DREAMS

In days of old, dreams were the primary method of man to spiritually know himself. Even today partial self realization can be gained through dreams; though modern man more often uses hunches and insights to receive information and direction from the soul and higher self. Dreams, however, can still be a powerful tool in the pursuit of self and God realization. Every cell in the body sends signals of its needs and of its experience to the unconscious mind. There it is sorted, stored and communicated to the ego through dreams, hunches and insights.

The Native American and many other primitive cultures placed a high value on the content and messages of their dreams. It was through their faith in the truth of their dreams that their higher selves influence their lives and destiny. The true spiritual power of dreams is this communication between two parts of us, the soul and the mind.

The dream is also one of the greatest tools we have for solving problems and getting rid of the suppressed emotions which face us daily. Yet, we often fail to remember even a part of the dreams which help solve our problems.

Full conscious or lucid dreams happen to most of us occasionally and can be prompted by certain techniques. Soul travel and out of the body experiences are two forms of lucid dreams. These special dreams are unique in their ability to teach us, for they simulate life experiences exactly. During these full conscious dreams the dreamer is aware that he is dreaming, while still having complete access to his memory and intellect. The mistake many spiritual seekers make when they have this type of experience is that they believe they are actually visiting a part of the physical world and that they are interacting with real people. They fail to realize that these experiences occur only within their private dream world and are filled with characters and symbols which represent parts of themselves. Although subjective and dream experiences are real in a personal way, they do not meet the definition of the word reality. Reaity is defined as when two or more people are conscious of the same thing at the same time. The sharing and validating of experiences creates reality. This does not lessen the dream experience for while not reality in one sense, it is real in that its power affects and changes our lives.

It can be shown that both lucid and normal dreams are the products of our minds, by the fact that all people dream in their own language and of their own culture or those they have experienced. The early Native Americans dreamed of nature, and their heaven was the happy hunting grounds; the ancient Egyptians dreamed of the Nile and the pyramids; we dream of our homes, cities and country side. We all dream what we have perceived and stored in our memory, although it may be reorganized to achieve the proper symbols for the lesson or the emotional release.

One of the most remarkable things about a dream is the part of the mind which creates all the scenery for the dream world. It is not the ego, that part of us who we normally think we are. It is the highest soul self, that part of our mind which is truly the master of the self. This dream master creates the scenes and the characters while the ego watches, acts, and reacts to it. This is how they communicate with each other.

Though lucid dreams seem real, they are a private reality which cannot be shared. It is a mistake to think that anyone else shares your dream or out of the body experience with you. The masters and friends you may see while dreaming are all part of you. No one ever enters into your dream and you never enter into the dream of another.

It is the beauty and freedom of our dreams that have caused the belief in life after death. Whether or not life after death does, in fact, exist is a personal thing for everyone to decide. If it does exist, we will one day know it; and if it does not, it will not matter. What is important is to pay attention to life’s own rewards. We must try to advance life where we can, not because we hope to gain entrance into another world after death, but because it is our nature to grow and become more.

The dream is a powerful tool of survival and growth. However, to move from illusion to enlightenment, it must be seen without its mystery and superstition.