Returning Dreams: Is There Something You Want? Dreams May Hold an Answer
Before I get to dreams, let’s talk a little about nightmares.
Yesterday, I shared that my car’s windshield took a bullet—a flying rock off the back of a dump truck.
This morning, I took it in for an estimate.
It’s going to need a whole new windshield, so I’m back next Tuesday at 9 a.m., and they say they’ll have me out of there by 11.
Oh joy!
Here’s the good news.
It will cost less than $600, and I’ll have a completely new, fresh, beautiful windshield.
And…
I think it was a signal from the universe.
You see, right before it happened, I was upset about the Facebook post by Johnny Bravo that I talked about in yesterday’s article (“time for this community to get organized”).
I had just checked to make sure the open mic I was headed to was still happening, and that’s when I saw the post.
I got all wound up inside, kind of pissy, and maybe started spinning on it a bit too much.
Then…
BAM!!
Six hundred dollars later…
Message received.
Don’t waste your time and energy on the little stuff.
There are bigger fish to catch.
So what does this have to do with today’s topic?
First, I don’t see much difference between a message we receive in a dream and one we receive through a karmic experience in waking life.
Both are calling for our attention.
Both can be helpful.
Second, I am in the process of returning to dreams.
I have started rereading the notes I took from my first reading of Anthony Stevens’ book Private Myths: Dreams and Dreaming.
The first thing that caught my attention was one of his central proposals:
Dream analysis and interpretation are an art, not a science.
I am not in complete agreement with him.
While I love the idea that dreams and art belong together, and that working with dreams is both an art and a craft, I also think there is science that can be leveraged.
Human sciences such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, and grounded theory are just three approaches that I think can yield valuable insights.
The second thing that caught my attention was his hope of contributing to “the development of a coherent theory of human nature” (p. 3).
I love this idea.
Who knows if it is even possible?
But I admire the ambition and the desire to contribute to that investigation.
This is also why I have developed a conceptual model of personhood that underlies much of what we discuss in this blog and a person’s ability to get out on a Highway to Yeah.
At the base are five existential capacities I propose all humans share. These are five of many, that I think make up the 80% of our shared existential reality.
One of these is that we are ecological beings—not separate from this world, but part of it.
In the center are our relatively unconscious realms of experience.
Our existential capacities are filtered through this layer of personhood.
This is the realm of dreams, myths, and intuition, to name just three of its manifestations.
At the top is our character, where we display our personality, develop our habits, and form our narrative identity.
It isn’t meant to be a picture of human nature itself.
Rather, it is a broad conceptual model of what it means to be a person living in this world, and it helps inform and guide the research this blog is conducting.
The third part of Stevens’ book that hooked me was his discussion of broad dream theories.
He proposes that there have been three broad theories of dreams since the first recorded dream was shared in Gilgamesh.
Dreams are caused by supernatural agencies and are meant to be messages.
Dreams are actual lived experiences in a non-waking form of reality.
Dreams are natural phenomena that facilitate normal mental activity.
This is great.
But for our purposes, I think it is more helpful to ask how dreams might inform our journey out on a Highway to Yeah.
On one level, dreams are manifestations arising from the relatively unconscious level of personhood.
They may be:
Wishes and desires being flagged for us.
Personal myths reflecting our narrative identity formation process and our values.
Messages from our inner knowing—our intuition or deeper reservoir of wisdom.
Dream narratives and images contain worlds of information.
They may express experiences for which we do not yet have words, connect dots we have not yet connected, or reveal parts of ourselves that we have sublimated or dissociated from.
Nevertheless, I believe they can—and perhaps are meant to—inspire, heal, guide, and inform our daily lives.
Last night was an active dreaming night for me.
I remembered two dreams and added them to my dream journal.
Most nights I don’t remember my dreams, but the ones I do often prove to be quite insightful.
The two dreams last night seemed to concern:
Where I live.
My love life and relationships.
Both contained very clear messages about what I should avoid.
They didn’t tell me exactly what to do.
But both seemed to say,
“Stay clear of that option.”
This feels especially timely because I spent yesterday recalibrating my dream life goals.
What are they again?
Why do they matter?
Where should I focus my T.E.A.M. next as I continue moving toward the radically designed lifestyle I envision and love?
It is entirely possible my dreams were attempting to help answer parts of those questions.
It certainly seems that way.
What signals are you receiving in your waking life that might be pointing toward something that really matters to you?
And what signals are your dreams bringing you?