With the recent release of the movie Inception, a film by the brilliant writer and director Christopher Nolan, many people are again begging the question, “How meaningful or important are my dreams?” Though we know little about why sleep is important, we do know the effects that a good or poor night’s sleep can have on us physically and mentally. We also know that dreams (and nightmares) are intimately connected to emotional health. Dreams can either be a symptom or a cause of both emotional distress or wellbeing. For example, people with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will complain of terrible nightmares in which they relive some form of the trauma they experienced. Some will avoid sleep altogether because of the nightmares. Others feel depressed, overwhelmed or troubled by their dreams. Conversely, dreams can bring to mind positive memories and relationships from your past, stimulate pleasurable drives for sex or food, and even foster creativity.
The real question is, “Can dreams have meaning or give insight to our lives?” The dream world has been explored by many famous theorists including Freud, Jung, and Adler. The Bible gives multiple examples of spiritual truths being revealed to dreamers. So how much emphasis should we place on people’s dreams today? Here are a few important points to consider:
1. The Word of God is supreme. Many people believe they have had special revelations from their dreams that are in direct contrast to the truths in scripture. You can be sure that you are misintepreting the dream if this is the case. God used dreams to reveal spiritual truths during a time when Scripture was incomplete. Now that we have His complete letter to us, we can rely on His Word fully for spiritual guidance.
2. Accuracy vs. Effect. In exploring someone’s dreams, the accuracy of your interpretation is nothing. The importance lies in the actual effect that a dream has on an individual or the meaning they ascribe to it. By allowing someone to dig into the meaning of their dream, we can gain insight into their emotions and thoughts on various subjects. For example, if a client dreams about a monster chasing him, we may find little to it. However, if the client tells you that the monster looks just like his ex-wife and he feels doomed to be consumed by her, well then it might be worth your time to consider the significance of such a nightmare.
3. Stay in the present, not in the past. Memories and dreams are important only when they remain in our conscious awareness. That being said, if you have a dream about your 3rd grade teacher or an aquaintance you knew years ago, it may simply be your brain processing old memories. However, if this memory or dream effects your present reality, then exploring why is important. I do believe that God brings people or events from our past to our minds for a reason, even if just to pray for them. I also believe that unresolved conflicts can manifest themselves in our dreams if we are currently wrestling with them, consciously or unconsciously. Using our memories or dreams from the past as well as our imaginings of the future can help us understand our current struggles and empower us to overcome them.
Question: What about you? Do you think dreams are important? Why or why not?
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September 28, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Bryan Lynch
I think dreams are important in the sense that often they represent something we’re dealing with subconsciously. Since the brain doesn’t shut down when we sleep, thought processes are represented in dream images. Sometimes these are pleasant, & sometimes they are not. Some dreams may represent something we had on our mind before falling asleep. Other times, it may involve an issue we’ve been dealing with for a long period of time. The latter may be especially true in regard to unresolved conflict. Some dreams may be the result of our fantasy life, or temptations we struggle with. But I also think our dreams can be manipulated by outside influences. I’ve often fallen asleep with the T.V. on, & had some pretty strange dreams, only to wake up & discover that my dream was connected to what I was hearing in my sleep.
September 29, 2010 at 2:19 am
Mira Ahn
From the textbook, Adler says that,” sleeping is another kind of waking. And also, he said that, the continuum of consciousness and unconsciousness represented by dreams.” And he added that the dream is both a metaphorical expression of a problem and a self- deception. It is self-deception because dream allows people to have a distance between themselves and their thoughts and feelings. Adler suggested that the absence of the dream means that individuals have a firm emotional stage.
Somehow, I agree with Adler. Someone who have a stable emotion rarely dreams.
What if someone had a dream which is not connected with an individual?
People including myself have dream. I think that there are sometimes the significance in a dream, but we need to be VERY careful when we interpret it as a christian. Sometimes, it has nothing in it. I think that dicernment of the dream and the dreamer is required when we hear the dream from the dreamer. Maybe, like Adler’s saying, it could be self-deception.
