Dreamer's Dictionary
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from The Dreamer's Dictionary
by Dr. Barbara Condron
The Art of Dream Interpretation
Thinking in the Language of Mind
When I was in the seventh grade of school I took a course in French. After the first ten minutes of class the very first day, we were not allowed to speak English, only French. Our learning of the foreign language was stimulated by filmstrips and physical actions that produced pictures for us to identify and describe with our new vocabulary. Although I didn't know it at the time, I've since learned that this way of teaching a foreign language produces the ability to think in that language. Far beyond rote memorization, this type of thinking gives the communicator the freedom to understand physical language more readily and quickly. The result is mental dexterity in producing thought images, the language of the inner mind, and fluency in describing those images with the verbalized sounds representing the words of a physical language. Those who are familiar with several languages in this manner can often recall using them in the dream state. Those who learn a language by rote rarely if ever communicate in that foreign language in their dreams. Their dreams are only in the mother tongue.
As you learn to interpret your dreams, you develop the art of thinking in images. This stimulates the use of both your conscious and subconscious minds. Most people rely solely on the physical part of Self for thinking. In this way they become creatures of habit, clinging to past experiences, and predestining themselves to repeat those past experiences over and over again. Instead of using memory as a component of reasoning, these individuals become dependent on the recall of their own or others' experiences thereby eliminating an essential ingredient for reasoning — imagination. When the conscious mind uses the will to draw on memory and create with imagination, reasoning is produced. This unlocks the power of the conscious mind and sets the reproductive power of the subconscious mind into motion. You've heard the saying, "Two heads are better than one." The same is true for parts of mind.
Since the time that we were created as spirit in the likeness and image of God, our Creator or Spiritual Parent, we have grown in maturity. In discovering what it means to be made in the likeness, with similar attributes, we have formed many facets of ourselves. These facets are revealed to us by the people who appear in our dreams. Each symbolically represents an aspect of a specific part of our Self. As we interpret what each aspect signifies, we find that our dream-people relate valuable information concerning the divisions of our mind and the levels of consciousness. As we deepen our understanding of these aspects, we begin to realize what being made in the image means. Now it is time to learn the basics of the language of mind.
The first step in understanding what aspect of Self your dream is revealing to you is to identify the sex of the dream-person and their relative position to you. Dream-people of the same sex as you are presently experiencing will indicate aspects of your conscious, waking mind. Dream-people of the opposite sex will be aspects of your subconscious mind.
Remember our gentleman caller who was concerned about his dreams of infidelity? In his dream he was making love with a female coworker. Because our gentleman is experiencing the male expression in his physical existence, his subconscious mind chose a familiar female and the action of making love to indicate how he is in harmony with this particular subconscious aspect. Remember we have discussed how the conscious and subconscious minds are two halves of a whole. Each has a duty and purpose to fulfill toward each other.
When the people in a dream are of the opposite sex and are engaged in sexual activity, it will indicate to the dreamer that those aspects of Self are working together toward a common goal. This dream was telling our gentleman how he was manifesting his desires.
As you learn to identify what an aspect symbolizes to you personally, you will discover new doorways to greater Self awareness. Conscious aspects will reflect the ways you think when you are consciously awake (see Glossary). These will tell you how you tend to approach life on a day-to-day basis. The actions that your dream-people are performing will tell you if these aspects are productively moving you toward being a whole functioning Self or destructively stagnating your growth and awareness.
When people of the opposite sex appear in your dream, they will represent aspects of your subconscious mind. These aspects serve to inform your conscious mind about the directing intelligence in the subconscious mind. Subconscious aspects and their actions can tell you about understandings you possess that are being used or misused in creating your desires. They will tell you what you have consciously set into motion that is now a part of your subconsciousness. Even more, these dream-people will represent the stage of development your manifesting thoughts are in as they seek to make themselves known in your conscious physical life. Learn how to identify the aspects in your dreams and you unlock the creative power of your mind so you can have anything you desire.
