The Bible often mentions dreams as a means of communication from God. Do you think that God still utilizes this means of communication?
What resources help you in appropriately interpreting your dreams?

tee

Tee -
Hello again... glad to see you're back... or should I say talking...

Does God speak to us through our dreams? Well I can't say that all dreams are messages but I can personally attest that God can hit us over the head in dreams. He gave me a pretty good whallop a few years ago.

I would definitely have to answer this with a resounding YES!

Why? Having an interesting dream or two lately?

Peace,
Wanda

Does God speak to us through our dreams? Well I can't say that all dreams are messages but I can personally attest that God can hit us over the head in dreams. He gave me a pretty good whallop a few years ago.

Hi Wanda,

Care to elaborate?


Why? Having an interesting dream or two lately?

Yes, a precognitive one. I'm currently living through what it indicated to me.

tee

Hi...
Ok.. I'll tell mine if you tell yours..

It's been about three years now, just about this time - Lent. Love lent...
Anyhow, I kept having this dream that I was walking with Christ, from his arrest all the way to Golgotha. It was horrid! I was there! I saw it all. At each point of his journey I would beg him to turn back... but he just smiled. I kept telling him to stop. We were not worth it. Over and over I pleaded and cried but to no avail. When the first spike was driven in I screamed and woke up.
This went on for a couple of weeks and during that time I was brought face to face with all the evil in the world... I could not watch the news, read the papers, watch tv or listen to the radio... it was simply too horrid because I had a part in every bit of it. I literally thought I was loosing my mind for a bit and could not stop crying. Luckily or providentially there was a good friend and pastor who reached out and helped me make sense of it all.
As I said, God hit me over the head - guess he had to to get my attention...and I thank him.

By the way, I was working as a church secretary at the time, for another denomination not my own, and had just wandered back to my church a few months before... again in response to a bit of nudging.

Ok.. now your turn.
Peace,
Wanda

....As I said, God hit me over the head - guess he had to to get my attention...and I thank him.

Wanda,

Thanks for sharing your dream. Yes, God sometimes has to get our attention....and it's not always easy.

By the way, I was working as a church secretary at the time, for another denomination not my own, and had just wandered back to my church a few months before... again in response to a bit of nudging.

Yep, it's that frequent nudging that often works.

Ok.. now your turn.


Ok....without getting into specific private details, I was shown something that forewarned me of an upcoming family tragedy. At the time, it was shown to me, I didn't fully comprehend it. I just knew something bad was going to happen. Now, in retrospect, I understand more fully what was being shown to me at the time because I am living through the family tragedy that it forewarned. So, I was given a glimpse then...now, the details have been filled in.

Hope that explains a little.

tee

Hi..

I really don't know much about dreams - their symbolism and meanings and all of that. One of those things I would like to learn about but simply don't have time.

My dream was definitely an attention getter. Think I had been ignoring the nudges a bit. Always did a lot of talking to God but very little listening. Really didn't know how I guess. Anyhow he got my attention!

My totally uninformed opinion of precog dreams is that they would either serve to warn us so action can be taken or so that we can prepare ourselves in some way for what will come. Kind of a heads up type of thing.. prepare yourself for you will be needed.

thoughts? As I said I know pretty much nothing about any of this.
Peace,
Wanda

I really don't know much about dreams - their symbolism and meanings and all of that......

I've been keeping a dream journal for quite a while. I don't rely much on the symbolism contained in books. I think, after a time,
a personal symbolism develops and is used as a means of communication.

My totally uninformed opinion of precog dreams is that they would either serve to warn us so action can be taken or so that we can prepare ourselves in some way for what will come. Kind of a heads up type of thing.. prepare yourself for you will be needed.

I like your categories Wanda.
It seems to me that this was definitely a
preparation type of dream.

Thanks.

tee

Uraqt, I think personal associations with dream symbols and stories is a good approach to take--better than dream books.

It can also be very helpful to know the mythological and archetypal motifs expressed in dreams. For this, there is no one better than Jung, who postulated the existence of a collective unconscious to explain some of these deeper dream stories.

As for God speaking to us in dreams, sure: why not? Especially if the "natural" homeostatic activity of the psyche as manifest to us in dreams is understood to be part of God-language. But if this means that dreams ought to be thought of as communications from God outside of such a context, I suspect that's quite rare. It's not that God can't speak to us in dreams, but that had better not be the only way a message from God is coming through. Such messages would need to be confirmed in many other ways before I would give them much credence.

As for precognitive dreams: also tricky. Just because I dream about someone or doing something with someone doesn't mean it's happening in reality. Unless something about the dream very forcefully indicates that it's precognitive--a strong feeling of warning, for example--I would tend to not take anything too literally. If I dream my wife is in a car wreck, for example, I'd more strongly suspect that I'm anxious about where she's going in her life or with a circumstance than worry about her getting in an accident.

Phil

Originally posted by Phil:
Uraqt, I think personal associations with dream symbols and stories is a good approach to take--better than dream books.

Agreed. Much better.

It can also be very helpful to know the mythological and archetypal motifs expressed in dreams. For this, there is no one better than Jung, who postulated the existence of a collective unconscious to explain some of these deeper dream stories.

From what I understand the aboriginals were acknowledging the existence of a collective unconscious long before Jung. I am guessing Jung merely articulated much of it in an attractive package. However, I think Jung can be good provided he is used in the proper context and as a part of interpretation, not the sole interpretation. I just don't like it when someone pretends that ONLY Jung, or ONLY a certain perspective is the only way to a satisfactory interpretation. (There are some people who do that, you know.) Sometimes we need to draw from many dream interpretation traditions in addition to using our own intuition, imho.

As for God speaking to us in dreams, sure: why not? Especially if the "natural" homeostatic activity of the psyche as manifest to us in dreams is understood to be part of God-language. But if this means that dreams ought to be thought of as communications from God outside of such a context, I suspect that's quite rare. It's not that God can't speak to us in dreams, but that had better not be the only way a message from God is coming through. Such messages would need to be confirmed in many other ways before I would give them much credence.

Well, I don't know much about the natural homeostatic activity of the psyche.....but I do know that Joseph listened to his dreams and that's good enough for me. If he would have waited for confirmation, the holy family would have been in deep trouble.

As for precognitive dreams: also tricky. Just because I dream about someone or doing something with someone doesn't mean it's happening in reality. Unless something about the dream very forcefully indicates that it's precognitive--a strong feeling of warning, for example--I would tend to not take anything too literally. If I dream my wife is in a car wreck, for example, I'd more strongly suspect that I'm anxious about where she's going in her life or with a circumstance than worry about her getting in an accident.

I think it's like that in most areas Phil. Some people are literalists. Some are figurativists.
There are also some who believe that dreams are reality, simply another dimension of it. I would trust the dream to communicate to the dreamer on the level that he/she is on....literal or otherwise.

I have had dreams in which I felt another person was directly communicating with me. Then, I've also had dreams in which that same person may have represented part of my own psyche. Lots of great saints and yogis communicate and instruct people via dreams, too.

The dreamworld is an interesting and complex subject.

Thanks for your comments.

Tee

This is amazing - I was just talking about this with my mom. I often wonder as well, if God still speaks to use through dreams. Reading all of your thoughts was very interesting. I always think "why not" myself, but then wonder how would we know? I guess that would have to be up to God as well, huh! I'm reading my Bible from front to back again and am in the Old Testament yet and God so often spoke to people through angels - in their sleep. That's what made me broach the subject with my mom.

I'm new so you hi everyone - for a first read thread (sorry about that rhyme there..lol) this was really interesting. You all sound pretty darned nice, too!