to ruin the celebration for everyone else. From this fountain of frustration spring fantasies of revised judgement (in their favor), of “collapse of the power structure,” and fantasies of some other force (not themselves) making this anti-life vision real.
Your dream, like many others received in December of 1999, almost certainly was inspired by the Y2K/Millennium excitement. Even in your dream though, the “fire and brimstone” is revealed as illusory; neither you nor your sister is burned by its flames. The woman watching you, who offers you sanctuary from the firestorm in her cellar, could represent someone you know in real life who supports you, or she could be, according to Jungian theory, a wisdom figure, who actually represents your own inner wisdom. Your sanctuary in the cellar (because it is “below the ground”) again suggests the “wisdom of the subconscious.”
Translation? Your dream shows that, at a subconscious level, your inner wisdom knew that all this “end of the world” talk, most likely, was just hype. Like yourself, billions of people who believe in the future were relieved that the planet survived. In this new future, perhaps you will also remember to listen to that wise woman in your dreams more often?
Of all the fruits that frustration can bear, the desire to “end the world” certainly is the most perverse. It is a bad seed in the Garden of Life, and we should be suspicious of anyone who encourages us to eat it.
