Personal Spiritual Evolution
Dreams
For this group I was guided to discuss Dreams. Now, this is a topic
that reaches far and wide, and moves into realms of knowledge I couldn't even
begin to tap into. However, I have attempted to create some broad and
more general categories for us to better comprehend the world of dreams.
Before we move into reviewing these categories, there are probably some basic
questions that should be answered. What are dreams? Where do dreams come
from?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a dream as: a series of
mental images, ideas, and emotions that occur during sleep. OK, that is pretty
basic. I think we all had that figured out. Now, I'd like to share with you
a little more about what a dream is and where it comes from. Dreams exist
primarily on the astral plane. The astral plane exists in the fourth
dimension. Now, there are also different levels of the astral plane,
creating a different variety of dreams that exist with different
functions.
Our bodies exist here on the physical plane in the third dimension. Our
minds are like the doorways to this other world. And if any of you are
familiar with chakras (energy centers in the body) the Third Eye Chakra
(located on your forehead) is the key to this door. So, here is the big
question: Why do we dream? This is where the different categories of
information will be used to help explain this.
Subconscious Dreams: These are the dreams created by the subconscious.
Many times the reason for these types of dreams are to balance the mental and
emotional aspects of our being. For instance: You had a really bad day at
work and it seemed that you didn't do much right, and your boss yelled at
you, and you felt bad. Your dream that night was you being a super hero.
Or, perhaps you replayed the event in your dream where you went right up
And yelled back at your boss and he backed down. Or depending on your level
of anger you held onto, perhaps in the dream, you punched him right in the
face. Whatever the case, your bad day and hurt feelings were balanced out by
this dream. You were able to resolve some mundane issues as you sleep.
Subconscious dreams also attempt to show you hidden personal insights and
old patterns that no longer serve you for the purpose of growing and evolving.
This usually happens when you are having those really bizarre
psuedo-realistic dreams. Symbols are often involved in this case, and it
is up to you to determine what these symbols mean. For instance: You have a
dream about walking through the mall and the person you are in a
relationship with stops into a store to buy something. They come out of the store with
a very large anchor, and you don't even have a boat. They hand the anchor
to you and they begin to walk. They walk further and further ahead of you,
until they are lost in the crowd. You can't seem to catch up because your
anchor is too heavy. Then the dream ends. If you paid attention to the
symbols in the dream and who was in the dream, you may be able to
interpret it. Maybe the anchor represents being stuck or held back. And in that
relationship, something is holding you back. Only you would know for
sure, as symbols are only significant to the individual. Only you know what an
anchor represents to you. This is basically why I despise those Dream
dictionary books. They define what each symbol means, but what if a
particular symbol means something else to you because of a past experience
in your life. Perhaps you really love anchors and you collect them, that may
change the interpretation of the dream. In any case it is your
subconscious attempting to send a message to you. Your subconscious is your "hidden"
mind, therefor that is the reason it communicates in a "hidden" language.
Through symbols and vague messages. It is your conscious mind's way of
interpreting what your subconscious is attempting to say.
Prophetic Dreams: Have you ever had a dream, and it came true? These are
the prophetic dreams. Your mental body is very close in resonance with
your spiritual body. Therefor, they tend to communicate often. Your mental
body can sometimes be closer to your emotional body and therefor communicates
more of your emotional needs. Sometimes your mental body will be closer to
your spiritual body, and will communicate more of your spiritual needs. For
instance: Your spiritual body knows that you plan to make a certain
choice, this choice can lead to bad events. So it attempts to warn the mental
body and your mental body will attempt to warn you. One of these ways is
through a dream. It may be through symbols or words. It may be seeing the event
played out into its negative consequence. Then you catch this message and
understand it. So you make a different choice and avoid the negative
situation altogether.
Resolving Karma: In some dreams you may work out karmic issues from past
lives (or future lives), and therefor not have to go through the lesson in
your awakened state (which would cause a lot of wear and tear on the
body).
There is always a lot of information to process and since your soul never
sleeps, it can work a lot of issues out why you sleep. :) So, sometimes
in dreamtime you will being working out karmic issues and paying karmic debts
and work on old incarnation wounds.
Communication: Sometimes you can work out some communication through
dreams that can't be done in your awakened state. Perhaps you need to
communicate with a friend, and you are able to enter each others dreams for a moment
to discuss what must be discussed. Or even friends or family who have
recently passed away. To have closure with them, perhaps they will come to you in
a dream. Or perhaps it is just not possible to communicate with someone
while awake. For instance: A farmer went to sleep and had a dream that he was
in a bar. A man in a strange brown suit walked up to him and said that his
name was Briar. The farmer realized that was the same name as his horse. The
two of them talked for a moment, asking each other how they were. Briar
responded, "I'd be a lot better if someone would trim my rear hoof. I'd
walk a lot better." Then the farmer woke up. The next morning he went to see
his horse, Briar. He then noticed that he was limping on his left rear leg.