Nevertheless, I want to have a sweet dream.
Sweet dream, everybody!!!!!
September 29, 2010 at 5:07 am
Ola Oyatayo
I personally think Dreams are important. A dream has the power to unify the body, mind and spirit. It provides the dreamer with insight into your own self and a means for self-exploration. Dreams can reveal true thoughts, emotions and action that you never thought you had in the conscious. it can also reveal things that might not necessarily happen now, but could be a warning of something to happen in the future. Dreams can help us to be cautious of our actions.
September 29, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Jackson Wanjeru
Personally I believe that in most cases, dreams are dependent on the state of our minds. If our minds are continually being renewed and transformed by God’s word, (in otherwords being in tune or walking in the Spirit) then we will have dreams that are Godly related. If we look at the Scriptures, we will find that dreams played an important role both in Old and New Testaments. Abimelech was admonished in a dream about committing adultery with Abraham’s wife, Sarah. God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” (Genesis 20:3). He did it for Joseph no less than five times (Matthew 2) and for Pilate’s wife (Matthew 27:19) and Peter repeated the words of Prophet Joel again in Acts 2:17
However, not all dreams are from God because there are many causes of dreams including worry. “…a dream comes when there are many cares…”(Eccl 5:3). Satan can give counterfeit dreams, especially when the dreamer is involved in occult activities. The lust of the flesh can cause immoral or rated dreams. Bitterness can cause dreams whereby you kill people, or fear can cause you to have nightmares.
On interpretation of dreams, care should be taken not to do so literally. Most dreams are symbolic—like Joseph’s dream of stars, Pharaoh’s dream of cows, or Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a statue. What we need to do is to learn how to think symbolically and increase the vocabulary of symbols.
I’m convinced that God uses dreams to speak to us because when we are asleep our conscious mind cannot fight God’s message. It’s the same when an Anesthesiologist puts someone to sleep for the surgeon. He does so in order for the patient not to feel the pain during surgery; because if the patient was awake he would give the surgeon tremendous problems.
September 29, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Jacobie Robinson
WoW, Jackson! I can really appreciate your insight on the matter. I definitely agree with the fact that God continues to use dreams to communicate with us as it relates to our response and concerns of life. Yes we have the scriptures, but honestly many of us continue to struggle even with the meanings of the the scriptures. Joseph has the law to guide him after finding out that Mary was pregnant, but he was unaware of the specific plan God had in store for Mary and the child whom she was carrying. Sometimes we are dealing with difficult situations and the process of the issues get worked out while the rest of our bodies are asleep and not distracted by the environment around us. There is a delicate balance to be appreciated, we must use discernment to evaluate the significance or lack there of in our dreams. Therefore, I completely agree with you Jackson, we must learn the language of dreams and put meaning to the symbolism that occurs in our dreams. Even in the conscious realm, everything is not as it seems!
September 29, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Charlie Griffin
Im not sure how important dreams are…but i know for a fact that Inception is the most important movie of 2010…mabye ever! (of course i say that every time Christopher Nolan makes a film).
Biblically dreams play there part. God speaks through them to reveal things that are or will be. However today Revelation is complete so is there really a need for dreams to be used to communicate the spiritual? After as Jesus says if a man wont listen to Moses or the Prophets he wont believe even if a man is raised from the dead so why would they believe because they have a dream?
I dont really know how to answer this question and i dont want to just keep speaking things already said and end up talking in circles…
I think ill wait and hear what others have to say on this topic and get back to it later.
September 30, 2010 at 5:53 pm
steve lee
I do believe dreams are important. As we are hear on this earth we are subject to natural laws such as gravity and such. It is interesting that in our dream world when we can think about anything we want we choose to dream about this such as our past.
What a blessing to remember our past!!! A blessing in deed if it was plesant. What a nightmare when we dream of horrible events. THose dreams are only to enforce the idea that ! IT is not how it is suppose to be.