Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for June 13, 2010
A Practical Guide to Understanding our Dreams
We are talking about Imagination this month. So we want to learn about dreaming and how to receive valuable guidance, healing and riches as we sleep. We want to learn about our dream power and make friends with our dreams.a
THE METAPHYSICS OF SLEEP
Let's look at the metaphysics of sleep:
In The Revealing Word, Charles Fillmore writes that "Sleep is a great harmonizer of discordant thoughts. We do not know the deep mysteries of sleep or what goes on in the soul when the sense man is in repose. Those who go into the "deep silence" produce a state of consciousness analogous to sleep. All the outer thoughts are stilled, and the soul listens to the "still small voice." It may also see symbols, feel the inner forces, or catch divine ideas fresh from the Fountainhead. Those who are expert in concentrating the attention on inner planes of Being find that a great rest and peace comes to them. Upon emerging from one of these sweet periods of communion with the Lord, they feel as if they have had a night of refreshing sleep."
In Psalms it says,
In vain you get up earlier,
and put off going to bed,
sweating to make a living,
since it is God who provides for his beloved as they sleep.b
It is implied here that God's gifts come to us as we sleep. With practice we can guide our dreaming activity and use it to solve some particular situation that we have in our life. If we let our dreams teach us we can glean valuable information from them. Dreams can also help carry us forward to general creativity, to wholeness and to meaning in our lives.
As you saw Gay Lynn do in the videos we watch, it is good to remember dreams by writing them down. But even when you don't consciously remember them, dreams help you to integrate, synthesize and even to heal.
BELIEVE THAT YOUR DREAMS ARE OF VALUE
We know that all things start in faith, in belief; so start by believing that your dreams are of value. If you do, they will be. Honor your dreams as important, make friends with them.
There are deeper and more divine levels of yourself that you need to recognize and appreciate. It is a good practice to meditate so that your dreams and everyday thoughts are of maximum quality. We have talked before about finding and staying in your spiritual center. When you are grounded your conscious and subconscious mind activity can be expressed. Images in dreams are powerful communications and can be better comprehended and utilized when you are spiritually centered.
In biblical times a dream was more than just a dream; many believed it was one way the supernatural world communicated with humans. Some people desperately sought these revelations by sleeping in a temple or another holy place. Jews, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks all had professional dream interpreters, and they often worked from dream handbooks.
In Genesis 41 it talks about Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh's disturbing dreams. Joseph was a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams; the phenomenal was his field of action. Joseph always stressed that his power to interpret dreams came from the Lord. In Genesis 41 it says, Joseph answered Pharaoh, "It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."
The Pharaoh had dreamed "that he was standing by the Nile, and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass. Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke. Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears."
After the Pharaoh awoke, and saw that it was a dream he sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men but no one could interpret the dreams.
But when Joseph was brought he was able to reveal instantly that the dreams predicted seven years of abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of dire famine; and that having two dreams with the same meaning proved that " … the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about."
So Joseph told him to set up a nationwide program for stockpiling reserve grain during the fertile years. Pharaoh, not being stupid, appointed Joseph to carry out that plan.
Joseph was wise enough to always go to God for his answers instead of being caught up in dream interpretation books. And we, too, should learn to trust God and our inner promptings.c
MEDITATE BEFORE SLEEP
Meditate before you sleep. Use the thought: "God, I am open to Your guidance and healing tonight." Two of the most important parts of your day are just before going to sleep and just after waking up. Meditate; make centered, conscious contact with God at both these influential moments.
(Psalms 16:7-9)
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.d
What you think right before going to sleep and just after waking up will set the tone for your whole day. Open yourself to God just before you go to sleep. Then in the morning right after waking up - set your intent for the day. Ask yourself what you want today, whether it is to be happy, or to have fun, or to extend love - then let that be your leading edge into the day. You will be surprised at how well your days go.
KEEP PAPER AND PENCIL BY YOUR BED
Before you go to bed at night make sure that you have paper and a pencil by your bed. Record all you can remember of your dreams in the night or immediately upon awakening. You may use a cassette tape recorder if it is easier. Also, record what is going on in your life at this time. Then be sure to date the dream recorded in your journal.
