Oneirology, is the study of dreams.
It is about studying the reasons for dreaming, on the one hand, and the possible meanings of dreams on the other. And linking the two together, it also includes the study of why dreams even have a meaning at all. I have researched that this word probably derives from the Greek word “oneiro,” or “oneiros” meaning dream. The “ology” part, would then refer to the study of dreams. An oneirogenic substance, is something that causes, and brings about a lucid dream. The American Indians, used to use substances such as the Peyote, know as the divine cactus, to bring about dream visions for themselves.
Perhaps with the discovery of REM sleep in 1953, dreams were then taken seriously by scientists for the first time, although everyone else, from priest to shaman, and even including the psychologist, had always had their own explanation for it. Scientists made the discovery that dreams occurred during REM sleep, and which refers to the rapid eye movement of our eyes, during this type of sleeping. But not only is it only our eyes that are being active. The brain has been shown to be intensely active as well, during our dreams. Before this discovery, it was thought that during sleep, the brain was mostly resting, and so largely inactive.
And so scientists now examine the dreams to discover if they have any meaning, and try to determine what causes them. Then they would like to know what purpose or function are they serving for us, if any, as well.
Can we know all of the answers scientifically, about something that might not be all scientific? Do dreams in fact have an origin in, and from another dimension, or from another world amongst worlds?
Maybe all the scientist will come up with, is that this seemingly random firing of our neurons at night, are no more than a sideshow of mismatching activities from our lives being sorted out, and filed away in some way. And so they might conclude that dream interpretation is for all intents and purposes, pointless and even meaningless.
But we who dream, know differently. And man has been interpreting his dreams, ever since Adam was dreaming of snakes in the garden of Eden. And I believe, even all of Adam’s animals probably dreamed, as well. My dog certainly appears to be dreaming. It displays the same rapid eye movement, and at times it gives a little yelp, and I just know, that it is enjoying a dream, as I can almost see it going on for it, as I watch my dog dreaming, while its sleeping.
The latest research also verifies that most animals do actually dream. The testing was done apparently on rats, who are able to revisit, and to go over again their waking experiences, while sleeping. This was proved by examining brain patterns of the rats, both while actually physically running through a maze, while awake, and again later while they were only dreaming about running through the maze, and asleep. The scientists concluded this, because the unique brain patterns recorded at both times, were remarkably similar.
This research does seem to indicate that what we are predominantly thinking about, either during our lives, or during our day, or even just directly before going to bed, may just influence our dream life, after all, and so the sort of dream that we will experience at night. If we watch a horror movie, for instance, just before going to bed, maybe we might dream up a nightmare. On the other hand, if we quietly read something spiritually uplifting, maybe we will contact our soul, and receive some higher teaching and wisdom from it. I know, for myself, I usually will try to read something uplifting, and I will try to allow my self to be relaxed and peaceful, before sleeping. I will often do a short meditation, or contemplation, right before sleeping to help achieve this state, for myself.
Dreams do seem to need the brain, as some type of a functioning and assisting apparatus to ensure they are running properly. A damaged brain often results in damaged dreams. The dream will no longer be in colour for example, or some of the vivid imagery will be lost, or even distorted in some way. But in other cases the dreams are not affected much at all. It all seems to depends on the actual part of the brain injured.
Is it the brain manufacturing the dream for us then, or is it just receiving the dream from somewhere else?
Some people don’t seem to recall their dreams, but through examination of their brains, we see the same brain activity taking place as in a dreamer, so it is concluded that this is more likely just a loss of memory, rather than the absence of dreams.
There is a lot to be discovered still about dreams, and the field is still in its infancy. And so this is one huge reason for studying it, and adds excitement to the task. Maybe you can be the one to make a new discovery in this field.
But my reason for studying my dreams is strictly personal. I record them all in my journal each day, and do my best to compare them with my other dreams, and I try to ascertain any patterns, and so I try to interpret the meaning for myself. I believe every dream is trying to show us something, and is bringing some sort of a message for us, to learn from, more about our self. Is it our soul, or God, or only our own brain, and subconscious mind trying to enlighten us to who we really are, and who we can really be, and so trying to point out how we can move between these two points, by understanding ourselves better now?
And indeed I have found many similar themes, similar environment and dream scenarios, similar people and similar happenings, in my own dreams. For example, my dreams will often take place within a train. Or another common place is back in my Mother’s house. Another strange pursuit of mine, in my dreams is to be looking for and searching for a toilet. This last dream, I feel is connected to my physical body, probably sometimes, as this dream will usually cause me to awaken, and so I find, that I actually do want to use the bathroom then. It’s as if the body must convey a message past the mind, with a visual dream image, to get its message across to the sleeping me.
And another theme in my own dreams recently, is that I find myself dressed in my pajamas, within my dream. And I will be walking in the street, or working in my office, or even at a sports match. And then I will notice my pajamas, and feel ashamed, and embarrassed by this. Invariably in the dream though, nobody else has seemed to notice my way of dressing. And so I think the message conveyed is one for me. I think it is a wake up call to me, to know then that when I see myself in my pajamas, I will know then, within my dream, that I am in fact only dreaming.
