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The earliest dreams I remember are from the age of
seven. I still recall two with relative ease even now, decades
later. Both dreams had a profound effect upon my waking mind and
my thoughts during the course of the many days that followed. One
of those dreams was a nightmare, the other was a pleasant
adventure. The nightmare caused me a great deal of fear and
apprehension. The adventure gave me much joy and an excitement
that nearly rivaled a child's anticipation of Christmas morning.
The nightmare made me afraid to go to sleep, worried that a
similar experience might trouble my dreams. The adventure filled
me with anticipation when it was time to go to bed, hoping to
pick up the story once more - something I actually managed to do
on at least six occasions.
These two dreams have stayed with me through the years.
If I could speak to myself as a seven-year-old from my present
vantage point, I could provide an explanation that would probably
set my mind at ease in one case and totally ruin a childhood
fantasy in the other. If I had told my parents about either
experience, I know that they would have listened but ultimately
reassured me that dreams were "only my imagination." After
working with dreams for more than twenty-five years and speaking
throughout the United States, as well as in seven other
countries, I know that children all over the world have heard
this phrase. What is not stated, perhaps because it is not
generally accepted or known, is that although dreams are pulled
together from within the recesses of the subconscious mind - a
place we too easily relegate to "only the imagination" - these
imaginative wanderings have meaning. By suggesting that the
imagination is unimportant in terms of dreams, we are
unfortunately negating a wealth of insight, direction and counsel
that is easily accessible to every individual.
Having taught hundreds of individuals dream
interpretation and spoken to perhaps a thousand more, I know that
a frequently asked question is "Do all dreams really have a
meaning?" I have come to believe that the answer is simply,
"Yes!" To be sure, sometimes that meaning is not very important
but every dream has a meaning nonetheless. For example, let's say
that a student stays up late at night watching television,
speaking with friends or studying and then has the urge for a
midnight snack, devouring a pizza just before bed. After falling
asleep that individual dreams about a horrendous war, a military
conflict, or the explosion of an atomic bomb. You might think
that the dream is a prophetic vision of things to come but it is
simply suggesting that the individual's digestion is "at
war."
Another misperception about dreamwork is that it takes
an expert to somehow decipher the substance of dreams. The truth
of the matter is that each individual is ultimately the best
interpreter of his or her own dreams. Why? Because each of us is
aware of the events occurring in our lives, as well as the
feelings we hold and the personal relationships we are
experiencing with other individuals. These things are readily
explored in dreams. Although someone who has experience with
dream interpretation can often facilitate the discovery of a
possible meaning, it is generally up to the dreamer alone to
decide what applies and what doesn't.
In my own life, other than remembering an occasional
dream, I really was not actively involved in dreamwork until I
became interested in the work of Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). Called
the "father of holistic medicine," "the Sleeping Prophet," and
"the greatest psychic of the twentieth century," for forty-three
years of his adult life, Cayce was able to enter into a
self-induced sleep state and provide psychic information, called
"readings," to virtually any question imaginable. In addition to
subjects such as health, philosophy, spirituality, and psychic
ability, much of the Cayce material deals with dreams and dream
interpretation. That information first opened up the world of
dreams to me and provided a foundation and an understanding that
has stood firm for more than twenty-five years.
Edgar Cayce emphasized the importance of working with
dreams, stating as early as 1923 that attempting to understand
what he called the subconscious, the psychic, and the soul forces
of each individual should be "the great study for the human
family." The rationale from Cayce's perspective was that through
the study of the subconscious and psychic part of ourselves we
would come to an understanding of the nature of the soul, our
connection to one another and our relationship with the
Creator.
Almost nine hundred of the more than 14,000 Cayce
readings on file at the Association for Research and
Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Virginia deal with the subject
of dreams and dream interpretation. Generally, when Edgar Cayce
was asked to discuss the meaning of a dream, his wife would
simply hold a copy of the dream in her hand and ask that the
dream be interpreted - without the dream itself ever being read!
Even more amazing is the fact that on numerous occasions when
Cayce was provided with an individual's request for
interpretation, he would remind the dreamer of forgotten portions
of his or her own dream!
In terms of dream material, one of Cayce's most involved
supporters was a wealthy, young Jewish stock broker named Morton
Blumenthal who received hundreds of dream interpretation readings
for himself as well as for members of his immediate family.
Extremely interested in the nature of the soul and each
individual's relationship to God, one of Morton's dreams explored
this very topic in a humorous vein.
In part, Morton dreamed that he was in his apartment in
New York City. Suddenly the doorbell rang and his maid went to
answer the door. She announced the presence of a "distinguished
visitor" and Morton jumped to his feet in exhilaration with the
sudden knowledge that God Himself had come to call. Morton ran up
to God and embraced Him with a hug. God's appearance was very
business-like. He was clean-shaven and clean-cut, wore an
expensive suit and a derby hat. He also seemed strong and
intelligent, just the sort of man with whom Morton would like to
do business.