As you consider the sex of your dream-people, you will also want to consider another factor — their relative position to you. When a person appears in your dreams who you would recognize as an authority figure in your everyday conscious life, this dream-person will be telling you about the part of your mind that is closest to your origin as a thinker, your superconscious mind.
Beyond a definite separation in the inner levels of your consciousness your superconscious mind exists. Beyond the reasoning power of the conscious mind and the intuitive abilities of the subconscious mind lies the part of you that knows where you came from, why you are here, and where you are going. It is your superconscious mind that holds the perfect seed idea, a blueprint, for your maturation as a thinker. Here the idea of what it means to be made in the likeness and image of God has been, is and will remain stored until that idea is manifested and understood. Your superconscious mind houses the Christ Consciousness, the Buddha Consciousness, the Cosmic Consciousness in you. This enlightened part of Self is the inner authority of man.
When a male authority figure appears in your dreams, your subconscious mind is telling you about your conscious awareness of the aggressive action of your superconscious mind. A female authority figure represents the receptive action of your superconscious mind. The action that these dream figures take will give you insight into your soul progression. When interpreted, these dreams will tell you when you are consciously creating experiences with the intent of using and gaining understandings thus fulfilling the duty and purpose of your conscious mind, and when you are causing yourself to be a prisoner of experiences produced by habitual, victim thoughts.
Because the conscious mind holds the responsibility of learning the language of mind to develop inner communication, it is up to you to be honest in your assessment of why particular symbols are used by your subconscious mind. At least part of Sigmund Freud's idea was based in truth. If you have had a "falling out" with your mother, thereby producing anger, resentment or distress in your waking relationship with her, you will be tempted to deny that your dream-mother appears as an aspect of your superconscious mind. Be alert to this temptation! Your subconscious mind will use the language of mind to convey to you the state of your conscious awareness, so whether you love or hate your mother when you're awake, she will still represent your superconscious mind in your dreams. Others who will represent your superconscious mind are your father, your employer or supervisor, a teacher, a minister, a doctor, the president of your country, anyone who holds a position of authority relative to your chosen position in life.
Once you have admitted that your dream-mother represents your superconscious mind, observe the action of the dream — the places and things that appear to make the dream move — then begin analyzing in order to comprehend the dream's message.
In our everyday life, we may pass a school building on our way to work day after day, month after month. We can identify the building by a sign denoting that the structure is used as a school. We have learned to associate the word school with a place to learn and teach. Until we stop, enter the building, and communicate with someone, we remain oblivious to what in truth is learned and taught at this school. When we become aware of this, and take part in the action of learning and teaching we then have an opportunity for Self growth.
Learning the language of mind and using it in your life is a similar process. We dream many dreams during a lifetime. When we stop to enter into the dream by faithfully recording each detail, then learn to translate the symbols used, communication occurs. Our next step is taking part in the learning available in this communication. Then action can be taken by teaching ourselves to act on or respond to the inner guidance the dream has given us.
It has been said many times that the world is our schoolroom. Because the physical is the farthest level of consciousness from our origin where we have free will, it is up to our conscious minds to respond to the inner mind's urge toward maturity by producing actions that will fulfill that urge. When this is accomplished peace, security, and contentment are achieved.
The Male Who Became Pregnant
Interpreting Dream Messages
Because our subconscious mind has at its disposal all the information we have stored in our brains from birth, our dreams are varied in form and content. Imagine the growing command you could possess of a physical language with a daily increase of vocabulary! As we add the images of new people, places and things to our computer-like brain, our subconscious mind's "vocabulary" increases proportionately.
Armed with the cornerstone of understanding dream-people, knowing what their sex and relative position to us symbolizes, we are now free to understand more elements of the language of mind. As we recall dreams, we can readily see that the aspects appearing in our dreams come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and likenesses. Made of our own subconscious mind substance, our dream-people are formed precisely by our subconscious mind to convey very truthful and precise messages.
It took several years of teaching people to interpret dreams for me to meet the first male who would admit that he dreamed he was pregnant. Yes, in the dream this male was pregnant and giving birth! As he told his classmates the dream, there were giggles, gasps, and a host of reactions from his listeners. I was overjoyed for I knew what his subconscious mind was telling him.
