My dream thread

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
1

I was thinking of doing this since long but did not get enough time to implement.

I use to have a lot of dreams, actually many dreams on daily basis and remember most of those also. It is not the case that i have very good memory but i can recall events happened even many years back, as back as childhood very easily, just as that happed a day before. On the other hand, i am exceptionally bad in remembering dates and names, even the spellings of many words of the English language. And, that is a daily struggle for me. Thanks Microsoft ward.

So, i am starting this thread as my dream thread, both old and new, which i think are important. But, this does not mean that others should not participate in it. All are welcome if they are interested, either by posting their dreams or commenting on mine.

This thread will include both of my dreams and visions, because there is a very less difference between those two to me.

Visions are slightly different than dreams. These happen when a person is neither slept nor awake but hangs between the two. It is like a seeing a short video clip, lasting few seconds to minutes. They are not supposed to be as long as dreams but as short as a single snap.

Furthermore, there are many types of dreams and people classify those in many ways. But, i would like to put three categories forth-

1 - Lucid dreams - Where one is aware that he is dreaming.
2 – Spectatorial dreams - Where one does not participate in the dreams but sees those like a mere spectator.
2 – Participatory dreams - Where one actively participates in the dream.

The first dream that i want to mention is not from recent times but very old, at least 20 years, yet is so lucidly alive in my memory as all that happened merely some minutes ago.
It is one of the Spectatorial dreams.

The dream starts from the scene of young/teenage boy and girl being embraced. Both are very sad. The reason of the sadness is that they love each other very much but the boy is about to go for a long and dangerous journey. It was not imposed on him but he chose so willingly because someone, who is very close or beloved, is trapped somewhere and he wants to help and bring that person back to his native place.

Nobody is telling or told me this. For whatever reasons, i am just aware of this fact during this dream, though i neither know nor recognize anyone from that couple. The girl is weeping standing there in the arms of the boy. And, he is caressing her back and consoling her that she needs not to be worry as he will get the job done and come back safely very soon.

Now, the scene changes and visuals of a very dense forest are there. At the starting of the forest, there is some open and plain land with a tomb like structure. The thing to be notice here is that the land up to the tomb is plain but after that there is very steep slope towards the jungle. There is also a grave of a person within the tomb. But, the surprising thing is that his head is not buried into the grave but open. He is a mid-aged person wearing something cap or crown like thing on his head. The face is familiar to me. He is one of my very close friends, who happens to be a Muslim also. He is exceptionally simple, honest and religious person and i know him since long now. Though, at the time of the dream, our interaction was not that old but merely of some months.

Then, all of sudden, his head detaches from the body automatically and starts rolling. It comes out from the tomb and, because of the steep slope, rolls towards the jungle, enters and lost from the sight.

Now, that boy comes in the scene, running in and shouting the name of that mid-aged person. He is worried and deeply concerned about that person. He also runs down to the slope towards the jungle after the rolling head and also disappears within density of the woods.

Now, there is only jungle on the scene. Close shot slowly converts into long shot, just like we see in art films orf old times and ends.

with love,
sanjay

2

I would be intereseted in hearing about how this dream relates to spirituality or religion. It appears to spell out animus/anima conflicts as they relate to youth and age. What do you think the dream means?

3

Irr, that is really a good question. And, believe me, it took me some time to decide.
At first, i was thinking of both of Philosophy and Philosophy and mind but ultimately decided in the favor of R&S for the simple reason that dreams cannot be understood purely on the philosophical ground, without the help of the religious knowledge.

Jung was not completely wrong in saying that all genders use to have some portions of opposite genders inside but all this does not have any relation to the dreams.

Dreams are not the illusions of the mind but they happen in reality somewhere. Dreams are like a stage show, where a real story is displayed under some disguise, though leaving the just enough room to decode the real event and message.