Because God was visiting, Morton decided to give Him a
tour around the apartment. Things went well enough until Morton
realized they were approaching the living room and that he had
mistakenly left his liquor cabinet half-open. Understanding that
God probably knew everything, Morton decided to reveal everything
rather than trying to hide his liquor supply. He flung the
cabinet wide open and pointed out the bottles by stating, "In
case of sickness." God's reply was matter of fact: "You are well
prepared!"
Later, when asked for an interpretation, Cayce stated
that much of Morton's dream indicated that each and every
individual can have a personal relationship with the Divine. This
interpretation becomes obvious when we consider that God comes to
meet us in the form that we might best recognize Him, that He
comes not as some supreme deity but as someone we might relate
to, and that He is extremely accepting of us in spite of our
imperfections.
The Cayce information suggests that dreams essentially
analyze, compare and contrast the events, thoughts, and issues of
each day. Their relevance has physical, psychological, and even
spiritual significance. In addition to understanding the nature
of the soul and our relationship with God, the benefits of dream
exploration include such practical matters as problem solving,
understanding relationship and work issues, prophetic voyages, a
deeply personal look into self discovery, and the search for
meaning. So the reasons for exploring dreams are
numerous.
Conversely, in my work with hundreds of individuals, I
have found that people offer four excuses for not explored their
own dreams: (1) "Dreams don't mean anything," (2) "I don't
dream," (3) "I don't know how to interpret them," and (4) "I
don't have time to be bothered."Contrary to the first response, I
have personally witnessed countless individuals become puzzled
and even amazed by what their dreams revealed about them. Whether
it was a personal secret that had not been told to another
individual, an issue with which the person had been struggling,
or an event that was about to occur, the dreamer was often taken
completely by surprise. One of my favorite instances occurred one
night during an ElderHostel program where I had been asked to
work with a group of conference attendees on the subject of dream
interpretation.
ElderHostel is an organization that provides seniors
with a variety of educational programs around the country. During
this particular event, I was standing in front of an audience of
approximately fifty individuals and had just given some
background information on dreams and how they worked. I then
asked for volunteers from the audience to share any dreams that
they would like to have discussed and analyzed. After a moment's
hesitation one gentleman of about sixty-five raised his hand. He
began by stating, "I have a dream, but it doesn't mean anything."
I simply nodded and asked him to relate his dream to the group.
The dream seemed to cause his wife, who was sitting next to him,
some measure of embarrassment.
In the dream, he found himself on the second floor of a
two-story house. He was in the master bedroom in his pajamas. His
wife was lying in the bed completely naked, waiting for him.
Before getting into bed with his wife, he related that he had
suddenly remembered something, although he couldn't consciously
remember what that something had been. As a result, in the dream
he left his wife and the bedroom and proceeded downstairs to the
first floor. He seemed to "putter around" doing something for
awhile before suddenly remembering that his wife was upstairs
naked in bed and this was his "chance for romance." That thought
caused him to retrace his footsteps, but he was surprised and
"very frustrated" to find that the stairway to the second floor
had suddenly disappeared. That was the end of the
dream.
One of the mistaken assumptions regarding the subject of
dream interpretation is that each dream should have only one
interpretation. This is wrong for a variety of reasons. One is
that two individuals might have a similar dream but the
interpretation can be very different. Why? Because each
individual may have very different feelings or beliefs about the
images or events being portrayed in the dream and each may have
completely contrasting experiences occurring in their waking
lives at the time of the dream. Another reason is that dreams
often have multiple meanings, corresponding to the various
aspects of the individual as well as her or his physical, mental
and spiritual self. Keeping these factors in mind, I attempted to
analyze the man's dream by diplomatically suggesting that
sometimes a dream like this might indicate that their was some
kind of a sexual issue or problem. Obviously a dream of this
nature - a husband not being able to have sex with his wife -
could be interpreted in this manner.
After my suggested "possibility," the dreamer
emphatically rejected any such idea, insisting, to his wife's
red-faced embarrassment, that there had "never been a problem and
never would be a problem." When the ElderHostel group had stopped
laughing, I then offered a second interpretation: "Do you have
the habit of starting projects that you never really follow
through on, which is causing a great deal of frustration to
members of your household?" The dreamer looked at me in complete
confusion, but his wife began nodding her head in total
agreement. She then volunteered the fact that "Even now he has
the beginnings of a deck out back that he has been working on for
six months and still hasn't gotten around to finishing." I
thought this interpretation was likely because in this instance
the house could represent his "current situation," the wife that
he doesn't make love to "something that he doesn't follow through
on," and his own emotion of being frustrated "a likely feeling
being experienced by someone within his environment."
The second reason individuals give for not exploring the
topic of dream interpretation is, "I don't dream." Scientific
studies have proven otherwise. In a 1953 article in the journal
Science, Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman of the
University of Chicago, discussed for the first time their
findings that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep indicated dream
periods. Their discovery led to countless scientific
investigations of the same topic. As it turns out, dreams are not
necessarily limited to REM sleep but rapid eye movements can be a
major determinant in indicating the possibility that a dream is
taking place. It is now believed that most individuals dream a
number of times each night, for a total of ninety minutes or more
on average.
