There are certain levels of knowledge and understanding, across many fields of study, that once they are achieved, fundamentally change how you perceive the world around you. Which in turn, changes how you question that world and its behaviors. If you study the philosophies of the world, and have the courage to choose one, you at least gain a framework in which to start to ask those questions.
I’ve chosen the Judeo-Christian traditions for their ability to explain, and give further understanding to, what science reveals, as well as, explaining the behaviors of mankind. I never have to leave my beliefs “at the door”, so to speak. When we sent a man into space with a window, I didn’t have to shift my religion because there were no snakes, or giants, etc. holding up the Earth. My religion believed it was a sphere floating in a void. So, I was validated not disproven. But, I digress. My point being, I will be using the language of my own beliefs to describe dreams. If you are capable of withstanding Christian language and philosophy, you will be able to understand my theory; even if you reject the Christian framework in which it was formulated and understood.
The questions I’ve asked repeatedly are; what does it mean to be made in the image of God? What aspects of God did he bestow upon us, or do we reflect? I end up focused on the concept of the Trinity, and being a creator.
When I examine the idea of being a triune entity like God; He is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I then attempt to brake down the nature of each of those aspects of God. But, if you look to God for an answer to those aspects of His nature, it fails at His Perfection, and especially Holiness. Our ignorance amplified further by the dark light of this fallen world in which we now inhabit. So, I must look to His Word to find the ways in which He doles Himself out to us through orderly Revelation.
For us the concept is often referred to as; Mind, Body, Spirit. As I stated in an earlier post, I believe the Spirit is eternal, and the thing we are to be focused on. The Mind and the Body have been corrupted by the fallen nature of our world, but the Spirit is only corrupted by the fallen mind and body.
Why did I tell you all that? To explain my paradigm used to understand dreams, as well as, explain my theories.
So, what does the concept of our personal triune nature have to do with dreams? Each of our three parts play a part in dreams and dreaming. Each one has a unique voice and nature. I can’t tell you their unique voices, because they are also unique to each unique person on the planet. What I can do is share my thoughts on their nature.
I believe the mind is disobedience, the body is fear, and the spirit is the eternal and true self.
How is the mind disobedience? God says anything not done in Faith is disobedience. The mind hates faith. So much so, that it will never admit to true ignorance, even to itself, unless confronted by another person who you respect enough to admit and reveal your lack of knowledge. (And, the respect is needed! Because, if you don’t respect them, the fear of looking weak [the voice of the body], or lesser, will overpower your bowing to the truth, and you will lie to their face.)
Things like the internal combustion engine, climate change, economics, the power grid, etc. Almost every adult thinks they understand these things, and many do. But the remaining majority never really do. They don’t examine, or even perceive life beyond a superficial level. And, even though they know that, if you ask them if they understand those things (and by extension the bigger philosophical issues of the world), they will say, “yes.” Until you examine further, and when you do you will find that they actually only know they exist, and maybe a vague idea of what they do. But, until you asked, they truly believed they knew those things. (By they I mean; You, me, everyone.) That is how much the mind rejects faith! It will literally create delusion, and accept the group’s delusion, to fill in any gaps in knowledge and perception.
How does the mind, with it’s nature of disobedience, manifest itself in our dreams?
It is always trying to make sense of what it is seeing. It is the thing that is attempting to create a narrative for the imagery and experiences of your dreams. Although, it is not the source of the imagery, and only the creator of the imagery can define the imagery. Or, reveal its context and purpose. And, the creator is the Spirit.
Why do we even have dreams filled with imagery and sensations?
It is the Spirit ordering and “storing” our memories, and our understandings. The spirit is our eternal being; that is where our memories lay, not our body. The physical brain creates pathways for those things, as well as, short term storage, but the spirit takes them into eternity. Somehow.
Which brings in the body. The physical brain is the body, and it has many tasks to complete while we sleep. It is secreting hormones, detoxing areas, and like I stated, creating pathways; and many more things.
