Dreams and Dreaming
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- Dreams and dreaming
- Edgar Cayce heritage and more
- What sceptics could think
- Dreams in the Old and New Testament
- Rudolf Steiner on dreams
Dreams and Dreaming
Perhaps uneducated people look on dreams as nonsensical, or of little importance. Far from it, claim notable psychologists and others who have studied how dreams work and why they appear, and whether they occur according to patterns, and which patterns. Famous psychologists like Carl Jung, Medard Boss, Calvin Hall, Montague Ullman and others have decreed that dreams do carry meanings, but you need to understand how dreaming functions, its own terms and possible ways of communication, in order to derive some benefits.Dreams have meanings, and some of them carry meanings that appear to be valid for one's existential situation too. That view is fit for seemingly haphazardly jumbled "video clips" from inside too. Yet, dream interpretations need to be tentative, perhaps open-ended too, to get better in touch with your own depths somehow - deep feelings and other facets of your best side, the interior one.
Decode and interpret the flows of various icons, images, scenes, actors, happenings, concomitant feelings so as to arrive at tentative or putative postulates about what impressive dreams could mean. In such work there is help in mulling over single, outstanding ideas or episodes inside the stream or flow of a single dream. Take notes of them and learn to draw special illustrations that serve you in a dream (log) book. all of it could help, but it may be time-consuming work that had better be done for the whole life. In short, you have to learn to assess well.
There are some dream manuals that can offer help in this life-time project: I for my part am fond of Jungian interpretations, and have collected Jung statements on dreaming here: [LINK]
Clippings from the Bible
The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, "Aaron! Miriam!" The two of them stepped forward, and the Lord said,Even before that, Joseph rose under Pharaoh because God let him interpret dreams. And afterward Daniel rose under another king in exactly the same way, as an interpreter of dreams as omens. Dream interpretation, it is persistently said, should be from God.
"Now hear what I have to say! When there are prophets among you, I reveal myself to them in visions and speak to them in dreams. It is different when I speak with my servant Moses; I have put him in charge of all my people Israel. So I speak to him face-to-face, clearly and not in riddles; he has even seen my form!" - Numbers 12:5-8.
And inside "you are gods", said Jesus. "Crowned with honour and glory" is another description of what man is, essentially [See Hebrews 2:7]. It suggests you may accomplish quite a lot yourself, "even greater works", if you put your mind to it [Note John 14:12]. Jesus also said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am ... [John 8:28] Added to this:
The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another ... the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. - 1 Corinthians 12:10So, judged from Bible evidence, interpreting dreams may be good and work for good in a life and family, and it may even save a whole nation. "Gentlemen, learn to dream," said Albert Einstein.
Dreams and the Edgar Cayce heritage
IN MAJOR dreams we receive input which can be food for thought - thus the need to clarify. A dream may mean something physically, mentally, environmentally, or spiritually, - these can be held to be facets involving your total self—And dreams may deal with any dimensions of our total lives.Dreams come to you for a reason. Some dreams or dream themes evolve in time. Some elements of evolving dreams may reflect what comes to pass in the physical world or inwardly on some giant (i.e., spiritual) plane. And we may be warned in dreamland before something bad actually happen in the world of matter. Good things too can be foreshadowed in our dreams.
One may explore whether and how far dreamt encounters show any possible reality. Many try to do that.
Correlate the insights and truths you think you find enacted in dreams or as dreams with yourself in a process of developing (in the school of life). And remember that develop here means growing up, often waking up through insights, that is, moving in certain ways toward inwardness, i.e., higher forces, and the virr (Norwegian term).
The best development of the human family is to give the greater increase in knowledge of the subconscious, soul or spirit world. - Edgar Cayce
Some tips for dream work
In the Edgar Cayce heritage many of these things are proposed for analysing dreams:- Suggest to yourself every night as you fall asleep, "I'll remember my dreams." Yes, suggest to yourself (through mild autosuggestion) before going to sleep that you like to observing keenly in your dreams and like to plumb many of them after waking.
- Then be prepared: Keep a notebook beside the bed. Record your dreams as soon as you can after waking. And if you wake during the night, write down the main symbols and perhaps the matter of the dream returns in the morning.
- You can learn to draw strong dream scenes quite like altar pictures. Draw a circle and sketch the elements that impressed you the most. This may help far better than words where "a picture is worth a thousand words" (American proverb). To combine notes and sketches is good. Any of them may do as mementos.
- Look for these components in a dream: the persons, the setting, the feeling, the action, the colour or tone, and the words, especially the intrinsically meaningful ones.
Most dreams appear to guide and help, not to amuse or mar. Through such as servo-mechanisms and higher facets they indicate errors of omission and commission and offer encouragement for right endeavors. They also give us the chance to assist others in various ways.