We can all recall dream experiences that would not or do not happen in "real" life. At this stage of development the carrying and birthing of a child remains a feminine ability, so to most this uninterpreted dream experience would be immediately linked to the physical impossibility of a male bearing a child. The result of this kind of physical thinking is to label dreams as strange, weird, crazy, or ridiculous. This is true for those who do not "read" the language of mind.
A child in a dream symbolizes a new idea. The sex of the child will tell you where this new idea is being birthed, in the conscious or subconscious mind. The subconscious mind of my male student was telling him about an important new idea he was consciously creating. This was a most encouraging dream for the student. As he interpreted the rest of the action in his dream, he began to see its meaning in his life. He realized his subconscious mind was letting him know that indeed he was becoming an independent, mature thinker.
This was a young man who had allowed his conscious thinking to be harnessed by his thoughts of pleasing and fearing his father. He had actively been creating and pursuing in his life only those things that he believed would bring praise from his physical parent. As a result, he was attending a college he did not enjoy, engrossed in a course of study that did not interest him so he produced mediocre grades, engaged to a woman he did not want to spend his life with but who was socially acceptable, and a practicing hypocrite when it came to religion. The week before his "pregnant" dream, he had started action on changing colleges according to the course of study he wanted to pursue, he had broken the engagement to the woman and begun to evaluate his religious beliefs taking them much more seriously. This student was birthing new ideas that indeed were his own. His dream was a well-earned compliment.
Since people in our dreams represent aspects of ourselves, our dream-people will tell us how we are consciously guiding the action that affects our conscious, subconscious, and superconscious minds. In this way, dream-people often seem to have a life of their own. As you begin to take a more serious look at what your dreams have to offer, you will probably begin to remember dreams that include many people you do not know. As this occurs, pay close attention to the role they play and their actions in the dream. Also note your reaction to them during the dream. Was this unknown dream-person a lawyer, a doctor, a policeman? This will tell you the role of the aspect. In these examples the aspect would deal with understanding Universal Law, healing or discipline respectively. What action did they take in the dream? If the doctor was operating on your best friend, who is of the opposite sex, this would symbolize healing in the subconscious mind under the direction of the superconscious mind. Once you determined which aspect of you your best friend symbolizes you would identify the quality of self needing and receiving healing. When consciously aware of the message in your dream you would be able to cooperate and show more conscious initiative in aiding this healing process within your mind.
Many times people will report a dream where some unknown assailant has attacked or stolen something valuable from them. These dreams can be frightening when left uninterpreted. If the assailant is the same sex as you are experiencing, the dream will be talking about an unfamiliar conscious aspect. These unfamiliar conscious aspects are keys to unlock the chain that restricts our ability to fully use the power in the conscious mind. Admit their existence and you have the key. Identify which aspect of Self it is and you use the key to remove limitations in your awareness.
We have identified a dream-thief as an unfamiliar aspect who is taking from the rest of Self causing us to miss valuable opportunities. This kind of dream activity usually indicates that we are taking an important part of Self for granted. Of all the sins man is capable of committing, taking the Self for granted ranks among the greatest for it destroys Self awareness. To further discover what we are taking for granted in ourself, look to see how the dream-thief expressed him or her self. Was he abrasive, sly, apologetic? This will give you insight into the aspect of you that is taking from the Self. If he was abrasive, look to see how you are unconsciously abrasive. Perhaps you adamantly reject compliments, thereby stealing from your own awareness the talents and skills unique to you that could be put to use for attaining your desires. If he was sly, look to see how you are unconsciously clever in your thoughts and actions. Perhaps you manipulate others into doing things for you because you fear the challenge, thereby promoting weakness in you and stealing your own awareness of abilities toward Self reliance. If he was apologetic, begin to admit the times you apologize out of habit thereby denying truth as you see it.