How does it manifest itself in our dreaming experience?
It brings its fear based reality to the narrative of the impatient mind, that is already jumping to conclusions.
Our conscious mind is not there to control the fear through its much more advanced understanding and perception of existence. The unconscious mind is almost all rudimentary iconography seen first through the lens of fear. A fear that is needed to drive the mind and spirit to perceive, or at least contemplate danger at every interaction. You know, for self preservation of yourself and your loved ones.
So, what are dreams?
They are our spirit ordering and storing our perceptions, thoughts, understandings, and experiences, in all their sensual glory. We experience them in our minds through reliving the imagery, sensations, and feelings of them while the spirit processes them.
The foreign nature of dreams is due to the fact that they are being created by our spirit, and our spirit, with its eternal nature, uses an ordering system that highlights experiences based on their importance in that realm, and not the temporary physical world, in which we actually exist. That, coupled with the fact that those experiences are still being presented to us through our fallen mind and body, and the mind and body are fighting for control of a narrative, to a set of experiences, they don’t understand!
“Okay, great. What do I do with that bit of information?”
There is another aspect of dreaming we all believe in; whether you will admit it or not. Which is the communication with the eternal, in some form or another. We’ve all had some dream that we felt connected us with something other, something beyond. I am not going to attempt to describe that experience, because I think it is, again, a unique and personal thing.
I will say this though, the dream world is dramatically increased in power, just like the real world, by learning how to shutout and quiet, the disobedience and fear.
I described a situation to a Christian friend as an example; which I will repeat here.
Let’s say that God wants to communicate with you on a specific level through your dreams. He may send a version of Himself you recognize, or maybe a friend or relative, either way, that Messenger will attempt to communicate something He deems important for you to understand (I am a cessationist) at that time in your life.
The dream you have will take place in an airport. While you are in a large open area at the bottom of a set of escalators, the messenger will ride down those escalators, walk right up to you, and whisper the message in your ear. Easy Peasy.
Except, your mind and body are still directing the show. The spirit will have populated the airport with people that represent aspects of the message, or the concept of receiving a message. But, your mind doesn’t grasp their importance, and never waits for it to sink in, it just takes over and starts making its own context for those dream characters.
“Oh, look, there is your fifth grade teacher.” Your mind now associates them with some event and brings in some context (other than Teacher), and five more characters to bolster that unintended context. That goes on and on, until you are now in such a crowd it’s hard to move. Which is an aspect created by your body. It saw more people appearing in the dreamscape, and fearfully took that to its extreme. Now that your mind and body have created way more people than were intended to be there, it causes further triggers in the fearful body’s narrative. Now thoughts of claustrophobia appear, which lights up fight or flight! The next thing you know you are running in fear through the crowd being chased by a big dog, that was owned by your friend’s neighbor when you were in the fifth grade!
As the messenger arrives at the top of the escalators and looks down; it sees you go running by, screaming, while being chased by a big dog. They ride down and watch you run by again. On your next pass they try to get your attention, but of course, it is all focused on the dog, and the fact that you can’t seem to run faster than half speed, no matter how hard you try!
Even if the messenger decides to yell out their message while you run by, it is not received or heard in any meaningful way. It will most likely be just enough to create an inkling of something there…something just out of reach, beckoning you in other dreams; waking or not.
You have to learn to shut out the fallen parts of you in your conscious life, before you can learn to do it in your dream life.
We have all had a glimpse of the experience (I hope), when we do something so much that it becomes a part of our eternal self. Hopefully, it isn’t something you are ashamed of right now as you think about it. It could be skills and knowledge from your profession, a sport, or a hobby. It is something that you have done so much that when you “let go” of the mind and body, and let your spirit direct your actions, with its eternal viewpoint, you excel beyond your normal abilities. We call that; being in the zone.
What can you do to make it easier to hear the messengers?
I believe you do this and then this.
Mutemandeafcat