To Sleep is to Dream?

 Last night, I had probably what was one of the craziest dream sequences ever.  It was a series of two dreams.  In the first, it was late-night talkshow personality Greg Gutfeld.  Now, I love Gutfeld's show, and I do watch it regularly, but because I don't have conventional cable television I watch it the next day on Rumble on my TV.  Any rate, Gutfeld is fun to watch, but not something I have as a high priority mark in my life though.  But, last night, I had an odd dream about him that defies logic frankly.  In the dream, I was in Gutfeld's studio with a bunch of other people - the studio bore striking resemblance to a shopping mall corridor.  We were all settling down for a short sleep in this studio, and prior to that, Gutfeld instructs me to wake up in 20 minutes and meet him in the main area.  So, I do, and as it turns out, I was to be married to this beautiful woman that looked a lot like the actress Tiffany Amber Theissen.  I show up though, and I have no pants on!  So, after several delays Gutfeld is officiating at this apparently civil marriage, and then I wake up briefly.  Upon falling back to sleep, I am now dreaming about a class I am taking in the dream on children's literature, and very oddly the teacher - who is on a face-cam on computer (talk about high-tech in dreams!) looks like Nancy Pelosi!  My crazy sequence of dreams led me to write this today, as sort of a continuing series of talks on personal reflection and developing habits for self-help that are sound.  Like the journaling article I wrote recently, these things are all interconnected too, so it is important to view them in that context as well. 

Everyone has dreams at some point - if you don't, then I would question your humanity.  Dreams can be familiar, bizarre, or disturbing, or they can just be pleasant experiences.  All a dream is essentially is your mind at work while you are sleeping - while the rest of your body rests, your brain works to keep everything functioning.  So, what often happens is that a person's dreams are pulled from their thoughts or subconscious memories, and often they are sort of hodgepodged together in a strangely familiar but strangely eclectic mosaic of things which create the dream.  There are reasons people have dreams, and I have concluded based on my own experience that there are three of those:

1. A dream is a coping mechanism for stress.  In life, the more stressed I get, it seems the more vivid my dream cycles get at night.  God did that for a reason, as those dreams do help us to sort of have a mental vacation as we sleep from the mounting pressures we face during our day. 

2. A dream can also carry some significance.  Symbolism in dreams is something worth paying attention to, as it may be God trying to talk to you.  This is especially true if a vivid, specific detail sticks out to you in the dream and you tend to dwell on it.  

3. A dream may also be just a result of eating something that messed with your system.  Those types of dreams can be absolutely bizarre, and also can be nightmares too.  The best remedy for that is to lay off the spicy foods before sleeping. 

Documenting dreams is a very essential practice to cultivate.  As Fr. Pedro Meseguer writes in his book The Secret of Dreams (Fort Collins, CO: Roman Catholic Books, 1996) on page 69, he cites Hervey de Saint-Denis's studies in noting that it is essentially a cultivated discipline to record one's dreams that takes practice and also a special interest in the dreaming to cultivate.  The point here is something we all experience when we wake up in the morning - if we had a dream the night before, it is often forgotten unless we somehow collect the details while they are still fresh in our minds.  This can be a challenge, because not everyone has a notebook and pen beside their bed, and also you have grogginess and a bit of fuzziness in your head until that first cup of coffee kicks in.  Fr. Meseguer recommends recording the dream with the same urgency as if you were trying to memorize a speech - that way, you can capture more details of it to analyze and reflect upon later.  I tend to agree with Fr. Meseguer on this, as if we are not careful we can easily miss things that may be significant in our dreams.  Now, on occasion, after some time down the road you may instantly recall some detail of a dream you had months (and even years) ago.  If that is the case, if you do keep a regular journal, be sure to document it.  These are very practical and common-sense things most of us should be able to do, but it is just the matter of motivation to make it happen. 

Dreams are often dismissed as being too trivial for serious inquiry, even by psychologists as well as religious authorities.  Unfortunately, this has led to the subject of dreams being hijacked by occultists and New Agers, and as a result, any discussion of dreams - in particular dream interpretation - is seen as too esoteric for serious inquiry.  In reality though, the Bible is chock full of examples of where God speaks to people in dreams, and that cannot be dismissed.  The problem is when we try to seek out meanings and we do online research, all we often see are occultic and New Age pages about dream interpretation.  It is the enemy's way of corrupting a good thing by turning it into superstition, and that should not be tolerated.  It will take some work, but seek out more sound sources dealing with dreams, either from Christian sources or even from more secular psychological studies.  Those tend to be balanced and are largely free of occultic nonsense.  

In summary, dreams are good things.  Do not dismiss them as just the result of too much pepperoni on the Friday night pizza you had for dinner.  And, always document those dreams, as there could be something in them that may be a source of revelation or comfort.  Thank you for allowing me to share until next time.