Learn to be practical in your interpretations. Always look first for a lesson. For example, what have you refused to face or been ignoring, or been lackadaisal with again and again?
If you receive an unusual message, reduce it to common terms. See if there is a possible symbolism in it, after you have learnt the basic elements of such figurative portrayals. Your total experience may be involved and should be drawn on for understanding properly.
If you are unable to decipher an important dream, suggest to yourself before your next sleep that the dream repeat itself more clearly.
And most important of all, perhaps, you have to persist in order to learn what is called "the dream language" or "language of angels", the often forgotten language of the subconscious and further. The focus of most dreams are first and foremost linked to the total organism, the core of which is the self. Some dreams may relate outside that perspective, though.
You can work on analyzing your dreams every day, otherwise it may be hard to assess how they evolve or progress in time.
Hints for understanding
- Repeated, unchanged dreams through the years indicate the old resistance to some change.
- Recurring dream elements could be tentatively looked on as symbols. Some are privately formed, others are shared in a culture, and so on.
- If dreams are illogical, these reasons are possible: (a) Perhaps mere dream fragments were recalled. (b) The dream could reflect something illogical in your life. (c) There may be erased recall through suppression of elements - mental blocks tend to do that. If so, relax about it.
- Dreams may be dramatic portrayals of plots to catch your notice. Dreams of such as ill health and bad contacts can be either literal or symbolic warnings. Love to into them in that light and see what you find out. And nightmares in which you are unable to move or cry out, may indicate a wrong diet. It could be needed to make some changes of diet or habits.
- When a problem or crisis and ill health confronts you, you can ask for guidance given through your dreams. And if you have earned a proper understanding, it helps.
- If conversing with others in dreams, one-way communication could indicate telepathy. If both participate, maybe an actual encounter took place. Mental telepathy is a fact, and why not think it may occur in dreams for you too, as for Joseph, the three wise men and other notables in the Bible. [See Matthew 1:20; 2:12; 2:13]
Facing dreams
Be thankful inwardly for many significant lessons of the Bible. You can pray daily to get better inspiration, contacts, and insights from dreams you work on. Thus, learn to improve the quality and reception and understanding of your dreams, and what you do with them (understanding things is often not quite enough).To avoid uncessary dreaming, it helps to understand life better somehow. Give it a try. And in addition, observe carefully recurrent dreams, as well as the serially progressive ones. They may illustrate progress or failure or deeper things to be faced in time.
"This is what I will do in the last days, God says: ... your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams." - Acts 2:17Will there be anyone to interpret them? "Are there any of you who are wise and understanding? You are to prove it by your good life, by your good deeds performed with humility and wisdom," writes the apostle James (3:13)
Have wisdom and understanding to interpret instructions from inside, the heaven-side, confirms Revelation 17:9. If you interpret your dreams all right, it should help health in a holistic sense: being whole, not getting so easily tricked and psychosomatically disabled, not repressing a whole lot, seeing clearly and without gross distortions. Thus, there can be many benefits from treating your total self with a little respect.
However
If you carry too many groceries you feel weighed down, and those who get weighed down tend to feel defeated if it goes on for long, on and on.The reason why one may carry groceries even beyond one's capacity, is a desire to win - win time is included. Winning often helps.
When it comes to dreaming and interpretations of them, we may bear these images in mind. You get weighed down and hear little because of it. Then, in dreams, when your body is relaxed, what we may call certain background messages pop up through the daytime filters. If you are receptive - it can be trained - you may find many messages in signals - messages that often are open-ended or not too apparent and easy to verify.
Interpret not beyond your capacity if you get a load of this kind to carry too. It is fit to relax in a good many cases nowadays. It is easy to tell it, and often more difficult to accomplish the good things.
- Cayce readings (see for yourself)
- Edgar Cayce (Sceptic's Dictionary) We recommend this too.
What sceptics think
There are many sides to dreaming, and many opinions. Different camps tend to get fixed in their views, and schools of thought may rise for that reason too.Have you noticed that young men and women tend to think along veins that fit in where they are? They find themselves helped by such conformism. Other outlooks than what appear to be in vogue where they are - in the work-place, in their in-groups, and so on - tend to be filtered out or made lightly of. The reason MAY be a certain need for protection. It could be protection of the self-image, it could be protection against deviating - which is more common. In some cases there is a need to protect one's territory. And that is not necessarily bad.
In line with this, most people on a farm may be "suspected" to hold views and notions that find it OK to keep animals tightly under control and use them. Other notions tend to leave the heads of those who need farms in order to live. It is much similarly in other fields and camps of men too. In some camps there are outlooks that support the livelihood of many who are involved there, especially if one's livelihood is seriously involved. It is often subsumed - it goes without saying.
