Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Dreams

I think most of us are aware that dreams are nebulous things, often hard to understand or interpret and may, in fact, need no interpretation at all. I normally remember no dreams at all, maybe one or two per year, then there was last night.

This morning I saw a series of 4 images that included images from the 2 dreams I remember with the message that this is the direction I should go. I also remember my wife recounting 2 dreams to me during my dream as she sat up in bed reading next to me.

Here's what I do remember:

I was on the roof of my elementary school carrying a medical device which I set down. We once played on this roof as children and I feel safe and the surroundings feel familiar.

Suddenly I'm lying on my back with my legs over the edge in a section of the roof that is high and scary. I'm trying to shift to my right and back to safety. When I do, someone starts pulling on my feet from over the edge; it's my wife, trying to pull me over or to rescue herself. However, she looks more like a ghoulish, ghostly representation of herself.

Startled, I roll desperately onto my right side and see my wife sitting motionless with her legs crossed immediately in front of me. I flail my arms furiously in front of me and this awakens me. I know this because my wife, who was awake at the time, confirmed the flailing of my hands at this point and that I was making a motion earlier that was consistent with trying to shift my way to safey in the first part of the dream. She described this motion as I felt in the dream, my right hand attempting to pull my entire body to a safer spot.

I had the distinct feeling in the dream that jumping from heights was something I did routinely, the scary part was that I wasn't in the right position and then was being pulled off in a way where I would not have control.

Still in my dream, I turn to my wife and tell her about my dream. She responds by telling me two dreams, then I turn over and go back to sleep.

While sleeping I thought this: In response to my request for direction, I'm getting the impression that what I will do is scary and will expose my wife, or the first ghoulish version of her, though I couldn't tell if she was trying to survive by grabbing me or trying to pull me over maliciously.

The other image I can remember is just an image, no more. It was an image of a Texas sunset. I associate the sunset with Texas, because we had sometimes brilliant red and pink sunsets which I believe can be attributed to the large amount of dust in the air there.

I then saw a total of 4 images passed before me like a series of railroad cars, moving from right to left. That's when I had the impression that this was indicating future direction for me and the distinct impression that the 4 images fit together like a puzzle to yield the answer I sought. I know that the roof scene was the first scene and that the sunset scene was the final scene.

Today, my wife tells me about two dreams she had that preceded my dream(s).

First, she dreams that she is in a scary house and finds a boy hung by the neck in a closet but he is not dead yet. She grabs him and runs from the house toward a waiting car with her sister and mom in the front seat (mom driving) and with our two daughters in the back seat. They are impervious to the fuss.

As she attempts to escape with the child (4-yr-old?), she is chased by 4-5 children with baseball bats trying to prevent her escape. There is also a father present that is very threatening and is responsible for the mayhem. She searches for a Bible while suggesting to the father that he should attend a church. He agrees to let his wife and children go to church then the Bible is found and the dream ends.

Secondly, she can only remember the end of a lengthy dream. In this dream, Chef Gordon Ramsey is sneaking cartoonishly through a parking lot outside our cheap hotel room with his family (wife and 2 children in the dream) holding a container full of ice. She and I think they will be bothered if we approach but we do and they're not, in fact, they're approachable and amiable. We talk to them for a few minutes.

These 2 dreams are likely the holders of the 2nd and 3rd positions in my series of 4, so the series looks like this in review:

1. Roof scene focused on fear
2. Hanging child scene focused on a difficult rescue
3. Gordon Ramsey scene focused on approachability
4. Sunset scene focused on beauty from dust

I represented my wife's dreams in the order that she had them chronologically. I cannot remember them as the missing dreams in any order, only that the missing dreams were the 2 she had related to me previously.

Thoughts?

8 comments:

  1. One Christian view of dreams:
    http://www.cwgministries.org/books/Christian-Dream-Interpretation.pdf

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  2. It's a sign of the end times when young men start having visions and old men (me) start having dreams authored by God.

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  3. I think we have a solid scientific foundation for agreeing that our dreams have something to do with our lives and the issues facing us. If we have correctly surmised that they help with mental health maintenance, understanding them should help us cope with daily life.

    But I would warn against over analyzing them. I would look for the simplest explanation, and approach dream interpretation with this question: how could this particular dream-state experience help me stay sane? Since even the CWG document Prodigal provided accepts that dreams serve this function, I would be looking for ways a particular dream could help you cope with life.

    I would also be careful about conflating your wife's dreams into your own dream sequence. How do you share them? How do her dreams protect you (or her) from insanity?