First of all, there must be very close and deep relationship between that teenage couple, though their age suggests that they may not be married.
Secondly, the boy must have taken on something of that sort that may be dangerous and time consuming. That is why the girl is woried about him.
Thirdly, that danger is displayed by the dense forest.
Fourthly, following the head of that elder person madly and calling his name tells that that boy also cares a lot about that man also and ready to endanger himself for his sake.
Fifthly, as i saw that dream thus it implies that it must has some connection with me. If i consider that boy is me and that jungle represents this human life (both assumtions seem quite reasonable), i still do not know whom that elderly person represents, even after 20 years of seeing that dream.

with love,
sanjay

4

First of all, let me tell the readers that I am not stating dreams in the exact order as they happened but twisting the sequence to put things into perspective, or at least I see them as such. Though, readers need not to be necessarily agreeing with me on that.
So, I want to narrate two quite similar dreams next.

And, from hereon, i would also start numnerating dreams and visions.

2.1 – It is not a dream but a short vision, seen during the meditative state.

In this vision, there is an auditorium like place. It has a long balcony, above the ground level, for the audience at one side while the rest of the grounded area is open. There is none but an aged man roaming in the balcony alone, from one side to other. That man is royally dressed and looking somewhat anxious or worried. He is looking at ground level where all covered by the rising flames of intense fire. And, very small children, like infants of not more than one year, are popping up from the fire and jumping to the balcony. They keep it repeating, one after another. And, when a child reaches the balcony, that old man becomes pleased and claps for him. He repeats it for every successful child.

2.2 – It is again a vision and with reference to the first one. That is why I am stating it along with the above mentioned one, though i saw it many years later.

There is long barrel or perhaps a wide hole shown in this vision. And, just like the first one, there is intense fire burning within all the depth of the hole. And, two hands drop a small child into that hole of fire. The child is so young that even the hair of his head are not grown yet. That is all. And, I also saw this repeating 4-5 times repeating within an hour, like someone is specifically drawing my attention towards it.

with love,
sanjay

5

Before going further, i want to say a little more about visions.

Below is my first experience of vision from my notes. Perhaps that may help the readers to comprehend what i mean by visions-

3. - So I decided that tonight I will put all of myself. At night I started meditating as usual and carried on doing it. I never did it for so long before. The experience and the impact were also different this time. It was very difficult to keep the concentration going for longer periods. I was trying very hard to focus at the echo of the mantras and while doing that, I felt that I have come closer to the echo. Now I was not only hearing the echo but also somewhat seeing the words. Although echo is not a physical thing but I felt like that. I kept on doing it and then a strange thing happened. An image of an old person in his fifties flashed before my closed eyes and he shouted at me. The image lasted only 2-3 seconds and it was in black and white. I did not understand what he said but he was looking very angry from me. That man had small white beard. I tried to recall but I did not recognize him.

So, this is certainly not a dream. But, it is like seeing a dream without being slept. During the period of the vision, one forgets about himself and he cannot do anything to influence it either. One just has to watch it and comes back in the senses when it finishes. Only then, One can realize that something happened.

with love,
sanjay

6

My memory functions much like yours, flaws and all. I’m interested in dreams too, but less symbolically, more how they influence waking life. I’ve only had a few that came close to true awake. The other dreams I could make mean anything but I don’t know how it’s helpful, unless I then also speculate on how it helps, too. Visions must eventually turn into experience, yes? Otherwise it’s imagination.

7

Sorry nano-bug, i missed your post.

I think that perhaps most of the men are like that. Are you a male too?

Nano-bug,

There are two theories about dreams, visions, NDE, OBE and other likewise phenomena.

One is psycologial model, which is based upon internal tussle of mind at subconsious level, and is accepted by intellectuals, by and large.

But, there is a spiritual/religious model also, which rejects the concept that all these phenomena are merely the manifestations of the mind. It says that all that use to happen in reality but at a different level than our physical world.
All Abrahamic religions and Hinduism supports this notion. Prophet Mohammad said that dreams are 46th part of the prophecy, means that dreaming and remembering those are the first from the 46 steps of the journey of becoming a prophet.