In ways like these persons who begin with open minds, often put on blinkers in order to feel OK for the new environment they go into in order to get money to live by. Often one feels they adapt to the job inside far more than needed too. In time those who were newcomers fit in (or leave), and seem to acquire quite identical notions. Yet that depends perhaps on the kind of group climate in the work-place. Douglas MacGregor has gone into that again, by launching his theory X and theory Y (q.v.)
Innocent persons may be unaware of the hidden background choir of concerns which regulates what is eventually accepted or called acceptable enough. Social psychology goes into such subjects and many others, and many of its findings may help you against much sullen gang croaking. It is often a rich field of study.
Listen to what the sceptics think too
We have rendered many apparently good hints so that you may go into the subject of dream interpretations on your own, yes, firsthand. Firsthand explorations are invaluable in good science. But it is needed and well to find out of things (phenomena) by delving carefully into the various sides of an issue. If you think you should do that, here is a helpful link: [Check]Be solid and preferably cogent. It pays in the end, one guesses.
Bible passages to look up
We have selected titbits which tie in with the core stories. In this chapter Today's English Version (TEV) has been used.From the Old Testament
One night God appeared to him in a dream and said, "You are going to die, because you have taken this woman; she is already married." [. . .] God replied in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did it with a clear conscience; so I kept you from sinning against me and did not let you touch her. [Genesis 20:3-6]"During the breeding season I had a dream, and I saw that the male goats that were mating were striped, spotted, and speckled. The angel of God spoke to me in the dream and said, "Jacob!' "Yes,' I answered. [Genesis 31:10-11]
In a dream that night God came to Laban and said to him, "Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way." [Genesis 31:24]
One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even
more. He said, "Listen to the dream I had. [Genesis 37:5-6]
"Do you think you are going to be a king and rule over us?" his brothers asked. So
they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of what he said about
them.
Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers, "I had another dream, in which
I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me."
He also told the dream to his father, and his father scolded him: "What kind of a
dream is that? Do you think that your mother, your brothers, and I are going to come and bow
down to you?" [Genesis 37:8-10]
One night there in prison the wine steward and the chief baker each had a dream, and the
dreams had different meanings. [Genesis 40:5]
They answered, "Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the
dreams mean." "It is God who gives the ability to interpret
dreams," Joseph said. "Tell me your dreams."
So the wine steward said, "In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me [Genesis
40:8-9] ...
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward's dream was
favorable, he said to Joseph, "I had a dream too; I was carrying three breadbaskets on my
head. [Genesis 40:16]
He fell asleep again and had another dream. Seven heads of grain, full and ripe, were
growing on one stalk. [Genesis 41:5] …
and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. The king woke up and realized
that he had been dreaming.
In the morning he was worried, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of
Egypt. He told them his dreams, but no one could explain them to him. [Genesis 41:7-8]
…
One night each of us had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. [Genesis
41:11]
A young Hebrew was there with us, a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our
dreams, and he interpreted them for us. [Genesis 41:12]
The king said to him, "I have had a dream, and no one can explain it. I have been
told that you can interpret dreams." [Genesis 41:15] …
Joseph said to the king, "The two dreams mean the same
thing; God has told you what he is going to do. [Genesis 41:25]
The repetition of your dream means that the matter is
fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future. [Genesis 41:32]
He remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said, "You are spies; you have come to find out where our country is weak." [Genesis 42:9]
and the Lord said, "Now hear what I have to say! When there are prophets among you, I reveal myself to them in visions and speak to them in dreams. [Numbers 12:6]
When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling a friend about a dream. He was saying, "I
dreamed that a loaf of barley bread rolled into our camp and hit a tent. The tent collapsed
and lay flat on the ground." [Judges 7:13]
When Gideon heard about the man's dream and what it meant, he fell to his knees and
worshiped the Lord. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, "Get up! The Lord is
giving you victory over the Midianite army!" [Judges 7:15]
That night the Lord appeared to him [Solomon] in a dream and asked
him, "What would you like me to give you?" [1 Kings 3:5]
Solomon woke up and realized that God had spoken to him
in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of the Lord's Covenant Box and
offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. After that he gave a feast
for all his officials. [1 Kings 3:15]
At night when people are asleep, God speaks in dreams and visions. [Job 33:15]
God gave the four young men knowledge and skill in literature and philosophy. In addition, he gave Daniel skill in interpreting visions and dreams. [Dan 1:17]
In the second year that Nebuchadnezzar was king, he had a dream. It worried him so much that
he couldn't sleep, so he sent for his fortunetellers, magicians, sorcerers, and wizards to
come and explain the dream to him. When they came and stood before the king, he said to
them, "I'm worried about a dream I've had. I want to know what it means."
They answered the king in Aramaic, "May Your Majesty live forever! Tell us your
dream, and we will explain it to you."
