Dreams and Their Significance

Western psychology has taken a very narrow, and therefore quite inadequate, view of the nature of dreams. There are several primary ways dreams are analyzed in the West. The first is the purely mechanical structuring of dreams as a chaotic processing of ‘undigested’ residues of the observations, mental and emotional activity of the daily life that are simply a type of ‘chu
ing’ of the brain as it winds down after a day of action. Another view, popularized by Freud, is that dreams represent some deep subconscious drives that we suppress in our waking life but which expose themselves in dream, and in particular, relating to childhood trauma, unresolved sexual tensions or fears. Yet another view, developed by Jung, emphasizes what he calls the ‘collective unconscious’ which holds archetypes that span across humanity and which are not specifically tied to an individual, but to a more general framework within which we all live and act. All of these are relevant to some degree and need to be addressed in a more comprehensive understanding of dreams and their significance.

There are, however, several types of dreams that clearly do not fit any of these ‘models’. Dreams have occupied the attention of people throughout human existence and across all civilisations. The Old Testament of the Bible relates the story of the Pharoah of Egypt having a recurring dream about seven fat cows and seven lean cows and his conce
about having this interpreted by his wisest advisors. They were unable to resolve this and by chance Joseph, an Israelite, was brought before the Pharoah and he interpreted the dream for him in such a way as to evidence that there would be seven years of abundance, followed by seven years of privation. This led to stockpiling and managing the surplus to tide the kingdom over the seven lean years.

Many people have reported dreams that seem to be prophetic, that foretell certain events that may occur. The mechanism for this remains uncertain. Are they simply subconsciously extrapolating on facts and details and analysis that they did not sort and organize consciously? Or is there some form of pre-destined reality, some directed result that they are simply gaining access to, such as is claimed by those who access the akashic records, or which arise from precipitating actions and energies arising from a more causal world, such as one of the mental or vital worlds that work to form the reality within which we live and act in our exte
al being..

When the shields of the waking consciousness are lowered during sleep, it is possible for the consciousness to recognise and process signals that it otherwise would disregard or reject. This may also help explain why dreams may provide insights far beyond what our waking minds are able to develop.

A well-known spiritual teacher and author told a story some years ago about going back to India for a visit (he lives in the USA) and being directed by his family to visit a Vedic Astrologer in the area who had a stellar reputation. This astrologer indicated he had somehow ‘known’ that this individual would visit and he pulled out a scroll that had an historical recitation of events in his past life which were known to him but were not generally known by others, as well as events forthcoming to him in the future. Vedic astrology, Western astrology, and the work of mystical researchers such as the students of theosophy all indicate there may be information about the future accessible to individuals. In some instances, this information appears to come forward in dreams.

There can be premonitory dreams that do not provide prophetic information, but give the individual a feeling that helps them avoid certain things, such as events that would otherwise be shown to have had disastrous consequences if they had not refrained from participation based on the premonition they received in their dreams.

Some individuals have had dreams that connected them with loved ones far away who were suffering or dying, such as documented situations during the first world war where a sister dreamt about her brother dying in Europe at just the time that he was killed.

Yet other individuals have dreams where they are in some vital world fighting or trying to survive the attacks and pressures of that vital world. One incident was related that had an individual dreaming about fighting with a vital being that had taken shape as Adolf Hitler. He wound up fighting this presence and woke up in a cold sweat after having finally defeated this vital being. He was so shaken by the event that he immediately wrote down the dream as he had experienced it.

Still other times we learn of people seeing individuals they have never met, but who come into their lives in the future. This goes beyond raw coincidence.

There are also those instances where individuals report meeting spiritual guides or teachers in the dream-state and obtaining various teachings from them. The Mother reported that as a child she was regularly guided by a teacher during dream, and when she met Sri Aurobindo she recognised him as the guide from that time.

The dream state occurs for the most part in the subconscient parts of the being, and much of it is in fact confused, disorienting and draining on the energy. Thus, eventually the seeker needs to bring a higher conscious awareness into the entire being, including the subtle physical levels, in order to texture the subconscious to hold and manifest more light and thereby not act as an obstacle to the spiritual growth and development.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “These dreams are not all mere dreams, all have not a casual, incoherent or subconscious building. Many are records or transcripts of experiences on the vital plane into which one enters in sleep, some are scenes or events of the subtle physical plane. There one often undergoes happenings or carries on actions that resemble those of the physical life with the same surroundings and the same people, though usually there is in arrangement and feature some or a considerable difference. But it may also be a contact with other surroundings and with other people, not known in the physical life or not belonging at all to the physical world.”

“In the waking state you are conscious only of a certain limited field and action of your nature. In sleep you can become vividly aware of things beyond this field — a larger mental or vital nature behind the waking state or else a subtle physical or a subconscient nature which contains much that is there in you but not distinguishably active in the waking state. All these obscure tracts have to be cleared or else there can be no change of Prakriti. You should not allow yourself to be disturbed by the press of vital or subconscient dreams — for these two make up the larger part of dream-experience — but aspire to get rid of these things and of the activities they indicate, to be conscious and reject all but the divine Truth; the more you get that Truth and cling to it in the waking state, rejecting all else, the more all this inferior dream-stuff will get clear.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pg. 99