Why dreams matter?
Dreams slip away from us so easily, for a few moments they are the most vivid thing in the world and then they fade like the dew of early morning, beautiful and then gone. Some dreams linger, a few can frighten, you can be a hero who has defeated the demons, meet a friend from the past or a possible lover from the future, that world inside of you is infinite and feels so vast that it stretches from one end of the universe to the other. They can haunt us, terrify and even panic us, though can you imagine a world without them, they inspire us, open up new idea, and most importantly they show us that the world we see, the physic world as it is, does not have to be the only one that exists, they give us hope for a better world (though the unicorns might be a stretch).
It is their sheer improbability, the feats of imagination, that we have in our dreams, which is the damning evidence that we are more than mere beasts, automatons or robots with pre-programmed destinies that can not be altered, the idea that what we are can not be changed is clearly false. No robot would be programmed to dream in such a manner, a single dream can change a person's course in life, they can open up new possibilities, form new ideas as you open up to your subconscious and come into communication with that internal space that interconnects everyone who has ever lived, which feels almost external whilst clearly having an internal source. It is in the old fashioned sense the sense of heartiness, where you feel rather than think (it is in the center of your chest, the spiritual heart rather the physical one) it the second guide to our actions, the first being the thinking mind, rather like the Vikings who would only make a decision once it had been thought about sober and drunk, it is wise to consult your thoughts and feeling when making any decisions.
There are also the learning possibilities of dreams, we actually learn better in our dreams than in reality, you put in the hard work during the day, whether it is getting better at football, juggling or chess, you do the deliberate practise, but it is in the night that it becomes learnt and internalised. The mind opens the door between what we have done and what we have internalised, it makes a decision whether to add it to your knowledge, your sense of self and who you are, the difference between being a chess player and not, is the internal assessment that happens in your subconscious, if you practise enough in the end the mind changes, you become a chess player in your mind. The same is true for every aspect of who you think you are, if you keep on acting like a kind person, eventually the mind decides that you really must be a kind person otherwise you would not keep on acting that way, but to be clear it is not a conscious choice, it is a decision made by the subconscious that reflects what you do, what your actions are.
This is how we form habits, by repeating an action until we do it automatically because we believe that we are a person who does that thing. If you go for a walk everyday, you become a person who goes for a walk everyday without thinking about it, because the mind prefers not to think about boring things like things you do everyday, it prefers to think about everything that could be danger to you or scares you, that is what it is there for, to make you better and more prepared for the dangerous world we live in (even now we fear social death and hence we probably spend more time worrying about it). However dreams are about more than filing, they are also where we test out ideas, fantasies and even where we make decisions that require the whole of our minds, we famously sleep on an idea and allow ourselves the space for the subconscious to turn it over, and we make better decisions as a result.
Everyone knows how real dreams can feel, certainly in the moment that you are having them, and it is only time and distance that allow us to make the judgment as to what is real and not. Whether the dragon is real does not really matter when you are charging on your horseback towards it, it is probably better to act like it is just in case and it really is a moment to put in that peak performance you are always aspiring towards. It is interesting in such moment that I do not really care about my performance, winning, losing, dying, what I care about is being the one that is prepared to do the charging, I am the one who has put on the armour and is holding the line when everyone else is ignoring the fact that there is a dragon attacking the town and everyone I love, they are literally blind and obvious to it. I have no idea if this is how actual knight feels in such circumstances, but for me it is a state of fearlessness that I wished I had in the real world.
Which is what dream are there for, to be the example of what is possible beyond the limits of the everyday waking imagination. We get to experiment with reality and have experiences that demonstrate our character and what our character could be in extraordinary circumstances, we have the best and worst of times, it is to have the kisses that we do get to have in dreams, which inspire us to pursue them in real life, or the consequence that have played out in our dreams warm us off such action. They give us experiences that are beyond our daily possibilities, sweet dreams are the reward for some and nightmares the price you play for not confronting your fears in real life (which is a fear in itself).
There are those who can dream in lucid manner and it a skill that interests me whilst being beyond me, but I do wonder whether it is time when we really should be listening, letting things be and experiencing rather than controlling them. As dreams feel meaningful, I chose to believe that they are worth listening to, not blindly but with the understanding that they are not suppose to have a simple lesson, rather they are meant to be savoured without clinging on to them, as with so many thing they happen and then we let them be, let them settle in the way they are meant to, they give contrast, make us face our fears and give us glimpses of something more, that life does not have to be the way it is, and the best kind of dreams inspire us to be better.
Which is what matter, we are growing being of consciousness and awareness, and the more aspects of our lives that we experience through the lens of learning, the greater the pace of growing that we have. If you box off your learning to set fifteen minutes block and you are done, you are leaving a lot of learning opportunities on the table, we get to learn through conversation, mistakes we make, friendly games, relationships, all things fun and even the worst of times, as long as we view them as such. Dreams are perhaps the most random learning experience that you can have, and lucid dreaming could help with that, though it is fine to let them unfold as they do, what is important is to bring your awareness to the experience, whether that is through a dream diary or just being open to the possibilities. After all, we sleep for eight hours a day and dream for about half of the time, so it clearly must be important to us, and anything that is important is worthy of your attention, so dream with purpose, with the knowledge that is matters and dream big.
