What Are Dreams?
A dream is one of the most fascinating, bizarre, frightful, whimsical, and wondrous experiences that a human can have.
Likely the most common question that I hear in the work that I do is, "What are dreams?"
Although dreams themselves are often quite complex and appear to go completely outside of what we deem as real and normal, dreams are actually quite simple to explain.
Dreams are typically one or a combination of the following four possibilities:
1. An Astral Experience
When we fall asleep a layer of our consciousness leaves our bodies and travels in what is called the Astral state. Akin to our bodies having energy fields emanating from them, all things have energy fields.
This means, when you are sleeping, a layer of your consciousness leaves your body, moves around, travels, meets with other beings, and essentially has an adventure of its own - EVERY NIGHT! - whether you recall it or not.
In some instances, people remember walking through their own house or seeing themselves sleeping, travelling through walls and as outlandish as this may sound even to other worlds. Believe it or not, this is something that occurs for everyone AND if you wish to, you could actually train yourself to do this consciously.
Let's say, for example, that tonight you would like to travel to Peru when you come out of your body. If you have mastered the art of falling asleep, but staying awake (also called Astral Travel), then you could do exactly that.
I remember years ago, when I had first found an on-line course for learning Astral Travel, the first night as I was falling asleep, I was able to stay conscious even though I was falling asleep.
As I did that, I recall rolling out of my body and then seeing my own body sleeping. It was a very bizarre experience, one that I have found many of the enlightened masters and teachers from around the planet have also experienced.
While I was awake, yet sleeping, I was curious and had the thought of whether I could fly. Within what felt like an instant I began to rise off the floor and my head literally went through the ceiling and I could see between the floors.
If that last sentence didn't cause you to close out this page then I am glad you are still with me.
This may sound out of this world - IT IS! You can actually find thousands of websites and books that explain it and if you go to countries where their culture's histories dates back thousands of years you will find that they all know about this. It is common in ancient lands and for native indigenous tribes.
Everything that exists in our physical reality also exists on the Astral plain. There are, however, other beings, objects, and energies that also exist in the Astral plain that do not exist on our waking conscious plain. Spirits who are deceased amongst other interesting and unusual elements exist in the Astral realm and are available for us to connect with if needed.
This means, that some mornings, when you awake and recall dreaming about flying through the air, or travelling to another place, or meeting with a deceased love one, it is possible that you were simply slightly awake while on the Astral Plain and as such really communicating and interacting with it/him/her.
2. Your subconscious working through a challenge, resistance, blockage, or issue
This is the most common type of dream that we recall. While sleeping, because your mind is in a greater state of peace and rest than when you are awake, your mind is more open, less critical, and therefore more able to work out and sort out problems and issues that you have had either that day, that month, that year, or even from early on in your life.
These types of dreams are the mind's way of releasing and can take the form of images, objects, places, thoughts and sensations which can manifest as what we call dreams. In some cases, the mind will create virtual worlds that allow it to release and problem solve. In the morning, upon awaking, you may remember lessons learned, quotes, images, special experiences that can actually help you during the day.
I remember a close friend's father who was an engineer who when he was challenged by an equation in the daytime, would sleep on it and by morning a solution would come to light.
References to this type of dream can be found through the work of well known psychologists Dr. Sigmund Freud and Dr. Carl Jung and the advent of Dream Interpretation and Dream Analysis beginning in the 1800s.
In today's world, we find virtual dictionaries attempting to define what a butterfly or water might represent in a dream. As such it can be useful to keep a log of your dreams and begin to create your own Dictionary for dreams.
3. Past life memories
One of the more mysterious of possibilities for dreams includes the likelihood of past life memories. Although most people do not recall past lives and some religions do not believe that past lives exist, there is a wealth of knowledge around the planet that past lives are a reality.
None-the-less, this is becoming more common and some objective research has been done to corroborate the reality of past lives and the possibility that when dreaming, we might be recalling or actually reliving one.
4. Prophetic visions of the future
One of the most overwhelming of all the possibilities is that dreams can be visions of the future. If you have ever had a dream about an event or experience which then it occurred, this is evidence that it is possible to forecast our future, or, in some way create what we saw or experienced in our dreaming state.
I have heard from many who have these types of prophetic dreams. Typically they are rarely positive or optimistic. Instead, they seem to offer a foreboding possibility. There is therefore, a possibility, that these 'forecasts', or future predictions may serve as a tool to help one to come to peace with whatever was seen or felt in the vision.
Over the many years of exploring consciousness and dreams, I have come to understand there is strong reasoning to why we typically only remember the types of dreams represented by option #2. This is because most people are not quite ready to handle or remember who they have been in previously lives, nor are we prepared to foresee what is to come either good or not.
The one thing I do suggest is that we utilitize our dreams, no matter which form they represent, to explore and release our feelings about what we saw and experienced.
The more personal growth, development, and inner work one does, the more dreams tend to open up and as a result we tend to recall more. Because of the accessing of more inner power, by doing the inner work and self exploration, we become stronger and become more able to handle all that dreams have to offer.
Although this means we may see things that are unpleasant, it also means we may experience and see the wondrous richness that also exists and can be truly touched in profound ways.
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© 2011 Joshua Zuchter. All rights reserved.
This was an article written as part of Joshua's weekly e-zine
Be-Inspired
that is sent out Wednesdays.
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