As a thumb rule, dreams do not have much to do with the awakened life but this does not mitigate their importance, though, sometimes direct relation may happen but those are very rare cases.

Dreams are a metomorphic representations of the routine life of the soul, which use to operate saperately from the physical world, in a different metaphysical dimension. Dreams use to have huge indirect importance as they tell how one’s subconscious mind is behaving, what are its shortcomings and how those can be addressed by initiating changes in conscious mind through strong will.

Secondly, it is not necessary for a vision to turn into reality. That applies only to prophetic dreams, not all, and they are very rare and also experienced by rare persons only. In general, a vision is also a dream, but seen only in slightly more conscious state than dreams. That is why we use to remember our all visions clearly, though forget most of the dreams.

with love,
sanjay

8

4. – This is a portion of a dream but I am skipping all that is not important and mentioning only the precise point that I want to make.

When I enter in the room, I see a beautiful girl there on the bed, not flat but on one side, having her head rested on her hand by the support of the half of her arm (from the elbow), which was perpendicular to the bed. She was looking at me and completely naked but the surprising thing is that she had a penis, instead of vagina. But, I was not surprised at all. I move closer to her and put a hand just above her penis and below navel. My hand was searching for something. My hand finds a joint in her skin there. I put my nail into that joint and stretch it. And, a layer of her skin starts peeling and ultimately comes off her body, taking her penis along it and her vagina appears underneath.

with love,
sanjay

9

These two dreams display the same message. I use to have the dreams of fight and comflict a lot, more than anything else.

5.1 - This is a short vision.

An old person with a white beard is lying unconsciously on a bed. His lower half is naked. I am there and cutting his penis with a shaving blade.

Initially, I was very surprised to see this and did not understand what all that means but, with the time, I became able to grasp the message.

5.2 - This is a dream and including the same message as above, besides others.

I am standing behind a girl but my height is very short as my eye level is below the waist of her and she is hiding me to be seen by some other persons, who are standing at some distance. But, for some unknown reasons, I am very angry from those people.

The scene changes and now the same people are in a house. But, very strangely, all those persons are disables. Their disability is not natural but because of some war or fight. All of those have been at least one of their body part being cut off from their bodies, like a hand, leg, eye, fingers etc as generally happens in war.

They all are concerned about the same girl and want to protect her at any cost. Their disability is also the result of the fight protecting her from someone.

I am also there in the same house but they cannot see me, though can hear me. I am not able to recognize properly but I have some weapon kind of thing in my hand.

The scene changes again and I am in a room of the same house. I am not standing on the ground but something has kept me in the air, quite near the roof of the room. And, I am moving like someone is making me fly by carrying me on his/her back. I cannot see who it is but feel it through my body. I am flying in rounds in the room.

One of those disabled persons is also in the room but he is unaware of me flying there. The same weapon is in my hand and my aim is to hit that person on the head with it, but I am not getting the proper angle. I fly slightly down to the floor but that person hears the sound of the breathing of me and my flying helper and became aware of the danger.

Realizing this, without wasting a moment, I hit that person straight on his head with the weapon in my hand. As soon as the weapon hits his head, the dream ends.

with love,
sanjay

10

6 - This is something more than a mere dream. It lasted very long, perhaps three hours at a streach and without any metaphor. I also remembered the most of it that time.

I was in a very big building with an elderly person. There are many different sections there. I do not remember exactly but they were either 26 or 36 and my purpose was to find the last one. He is showing me different areas of it and also telling the details of those. Then, he left for some time saying that he would return after some time.

Being alone, I started roaming around alone and was looking for that 26th or 36th section as something important was there. I was peeping into different sections and that lead me to a big hall. There was nothing much but some statues of young girls. As I went closer, I came to know that those were not statues but alive. But, they were different from what we understand being alive. They were not moving swiftly but slowly and in parts, something like a robot moves. And, unlike humans, all of their joints of their bodies can take a turn of complete 360 degrees, like their heads can roll in compete circles around their shoulders, something we use to see in horror films.

