. . .if we but listen, for dreams do not come with sub-titles.
And so we dream. Every night you go to bed and dream and every night, I also go to bed and dream.
We laugh and often our first words the next morning are “My gosh, I had the craziest (weirdest, saddest, sexiest, wildest, most puzzling) dream last night” and then tell all about it.
But once you begin to understand the meaning of your dreams, you stop broadcasting them to the world, for it’s most akin to you undressing in public. Rather, you share them with one you can trust implicitly, or save and ponder them in your own private, silent heart.
For the fact is, if it’s a dream we remember, we can be sure it has a message. For us. The dreams that are the result of eating, or drinking too much, a sudden noise, or getting twisted in the blankets, are meaningless and soon forgotten. But pay attention to those you remember. They are you, reaching out to you.
I once had a horrible dream, repeated three consecutive nights. Oh, there were differences, but all with the same message, bothered me so much that it finally sent me to a doctor. Yes, and in less than one week, I was operated upon and said TYG many times over.
Our dreams, the experts tell, consist of the unconscious part of ourselves trying to communicate with our conscious part. My dreams are me, talking to me, and yours are you talking to you. Well, except for the ones mentioned above.
They are trying to give us a warning (see above) on some area in our life where we could use help or need some wise advice. And everything, every T-H-I-N-G, in that dream is us. If we see ourselves in a messy, cluttered house, that house is us, and the dream is telling us that something in our life, needs ‘cleaning up’.
And watch which room, bedroom, bath, kitchen, basement, garage, you’re in. Upstairs? Your Higher Self. Basement? Your Lower Self.
It all has meaning. Your car is you, and if you are driving up hill, good for you, you’re on the right course, and if going downhill, pay attention, for in some way, you’re headed the ‘other’ way. Bathrooms are clean-up messages, and are well worth pondering over.
Our dreams reflect the culture and thinking of the era we live in. When Freud first dipped into our dreams, he came up with the fact that 95% of dreams were concerned with sex. And he was right, too. For that day and age.
The world of his time was an inhibited place with sex a big unmentionable no-no. So, his clients, in that locked-in-concrete atmosphere, had dreams of sexual freedom. But, I understand, in today’s world, where there is sexual freedom never before known, our dreams are gradually reflecting a desire for change. Of course there are exceptions, but I understand that a ‘home, with a picket fence’ is beginning to be reflected in dreams. Oh, not for you, or me, but that’s what the experts are finding. No fooling.
Not Puritanism. but ’tis said, that when the pendulum goes too far either way, in any aspect of life, our dreams nudge us toward what is ‘normal, or a balance’.
We too are told to look at our dreams, as was Joseph, in Biblical times. And the same as with Joseph, everything is in symbols, left for us to interpret, for dreams do not come with sub-titles. To-day, the majority of our dreams (like it or not), are not of freedom of sex.
But remember, dream symbols are explicit. Terribly explicit. Surprisingly explicit. Sometimes horribly explicit. So if you decide to figure out what ‘You are trying to tell yourself’ don’t hide half your dream as being ‘not nice’, or shiver and say, “I would never do that”. Take a second look, knowing it’s only a symbol, and that every T-H-I-N-G, and every O-N-E-, in that dream is reflecting some part of you. Don’t toss it aside, for some part of you is struggling with what your dreams are revealing. And dreams do not come with printed Instructions.
Get your self a good dream book, (not from the supermart), and begin to pay attention to how you are trying to bring harmony into your life. It’s sorta fun, and sometimes, as what happened to me, can be very good for your health. It’s one great big eye opener as to how smart we really are. And that we really are our own best friend.
“The Dream Book”, by Betty Bethards, published first in 1983 and still going strong, is used as a textbook, and highly recommended. I paid about $13.00 for one in the 1980’s, and liked it so much that I gave copies for birthday gifts that year. So try Amazon and get one for less than $5.00. It’s good stuff and you’ll keep it handy by your bedside from now on.
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This is a repeat blog. Vacation time comes and I jump at it.
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I kept think of this, popping into our waking consciousness from the great sub-conscious . . .
I do dream but most often I can’t remember what I had dreamed. I have awaken Dean a few times yelling “Help” but can’t remember what it was about when he wakes me. Probably, if I put a piece of paper by the bed and wrote down what I was dream when I woke up, it would help. Really love reading your blogs.
I love this kind of book. They are the result of what authors find when doing research for a tome of lasting import.
I can only envision those things of which I am familiar. My dreams are mostly arcane references to the things I’ve read, some to things that have happened to me or someone I know, and some totally unrelated. I like them best because of the wild happenings and actions.
Some have had people in them that have died, mostly friends but sometimes relatives.
I’ve never had what you have referred to as message dreams, and like the Pharoah I can’t remember enough of the dream to tell it to anyone let alone submit it to a journal for later reference.
I have never been able to connect a dream to any food I’ve eaten that day, but when exceptionally tired haven’t dreamed at all, but sometimes when awakened suddenly have found myself not immediately recognized where I am.
I like dreaming as I’ve read that dreamers sleep more soundly and are more rested, but I can’t testify of that.
I loved your column, Jim