As you become aware of these previously unfamiliar aspects of Self you will begin to determine an action of conscious thinking that is productive toward what you want in life. By paying attention to unfamiliar dream aspects, you will endow your conscious mind with newfound awarenesses daily. Life will cease to be a burdened drudgery of endless battles. It will become an exciting purposeful adventure as you learn to use the wisdom from the inner levels of your own mind. Indications that you are accomplishing this will appear in your dreams. When you appear in a dream with other aspects and you are controlling the action in the dream, this conveys to your conscious mind that you, as you see your Self, are taking charge of these parts of Self.
Remember the woman from Kansas City who feared her dream was precognitive? For fifteen years the meaning of her dream was misunderstood in her conscious mind. The comprehension of how she could understand and productively use her dream was foreign to her. When anything is foreign to our pattern of conscious thinking, the line of least resistance is to try to deny its existence. Denial requires time, energy and great amounts of effort with very little intelligent direction. Denial's benefits are poverty, disease, pestilence, and famine in our inner and outer worlds. For our KC lady, these manifested in fearing that the dream would come true, doubting her ability to consciously control herself and her car, and so deciding she just wouldn't drive. As she became aware of the meaning of her dream, she realized she no longer needed to be a slave to her fear. Her first step was conquering denial by admitting that her dream experience was about her state of consciousness rather than a forecast of impending physical doom. Identifying each reaction — the fear, doubt, and refusal to act — produced awareness of her self-imposed limitations that had literally ruled her life for fifteen years. With the responsibility in her own hands, she could then begin to use her newfound information to rebuild her confidence and discipline to be able to drive an automobile again.
Discipline is a key to Self awareness. Self discipline produces security, character, integrity, dependability, determination, and a host of positive attributes. Although most would agree that childhood discipline is an important part of the maturing process from infancy to adolescence and from adolescence into adulthood, we can also probably remember times when we failed to see the need for discipline. Perhaps this was when, as a child, we wanted to go to a neighbor's by ourselves or eat cookies instead of supper, or when in adolescence we wanted to borrow the family car or hitchhike across the country. Discipline is the training that develops Self control or what your father might have told you was character. The word is derived from the word disciple, meaning a pupil or follower of any teacher or school of thought. As we strengthen our thinking ability we approach life experiences as lessons in the physical world. As we endeavor to master our Self, we discover more and more inner disciples. This is accomplished by using the aspects of Self we are familiar with and identifying those that at one time eluded our awareness.
Your growing mastery will be indicated when you, as you see your Self, appear in the dream and you are determining the dream-action, much like a parent instructs a child or a boss sets the direction for his employees. This type of dream will signify your growing command of discipline. When you are fighting discipline in your waking conscious mind, you will have dreams of being a victim of other aspects of Self. This indicates your need to take control of these aspects of Self, putting them to use toward what you desire rather than being a slave to them.
During a question and answer period at a lecture I gave at a university in Texas, a woman described a type of dream I have heard many times. In the dream, she was riding in the backseat of the family car. Her husband was driving and she was telling him where she wanted to go. She was also telling him to go faster or slower. He wasn't listening to her. The lady thought the dream strange since in her everyday life her husband drives his own car and rarely drives the family car. As she began to discover what you already know, that the dream was about her, it began to make more sense. This subconscious message revolved around her reliance upon the subconscious mind to give direction and control to her physical body. We have already discussed that the subconscious mind does control autonomic functions of the body until the conscious mind understands how to regulate the breathing, heartbeat, and function of each system. A key element in this dream was the woman telling her husband how to drive and his refusal to listen to her. This indicates the lady's conscious desire to take control of the body without the full responsibility.
As it turned out, this woman had been in and out of the hospital several times in the months preceding this dream. She could see that she would become very motivated to produce physical health, care for her body, and "do the things I should do" several days or weeks after her hospital stays. She had even been taught ways to cause relaxation during her hospital stays which she would immediately practice. However, this desire waned in a short period of time and she was back to relying on her subconscious mind to do what she thought her conscious mind was too undisciplined and weak to accomplish. Thus to her conscious mind she would perceive her subconscious mind as paying her informed and fitful efforts no attention. I assured her that as she developed purpose for her conscious use of what she had learned to improve her physical health, she would be able to sustain her motivation. Her subconscious mind would heed and support her conscious efforts. Then she would find herself driving the car in her dreams.
