Dreams and Spirituality
As I began thinking about this subject, I realized that before I could discuss Spirituality, I needed to define what the term meant to me. For me, Spirituality is a sense of connectedness – to all other humans, to all living things, to all of everything, and especially to my Higher Power. When my Spirituality is "off", I feel separate, alone, in conflict, contracted, and defensive. When it's "on", I feel connected, related, in harmony, expansive, and protected. I believe we have all had dream experiences which have led us to that transpersonal place of connection. I have seen it when two people in the same dream group have the same symbols in their dreams. I have felt it when one person in a group tells a dream which has such a sacred feeling to it that it touches all of us who hear it and makes it our dream too.
Here are two examples of what I think of as spiritual or transpersonal dreams. The first is from Rita Dwyer, a former president of the Association for the Study of Dreams. As you read it, imagine that you are the "I" in this dream and notice how you feel. This is an example of a "numinous", richly-textured, spiritual dream.
I am supported and surrounded by angelic beings. Held up by their wings. I can see the outlines softly merging one with another, but not separate isolated beings, and am aware of their overlapping wings and the presence of light.
The second is from a client of mine who named it "The Third Step Dream." This one is metaphorical in nature, and refers to the 3rd step in a 12 Step program. ("Made a conscious decision to turn my Will and my Life over to the care of a Higher Power.")
It's night, and I am a passenger in a car, driving very fast down a unknown highway. I look to the left and see there is no driver, but I know there is a Presence driving the car. From time to time, the driver's door opens and wind rushes into the car and swirls everything around before the door closes again. I feel perfectly safe and at peace.
The history of dreams with a religious or spiritual nature goes back almost as far as the written word. Some of the earliest records on dream interpretation were written in cuneiform on clay tablets as early as the 7th century B.C. In ancient times, dreams, especially the dreams of rulers, were often considered direct communication from the gods. Special temples and sacred precincts existed expressly for dream incubation where people would go to receive dreams to answer questions or reveal the future.
Dreams were important in early Hebrew times as well. The Old Testament records dreams such as Jacob's dream of a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven itself with angels climbing and descending it. It was this dream which told Jacob that his children would spread throughout the world. Another Old Testament story is of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, and who was raised to prominence because of his ability to understand the dreams of his master and of Pharaoh. And in the New Testament, Joseph took Mary and Jesus into Egypt to escape Herod's butchery because of a warning dream sent by God.
Sadly, dreams fell into disfavor with the Christian church as the Dark Ages approached. This disapproval was evidentally due to a mis-translation of ancient texts which confused dreams with witchcraft. Beginning in 382 A.D., St. Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin, and according to Robert Van de Castle in Our Dreaming Mind.
Jerome apparently deliberately mistranslated the Hebrew word for witchcraft, anan, which was considered a pagan superstitious practice, as (observo somnia), observing dreams. The word anan appeared ten times in the Old Testament; seven times Jerome correctly interpreted it, as witchcraft or a closely related practice, such as divining; but in the other three cases, where the Hebrew text is specifically condemning witchcraft (anan), he redirected the condemnation against dreams. Thus, the prohibition "you shall not practice augury or witchcraft" became "you shall not practice augury nor observe dreams."
This religious prohibition, which grew in importance during the Middle Ages, has only been challenged within the last century or so when dreams began to regain support in the West as tools in psychological work. Then came the introduction of sleep laboratories, where we began to study dreams scientifically. About 30 years ago, researchers began to study the reality of telepathic and precognitive dreams. The interest in dreams as spiritual tools began even more recently, within the last five to ten years.
The general belief is that dreams exist on different levels, such as the literal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and transpersonal. Theoretically, it's possible to find all these levels within one dream. Let's say you have a dream in which the brakes in your car fail and you go over a cliff, landing safely on the valley surface hundreds of feet below. On the literal level, it would be a good idea to get your brakes checked. On the interpersonal level, the dream could be warning you, for instance, about a relationship which is about to "jump the tracks" and leave you "on the bottom". On the intrapersonal level, where you pull everything within, the dream could still be a warning, asking if you are out of control and need to slow down or face some hard consequences. On a transpersonal, or spiritual level, the dream could be a reminder that you are always safe, no matter how dangerous or scary the current problems you face in your life. So it could be possible to find a spiritual context wherever we look, if we look deeply enough.
Often in dreams, spiritual concepts come cloaked in symbol and metaphor, and these can sometimes be unsettling until they are examined. For example, the idea of "transformation" (as a spiritual concept) is often presented in dreams by death and dying since transformation requires some symbolic "death" of the ego. White or golden light is often a symbol for some spiritual awakening; and interestingly, the feeling most often expressed by dream ego (the "I" in the dream) upon first seeing this light is one of fear or terror. Religious figures such as Buddha, Jesus, the Goddess, or angels, often appear in spiritual dreams. And a dream which starts off, "I'm in a church" could be saying "In this spiritual space. . ."
However, there are other dreams, much more rare, which have such an obvious spiritual content that they don't require examination. They come with a sense of wonder and transcendence, or what Carl Jung referred to as "numinosity", and they leave us feeling inspired or blessed – as if we have truly been in the presence of God. It is my personal belief that these incredible experiences are affirmations of our connection to our basic spiritual nature. They require no "interpretation" because their meaning is not cognitive, but experiential. Although they can certainly be shared with others, they deserve to be treated with awe and respect and to be honored in some way.
For me, the best news about spiritual dreams is that they are easily accessible. We all dream. We all dream five or six times a night. Dreams – including spiritual dreams -- are a part of the universal human experience. They don't require years of study or special foods or fasting or deprivation. If you want to experience a spiritual dream, all you really need to do is request them. Start with the intention. Then prepare yourself. Get a dream journal and a pen (or a hand-held tape recorder) and keep them by your bed. Several times during the day, state your intention to give yourself a spiritual dream that night. Write the intention in your journal. Then when you awaken the next morning, before you open your eyes, or turn over, or think about the day, check inside and see if there's a scene from a dream in your mind. Even a single image or one small symbol can help you pull back the dream. Then write it down - or speak it into your tape recorder.
Perhaps you'll give yourself an unforgettable spiritual experience the very first time. Perhaps instead you will cloak it in metaphor. And perhaps your internal Dreamer will have other ideas and understandings for you to see first. Be patient with yourself. The spiritual connection is a part of our human birthright. If we continue to show up in expectation of the experience, the experience will follow.
