INTRODUCTION
Over the last several years, I've developed this strange fascination with dreaming. But where I am treading, is it safe? It depends on who you ask and what their cultural lens happens to be.
CONTRASTING VIEWPOINTS
Fundamentalist Christianity would say it is of the occult, Native Americans would see it as a spiritual quest, spiritualists would see it as an opportunity to reach out to contact otherworldy inhabitants, psychotherapists would see it as a way to understand your mind, Wicca would see it as a source of magick, and Aborigines would see dreaming as the more true world as the 3D world as the illusion. Charismatic Christians might see dreaming as part of their spirituality, and the writing down of dreams to encourage spiritual visions. Christianity would say that any religion that acknowledges the paranormal realm is deceived and under control of the devil. Since everyone dreams, or should dream, and dreaming is part of the paranormal realm, that seems illogical.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
In the Christian Bible, the Saviour was announced in a dream, important information was given to a king in a dream about his kingdom and the kingdoms that would reign after him. Jacob, who was later named Israel, dreamed of a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. Joseph, Jacob's son, had a dream that really upset his brothers when he shared it with them, and he later had a dream that foretold a famine.
Yet, in spite of the references to dreaming in the Bible, it's easy to receive off-the-wall responses and responses of outright fear and dismay when attempting to discuss dream experiences with Christian friends. Some of these responses involve fear when admitting you have heard a foreign word in a dream. "Oh! That's demonic!" was the response. My forehead wrinkled up with puzzlement. After all, I did nothing to encourage it. I heard what I heard. People see in dreams, right? Why isn't it okay to hear in dreams?
FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN
Dream experiences involve what we consider as the unknown. Maybe it's the unknown because we don't choose to focus on it, given our cultural bias, and it wouldn't be so much the unknown if we had a culture that wanted to understand it. It seems that throughout periods in history, whatever the Church didn't understand or feared was evil, became a source of persecution. Why should we have to be afraid of the subsconscious content of our own minds? Or, on the other hand, is the subconscious mind something dark, something to be afraid of?
BENEFITS OF LUCID DREAMING VS. THE RISKS
Benefits of lucid dreaming (that's dreaming while you are aware that you are dreaming) can include a greater connection to yourself and spirit, a greater intuition, a greater creativity, and most of all, a sense of amazement, once you develop this sense, at a distinct feeling of life outside the physical body, which cuts down on fear of death tremendously.
Religions depend on scaring you about what will happen after death, and so, logically, if you aren't scared any more, they lose their power - a benefit for you, not for them. Risks of lucid dreaming involve having strange experiences in a yet largely unknown realm, and feeling them to be real as far as your five senses goes, yet, knowing they are not real in the 3D world.
These experiences can be both awesome and frightening. Some frightening experiences can involve something attacking you or chasing you. Religious people might be quick to chock it up to demons. It is true that having a difficult time in 3D life may attract negative things to you, that could manifest more in the dream world.
WHAT I REMEMBER MOST
What I remember most about lucid dreaming is flying through lush valleys, flying above the world, flying up through electric lines and up past rainbows and clouds. I remember flying past trees and touching the leaves to make sure they were real. I remember climbing up colored stairs, but at the bottom before I began, touching the grass to make sure it was real. I remember flying through a desert holding hands with two others, feeling the wind blow my clothing. I remember being out in the rain in a dream and feeling the rain splatter on me. These experiences have given me a sense of awe and freedom.
CONCLUSION
I've had both negative and positive experiences in the realm of lucid dreaming. My conclusion is that I regard dreaming with a mixture of awe, curiosity, and caution, and until I have more information, will suspend making a decision. Each culture seems to have their own spin on it. Are they all right? Are a few right? Or are none right? How is one to know except to dream and to make up their own mind?
