Comments about Smith and Wesson

DREAM POWER: If the issue is power, then at least you have some, Mr. Brown. Of course having some money is power. So is having a gun. We have also been talking about when an ethnic group gets the shadow projection and is denied power for fulfillment by the dominant group of society. Then the way the minority group tries to right the balance is by acting out the dominant group's shadow: black is the white's shadow and white is the black's shadow. It's more complicated than this in American society with various ethnic groups, such as Jews, Asian-Americans, Spanish Americans, Italians, Irish, Native Americans. Social psychology has found a tendency in ethnic minorities to find their shadows, what they dislike, in other minority groups, rather than in the dominant white group which they aspire to. Blacks aspire to a white wealthy culture, not to an African culture. Strange but true. See the Opra Winfrey Show. It's amazing as an example of blacks wanting the dominant white culture. So for the poor minority person, wanting power is natural but difficult to achieve. The dominant white culture lets in a few blacks and other minorities as symbolic representatives of their "fairness." But most blacks still feel deprived of power in the dominant white culture, as Jews often feel as well. So why not have a gun to protect yourself? It's even in the American constitution, the right to defend yourself. But in terms of dreams and dreamwork, the symbolic function is to have power to be more effective in ones life. A more effective way of becoming more powerful is to have money. But when you are discriminated against, unless you have a supertalent like a sports figure or a movie star, then you have much less chance to gain money power in America. Once you have a little extra money, how do you feel good about it? How do you feel more powerful in handling life? Use money to create more moeny, is one power principle. Owning another gun may be largely symbolic, and thus you lose the value of your money in a gun. However, if you make money with your money, then you are a little bit more ahead. Even if you keep increasing your net worth through savings and conservative investments you can look each year at your net worth and see it increase and thus feel more powerful, more able to handle life. Bank of the West, my bank in America, was started as a bank for minority people. Maybe it is a good place to get counseling about money and increasing your money worth. Each month as those numbers go up, if they do, and they should, then you can feel in yourself a little bit more powerful. These are just some possibilities around the dream issues you raise. When you have power what do you do with it? Use power to increase power, is one principle. Another is, use power to manifest value. --Strephon