So it is not so much a lack of dreams, as it is
individuals not bothering to reflect upon their dreams when
awakening, let alone attempting to record them. Because dreams
are the substance of the subconscious mind, they are extremely
fragile, illusive, and easily dissolved by the intrusion of
waking consciousness and the left brain. Often, students have
told me how they have awakened from sleep, aware of the presence
of a dream but that as soon as they attempted to put all the
pieces together and "remember the whole story," the dream
disappeared. A better approach is simply to begin writing down
whatever is on the verge of consciousness immediately upon
awakening. Even if the dreamer only remembers a feeling, a color,
or a specific character or place, they should write it down. With
this approach, individuals will often find that more pieces fall
into place as they are writing and dream recall becomes not so
much a goal of remembering but a process of
re-experiencing.
The third reason individuals give to explain their
hesitation in undertaking an examination of their own dreams is,
"I don't know how to interpret them." But I repeatedly tell
people that interpretation is not a skill so much as it is a
process. It is more important to simply become comfortable with
the dream interpretation process. Individuals also need to keep
in mind the fact that they already know the possible meaning of
many more symbols than they might consciously be aware. However,
they need not memorize the meanings of hundreds of symbols. These
meanings can be discovered in a variety of ways - by using a good
dream dictionary, an unabridged dictionary, one's own logic, or
even asking friends to brainstorm possibilities. What is more
meaningful is becoming comfortable with the dream interpretation
process.
Many dream symbols are actually quite easy to interpret.
For example, most people know that bad luck can be symbolized by
a black cat, walking under a ladder, or breaking a mirror.
Conversely, good luck might be indicated by such things as a
rainbow, a four-leaf clover or finding a genie's lamp. Places
also lend themselves to interpretative meaning: A library
suggests knowledge, a post office suggests communication or a
message, and a church suggests spirituality. Most individuals
could easily decipher each of these symbols.
In addition to their usual meanings, words have a
variety of metaphorical meanings that lend themselves to
symbolism. A fish might suggest something's fishy; a book could
indicate a regulated process of playing by the book; and, a
forest might show that an individual is so caught up in details
that she or he can't see the forest for the trees. Metaphors
often present themselves in a variety of ways in
dreams.
Dream interpretation is something that virtually
everyone can accomplish. After working with thousands of dreams,
I have come to believe that dreams might be considered "a
right-brained process" whereas their interpretation is perhaps
best undertaken with logic and "a left-brain
approach."
One dream student who told me that she did not know how
to interpret her dreams related the following example: She dreamt
that she saw her brother in her backyard. He was standing next to
a compost pile with a rake in hand, as though he had been
gathering some of the material together. To the dreamer's
surprise, a telephone sat on top of the pile of compost. When I
asked the dreamer if she was having problems communicating with
her brother, she looked at me in compete astonishment and
inquired, "How did you know?" I explained to her that one
possibility suggested by the imagery was simply that her
communication (telephone) with her brother (who appeared in the
dream) was rotten (compost pile), and that he had been trying to
work (rake) on the situation, whereas she had not. After my
explanation the dreamer could clearly see how I had arrived at
the interpretation from the images provided in her
dream.
A final reason individuals give for not working with
their dreams is, "I don't have time." In response to this
statement, I often ask people to consider what they might do if
they lived with one of the greatest counselors, psychics, or
advisors of all time. Wouldn't they want to check in at least
occasionally for advice, counsel or personal encouragement?
Ignoring the deeper substance of a meaningful dream is like
deciding not to open a letter from a trusted and close personal
friend. Why would individuals not want to hear from someone who
loves them unconditionally, knows them intimately, and only wants
what is best for them? No one knows an individual and his or her
life better than that person's subconscious mind. At this level,
each and every one of us is much more in touch with ourselves,
our surroundings, and our personal lives than we could possibly
be aware.
If I could speak to myself as a seven-year-old and
explain why I had dreamed that a hideous monster had come to
fetch me, I would say that it was simply in response to my having
taken something that did not belong to me from a neighborhood
child. The guilt had begun to devour me. Even though I was not
aware of the dream's meaning, shortly thereafter I returned the
rubber-band gun I had taken. My dream of being with a girlfriend
that I did not really have (who somehow made my life complete)
turned out to be partially prophetic. More than twenty years
later I met and married a woman very much like the one portrayed
in the dream. The dream was simply a response to my loneliness at
the time and my feeling like an outcast with regards to my peers.
It was also a subconscious prompting to incorporate the various
aspects of my being, and to learn to like myself so that I could
truly like and have relationships with others.
Although I have learned a great about dreams from
working with other people, perhaps more importantly I have
learned a great deal about myself and how to show others how they
can do the same. This book is written in the hope that it might
make some small contribution to a day somewhere off in the future
when each and every individual is encouraged to work with dreams
as a normal part of everyday life, and when no child is ever
again told that a dream is "only your imagination."
Copyright
© 2000 Kevin Todeschi
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