Does anyone know about dreams?

[hitchhiker]

I have a question: when are dreams prophetic and when are they wishful thinking? Been having strange dreams lately about people from the past reappearing in my life. Just wondering what you all thought.

Cheers

hh

 

[jillc]

Hi HH

I'm no expert on the topic, but I have had at least one dream that proved to be prophetic. The quality that made it stand out for me was an almost numinous sense of love from somewhere that made me feel deeply comforted both during and after the dream.

Jill

 

[lenardthefast]

Dear Hitch,

I don't profess to be a dream interpreter, but from my own personal experience repeated dreams seem to be indicating areas or conflicts which need attention from my conscious Self. The symbolism used in the dreams seems to be the most important part. What is suggested by those who do offer advice about dream interpretation is to write the dream down in a journal upon awakening. You will find that in the course of writing down the dream certain things which appeared one way to you in 'thinking' about the dream assume a different meaning when you transfer your thoughts to writing. I have found that scenes in the dream, when written, become at times totally different than the picture in your mind. In addition, usually the writing process causes a 'realization' on your part that can at times be quite illuminating.

Hope this is of some help.

Namaste,
Leonard

 

[binz]

I would just like to add my support to Leonards advice.
I often am aware of things - sort of visions, a bit like dreams - during reiki sessions. I now write these down afterwards, and during the writing my understanding becomes clearer, or additional meanings come to me.
I also write down the meaning separately a few days later (i.e. without the imagery) and sometimes this also helps to focus my awareness of what it all meant.

Binz

 

[lenardthefast]

Hi Hitch,

This is a postscript to my previous post. If you have someone who you feel comfortable with about discussing these dreams(friend, family member, etc),you can also make the same discovery as writing down the dream by attempting to relate it in conversation.

Heres what I have found. I have a dream, in my mind the dream seems perfectly clear, but...when relating the dream to someone else, when I arrive at a certain point in the dream I might find that what seems so clearcut and sensible in my minds picture of the dream suddenly becomes hard to describe and I can't seem to find EXACTLY the RIGHT word(s)that describe the picture. This has been the important part of the dream in my experience. Its where the 'real' communication between your sub-conscious and conscious is having difficulties. I am always amazed by the words I use at this point in the course of relating the dream. Many times they don't resemble the 'picture' at all. This appears to be the important part and if you are tuned in to yourself you can get some very good advice here from the 'inner' you.

Namaste,
Leonard

 

[lenardthefast]

Oh, and leave it to me to forget one of the most important parts. Ask the Yi what the dream means. Of course you are going to receive MORE symbolism but its usually going to direct you to a starting point. Good luck!

Namaste,
Leonard

 

[Frankelmick]

Hitchhiker,

I agree with Leonard.

I do a lot of dream interpretation and Hilary very kindly published my Introduction to Dream Intrepretation tutorial here at Clarity.

If you're interested in dream interpretation, please take a look.

Here's the link

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_dream_interpretation/introduction.html

The tutorial takes about 30 minutes and I hope you find it useful.

I think that prophetic or pre-cognitive dreams definitely happen but they're quite rare. Pre-cognitive dreams are normally full of fine detail and often feature a relatively meaningless detail in the dream that's slightly different from reality.

Kenneth Walker has an excellent chapter on pre-cognitive dreams in his book "The Unconscious Mind".

Best wishes,

Mick
http://www.north-node.com/dreams

 

[candid]

Thanks, Mick. I enjoyed what I've read in a couple of your posts at north-node. I've also saved it to my Ching related folder for future exploration.

I'm very much in agreement with what's been written here on dreams.

The most notably impressive thing to me about dreams is how we surprise our self. We're in a dream, lucid or otherwise, and everything's going along fine. Then out of "nowhere", something happens or appears that creates shock. We're surprised! My question has always been, how can we surprise our own self? Who or what is the surprisor?

Terms like, collective unconscious mind, are excellent ways to try and grasp it. It all does seem to come from us individually. It still feels mysterious though, and I still sorta like that feeling. LiSe once commented here that she sees prayer as something ?going outward.? I understand what she was saying.

If prayer goes outward, perhaps dreams come inwards? Or is it all really just in our head?

Candid

 

[anita]

Mick, you speak of the different from reality detail in the precognitive dream -- I have had that experience on the morning when my sister killed herself some years ago. I dreamed of a figure in a white shroud running around our ancestral home. I could not see the face but I knew it was her. And then there was my father who had already died from cancer at the young age of 47 who was asking me in my dream to hit him on his head. I had to bury him all by myself in that dream and I woke up crying. I felt strongly then that something terrible had happened to her. The cops called an half an hour later. She had hung herself from the fan.

On the morning of my father's death, I once again saw his death symbolically. It was the charred body of the sacred 7 headed serpent - on whose coils Vishnu reclines. It was beheaded. Strange because I have never been into Hindu mythology or religion at all. Yet I knew it was my father I had seen.

I had a dream last week about my boyfriend asking for the statue of the Maitreya Buddha. I thought but he already has one. And this was because (as I found out) he was really upset then at a further delay in his coming to India to see me. He too prays every day.


Best for your Quest

Anita

 

[hitchhiker]

Thanks, all, for your replies. I've always believed that dreams are the unconscious mind's way of sorting out experiences we encounter in our conscious lives. But I'm never quite sure if the mind is sometimes processing what it secretly desires, or trying to tell our conscious minds something important.

I did try to keep a dream diary once, but I dream so much that I found I actually couldn't physically keep up with the daily recording. It just took too long in the morning. And I already have a routine of meditation and sometimes yoga. I don't know, maybe I'll get back to it.

Mick, thanks for the article. Could I ask a question about dream interpretation? In your experience, do you find that dream symbolism may be culturally specific?

Best
hh

 

[Frankelmick]

Hitchhiker,

I know what you mean about the problems of keeping a dream diary.

I find that I can jot down one or two sentences and that's enough for me to be able to get back into the full dream.

You asked, "In your experience, do you find that dream symbolism may be culturally specific?"

Yes. Definitely. For example, I'm Jewish and the other night I dreamt about a group of Orthodox Jews.

This symbol is very particular to me because it connects with my own cultural heritage and my family history.

In fact, I would go even further.

I think some dream symbolism is individually specific.

For example, last night I dreamt about a woman named Gill that I used to know.

No-one else can know what Gill represents to me. As a dream symbol, she is unique to me.

I think this is why dream dictionaries can only give you a limited understanding of your dream.

But. Some dream images are Universal. Water for example, often represents your feeling life or your unconscious. Emotional undercurrents or things that are going on beneath the surface.

I think that this is where dreams and the I Ching are very similar.

Candid,

You asked, "If prayer goes outward, perhaps dreams come inwards? Or is it all really just in our head?"

There are different types of dreams I think. Most dreams are your creative mind sorting out the events of the day and sending you what Katya Walter calls "Dream Mail" about what's going on in your life.

Pre-cognitive dreams are different. This brings us on to the subject of Time and how limited our understanding of Time is.

We live in a domain where there is 3-dimensional Space and 1-dimensional Time which we experience as a moving point of "now".

Perhaps there is another domain in our Universe where there is 1-dimensional Space and 3-dimensional Time?

Best wishes,

Mick