I went further closer and reached just behind of one of them to have a closer look. All of a sudden, without moving her head towards me, she moved her hands behind and caught me in her grip and tied me on her back. Being frighten, I tried to break from her grip but failed as her grip was more powerful than me. Then, being in the same position and still holding me in her grip tightly, she turned her head towards me.

She was very beautiful but her face was emotionless, just like robots. It was looking that she was programmed for a purpose. Then, something came to my mind and I shouted to her that I am not a resident of that place but just come for have a look. Hearing that, she loosened her grip, her hands moved away from my back in a mechanical manner. She turned her head away from me and again became a statue.

I sigh a relief and came out from that room. That old fellow found me again. I told him about the incident. He told me not to be adventurous with the things there.

Then, he took me to a very big industrial type shed. There were many machines there, arranged in the lines, which were looking like cannons like present armies use to have as all of those had a barrel on them and all had a keyboard type of part also. I asked him what these things are. He told me that these machines are used to communicate different types of dreams. Some of those machines were small like the size of a computer, while some were as big as cars.

That old fellow left me again. The remembrance of that particular (26th or 36th) room again came to my mind and started looking for that again and ultimately found that too.

As I tried to enter in it, I found that it was different as it was not merely a room but almost a complete section by itself. It was so huge that I was not able to see its end. It had many paths, trees, lakes and gardens within it. I was standing at its entrance deciding whether I should enter or not without that old person.

The dream ended there and I awoke. It was night and I kept wondering and remembering about the dream for a long time lying on my bed.

With love,
sanjay

11

7 - I do not remember the complete dream but the last part of it.

I was in a very big palace type house to meet someone. There were some people and after having some conversation with me, they took me to a well furnished room, where a middle aged couple was seated. Their looks and dresses were very impressive. Other people left and that couple resumed the conversation of the same issue. I do not remember the subject of the discussion but I was not agree with them and arguing very hard for my point.

At last, feeling somewhat irritated by the discussion, I said to them “do you think that I am not aware that I am in the dream?”

The couple became surprised or even shocked to hear that and the dream immediately ended.

with love,
sanjay

12

8 – I am having something with me in a bag. It is valuable and I am going somewhere to keep it hiding and safe.

I reached by a big mountain. There is an earthen path at the base which leads to the heights of the mountain. I took that and after crossing a long distance, I reached at the opening of a cave and entered it.

The cave was filled with different types of toys, especially dolls of different sizes, shapes and dresses. The unique thing with those dolls was that they all were not completely dead but alive in some sense, as their eyes were rolling and so the heads.

A lady was also present there, who was perhaps in charge of all that. I opened my bag. There was also a doll in my bag. I handed over that to the lady and she put that along with the others and I came out of the cave. The dream ends.

with love,
sanjay

13

9 - I am in some place with some people of my age (young). We are relaxed and were chatting casually. Sometime later, I realized that I am having some problem in breathing as I had to take a lot of effort in that. It was not as smooth as usually happens.

Then, one boy within those took me slightly away from others and said to me that I can learn breathing in the water and it is time for me to do that. As soon as he said that, I realized that we all are surrounded by the water, not air. Means, that place was located in the water, not on the earth.

By now, my breathing had become too heavy. I said to him that I cannot breathe in the water. I started feeling choked. The dream ends. And, even after awakening, it took me some time to regain my breath.

with love,
sanjay

14

Sanjay, dreams #7 &#9 are very similar. The are tests for reality. The dream within a conscious realization of them, (especially dream #9), i had one very similar, and there is a disconnect between the reality of consciousness, and the reality of the dream. What others take fo granted to be the case, of realizing where THEY ARE, is not shared by THEM. The seem to assume you realize this too, and it is something you have doubt in? It also suggests that initially, at least, You do not really appreciate or know which is more real, the dream, or the reality of knowing you are asleep. The people in dream #7 are shadow people, spirits , if you would, of existing in a reality which can only be communicated with subconsciously. These may be guardian spirits of Your departed loved ones. This last comment is in line with my aforementioned, but very similar dream after my mother passed away.