This dream brings up another manifestation of aspects that is worthy of noting. Marriage in a dream represents the conscious union of your outer Self with your inner Self. When you are experiencing marriage in the physical, you have chosen to enter the course of study in life's schoolroom that can be simply described as commitment to Self. The physical situation of a male and female living, working, playing, sharing, and cooperating together is an excellent place to gain understanding of your relationship with your own subconscious mind. In fact, the marriage made in heaven as spoken of in the beginning of the Bible is between the man, symbolizing subconscious mind, and woman, symbolizing conscious mind. If you recall, the man leaves his mother and father, symbolizing the superconscious mind, and clings to his wife and the two become one flesh. This is why there is a separation between the superconscious mind, and the subconscious and conscious minds. When we cause our conscious and subconscious minds to function in harmony, with one ideal and purpose, we experience the discovery of our true soulmate. Therefore for those of us who are married in our physical lives, when our spouse appears in a dream this will relate information to our conscious minds about our commitment to our subconscious mind. Your dream-spouse will tell you much more about the inner workings of your subconscious mind than any other subconscious aspect. Your dream-spouse and his/her activities will tell you how you consciously view your relationship with your inner Self.
Consider the following dream: You find yourself in a meadow with your beloved, enjoying a clear, warm spring day. Suddenly the scene is transformed and you are in a church about to take your wedding vows. You turn, expecting to see the shining face of your beloved, and find yourself holding hands with a stranger, someone you have never seen before! How would you interpret this dream and what would it indicate about your state of awareness? To understand your dreams, you must go beyond merely looking up the symbols in this dictionary. You must be willing to learn how to communicate in the language your subconscious mind speaks. Giving attention to your dreams, seeing them as a valuable asset available to you for greater insight, and using the meaning you derive from your nightly communication, are acts of commitment to Self that culminate in greater and greater strides in Self awareness.
Some people dream about former loves – ex-husbands, ex-girlfriends – long past the time of their physical association. They wonder why these people who no longer hold an important place in their lives suddenly reappear. Dreaming of a person from your past brings your attention to the need to use and express particular qualities that you specifically associate with that person. Relationships with others throughout our lives provide us with the opportunity to learn by realizing and developing particular qualities. Sometimes the full benefit of what was gained from earlier experiences is left behind with the physical part of the relationship. When there is no one presently in the dreamer's life who reflects this quality, the subconscious mind will draw upon information stored in the brain during an earlier time period in order to get its message across. Thus you may dream about a former love, your first employer, or a grade school teacher.
The people in your dream reveal the qualities of Self; the action in your dream reveals the manner of thinking. For instance, a common dream revolves around taking a test in school and realizing you are unprepared. The school represents a place where learning can occur. Opportunities for learning are available every day as a result of your chosen experiences. It is your responsibility to learn from these experiences, adding to your soul's understanding of creation. To dream of being unprepared for a test indicates the need to assimilate and use the information received from daily experiences. A test is a means of drawing forth what has been learned; an evaluation. To have an experience without producing understanding from it perpetuates ignorance of the purpose for existence. This dream brings attention to the dreamer's need to use what has been received from life's experiences for greater Self awareness.
Sometimes the dream-action can be unsettling such as dreaming of drowning in water. The earth is 75% water. The physical body is over 70% water. As physical beings we exist and live in water. In our dreams, water represents conscious life experiences. Your dreams of water reflect back to you how you exist on a day-to-day basis. These dreams provide an image of being deluged by water in various ways indicating the dreamer's thought pattern of being overwhelmed by life and daily experiences. How can the dreamer use this message to improve his life? By setting ideals for Self and acting upon them, the dreamer can begin taking control of Self in everyday experiences. If you have these kinds of dreams, whenever you feel overwhelmed or like you are struggling, bring your ideals to the forefront of your mind and act upon them. You will no longer feel a need to escape from life. Your dreams will change to a more pleasant scene; perhaps you are paddling down a river or sailing on the ocean, very much in control of your existence.
