In my dream it is very white and bright. I see lots of eggs. (The eggshell is white and in the shape of a chicken egg, although the size is much bigger, almost the height of a human child.) It’s somewhat like a scene in the movie “Alien,” but unlike the movie scene, it is very bright and white, although the feeling isn’t very comfortable.

Then, I realize what is inside the eggs. As I look at one, a human infant baby (beautiful and clean) breaks the eggshell from the inside and is getting out. Some other babies are trying to get out from their eggs, too. It seems like that’s the way they’re born.

Some babies are already out and crawling although I’m not paying much attention to them. There is a baby boy whom I seem to know (probably one of my cousins, who in reality is a young kid about 9 years old, not an infant), and he seems to have gotten out from his egg earlier and is busy doing something that I don’t remember (perhaps helping other infants come out). At this moment, I turn my head to a baby that has just gotten out from an egg near me on my left side, and I am horrified. That baby is dead and lying there, and his color has turned blue or purple.

I don’t dare to look closely but I have a glimpse and see that his body is torn apart and becomes two separate parts (upper and lower bodies are now separated). It is a horrible scene. I immediately assume that my baby cousin must have stumbled or walked over this baby accidentally and caused this frightening death. Scared, I ask my baby cousin, and he calmly tells me that the baby’s death must have been caused by electric shock. It seems strange to me, of course, but when I look at that dead baby again carefully, I can see that there is a big electrical wire connecting between his now separated upper and lower bodies. Although he’s dead, his right hand is still holding the wire, which is sizzling with electrical current. His death was caused by electric shock.

Suddenly, I notice that the baby boy who seems to be my cousin is doing the same thing to himself and holding the wire between his upper and lower bodies now. I’m frightened and think that he might die, too. I call out for the mother (I assume that there must be a mother around who laid all the eggs). She appears from nowhere and hurries towards us. I don’t remember if she saves the baby or says anything in particular, but she seems to be telling me that this kind of accident (premature death of babies because of electrical shock) happens often. This woman seems to be someone I know, too.

That’s the end of the dream. It was a sick, scary, and even disgusting dream. I usually don’t remember my dreams, so this one could be significant, and I’m wondering what it all means.

About me: I’m a single, 23 years old, female undergraduate student. I study music (piano) in a conservatory. This year I will be auditioning for other schools. I live alone in my apartment. I have one sister, four years older, also single, who is studying for her MBA. My parents live overseas.

My piano studies have been frustrating and there have been many problems. There were times when I thought about giving up music and studying something else. However, since this school year started, I’ve decided to keep doing it (piano and music) because I truly love music very much.

I’m quite pessimistic about my life and future in general. This year I’m working much harder because I hope to attend the music school of my dream next year, but I’m also worried about my academic work right now. I don’t have many friends or any relationship at all. A year ago, I was diagnosed and found out that I had been born with a medical condition that made me unable to become pregnant, which is only one of the unfortunate aspects of this condition. Sometimes I think about my medical condition and how it affects my life in many bad ways, and it makes me very depressed and sad at times. But lately I’ve been concentrating on my piano/music studies so much that I rarely think about the condition. I wouldn’t want to have children anyway even if I could. That issue is rarely on my mind.

I hope this background information helps.

—Anonymous

Hi Anonymous—

Thank you for providing so much detail and background for your dream. Given the information you have provided, I have to believe that your dream, because it focuses so much upon issues of fertility and birth, reflects your feelings about the recent news of your medical condition—especially the likelihood that you will be unable to bear children.

This news, I am sure, was “shocking.” So shocking, in fact, that I believe it explains the cause of the baby’s death in the dream. The mother in the dream appears to be a maternal or nurse figure—someone who tells you that these things, indeed, do often happen in our lives. A hospital setting (where your medical condition most likely was diagnosed), is also suggested by the bright, white light that fills your dream so dramatically.

The graphic image of the dead baby, who is split in half with his upper and lower bodies separated, is disturbing, yet significant. Upper bodies in dreams are associated with rationalism and the intellect. Lower bodies are associated with feelings and the body. Is there a separation in your own life now, between your head and your heart, with regard to your feelings about childbirth?

It is normal to watch our deep emotions become represented in our dreams, and this dream appears to represent the “death” of a future that you once imagined for yourself. In dreams and in waking life, however, we repeatedly learn that death is an opportunity for growth and new life. As you mourn the death of this dream, I still believe you have every reason to be confident and optimistic about your future—which remains full of mystery and hope.

Anonymous replies:

Dear Dream Doctor,

Thank you very much for the analysis. It really made a lot of sense. You made me realize that perhaps subconsciously I’ve been trying to ignore some of my feelings towards the medical condition and my infertility.

Your comment about separation of reason and heart is especially enlightening because that is very true for me in so many different ways. I have a hard time reconciling the two. Very often my head is guiding and my heart denying, or vice versa. I have this conflict towards many things. I also agree entirely that this dream represents the “death” of a future that I once imagined for myself. How very true. Many (not just one) of my dreams or future plans have been shattered, and it can make me very sad when I think about them. But now that I’ve examined those emotions in such a way through my dream, with the help of your interpretation, I feel better already. Thank you once again.