A Dreamer's Apology
Because of my work with dreams over the past forty years, I believe I have successfully integrated my subconscious life with my conscious waking life. This was not always the case. The first third of my life I ignored my dreams. The dreams were always there, sometimes frightening and dramatic, but I didn’t understand them and saw no reason to try to relate them to my daily life.
My awareness of dreams started as a very young child and continued through my teenage and young adult years. However, I didn’t know anyone who thoughts dreams were meaningful, so I ignored them. During my mid-twenties, I was introduced to the Edgar Cayce readings, which stressed the importance of dreams. I decided to test some of his claims, and began to record and study them. It required considerable effort to interpret them and apply what I learned in my daily life, but a dimension opened up that I previously did not know existed.
In the beginning of my work with dreams, it still appeared to be a separate activity somewhat divorced from the rest of my life. However, this soon changed as I began to understand how my dreams were interwoven with my conscious waking life. The two aspects of my life were not separate; they were connected in a unique and intimate way. I could no longer ignore my dreams and just focus on my daily thoughts and actions. Both aspects were real and made up my integrated whole identity.
I soon felt as comfortable in the dream world as I did awake. In fact, I was often more awake in the dream than in my conscious awake state. I could evaluate my current life situation, become more aware of issues concerning family and friends, see impending disasters, uncover hidden talents and opportunities, and sense the true state of my identity.
On the average, I spent more than two hours a night dreaming. This significant amount of time was crucial to understanding my conscious awake time. To ignore this aspect of my life would be to ignore the essence of my being. Without an understanding of my dreams, I would have remained fragmented and only partly aware of who and what I am. I would have been cut off from my greater identity and source of my being.
Some may say there life is fine, so why do they need to pay attention to their dreams. Maybe they have already discovered their talents and are pursuing their vocation with enthusiasm and joy. I believe that we all have strengths and weaknesses. While we have abilities to develop and apply, we also have lessons to learn. Sometimes that lesson is humility, and a dream that shows our flaws in vivid clarity can be very humbling. Often the dreams are reminders that success by the world’s standards is not necessarily success to the soul.
Dreams are not the complete picture any more than our conscious waking life is the complete picture. The two must be integrated to develop a complete picture of our lives. My day starts with the recording of my dreams, even before meditation. I briefly reflect upon them for any warnings about situations that might develop during the day. Then I have a period of meditation for inspiration before starting my daily activities. Throughout the day, I remain alert to situations that seem related to one of more of my dreams from the previous night. The dreams often help me deal more effectively with the challenges of the day. This was particularly true during my years in corporate America.
At the end of the day, I make brief notes about key conversations or events from the day. This allows me to see the relationships between my dreams from the previous night and current day’s activities. The degree of precognition is astounding. This is because we live the day during our dreams on a psychic level before experiencing it in the physical world. I know that many people do not believe this, but I doubt that many of them have actually worked with their dreams as I have done.
In the final analysis, we all choose how we want to live. I chose to study dreams and worked to incorporate them into all aspects of my life. This has provided me with many benefits only experienced by the few others on a similar path. However, it is a path open to all. I believe the benefits far outweigh the effort required. And I believe those who ignore this aspect of life are cut off from much of their inner being.