The Road Runner*
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (Looney Tunes) cartoons were popular cartoons in my childhood. The common theme in all of the episodes was the coyote chasing the road runner and coming up with devious methods in attempts to catch the bird. The road runner always makes the escape.
Recently I was reminded of dreams of being chased while viewing coyote and road runner photographs sent to me from a friend in the desert. The Road Runner cartoons illustrate the archetypal theme of being chased in dreams. A recent dream illustrates the common theme of being chased:
Jane and I were being chased by a Native American. We were in car, he was on a bike. Finally, he caught up to us and we were trying to talk to resolve a problem.
In this dream, the dreamer realized that he needed to re-emphasize a spiritual outlook toward his life, and this dream of being “chased” illustrates the urgency of this. In this case, the dreamer made the association of the Native American in the dream as symbolic of the spiritual.
Dreams of being chased can also be symptomatic of trauma and/or increased anxiety and stress. I have heard many dreams and nightmares of being chased from veterans and other individuals who have witnessed or experienced violence and trauma. In these types of dreams, the aggressor doing the chasing could be a monster, a murderer, a demon, etc.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung’s psychology stands out in that images from dreams have the ability to help transcend, transform the personality and point toward what needs to be done for personal growth and change. Being chased in dreams is not typically about out-running the images chasing us in our dreams like the road runner does to Wile E. Coyote. Rather the figures, the symbolic images, chasing us need to be understood and integrated. Worked with effectively, these images have the potential to diffuse traumas, decrease anxiety and move us into new ways of being.
In the desert heat
The road runner yet knows not
That coyote knows
The Coyote*
*Image credits> Michael A. Anderson, Tucson, AZ
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