    If nothing else, I would suggest that you step back for a moment and try looking at these dreams from your previously held agnostic perspective. That is, try not to start from the assumption that God spoke to you (and your wife) through these dreams.

    I think we use dreams to have conversations with ourselves, to try new things, or to experience that which we would like to do but are ashamed to. Sometimes they expose the consequences of actually going through with our plans. This suggests still another way to ask questions about the meaning of your dreams: are you discussing God with yourself while you sleep?

    Finally, a more specific question: what is the symbolism of the medical device you carried with you on the (I assume) Fair Park Elementary School roof?

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  4. My first approach to the dream was "natural" and I think I summarized it that way in my final note.

    I went back to look for God in it only because THAT thought was part of a dream most likely conjured from my own being.

    I am soliciting opinions from all types of sources regardless of world view because I so rarely have a dream with so much detail that I remember and it's fun.

    Yes, it's Fair Park, the part with no barrier that was really high and overlook the monkey bars.

    I thought of the medical device as ridiculously oversized and I think it was a CPAP machine. Why? It's my only means of reaching a dream state, I think. It may have only been a transition item.

    Am I discussing God with myself when I sleep? That's a clever observation! I was not on this night but most often do, so it's something to watch.

    I only included my wife's dreams as a means of clarifying, knowing that they might confuse as well. The only part of that in my dream is her sitting up in bed recounting two dreams that I can't remember. Later, I then had a review of four dreams, two of which I cannot recall.

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  5. CHRISTIAN DREAMER

    6-4-09

    Richard,

    Thank you for sharing your dream with me. After prayer, this is what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to me.

    This is definitely a Calling and Direction Dream the Lord has given to you. He has you, or is leading you into a study and learning time. There will be opportunity for learning and growth spiritually, mentally and emotionally. He is lovingly starting you out where you feel safe and in less complex areas.

    The new area of learning will be scary to you at times and you'll likely wonder if you need to back down and find a safer spot. This may be a time that's hard for your wife and may cause some contention between the two of you.

    At this time, you're not in the right position and could easily be pulled off course. You're going to be lead by God to give up control of your life and let Him lead you day-by-day and that's scary and hard for all of us to learn.

    As yourself these questions:
    Do you trust your wife?
    Do you have ought against her or anger or resentment or does she feel these thing towards you?
    If so, talk it out, forgive and get back on track. These are areas that will hold you back from your destiny.

    The Lord wants you to seek Him, wait for direction and to let your soul grow up. How? By journaling, abiding in Him, quiet time with Him. It's going to take some time and don't step out on your own to "make something happen."

    You've had a lot to think about lately and on a definite track or train of thought but it may be that you're thinking one way and God is thinking another direction. That's where time with Him and journaling comes in. This is why it's important because God wants to train you, will you allow Him to do this?

    Richard, He is inviting you to a closer place with Him, and this must happen before He can ever send you out to minister, that's the way He works. Look who He sent to the deserts to learn and to grow before they ever ministered: John the Baptist, Paul, Joseph, Elijah, Moses, and even His own Son Jesus!

    Draw near, make it your aim to spend lots of one-on-one time in the quiet with God, journaling, praying, seeking just being quiet and not saying anything, for this is what He is desiring of you first and foremost.

    I recommend some small but powerful reading that will help you and can be purchased at www.Amazon.com even in used condition very inexpensively.
    1. Experiencing God through Prayer by Madam Jean Guyon
    2. Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
    3. Let Go by Francois Fenelon

    I strongly encourage you to get these three little books and that you read them in the order I've put them. Don't just read them Richard, learn them, mark in the books, make them your own, God will meet you while reading these three books, I know it.

    It may be a rough go at first but the end will be well and beautiful.

    Sincerely,
    Jae
    Christian Dreamer

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  6. I wonder whether God, if he had so specific a message, would use so ambiguous a method of sending it as a dream--which you don't remember in its entirety, and you need help to interpret.

    Perhaps sometimes dreams are just...dreams.

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  7. We're thinking alike again which is always confirming. It does me no damage to seek a spiritual meaning and then find none.

    I did read somewhere that we're to seek God diligently. Other than that it's as blurry as dreams most dreams.

    Spiritually or psychologically, it was a bizarre and poignant experience. Maybe there's more to come.

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  8. Interesting post and comments. I had several strange dreams this week that took me to my knees.

    He uses many means of communication, including dreams I hope I am listening and pursuing God and pay attention when He is talking. How horrible would it be to ignore His voice?

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