In the Book of Joshua it says, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."e
MEDITATE ON YOUR DREAM OR THE FEELING YOU HAVE IN THE MORNING
Meditate on your dream or the feeling you have in the morning. You may pray, "God, help me understand this dream or feeling I have." Then be quiet and receptive. Write down what comes. The ancients call these images and stories, "The dark wisdom of the night." Give the dream a title. Also, try putting the dream into a here-and-now personal way. (For example, I am flying this airplane; it makes me feel free and in charge.)
The scripture reading this morning was about Jacob's vision. As he sank down in exhaustion one night in the wilderness some 12 miles to the north of the future site of Jerusalem, resting his head on a rock, he dreamed that he saw angels ascending and descending a ladder suspended between heaven and earth.
At the top rung, God himself stood and directly affirmed the promise made to Jacob's grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac: "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth,"f Jacob awoke, awestruck, and the following morning he anointed his stone pillow with oil, thus setting it apart for God's use, and named the place Bethel, meaning "the house of God."
The "ladder" represents step-by-step realizations of Truth. These pure thoughts (angels of God) ascend and descend in consciousness. The I AM occupies the highest place in consciousness. The spiritualized thoughts of the mind become the seed and bless all the earth (the body consciousness).
The Lord is constantly in our midst, and we must eventually come into divine consciousness. The mind is startled when it discovers God to be an omnipresent principle. Then comes the realization that the body (house) is the temple of God and that the mind is the gate to heaven (harmony).
In the light of understanding, "the morning", the things that have been our stepping-stones become holy and we anoint them with oil (love, joy, and gladness). Then that which has seemed separate and apart is brought into unity.
KEEP A LIFE JOURNAL
Take the time to keep a life journal. Write down other experiences in your inner and outer life - songs, images, ideas, impressions, "co-incidences," promptings, "the way things work out," remembrances, intimations of things coming to pass, intuitive sensings, life situations which you sense are trying to tell you something. Be aware of what Carl Jung called "synchronicity" - meaningful coincidences.g When you start looking for coincidences and synchronicity - you will start seeing it, where before you overlooked it.
BEFRIEND YOUR DREAMS
Be a friend to dreams. Have love and patience towards them and what they have to tell you. Be positive towards them. Remember that you made them. They are all a part of you.
It's sort of like the children's book, There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer about a young boy befriending the "monster" that came out of his bedroom closet at night.
Remember, the dreamer, you, is more important than the dream. The dream is just a series of images about who you are and what is going on in your life.
RELATE, DIALOGUE, ENTER IN, BE CURIOUS
Find ways to relate to your dreams. Have conversations with them, put yourself into the dream's scene and be curious. Put yourself into each character and each thing in the dream - try them on and see what it is that they are about. Ask them "What are you to me in my life?" Then enter the silence and listen. You can always discuss your dream with those who are into dream interpretations - but don't expect anyone (or allow anyone) to interpret what your dreams "mean."
DON'T TRY TO "INTERPRET" OR "ANALYZE" YOUR DREAMS
Don't try to "interpret" or "analyze" your dreams. Get a sense of what's presented. Note any movement or relationship to your life situation. Dreams sometimes draw us backwards or forward, and they are often in a series of installments - like a soap opera. If you can't remember a dream or can't "make sense" of it, the message will probably come again, maybe in a different image or story. Repeated dreams may have an important life message or life myth contained in them that wants to be recognized and lived out.
In the Book of Mark Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."h
THERE ARE PRACTICAL, PROBLEM-SOLVING DREAMS AND LIFE-CHANGING, TRANSFORMATIONAL DREAMS
There are practical, problem-solving dreams and life-changing, transformational dreams. Practical dreams come mostly out of the subconscious. They help us solve immediate situations, as in scripture in the story of the Christ child.
It says in Matthew, And [the three wise men] having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, left for their own country by another road.
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."i
Transformational dreams come mostly from the superconscious through our dream-making process. They enlarge, improve, teach us love, and enhance our relationship with God and the cosmos. Scrooge's dreams were transformative ones; in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Dreams have been called "God's forgotten language." We all dream every night. Dreams are necessary. Dreams are mighty letters from God that often remain unopened and unread. Learn to look for, open, read, and understand your mighty letters from God.
a Twelve Powers In You Revs David & Gay Lynn Williamson and Rbt Knapp, M.D.
b Psalms 127:2
c Genesis 41
d Psalms 16:7-9
e Joshua 1:7-9
f Genesis 28:13-14
g At A Journal Workshop Ira Progoff
h Mark 4:26-29
i Matthew 2:12-15
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