The Journey Inward — Article 7
Every night, when we fall asleep, we enter a world that can seem as real as the one we experience during the day. We encounter people we know, visit places we have never seen, and find ourselves in situations that sometimes defy explanation. We may experience fear, joy, sorrow, love, or even a sense of wonder more intense than anything we have recently felt while awake.
But perhaps the most interesting person we encounter in our dreams is ourselves.
During our waking hours, we generally experience ourselves as familiar individuals. We know our likes and dislikes, our convictions, our responsibilities, and the way we ordinarily respond to life. Yet in dreams, we may discover ourselves acting in ways that seem entirely out of character. We may express anger we seldom acknowledge, experience affection toward someone we have difficulty loving, or find ourselves frightened by something that would ordinarily cause little concern.
What are we to make of these experiences? Are they simply the random activity of a sleeping brain, or might some dreams offer glimpses into aspects of our inner lives that escape our ordinary awareness?
I believe the question deserves consideration, although we should be careful about claiming to know more than we actually do.
Carl Jung took dreams seriously as expressions of the unconscious mind. He believed they could sometimes reveal attitudes, feelings, and possibilities that our conscious understanding of ourselves had overlooked. He also cautioned against assuming that dream images carried the same meaning for everyone. A particular image might hold deep personal significance for one individual and something entirely different for another.
Modern sleep research tells us that dreaming involves memory, emotion, imagination, and the brain’s activity during sleep. There is still much we do not fully understand. We need not settle every scientific or spiritual question about dreams to recognize that some of them leave us with something worth examining.
Consider a dream in which we find ourselves desperately trying to reach someone, yet no matter how hard we try, we cannot make ourselves heard. We awaken with a powerful sense of frustration. A dream dictionary might assign a particular meaning to this experience, but such an explanation could overlook what is personally significant.
A more useful approach might be to ask what it felt like to be unheard. Was the frustration familiar? Does that particular feeling appear anywhere in our waking lives? Perhaps it does, or perhaps the dream arose from something entirely different. The value lies in allowing the question rather than insisting upon an answer.
One of the most curious features of dreams is that we rarely question the strange circumstances in which we find ourselves. We may enter a house that somehow belongs to us, although we have never seen it before. We may speak with someone who died many years ago and accept their presence without surprise. We may be young again, living in a time long past, while possessing the awareness of the person we are today.
The dream seems to create its own reality, and for a time, we simply live within it.
Sometimes the feelings associated with these experiences remain long after the images have faded. A dream involving someone we loved may leave us feeling comforted. Another may produce a sadness that follows us throughout the morning. These feelings are real experiences, even when the events producing them occurred only in a dream.
There is another possibility worth exploring. Perhaps the way we respond within a dream can sometimes tell us as much as the dream’s events.
Suppose we dream of being confronted by an unfamiliar person. Do we retreat, become angry, attempt to reason with them, or simply observe? The stranger might not represent any particular person or hidden part of ourselves. Yet our response could still raise an interesting question. Why did that situation produce such a strong reaction? Does the feeling seem familiar, even though the circumstances are not?
We should not assume that our dream behavior reveals our true character. Dreams can be bizarre, disturbing, or completely inconsistent with our waking values. A violent or frightening dream does not establish a hidden wish to do harm. But occasionally a dream may bring a feeling into sharper focus, giving us an opportunity to consider something we might otherwise overlook.
I have recorded hundreds of dreams over the years, and I find the subject fascinating. What especially interests me is the possibility that dreams provide another way of examining our inner lives. We do not have to interpret every symbol or turn every dream into a profound message. Sometimes simply remembering the experience and considering our response can be worthwhile.
Keeping a dream journal offers an interesting way to explore this. When we awaken, the details often disappear quickly. Writing down even a few sentences can preserve something that might otherwise be lost. It may be especially useful to record not only what happened but how we felt during the dream and immediately afterward.
Over time, we may begin to notice recurring themes. Perhaps certain places appear repeatedly, or we find ourselves facing similar situations under different circumstances. Some dreams may have little apparent significance, while others remain vivid for decades. Looking back through a journal can reveal patterns in the dreams themselves without requiring us to assign them a particular psychological or spiritual meaning.
For those interested in lucid dreaming, another intriguing possibility arises. Occasionally, a person becomes aware that they are dreaming while the dream continues. This awareness can sometimes allow the dreamer to make choices within the experience rather than simply follow the events as they unfold. Although lucid dreaming is not necessary for meaningful reflection, it raises fascinating questions about consciousness and the different ways we experience ourselves.
There is also a spiritual dimension to consider.
Throughout the Bible, dreams occasionally appear as occasions of insight, warning, or revelation. Joseph’s dreams and Jacob’s dream of a stairway between heaven and earth are familiar examples. These accounts remind us that people have long wondered whether experiences during sleep might sometimes carry spiritual significance.
But recognizing this possibility is not the same as believing every dream contains a message from God. Discernment remains essential. An experience can feel extraordinarily meaningful without being a divine instruction or a prediction of future events.
For me, the spiritual value of exploring dreams connects with a larger desire to understand the truth about ourselves. If we sincerely ask our Father to help us see more clearly, perhaps we should remain open to discovering something unexpected. That discovery might come through an ordinary conversation, an experience during the day, a quiet moment of reflection, or occasionally a dream that causes us to question something we had taken for granted.
What matters is not the strangeness of the experience but whether our reflection leads toward greater understanding, humility, compassion, and truth.
There is a temptation, particularly when exploring the unconscious mind, to search for extraordinary explanations. Yet some of the most valuable discoveries may be quite ordinary. We might recognize a feeling we had not given much attention, remember someone we have neglected, or become aware of a question that deserves more consideration.
And sometimes a dream is simply a dream. We can appreciate its beauty, mystery, or absurdity without needing to turn it into anything more.
Perhaps that is a worthwhile attitude toward the inner journey as a whole. We do not need to force meaning upon everything we encounter. We can remain curious, attentive, and willing to learn while accepting that some questions may remain unanswered.
The next time you awaken from a memorable dream, instead of immediately asking what the dream means, consider a different question: Who was I in that dream, and was there something about myself I had not noticed before?
The answer may surprise you. Or it may leave you with another question.
Either way, the exploration can become another doorway into understanding the remarkable mystery of our inner lives.
Coming Next: The Stories We Tell Ourselves — How Our Inner Narratives Shape the Life We Experience.