Another common dream-action involves losing teeth. Teeth are used to chew food so it can be transformed into usable energy for the body. In a dream, food represents knowledge which can be transformed into usable energy for the mind. In this dream, the attention is being drawn to the need to use the knowledge received for enriching the mind. It is difficult to accomplish this when the proper equipment, as symbolized by the teeth, is lacking. A productive response to this dream would be to imagine purposes for the goals in life. Receiving knowledge with an intention of putting it into practice for the betterment of Self and others, insures the productive use of the knowledge available.
Dreams will reveal how we think, what we think about, and why we think as we do. Your thoughts and attitudes are the most important elements in your life. Your attitude determines your success or failure, your pleasure or pain, your health or disability. Your attitude determines the quality of your life regardless of the physical situations surrounding you. Being rich does not bring happiness; being poor does not bring sorrow. To believe that the physical situations dictate your worth, security, and peace is to confine your soul to the wheel of rebirth. Your dreams are opportunities to learn, opportunities to experience beyond the limitations of the physical Self. Heeding the messages sent by your subconscious mind expands your consciousness bringing the awareness that thought is indeed cause. Your attitude about your Self and your life makes you more than just a winner or loser, it can make you a master of spiritual Enlightenment.
Accessing Subconscious Capabilities
Eventually, just as a great writer can achieve command of a physical language to express his ideas in a way we might view as genius, you can become proficient in your use of the language of mind producing clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is the result of using the five physical senses to produce the sixth sense. This sixth sense is the sense of the mind, used spontaneously by most, used purposefully by great Masters. To be clairvoyant is to free your self from the bonds of sense-slavery by producing the knowing that comes with understanding the inner workings of your mind.
To be clairvoyant is to consciously possess that incredible sense of freedom at one time achieved only sporadically in experiences like flying dreams.
Not long ago, a woman told me a story about her best friend. The woman was pregnant and her best friend called to tell her she had had a dream that the woman would have twins, a male child and one female. The woman was surprised and amazed when several months later she did indeed give birth to twins, a boy and a girl.
"How did my friend know?" she asked.
Clairvoyance is a French word translated into English as clear seeing. It denotes the ability to use the inner subconscious mind to honestly perceive the past, present and probable future. In this case, the woman's friend had remembered a dream experience that conveyed the probable future based on the present situation and circumstances. When this type of experience occurs during conscious sleep, we say we had a precognitive dream. Precognitive dreams bring our conscious waking attention to the supernatural and supernormal abilities we each possess but rarely develop and fully use.
To understand this and other abilities of the whole mind that lie dormant and latent, we begin by identifying and understanding the parts that comprise the unit. The part of mind that demonstrates the ability of clairvoyance is the subconscious mind. This is the same part of mind that creates what we consciously remember as dreams.
When we go to sleep at night, our conscious attention is drawn away from the five physical senses and the activity of our day. Our mental attention goes into the inner levels of consciousness within the subconscious levels of existence. Most of the time, we are unaware that we knocked the covers off the bed, or a siren passed by, or we disturbed our bed partner. We experience what is known as sleep, a temporary state of consciousness characterized by lack of awareness of the outer world around us and many times ignorance of the inner world within us as well. When we do have awareness of what is occurring in our inner world, we awake with the memory of a dream.
As we build the rapport between our inner and outer minds, we begin developing awareness of the vast abilities natural to the subconscious mind. Precognition is one of these abilities. There are many ways that precognition is used with little attention in our physical everyday lives. Think of the times you have planned vacations and have produced the expected experience weeks or months later. Think of marriage plans that were made and did culminate in the wedding day, or acting on a desire to receive excellent grades in a course of study. These are just some examples of how we use this ability of precognition in our everyday waking state. These are examples so common that we take them for granted, losing sight of the precognitive ability of our minds. For this reason, most people only recognize the precognitive workings of their minds when they involve someone else. Rather than desire to gain new awarenesses being the impetus for realization, fear of what we do not want to occur becomes the motivating force for remembering. Thus we note pre-knowledge of someone's death, a plane crash, losing a career promotion, or other foretold disasters, ignoring the many times the precognitive ability was giving us pre-sight of desired events.
