I am a huge fan of sleep, of the many Huffington Post articles that have been written about it and of the initiatives that Ariana Huffington has been involved in to promote awareness of its importance. While much has been written about the physical benefits of sleep, I wanted to explore here another dimension which, depending on how you view it, is either the icing on the cake, or is the cake itself. I have in mind sleep's potential spiritual benefits, and, in particular, the mysterious role of dreams.
"Breaking Through" by Hooper Dunbar. Shared with permission of the artist, courtesy of Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, NYC
Dreams have played an important role in almost all spiritual traditions -- one thinks of the reverence of the Australian aborigines for the "Dreamtime," or the central importance of dream interpretations by Joseph in the Bible and the Quran. It is a subject that I'm sure my fellow Huffington Post bloggers and readers from various religious traditions could bring fascinating perspectives to with insights from their respective faiths, and I hope it will be explored further. Science, music and other fields have also benefited from key insights coming to people in their dreams.
So what is this mystery that takes up large portions of our night, but about which we know so little? One thing we can conclude is that it is probably important. I was thinking about the improved battery life of cellphones, iPads and laptops with each new generation, and realized that if sleep was just about recharging our physical batteries, evolution should have designed us by now to get by on far less than previous generations. You would think that by now our little battery icons would be at green and 100 percent with perhaps just 20 minutes sleep a night. But for some reason, the designers at Human Evolution Inc. don't seem to be building this into the product line. Which begs the question: Why?
Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, describes dreams as "the most mysterious of the signs of God amongst men." In a mystical work about the spiritual journey known as the "Seven Valleys," He makes the following observations about the world of dreams:
"Behold how many secrets are deposited therein, how many wisdoms treasured up, how many worlds are concealed. Observe, how thou art asleep in a dwelling, and its doors are barred; on a sudden thou findest thyself in a far-off city, which thou enterest without moving thy feet or wearying thy body ... And perchance, when ten years are gone, thou wilt witness in the outer world the very things thou hast dreamed tonight."
Of course, not all of our dreams are necessarily profound, just as the hours of our waking life are not all equally significant either. But the fact that we do occasionally have meaningful dreams seems to be a tip off that something important is happening in those mysterious hours. There seem to be three major categories of dreams: the first where the busy mind basically replays some events of the day without necessarily having a deeper meaning; the second where different elements of the dream are symbols which have deeper meaning; and the third -- very rare but there are instances of it recorded in history -- where spiritual guidance is given directly in a vision, without the need for symbols.
Another interesting thing about sleep is that it gives us a daily, or should I say nightly, reminder that one day our bodies will all be in a permanent state of rest. Who knows, maybe sleep is a sort of distant cousin of death; and as such it might give us a few clues about its even more enigmatic relative that we will all inevitably meet one day.
Working out the many layers of meaning to our dreams is a lifetime journey which involves much reflection and expanding inner awareness. As "spiritual beings having a physical experience," during the stillness of the night, when the activity of our physical bodies is at a minimum, our souls might have more of an opportunity to flourish, to explore, to reflect on lessons learned.
I know I have only scratched the surface of this deep topic, and would greatly welcome the thoughtful comments of all readers. What do you think? Have you had meaningful dreams in your life? Have you had guidance or solved a difficult problem because of a dream? What insights do you have from your religious tradition about the subject of sleep and dreams? I look forward to learning from all your experiences and insights.
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As I have written in these comment pages many times before, I have had literally hundreds of dreams showing me, accurately, the future. Sometimes just an hour or two into the future, but often years and usually many decades into the future. I am now very definitely a senior citizen, but I still witness things that I saw in dreams decades ago. Sometimes, it is just a matter of seeing what is going to be, but many times it involves warnings, and thus a way to change parts of reality which are potentially dangerous to me.
I am not sure that what I have described deserve to be called dreams, although they have, at least in my case, always happened while I was sleeping. They certainly resemble dreams, but I know the difference between an ordinary dream and dreams showing or warning of the future.
On one, and only one instance, have I had the experience of changing the past. That was really weird.
I value the strangeness of life, but can't help wondering why I have experienced such unusual things, and not others. Perhaps it is just that most people fear talking about what they know to be dangerous to talk about.
I find that the more conflicted about the choices I have made, the more unhappy I am in life, the more prolific the conscience and dream become - sometimes weird and uncontrollable. When I am happy and keep doing what is right, then I have almost no dreams and my conscience does not plague me.
From the accounts in the Holy Scriptures, it shows God can use dreams to give warnings or guidance and God uses this medium with anyone he so wishes. However, there is are also false dreamers who usually urge behavior which is against the laws of the true God, such a committing idolatry.
These things exist but are yet untouchable. Only the true God, I think, could have designed these unique creations that are abstract but with form and are uniform.
It seems to me that when one starts speaking about "the true God," then one starts to denigrate the rights of those who do not see the universe the same way that we do. I think that it is possible to entertain the possibility of the existence of a God or Gods without insisting on the existence of "the true God"; at least, I want to think that it is possible. Historically speaking, the Dark Ages were that period of time when people high and low put religious dogma ahead of the evidence of their own senses. I hope we never again descend into a time when dogma supersedes reason.
By saying I believe that there is a true God, I acknowledge his might and Creatorship for abstract creations such as dreams and thoughts and imagination. To him I assign the glory for these things.
I don’t believe stating what one believes in is denigrating to others. Plus, I have not made a personal attack on anyone for their beliefs since these kinds of actions indicate a judgmental spirit. The reverse holds true as well that those who think that there is no one true God and say so, their words would be denigrating to those who do.
Many people in the Dark Ages stood up against spiritual darkness such as Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Luther and John Calvin. It is interesting also that chemist Joseph Priestly stated that “the first century Christians had the true faith and that any change to that pattern of belief was corruption.” It holds therefore, (that if to Mr. Priestly there is one truth, then there could only be one true God. So I am not alone in my beliefs for many other learned men including Sir Isaac Newton and poet John Milton expressed themselves mightily and they were not denigrating.
When I say the true God of the Holy Scriptures, I mean the one that is named in Psalm 83:18: Jehovah, Sovereign Lord of the Universe.