Dream Malls
I make a distinction between public space and private space dreams. Private space dreams are dreams about your life: people you have known and places you have visited. These are the dreams that Western psychologists talk about.
In the next level are dreams about irreal places and people people unknown to you from waking life.
I often dream of being in a public space with other people who are just milling about, sitting, talking. Often, the place is a park or college campus. Railway stations and restaurants are another common theme. Sometimes I recognise people from earlier dreams, but none from waking life. We chat about ordinary topics. No significant action happens. I do not remember anything unpleasant happening in these situations. Maybe half of my dreams are like this.
My hypothesis is that after breaking out of personal space dreams, you find yourself shuffling about aimlessly with others in the same situation. This is the default post-personal experience. In my experience, it is the launching pad for historical or psychedelic dreams.
This phenomenon, I learned after the fact, is actually called mallworld. It has been written about in the New York Times. I have read accounts of people trying to collectively recover the layout of a particular dream mall. I believe that people who most often experience civil gatherings in shopping malls are going to dream of shopping malls when there are civil gatherings, not that there is a singular mall. For me, what is significant is the gathering, not the venue.
Last night I dreamt of an 18th century shopping mall. As usual, people were just strolling about. There was a food court on the ground floor, shops nearby and on a mezzanine. That is typical for mall dreams, other than the 18th century styling.
But this time, I noticed something unusual: a woman on the mezzanine was beleaguered by other people asking her questions. She seemed to be some kind of manager or coördinator. There was someone who seemed to know what was going on.
I thought I ought to note this in case someone else can make sense of it.