Once we begin to appreciate and understand how precognition works in our lives, we strengthen our ability to use precognition in ways like the woman who predicted twins. When we fail to use fully what we already experience in our lives, we often react with fear, which makes us a slave to the mind's potential rather than a Master of it.
I have seen many people enter the course of study in the School of Metaphysics because they experience precognitive dreams that have never been explained. Having so few answers to their questions, most of these people have self-described negative attitudes toward this ability. Having no understanding or control of their precognition, it is viewed more often as a curse than a blessing.
I remember a student who first experienced his own precognition when he dreamed that his wife drowned in an unexpected boating accident. Several months later during a gathering of friends at a nearby lake, the event actually occurred. He remembered having the dream and thought little more about it until a similar event took place.
This time he dreamed of his mother dying in her home. When this dream came to pass in the physical, he dismissed it as "it was time, after all she was in her eighties." When the same type of experience occurred a third time, this one involving the heart attack of a close coworker in his forties, he began to think something was seriously wrong. Why did he have this pre-knowledge of events when others did not? He began to attempt to repress the memory of his dreams from fear that they might be previews of coming events. Possessing this type of knowledge was so far removed from what is habitually ordinary, he believed there must be something wrong or evil about it. To him, denying dreams was a matter of self preservation because he had begun to believe in some way he must be responsible for these physical happenings since he knew they would happen beforehand.
This type of thinking is frequently present in people who experience precognitive dreams and have yet to learn how and why they occur. After a time, the idea of informed responsibility causes such a burden of guilt that they cease talking about their dreams to anyone and attempt to deny the experiences altogether. Because there is still the desire to understand how and why this occurs, their attempts at denial become relentless memories that consume their waking thoughts as if they were possessed by a demon that will not let go.
Since denial only adds power to what we do not understand, the answer lies in conscious enlightenment of what is taking place and why. The duty of the subconscious mind is fulfill any conscious command when allowed. Denial does interferes with the true nature of the Self for it does not allow the inner mind to perform its function. The many ways the subconscious mind can offer assistance can only be restricted by the conscious limitations we imagine and place upon it.
When the inner and outer minds enjoy communion, they can work in accord for the fulfillment of any conscious desire. Working with your dreams strengthens this communion and both minds are free to perform their duties unimpaired. Gathering experiences in the physical plane of existence, not denying them, is the duty of our conscious minds. The conscious mind also has a purpose to fulfill. As we consciously create our desires — the experience of owning a home, enjoying a family, achieving a position in our career — we are responsible in our conscious minds for understanding the nature of that experience.
For instance, let's say you desire a new car. You can consciously imagine the kind, make, model and year of car you desire. You can even create in your mind's eye the color and type of upholstery. With your mind in directed action, you have set a goal for an experience that you consciously desire. When you begin to extend your thinking to include how owning the car will benefit you as an individual, you add to this goal your purposes for fulfilling your desire. This means you begin to imagine what you will be like when you possess the car. What will be the difference in you when you derive a 1973 Chevrolet that needs painting and when you drive a new 1995 Mercedes? Will you have more confidence, carry yourself with greater pride, respond differently to the attention you may receive? How will you use attaining that physical thing to make you different?