15

To some extent.

Dream 7 is the proof that subconscious mind is aware of the fact that it has a twin brother too; the conscious mind. And, the subconscious mind also accepts the importance of its counterpart. Both are getting aware of each other and closer too, which does not happen usually.

That is why he says - I know what is going on. Do not fool me. This I and me represent conscious mind, not the subconscious one.

The subconscious mind has taken on the burden of representing the conscious mind in the dream.

Dream 9 revels that the potential of the sunconscious mind is still underutilized. Thus, it should keep learning. It also tells the conscious mind that it is not completely aware or the potencial of its counterpart.

I think that the reality of dream per se and the reality of knowing that i am asleep, are the same things. Both of those establish the supremacy of the subconscious mind.

The more important issue is that how subconscious mind behaves after realizing being in the dream.

I consciously take the dream very seriously, even more than awaken life.

with love,
sanjay

16

10 - I am going towards a bridge and an old person is also coming to it from the opposite side. We met at halfway on it. I have a small chair (about a foot) in my hand and that fellow has some fragrant sticks in his hand, which are very colorful and attractive too.

That old fellow asks me to bargain my chair with his sticks but I refuse. He argues and insists many times but I not only refuse but even deny mulling the bargain.
The dream ends.

with love,
sanjay

17

While posting the above dream, as i looked again to my noted down dreams, a thought reminded me.

I do not know whether others realize it or not, but i have noticed it enumerable occasions that the dream memory is different from awaken memory.

Means, the dream life use to run differntly and parallel to awaken life and in continuation too. Any particilar dream is not a one off incident, but a part of a big process, that resumes itself throughout the life.

For example, in the above dream no 10, i realized while dreaming that old person was not new for me. I have been met him many other different dreams. I also recognized him in this dream too.

As soon as i saw him coming, the memories of all his previous meeting with me flashed in my mind while dreaming. But, the fact of the matter is that i do not know who exactly he is, because i have never seen, met or even knew about him in awaken life.
But, my dreaming mind knows him very well.

This establishes one thing for sure that the dream life has its own and different dimension. But, as soon as we accept this premise, a new question raises his head that, do we also have two different entities in us those correspond to two different dimmensions?

I am sure that it is true, otherwise, there is no way that we can have two different set of memories.

with love,
sanjay

18

11 - This is agian a very old dream and somewhat similar to no 6.

I am in my home and my mother ( now late but was alive at that time) comes to me to take me with her to some place.

First we walked through some distance and reach a small town which had a crossing. But, there were no other means of travel except some hand driven rickshaws and all those were driven by old white bearded men. No rickshaw puller was young or even middle aged.

We both sat in a rickshaw and my mother asked the puller to escort us. The rickshaw puller demanded his fee and my mother gave him a coin. I looked at the coin and saw that it had been carved with number 5 on one of its side. After having the coin, the puller escorted us to the destination, which was at some distance.

But, as I reached there, I realized that my mother had been left and I was alone. Now knowing what to do next, I decided to have a look at that place myself.

I found a big and old palace nearby and entered in it. No one was there but it was not deserted as it had statues everywhere. Those statues were different with the traditional ones and were looking like live persons were frozen into statues, something like the wax collection of Madam Tussauds.

The palace was very big and had enumerable rooms and sections. The story of all sections was the same. As I started visiting rooms one by one, I realized that most rooms had only one male statue while only few had a female one or both of a male and a female. I did not recognize anyone of those initially.

But, as kept peeping in the rooms one after other, I came by a room having the statues of a couple. Till then, all statues seen by me were in the size of normal humans but this room was different as its statues were quite small, about a foot in the height. Those statues are well dressed, had some ornaments and also a garland of fresh flowers around their neck and also looking somewhat familiar to me.