The king said to them, "I have made up my mind that you must tell me the dream and
then tell me what it means. If you can't, I'll have you torn limb from limb and make your
houses a pile of ruins. But if you can tell me both the dream and its meaning, I will reward
you with gifts and great honor. Now then, tell me what the dream was and what it
means."
They answered the king again, "If Your Majesty will only tell us what the dream was,
we will explain it." [Dan 2:1-7] …
... Tell me what the dream was, and then I will know that you can also tell me what
it means." [Dan 2:9] …
Daniel went at once and obtained royal permission for more time, so that he could
tell the king what the dream meant. [Dan 2:16]
So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had commanded to execute the royal advisers. He said
to him, "Don't put them to death. Take me to the king, and I will tell
him what his dream means."
At once Arioch took Daniel into King Nebuchadnezzar's presence and told the king, "I
have found one of the Jewish exiles who can tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream."
[Dan 2:25] …
But there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries. He has
informed Your Majesty what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you the dream, the
vision you had while you were asleep. [Dan 2:28] …
Now, this mystery was revealed to me, not because I am wiser than anyone else, but
so that Your Majesty may learn the meaning of your dream and
understand the thoughts that have come to you. [Dan 2:30] …
"This was the dream. Now I will tell Your Majesty what it means. [Dan 2:36]
But I had a frightening dream and saw terrifying visions while I was asleep. I ordered all
the royal advisers in Babylon to be brought to me so that they could tell me what the dream
meant. Then all the fortunetellers, magicians, wizards, and astrologers were brought in, and
I told them my dream, but they could not explain it to me. [Dan 4:5-7] …
Belteshazzar, chief of the fortunetellers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods
is in you and that you understand all mysteries. This is my dream. Tell me what it means.
[Dan 4:9]
"This is the dream I had," said King Nebuchadnezzar. "Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it
means. None of my royal advisers could tell me, but you can, because the spirit of the holy
gods is in you."
At this, Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar, was so alarmed that he could not
say anything. The king said to him, "Belteshazzar, don't let the dream and its message alarm
you." Belteshazzar replied, "Your Majesty, I wish that the dream and its explanation applied
to your enemies and not to you. [Dan 4:18-19]
He has unusual ability and is wise and skillful in interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining mysteries; so send for this man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, and he will tell you what all this means." [Dan 5:12]
In the first year that Belshazzar was king of Babylonia, I had a dream and saw a vision in the night. I wrote the dream down, and this is the record [Dan 7:1]
I, the Lord, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the [phoney] prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their dreams. [Jeremias 29:8]
"Afterward I will pour out my Spirit on everyone: your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old people will have dreams, and your young people will see visions. [Joel 2:28]
From the New Testament
While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. [Matthew 1:20]
Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had
warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.
After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph and said, "Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get
up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to
leave." [Matthew 2:12-13] …
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
[Matthew 2:19] …
But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of
Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in
a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee [Matthew 2:22]
While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night I suffered much on account of him." [Matthew 27:19]
"This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.
Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your young men will see visions, and your
old men will have dreams. [Acts 2:17]
Rudolf Steiner on dreaming
Through dreams we perceive - but dimly and without firm definition - single fragments of our inner, organic conditions. Through dreamless sleep we come to know our organization in its totality, although dimly and obscurely. Thus we have already considered three stages of knowledge: dreamless sleep, dream-filled sleep, the waking state.Rudolf Steiner is the founder of Waldorf edication. More than 600 Waldorf schools operate in 32 countries, serving approximately 120,000 students (1996).
Then we come to the three higher forms of knowledge: Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. These are the stages which lie above the waking consciousness. [More]A dream ... is mostly connected with ideas [someone] had already acquired in his life, with reminiscences. These are however only the garments of what really lives in the dream or during sleep ... for in dreams is revealed what actually takes place in the soul during sleep ... (And the dream) is [also] related to the future ... the soul is a prophet during our sleep ... while we are asleep we do have to concern ourselves with the future. [More]
Literature
Brd: Ullman, Montague & Zimmerman, Nan: Bruk dine drømmer. Aventura. Oslo, 1982.
Idln: Boss, Medard: "I dreamt last night ... " Gardner. New York, 1977.
Kri: Walden, Peter: Tyd dina egna drömmar. Forum. Np, 1985.
Medm: Hall, Calvin: The Meaning of Dreams. New ed. McGraw-Hill. New York, 1966.
Opod: Freud, Sigmund: Om psykoanalyse, om drømmen. Reitzel. København, 1992.
Retr: Hark, Helmut: Religiöse Traumsymbolik. Lang. Frankfurt am Main, 1980.
Tran: Jung, Carl: Traumanalyse. Walther Verlag. Olten, 1991.
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