Analysis for William Shunn, 28 October 1998

This is how you described the room:

The room is painted with cream colored walls, and morning sunlight filtered through the windows, which are many-paned and framed in wood. The sunlight is buttery and warm. I am a little cold except when I'm directly in the sunlight, where it's warm. There are glass-fronted oak bookcases in the room, and a low bed. Outside the window are rosebushes and rolling green lawns.

The initial room is the subject’s childhood. What interests us here is the general atmosphere of the room, in addition to the level of furnishings described by the subject. This room is neither comfortable nor uncomfortable; this suggests the subject had a bland, uninspiring childhood. The depth of description tells us that the subject has strong memories of childhood.

You wanted to leave the room.

The subject wanted to become an adult.

This is how you described the forest:

The forest is very dense. The trees are thick and closely spaced, and their branches are interwoven above to shut out all but the thinnest of light. I'm walking on a paved brick path that winds between the trees so much that it's hard to see what's coming. The brick is pale red, not yellow. The trees come right to the edge of the path, and the air is cool. Birds are audible, and there is a faint pleasant smell of decomposing vegetation.

The forest is growing up, and the trees are those adults with whom the subject interacted at that time. Average-sized trees imply the normal influence adults have on a child: neither insignificant nor impressive. A semi-dark forest tells us that the subject felt somewhat oppressed by the attention the adults gave.

This is how you described the path:

The path is perhaps six feet wide and not at all worn, though it seems well-maintained and is entirely free of obstructions. It's as if the path were just installed yesterday. It is very easily navigable.

Adolescence is represented by the path through the forest. The visibility of the path tells us that the subject had a good idea of what to expect from adolescence. A wide path indicates that the subject had numerous options for emotional growth at this time. The lack of evidence of fellow travelers suggests strong feelings of isolation at that time. That the path is free of obstructions indicates that the subject had no problems during adolescence.

This is how you described the water:

The path ends at a pond, circular and perhaps thirty or forty feet in diameter. The pond is fed by a wide waterfall cascading over a thick wall of vegetation. The noise of the falling water is intense, and the cubic volume of water in the cascade seems intense. Still, the waterfall is only twelve or fifteen feet high, and almost as wide. The water in the pond, strangely, is only slightly disturbed by the waterfall itself. Mostly the pond's surface is still, though the water is opaque and cold. There are a few lillypads floating on the pond, bobbing slightly. Blue sky is visible overhead. It is not immediately apparent where the outflow from the pond is located. The pond seems entirely natural except for the preternatural roundness of it. I suspect that there is a chamber of some sort behind the waterfall, though it's not visible.

The water is the subject’s sexuality. What interests us here is the clarity of the water (representing attitude) and its movement (representing libido). Fast-moving water indicates a strong, active sex drive. The otherworldliness of the pond implies that it is artificial, manufactured. From that we can infer that the pond is the façade, the way the subject wants the world to view him: a calm, almost sexless person, with a few minor hangups (“opaque and cold”). Clear water tells us that the subject has no issues regarding sex.

Bonus points for the correct use of the word "preternatural," by the way.

When you came to the water, you went around it.

The subject is not interested in new sexual experiences.

This is how you described the cup:

The path continues around the edge of the pond and behind the waterfall to the opening of a large rough-hewn stone chamber. There is a crystal flask lying here, with thin and narrow like a vase, but with multiple facets cut into it. It is stoppered like a bottle of perfume. The liquid is visible inside through the translucent crystal, but the true color of the liquid is not immediately apparent. The crystal is a very pale pink-salmon-peach color, and the surfaces of the flask are roughened as if frosted with extremely fine sugar, until it feels like the surface of extraordinarily fine-grit sandpaper.

The vessel, or specifically the practicality of the vessel, is how the subject approaches marriage or bonding. A decorative container indicates that the subject views marriage as a romantic adventure.

You took the cup and filled it.

The subject is interested in marriage, and sex will be a significant part of that relationship.

This is how you described the key:

The key looks like an ordinary key to fit a Schlage lock, like the one that might open the door of my apartment. The key is the color of slightly tarnished bronze. In fact, it must open my apartment. There is a white twist-tie from a loaf of store-bought bread looped and twisted through the hole in the key, as if other keys were once held together with this one in a bunch. There would likely have been two to four other keys.

The key is the ideal career for the subject. What interests us here is how the key appears (representing how others view the career) and what it may open (representing the subject’s goals for the career). Having the key open a house, car, or other commonplace use tells us that the subject has no extraordinary expectations about a career. An ordinary-looking key suggests that the subject desires a nondescript career.

You confronted the bear.

In a crisis, the subject prefers the direct, no-nonsense approach.

When you came to the wall, you jumped over it.

The wall represents death: by jumping over it, the subject not only acknowledges death but has come to accept its finality.