I went closer to the statues to have a clearer view and found that those were of Lord Rama and his wife Sita (Hindu Gods fromRamayana). As soon I recognized those, I realized that the statues of all other rooms were also of Deities, Semi-Gods, Saints etc, though I am not aware of them.

At last, I found a big room, which was like the central hall of that palace. Unlike other rooms, it had three statues, one male and two females. There was a platform in that room, slightly high than the ground and the male was sitting on a throne there, while the two females were standing at both of his sides.

It was clear that that fellow had some special status as there was a crown like thing on his head, besides throne. Perhaps, he was the highest authority of that place and those two females were his wives. But, very strangely, while the body of the male was human, but his head was of a horse and slightly open too.

The dream ends here. Although, so many years have been passed since seeing that dream, yet I am still unable to understand what was the meaning of that statue having the head of a horse?

with love,
sanjay

19

12 -This is an old dream again but very important.

I was at the base of a huge and very high tower like building, something like an old lighthouse type. Its shape was like pyramid, means its width was narrowing with the increase of the height.

I entered through its gate and started climbing its stairs. The stairs had enough width at the base, something like 30-40 feet but were narrowing gradually one after another. Once in a while, some persons were sitting on the stairs. They all stared at me as I climbed through but neither said anything nor objected.

As I covered many stairs and reached at the middle, I saw that suddenly the stairs were becoming quite short in the width, from 30 feet to 10. And, some persons were sitting in a stair in such a way that on one can pass through them without removing them.

I stopped one stair below them. They stared at me and started discussion with each other. I looked around and realized that there were clocks all over the side of the walls. All clocks were different and showing different time as well.

Those persons were still discussing. I cannot hear them but obviously the subject of the discussion was related to me as they were continuously staring and pointing fingers to me.

After some time, some of those stood up and gave me the way to pass by. As I passes them, one of those said to me” it is up to you to go there and we do not object that but beware of the clocks. If you ever touch any clock on the walls, and its time would be changed by your touch, the responsibility will be on you and you will have to make up for that time”.

I heard him but did not reply and started climbing stairs again. The stairs were getting more and more narrow, side walls were coming closer and so the clocks. As I climbed further, the side walls became so close that I had to pay a lot attention to not to touch any clock.

Now the end of the stairs was in my sight and there was a small hole type opening after the last stair. But, the space between the side walls was very less there. Furthermore, there were many clocks on the side walls too. I tried my best to enter the opening without touching the clocks by adjusting my body but it touched last 2-3 clocks.

Though, I entered in the opening but all those touched clocked changed their time making a huge sound. The dream ends.

with love,
sanjay

20

13 - This is a recent dream.

I have gone to a place where my family was used to live in during by childhood days. Reaching there, I see that the place has been changed a lot as many new buildings have been come up in that area.

I am looking for a old route, which goes through a small street but would not able to find that. While roaming in the search of the route, I suddenly realize that someone has constructed a brick wall in that route and blocked that.

As I reach near the wall, I see a middle aged beggar type person is sitting by the wall with his household goods. His wife is also there with him. Means, he not only has constructed the wall right on the street to obstruct the route but also living there permanently. I ask him why he did that. He does not give any satisfactory answer. I ask him to dismantle the wall and leave the place but he refuses.

We argue on the issue. Hearing our discussion, the locals also come there to see what is going on. They ask me who am I and why arguing with that beggar about the wall. I tell them that I am an old resident of that place. I also tell them about that house where I used to live during my childhood. They tell me that many things have been changed since my family left that area.

They are also not happy about the present situation. We start mulling the options about dismantling the wall and reopen the old route. I have a plan for that. I tell them that the time of discussion is over now and it will not serve any purpose. Instead of that, we should mull other options, like hitting the wall with a heavy vehicle without any notice.

The beggar is looking at me angrily from the corner of his eye.
The dream ends.

with love,
sanjay