This is purpose. And this kind of thinking builds understandings. As your thinking is extended to include purpose for your goals, your consciousness expands and you begin to transform goals for physical acquisition into imaged ideals for greater Self awareness, for learning and growth. When this occurs, you become aware of your purpose for existing in the physical plane. Whatever physical attainment is achieved — money, possessions, position, associations, friendships, children, fame — they will all be left behind when you complete your sojourn of this lifetime. They are temporal and therefore do not hold lasting value to your Real Self. How you acquire these physical conditions and how you respond to them once you have them in your life, opens the doors for greater understanding that will become a permanent part of your soul. With ever-deepening thinking, you realize it is the freedom you experience by making and using money that is important. It is the creativity stimulated in and expressed by acquiring and using possessions that adds to your Self. It is the intelligence and determination utilized in your life's work which enriches the soul. It is the love, respect, discipline, and cooperation gained through relationships with others which builds understandings. It is the authority and wisdom born from fame that is important to the Self. These qualities that increase the Self are permanently stored in your subconscious mind. Their pursuit by the conscious mind enables the subconscious mind to fulfill its purpose — retaining your understandings in permanent memory.
Because human man has progressed in his use of reasoning, when we incarn into a physical body we bring with us this storehouse of understandings previously gained. These understandings are at our disposal to be put to use, rather than consciously misinterpreted by remaining in ignorance, fear, and doubt. Individuals who remember precognitive dreams have progressed in their soul's evolution to a point that it is important to develop and use their minds more fully. It becomes that person's responsibility to his or her Self to explore the how's and why's causing this experience. Because there is free will in the conscious waking existence of human man, we each have this opportunity to explore, learn and understand, or to fight, deny and remain a victim of our own potential.
In our physical existence, we measure time by the amount of activity we can perform from the time the sun rises to the time it sets. In the subconscious mind time is measured not by experiences, rather by understandings. This gives our subconscious mind the ability to move freely into what the conscious mind recognizes as the past, present, and probable future. What is perceived in the subconscious mind sometimes catches the attention of the conscious mind in the dream state. When this occurs and physical time finally catches up, we say we have had a precognitive dream.
In the case of the gentleman who experienced precognitive dreams of friend and family members dying, these were consciously remembered subconscious experiences that could be used to aid him in preparing for what would probably occur. As long as these messages remained misunderstood in his conscious mind, they served as a seed for fear, guilt, and anger. This is why he became ambivalent toward his ability seeing it as a curse rather than a blessing. The responsibility of pre-knowledge of probabilities was not in causing those physical occurrences, rather the responsibility was in consciously determining what action would be taken based on the information received.
When I was directing a SOM center in Wichita, Kansas, some years ago, I read a front page headline story in the local paper about a man who had a precognitive dream nine days earlier about a Boeing 727 crashing, resulting in the loss of many lives. When the man awoke he had sketchy pieces of information: numbers on the plane but no airline denotation, description of the airport but no city. He did have recognition of the faulty part that caused the plane to be out of control. The dream was so profoundly real to him that he contacted the local authorities, who referred him to the Federal Aviation Agency. Because he did not have every detail required by the FAA, and because human man habitually tends to doubt the awesome power of his mind, his information was recorded and largely ignored. Until the actual physical event transpired.
When the information from his phone calls was reviewed, the details he had reported were verified and after much research and money spent, the physical reason for the crash was reported by the investigation team. This, too, was the same as the man had described several days before the actual crash occurred. These types of experiences happen daily for thousands of people around the world. This individual showed great courage in sharing his precognitive dream. As reported, he though it was his responsibility to share what he knew with people in a position to use the information.
It is true that each of us is responsible for the use and development of our minds. How much we master our minds by understanding how and why the mind functions will produce greater control and responsibility in the use of our mental capacities.
With each of these instances of precognitive dreams, we are aware that we do have the ability to change what may initially appear as fate. We can realize that we always have the availability to change and control our own mental attitude about our physical experiences. This brings us to the importance of knowing the language of mind. As we sharpen our conscious ability to receive and retain the messages given by our subconscious minds in dreams, we give ourselves the key to identifying with our souls. As we become more proficient in communicating in the language of mind we also gain the awareness we need to know about what action we are willing to take and be responsible for in what we perceive with mind.
When we know the language of mind, we also know that even when a dream proves to be precognitive, it is still a message for us and about us as individuals. This is why interpreting dreams is important in our lives.
from The Dreamer's Dictionary, copyright 1997 School of Metaphysics, all rights reserved
Copyright© 2002, School of Metaphysics