DREAMING, AN OLD BUILT-IN TOOL FOR GUIDANCE
By Dominique Glaub, Ph.D.
" I recently watched the 1985 movie Emerald Forest. In this true-based story, the young son of an American dam engineer in Brazil is kidnapped by the Invisible People, a rain forest tribe, and raised as one of their own. Tommy adjusts to their culture and customs. Ten years later he is a happy native and one of the best warriors about to get married to a native girl. One day in the Amazon, he accidentally runs into his father who has been searching for him since he last disappeared at the skirt of the forest. Tomme recognizes him as the man in his dreams whom he calls Dada, and invites him to visit his tribe.
The angry father asks the chief, 'Why did you take my son?' The chief replied, 'Once he entered our forest, I didn't have the heart to send him back to the world of the dead.' Despite the father's wish to bring his son back to the civilized world, Tomme chooses to remain in the Amazon with his integrated and close-knit tribe.
In addition to being a voice for protecting the Amazon rainforest and the natives' way of living, which is being endangered by excessive logging, alcohol and guns, the movie portrays a native culture close to nature and very much connected to the inner world. In this community, body mind and spirit are highly integrated. Sacred ceremonies and healings are regularly performed, and guidance from spirit is sought for the benefit of all members. It is through dreams, dances, animals, spirits and vision quests that the tribe communicates with nature and the inner world, finding answers for everyday life issues, and thereby remaining a well-functioning society.
Unlike the Invisible People, our western minds are not trained to approach life spiritually and metaphorically, and this is why so many people find working with the world of symbols or dream world so challenging. Spirituality includes the integration of the inner and outer worlds, creating balance within the environment. To facilitate this process, it is vital that we permit our inner Mind to guide us through dreams, metaphors, daily signs and visions. Contrary to primitive cultures, which honor their dreams and listen to them, dreams have limited appeal in our left brain and busy materialistic society. They are seen as bizarre, rubbish and nonsense. At times, they are frightening and undesirable or a waste of time. Yet, dreams connect us to our subconscious and inner world, giving us access to a deeper source of wisdom. And this is why it is so important that we take the time to recall, understand and utilize our dreams on a regular basis.
Dreaming is an old built-in tool enabling us to connect directly with Spirit. Since the beginning of humankind, dreams have given us divine guidance and the feedback necessary to deal with human challenges and the material world. They are created by us and for us. Therefore, we are the only ones who can really interpret them. Dreams will tell us the truth of a matter if we sincerely ask for it. Whether at night or during waking hours, we receive constant insights from Spirit on who we are, where we are at, and how to resolve or heal problems, conflicts or fears.
The symbolic message of a dream cannot be approached with a linear and rational mind. Dreams speak to us in symbolic images and require us to shift our level of awareness to get to their true meaning. It is because dream messages are not filtered by our own ego or our left brain that they are a direct link to Spirit. The right brain is the door through which we access this side of us and it is within the right brain that the symbolic interpretation of dreams is found. Learning to use this side of our brain is essential if we are to consciously work in unison with our soul.
Dreams can have a tremendous impact on us and on the way we manage our lives. Traumatic dreams are not there to frighten us but to give us an opportunity to re-evaluate aspects of our lives that we are not conscious of. Recurring dreams are the same; they are showing us that something is out of balance which needs to be recognized and changed. A shadow dream may show us a part of us we are not comfortable with such as dreaming of an in-law whom we see as being very critical. A nightmare has the power to make us aware of old fears or unfinished business and, once demystified, allows us to release a tremendous amount of anxiety in our lives. A daydream may give us the answer to a question we have or remind us of our strengths and progress, so I would advise you to record both your day and night dreams in a journal immediately to facilitate interpretation of the symbols and images.
Contrary to primitive cultures where the needs of the entire tribe are the basis for interpreting dreams and visions, they are interpreted within an individualistic context in our Western culture. In this more modern world, spiritually-oriented circles use dreams as a tool for individuation. Individuation is the process of becoming whole, of recognizing and integrating the many different aspects of the self, with the intent of living in balance within ones environment. This process includes bringing unconscious parts of the self to the surface, and getting to know who and what we truly are. Dreams are a tremendous help in this process as they make us aware of the many different facets and traits within ourselves, things we do not know about us or things we prefer not to look at. They reveal unhealthy or limiting patterns, potentials and/or missed opportunities. They reveal our wounds, our illnesses, our traumas. They also inform us of the progress we are making on our journey. Since everything in the dream is of the dreamer, each character, situation, event, and symbol is a reflection of the dreamerss self and way of life. For example, if you dream that a lion is roaring at you in a threatening way, it indicates that the lionss part of you, the instinctual and aggressive energy within you, is trying to get your attention. You may have given up this part of you and need to take more charge of your life. Making appropriate changes in your life is extremely important at this point; otherwise the dream is useless. So once the lion in you is being heard and honored, it usually won't come back to haunt you. Through the unique experience of dreaming, we have the power to wake up to the many different aspects that our self is composed of and the opportunity to integrate these aspects within our psyche. In doing so, we become more complete which, in turn, brings more balance and harmony to the planet.
Since our modern western minds are primarily individually-based and focused on the material world, the community at large is not a receptacle for the sacred and the inner world, as is true for the Invisible People. For a very long time now, emphasis on the inner world has been devalued. The sacred in conjunction with Spirit has disappeared from our day-to-day lives. Although religious organizations are still celebrating the sacred, rarely do any of them encourage individuals to directly connect with Spirit or to find their own answers. This access is usually highly controlled and/or discouraged to their members. Being separate from the Oneness, whether spiritually or socially, is, in my view, directly connected to the sense of emptiness experienced by a lot of people today. Excessive loneliness, depression, addiction, restlessness, self-doubt, workaholism, neurological diseases, etc. are all signs of a body, mind and soul split. So who is to provide us with this sense of oneness and connection to Spirit in modern society, and where do we find it? WE have to provide IT, and we have to find it within ourselves!
We are presently going through a major shift in consciousness and our soul evolutionary journey is now requiring us to learn how to connect individually to our source, and to find our own answers and wholeness within. No religious teaching, self help book, counselor or healer can make this direct connection for us, nor can anyone do the individuation work for us. We have to do this inner work ourselves and dreams are an effective way to facilitate this process. - Bremerton, WA, 2004.
In my practice, I highly encourage individuals to pay attention to their dreams, whether the ones they have at night while sleeping or during the day while they are active, and learn how to understand and use them for guidance purpose.
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