He had the hoof trimmed and the problem went away. Sometimes communication
through dreams is necessary to create closure, to have healing, or to
simply evolve further.
Soul Memory: As I stated before our souls are ever busy. Our souls are
doing many other things on different levels whether we are awake or asleep.
Most of the time we are unaware of much of it. Sometimes, when we sleep, what
I call our "light body" (or spiritual body) will leave our physical bodies.
They will do work, heal, fight battles against negative energies, learn,
and many other possible things. When they return to our bodies, the Light
Body tells our Mental Body what occurred. The Mental Body then attempts to
communicate this to our conscious selves. However, the conscious mind has
a hard time grasping all that information from such a higher level of
understanding, and so it grasps it the best way it can, through dreams.
Sometimes we may have very vivid and realistic dreams, but they are also
strange and don't make much sense. Our mind is trying to comprehend what
happened to what the Light Body went through and did.
My Perception
This is the part where I convey my own personal perception of this
lesson. I don't claim to be an authority of any kind. There may be those
of you who have a different perception, and a different truth. This is my
truth, and I am glad I am able to share it with all of you. :)
Most people's dreams will not fall under just ONE of the categories.
Our spirit bodies are very efficient, and like many of us, would rather "kill
two birds with one stone". Please excuse the expression. What I mean is,
they would rather us have a dream that consists of many or all of these
categories. That way, we'd learn more from one dream. Also, there is a
better chance that our conscious minds will at least grasp one or two of
the intended messages in the dream.
The reason I felt guided to discuss dreams is because I have noticed
mine to become more vivid and lucid. I have noticed myself doing more "work"
out of my body. It feels as though it is all being done in preparation for
something. I'm not exactly sure what. All I know is that it is important
to pay attention to your dreams. For whatever you believe, there is some
message there for you. It is there to help you, and further you along
your personal path to spiritual evolution. I do not believe in "coincidences",
so therefor, to me a dream is an important lesson.
I have learned that the better you become at remembering your dreams,
and the more you are able to keep your conscious mind in the dream, the
more you will be able to learn and do. For example, I have learned that if you
are able to keep your conscious mind in your dreams you are able to
manipulate them. You could also then learn to travel the dreamscape.
This is the dimension of dreams. We are all able to tap into it. When we
become more adept at traveling the dreamscape, you can even enter other people's
dreams. You can see what they are dreaming, or what their dreams have
created and left behind. This happens on accident many times. Have you
ever had the same dream as someone else? Have you ever been in a dream with
someone, and you both remember it? I know I have. Dreams and the
dreamscape have something to teach us as growing spirits. The Australian Aborigines
know this as well. They have a belief that when you are dreaming, that it
is truly reality, and when you are awake, you have gone back to sleep and
re-entered the illusion. Native Americans also believe dreams to be
sacred and powerful in nature. Direct links to Great Spirit. Many other
cultures hold great reverence for dreams.
Exercises
OK, here are somethings that you can do to have better dream
experiences.
To be able to learn more from your dreams, and possibly remember more.
Try one, or try them all.
Exercise 1: This one is simple and yet hard at the same time. Keep a
dream journal. It is difficult at times to be dedicated to actually waking up
and writing down your dreams. Especially if you are lazy like me in the
morning. However, it is a GREAT way to remember, process and understand your
dreams.
Not to mention keeping track is good so you can see your progress or go
back and say "So that is what that dream meant". The best way I find is to
keep your dream journal right beside your bed, so when you wake up, you reach
over and write what you remember. Remember, I am lazy, so, I keep a small
dictation tape recorder by my bed. When I wake up I hurry up and say what
I remember, and then, before I go to bed to sleep, I write it in my journal.
It is a great ritual to help you keep focused on your dreams, it will
eventually help you to keep your conscious mind in them as well, and to remember them
too.
Exercise 2: If you are having difficulty remembering dreams, do this
before going to sleep. Get comfortable. Take some deep breaths to relax and
center yourself. Then say out loud. "Help me to remember my dreams when I wake
up.
I will remember my dreams." You are saying this to your subconscious and
conscious minds, and you are saying this to your Higher Self, or your
Spirit Self. If it doesn't work, give it a try for a few more nights.
Exercise 3: Before going to sleep, say this mantra silently to yourself or
in your head. The mantra is HU. (Pronounced H-you). I'm not sure why
saying this mantra works, but it seems to help. It is used in some Hindu
traditions and it was later picked up by the Eckankar religion.
Exercise 4: Focus your attention and energy on opening up your Third Eye
chakra. It's the energy center for dreams. You can use a visualization
method of filling that area with Indigo colored energy. Imagine a sphere
of brightly colored indigo energy between and slightly above your eyes. In
the center of your forehead. Imagine it expanding and getting bigger and
bigger until your head is surrounded by this fear. Continue to visualize it
growing bigger, until it has surrounded your entire body. This visualization
should activate and open your Third Eye Chakra to prepare it for dream work.