In the drama of the dream, pathology is an evolving, shifting character. It hides in the blind spots…When it hid in the shadows, you reacted to it reflexively: you were thrown into panic or spoke cruelly or skulked in shame or acted out of guilt and had no idea why.
I don’t want to underestimate the trickiness or shiftiness of the pathology even as it begins to appear in the open. It has many wiles and tricks, and it knows you very well. Just when you get rid of it, it can come back in a different form. It’s a shape-shifter. It knows how to fascinate you: it knows what you like. The work of separating from pathology can be subtle and painful, like uprooting a tumor that’s thrown its tentacles around a vital organ. It feeds on the life of you. Its roots have to be skillfully snipped dream after dream.
…This opposition or pathology can feel like a cherished part of you; in many ways it may be who you think you are…
—Roger Kamenetz.
