Finding Spiritual Direction from Dreams

 

I take council from the wisdom of dreams.  Dreams, I believe, do not lie.  Sometimes they are frightening and sometimes, as in my own case, they are unflattering.  One of the central aspects of my own spiritual journey has been my relationship to the dynamic of arrogance.  Teachers have refused to teach me spiritual lessons because they have told me that I am arrogant.  That has pained me.

 

I have dreams that tell me  I am more arrogant than compassionate.  In these dreams there is a part of me that shouts down those whose theology is not so much childlike, but according to me, is childish.  In some dreams I am in a classroom, not so much debating the Word of God, but debasing the views of others in the class as a kind of nonsense.  In the dream, the God woman who has invited me to be a part of this class, has left feeling disappointed.

 

 

Last night a friend asked me if I would consider joining a local group of people interested in exploring and deepening their relationship to the teachings of Christ.  My friend is not a Christian and neither am I.  Except that I am deeply interested in the experience called the Christ.  I have thought about this invitation and its relationship to this dream.  I think this invitation to this group would be an opportunity for me to explore my woundedness in relation to the teachings of my childhood.  Here I am being given the opportunity to be in a  classroom in the outer world where I might explore this dynamic of arrogance that my unconscious tells me causes conflict rather than harmony.

 

In this dream I am experiencing myself, not so much as an instrument of peace, but as an instrument of provocation.  I provoke in others a kind of looking stupid.  In this dream I make it quite clear that I know what they do not know.  I tell them in no uncertain terms that what is revealed to me is the truth, the way and the life.  I tell them in different ways that they only know the words and not the essence the words are intended to express.  Rather than being an invitation to revelation from a sense of inner peace within, I roller coaster my way over what I see as their very limited understanding.  At the end of the dream the spiritual teacher has left the room and I am being chastised by another classmate.

 

There is not much compassion in evidence here.  Yes, there is knowing, but knowing without compassion is not of much help.  As I write these last lines I am reminded of the great invitation from St Paul.

 

 

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

 

 

This is, I believe, what this dream is inviting me to be more aware.  You can substitute the word Love in this quotation for the word compassion if you wish.  Wisdom, which for this writer and storyteller, is the knowing of who you are and why you are is of little service if it is not allied with compassion.  So it is unflattering to my ego to be seen as a kind of superior ranter who knows the wisdom of the two worlds but  whose knowing is used to override  and berate the understanding of others.

 

 

I’ll be honest.  At this point I don’t quite know what to do about what this dream is inviting.  Except that I intend to be more alert to ways in which I might unconsciously judge others in relation to their spiritual understanding.  This judgement can be subtle.  One does not even have to say anything.  So I will take this invitation from the dream and the connected invitation from my friend to explore my relationship to the teaching of the Christian church that sore wounded and judged me.  I will choose to enter a new classroom and I will, with sincerity, attempt to be aware of judgements both gross and subtle that I might be tempted to make.

 

 

Each of us has psychological blocks.  These block the energy of Creation that arises within us.  These blocks are often unconscious and are then projected outward unto others.  To become an instrument of peace, which means living from the heart centre (4th chakra), one courageously works to release these blocks.  One is assisted in this process by a commitment to dreamwork.  John A. Sanford, a Jungian analyst and Episcopal priest writing in, Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language shows how dreams can help us find healing and wholeness and reconnect us to a living spiritual world.  He writes that in his training to be a priest that not one word was spoken about the power of dreams or their relationship to the spiritual or inspired life.

 

 

Yet in our everyday language we use expressions that intimate the power of dreams.  We might say, “It was like a dream come true.”  We might ask, “What is your dream for living a wild and precious life?”  Martin Luther King Jr. lived a dream and left us a legacy that we might follow.  Dreams are not simply random images that happen during sleep.  They are as, John A Sanford suggests God’s Forgotten Language.  They are the language of the deep and the language of symbol.  They can invite symbolic meaning into your life.  They can be unflattering, and at times frightening, but they are speaking to you at the level beyond ego consciousness.

 

 

One way to uncover the symbolism of a dream is to talk about it.  Another way, the way in which I invite the unfolding of dream symbolism, is to write about them.  This is a form of spiritual practice.  It is also an honouring of the process.  I do not analyse the dream but simply free associate about what the images might be saying and how I might take direction from them.  This takes time.  This practice is about becoming fluent in another language.  It is the language of the unconscious.  It is the language that guides you through periods of doubt and even despair.

 

 

This is a unique language.  It is not a language of words but a language of symbols and images although it is not a flight of the imagination.  Honouring your dreams honours your individual authority in your spiritual life and its spiritual direction.  The more that you ask of your dream life the more you will receive guidance from these nocturnal visitations that tell you a deeper story of who and why you are.  They invite you to be reconciled within and without  in ways unknown.  If you are intent on living the wild and precious spiritual life then pay attention to all aspects of the invitation that is playing out in your life.  Let this include your dream life and let the inner and the outer world become reconciled within you.  Then you will receive real spiritual direction and might become one who is graced with the ability to balance wisdom and compassion and live as a true instrument of peace.

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