Skeptics
You wonder, “Are dreams real? Do dreams mean anything?”
If you could pick a relationship status for your dreams you’d say, “It’s complicated.”
You can be a bit of a nihilist. You weren’t sure that you could find meaning in your dreams; they just seem so random sometimes, like a collection of all the shit you experienced recently that was put into a blender, or a compilation of whatever data is floating around in your hard drive at the moment. You wonder, “Why are dreams so confusing and weird?” Dreams just seem like some rapid firings of your brain, a way to exercise your mind at night.
And, if they aren’t meaningful or real, why spend time on them? Why learn to interpret them?
Further, you wonder, “Who do I think I am to think I am that special that god/the universe is sending me important wisdom and messages? That I have the ability to see the future?
Well, there’s probably part of you who thinks dreams do mean something, are trying to speak to you, trying to give you guidance, that they could tell you about the future, that they could even get to the core of creation, that dreams could be everything. There’s a part of you who thinks that you might be thatspecial, that connected to a higher power or source that is speaking to you or through you.
You’d prefer that the explanation that there is a greater unknown power at work, influencing you and your dreams in a certain way, rather than the explanation that dreams mean nothing, are just random neural firings (and that we are all alone in the universe).
But, up to this point, your skepticism has kept you from moving forward and learning more about dream interpretation.You want to know if dreams are real and worth understanding before you commit to dreamwork.
Why dreams are important
You can say what you will about dreams but a curious fact remains: We spend 33% of our lives, unconscious, in a dream world. Our brains are huge energy misers and automate everything they can to save energy, sometimes to our detriment (e.g., bad habits). If dreaming wasn’t important, we wouldn’t do it. We’d just go into unconscious nothingness and recharge our batteries. Yet, there we find ourselves, spending each night, inhabiting a dream world.
Medical relevance of dream experiences
The Mayo Clinic has found that those who experience and act out violent dreams, a disorder called, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep Behavior Disorder, are more likely to develop neurodegenerative disorders, such as dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. And, the relationship was not negligible: 75-80% of men with dementia were previously diagnosed with REM Sleep Disorder. That these types of dream experiences can predict neurodegenerative disease gives us pause to consider the value dream experiences may actually have.
The significance of disturbing dreams: Why do nightmares happen?
The size of the pharmaceutical sleep industry is very informative on how we as a society are dealing with sleep, dreams, and nightmares. People are knocking themselves out at night and taking medications, like Prazosin (a dream blocking medication), to avoid dreams that scare them.
We don’t consider the “why?” or “what?” of disturbing dreams, or insomnia. We don’t ask the questions, “Why do nightmares happen? What are my nightmares trying to tell me?” We just want them gone. We avoid them. This is what sleep medications help us do. But dreams are useful, even disturbing dreams. There is wisdom in them. The dreams are showing up for a reason. They are our psyche’s way of getting our attention; they tell us what we aren’t dealing with and/or where we need to be focusing our energy. Frequent nightmares, those that occur once or more per month, can indicate unresolved trauma. Like other painful or traumatic experiences, nightmares won’t go away simply by ignoring them. So, why are we just knocking ourselves out? Why aren’t we asking ourselves about the stories that are coming to us in the night, potentially trying to help us out?
So, do you really want to keep doing this, or do you want to get to the bottom of why this is happening? Sure, dealing with the issue is way more work and is scarier, but do want to keep being haunted by nightmares? And, do you want to be dependent upon on a medication to get a good night’s sleep?
Learning what nightmares and other disturbing dreams mean is the first step to freeing yourself from them. Seeing a trauma specialist might be the next.
Our brains don’t do anything by accident, including dreaming. Mayo Clinic research supports the medical relevance of dream experiences.Nightmares and other disturbing dreams have significance; their purpose is to let us know that there are issues we aren’t dealing with that we need to address. Perhaps it’s time to put skepticism aside and take a deeper look at what dreams are trying to tell you.
Skepticism: Helpful defense and an unhelpful defense mechanism
There’s nothing inherently wrong with skepticism, and specifically, feeling skeptical about what dreams mean, whether they have any utility. But, it’s important to understand the function of skepticism, what it’s doing for us, before we reject an idea or opportunity because of it. Skepticism helps us make informed decisions, prevents us from being swindled or otherwise taken advantage of. It keeps us safe. That’s not a bad thing. But we do need to understand what we are protecting ourselves from.
Skepticism can be a useful defense and it can be an unhelpful defense mechanism that keeps us from growing and gaining important knowledge. So, in this case, what is skepticism protecting you from? What is the harm in believing your dreams are prophetic, helpful, messengers of universal wisdom, that they are existential in nature, that maybe you are so special that you are receiving messages from a higher power? Well, people might think you are crazy because this viewpoint is contrary to societal beliefs. I hear that. No one wants to be called crazy or, god forbid, be accused of being a sorcerer or practicing witchcraft (aka heresy). We all know how that turned out for everyone a few centuries ago. Okay, so, if that’s your fear, just don’t tell anyone you believe in your dreams or interpret them. How do you feel about the possibility of dreams being something bigger, prophetic, helpful, messengers of wisdom, existential, from a higher power, now? My guess is that the skepticism still shows up, and if it does, that tells us that there’s something underneath that, a bigger fear.
So, what would it mean if your dreams were “real” and were prophetic, helpful, could even hold keys to unlocking the mysteries of the universe, that you might be special enough to receive this kind of information? Shit. That’s a lot to handle, enough to induce an existential crisis. That’s also a lot of pressure and responsibility. If your dreams actually mean something or are predicting events, then you might have to actually do something about that. Better close the door on that one before anything else gets out. This is your skeptic’s cue to speak up and remind you that dreams are just random, meaningless neural firings, detritus from the day’s events. Thank god. You don’t have time to process existential shit right now.
But, what about the flip side of that? What if you could tolerate the feelings that go along with the existential nature of this possibility? What if you could step into the possibility that your dreams hold the keys to the mysteries of the universe, that they are prophetic, helpful and messengers of universal (and internal) wisdom you can’t otherwise access? What if you were willing to accept that you might be special, what if you were willing to accept the responsibility that went along with that and act accordingly? What would that mean to you and your life? What doors might open for you? What problems might you solve? What changes might you make? If you were stuck in life, if there was something that’d been plaguing you for months or decades, or even just bothering you right now, and there was an understood medium that could provide some answers, and you found a way to access that, how might your life change? If you are having dreams about the future, how could unlocking this information change your life?
As with the AA Big Book, this course is meant to be suggestive only. What I can do is give you the best information I have obtained from studying the subject, from working with my own dreams, and from working with other people and their experiences with dreams. You don’t have to agree with everything. Take the parts you like and leave those you don’t. But, keep an open mind. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, as we’ve been trained to do in this culture. As Walt Whitman said, “Be curious, not judgmental.” You might be surprised about what you find.
How course can help the skeptic in you, the part that believes dreams are just figments of your imagination:
I’ll address where those beliefs come from and why it may be time to stop listening to them.
I’ll explain how dreaming is important in almost every culture, except ours, and how even modern Western culture, despite its devaluing of dreaming, provides evidence for the legitimacy of dream interpretation.
I’ll use modern quantum physics to explain how dreams are more than just made-up stories and how dreams might actually allow you to enter a different dimension of reality.
I’ll give you step-by-step methods to use when interpreting your dreams, as well as information on universal dream symbolism and meanings.
Oh, and for the lazy skeptic in you, let me point out that when you learn to decipher the meaning of dreams, you don’t need to do anything to get answers. Just go to sleep at night. I feel like that reason alone makes this course worth a shot.
Click below for more details or to sign up for the course.