If I could do this, I would then move across into lucid dreaming. This is a phenomenon, where we are sort of consciously aware, almost awake in our own dream, watching, observing, and knowing that we are dreaming. So far, I have not been aware enough to be able to do this. But if I could remember this queue from my dream, I am sure I would be triggered into knowing that I was dreaming, within the dream.
At times, I have found that in my dream, I am sleeping, and I will then “wake” up in the dream, for example within a bus, which I am travelling on, and in the dream the sleeping, and waking up seem to be entirely normal, and actually make the dream seem more real for me, and more like in real life.
Dreams often are very funny, and there is definitely humour in our dreams. I think that we should try to see their funny side, as an aide to interpret them. Don’t let them frighten you, and don’t take them all too literally, and too seriously. I feel that they are given to us, probably by us, always a bit tongue in cheek, and not really to frighten us, but to amuse or to teach us, by getting our attention, somehow.
Humour is utilised in most dreams, to break the patterns of fixed constructs, held by your subconscious and lower minds, such as even your fixed ways of emotionally responding. Humour as in life, is used to break apart some of these ways of being, and so allow you a window to view the disconnecting, that they are really causing for you now. Humour in a dream comes from soul, as all humour is from the soul. The mind can never know humour, as it is a calculator only, and follows only the fixed patterns and programs given to it. It is no more than a complicated tool. Humour takes this tool aside, and breaks it into its parts, so that you can see how, and why it was constructed, and is being used by you, and for you.
Humour then is a great leveller, but more than that, it never does only level, but always raises you up, as well. Love is always humorous, and a smile is part of having a good humour. The heart is always smiling and humorous, when allowed to be, and when it is not being frozen, and put aside by the coldness of the mind.
So what can I say is the main reason, for us to try to study, and interpret our dreams, and to take them all seriously?
Dreams are part of your soul’s method or way, to talk to you with its message of hope and love, and also to keep you informed of your true purpose for incarnating, and the relevance of your experiences to your overall journey. The intuition in dreams is much clearer, because now it is in the forefront, and out in the open, instead of being the quiet voice in the background, as it normally is in our daily waking life. Dreams are a theatre of learning, and are a mystery inner school here for us in our human bodies. Your life can be brought into focus, and its connection and meaning, given to you, to relate it to your life, and to show you, your real purpose for your life.
Dreams can show to you, what is possible, and available for you to learn now, from every event in your life. All experiences bring to you their hidden secrets, often overlooked by you, and that the dream will invariably bring out, and forwards now, to show you. You need to only reconnect these secrets somehow, to the actual events that they relate to, and so interpret the original event or experience, from your life in a new and better way, with the help now, of your dreams. The assistance of these hidden revelations and secrets, are given to you like a key to your subconscious, and so open the door for you, to who you really and truly are, and who you can be, in your life.
I read somewhere that the purpose in your life probably won’t surface for you overnight, but that like love, it will find you, when you are not looking for it, and so are least expecting it. But I have found that this is not true about our dreams. Every night they are showing us, and revealing to us a part of this purpose, and so trying to connect us back to it.
If you could just listen to your own dreams, you would begin to really then find your very reason for being, and so your whole life and attitude will improve, and your enthusiasm for living will ignite, and you could then be unstoppable because your life is powered now, by your real love that is being developed, and made real for you now, and with a greater understanding, from your dreams. Our dreams give us all this chance at a more complete living and so the chance of fulfilling our life’s purpose. And we all everyone one of us have a purpose, a unique reason for us being born.
In conclusion then, I think that there are certainly great reasons for all of us to examine, and study our own dreams.
And so I will end here, with a short example from my own dream life, and then offer my own interpretation and explanation for what I thought that it all meant for me.
DREAM EXAMPLE
I was dreaming that I was a black belt martial arts instructor, and that I was taking a karate class. I was demonstrating a particular type of kick, from a particular stance, called a fighting stance, and which has the left foot forward. This kick is called, a right “mae geri”, or front kick, as I was performing it with my right rear leg. And then I demonstrated a double mae geri, with the same foot. In my dream I tried to demo the kick on a male beginner, but he doesn’t seem to understand, and instead of standing still to receive the kick, he tries to perform the kick, at the same time as me. I try several more times, but he keeps doing this action, rather than just standing still.
He is meant to stand still to receive the kick, and so I can demonstrate properly the efficiency and power of the kick, and to show the class, where it is actually supposed to land, or be applied to on the opponent’s body. I become very frustrated in my dream, and so I let him go back into the class line. And I am then thinking of selecting someone else to demonstrate the kick with, but the class finishes then, so I line back up at the front in order of grade, with the other instructors. I am a first dan, with one red slash on my black belt, in my dream. This is actually the same rank, that I hold in real life, as well.
My dream then jumped completely to a new theme altogether, and then I was dreaming that I was in a suburban train in Sydney. This is a large Australian city, but in my real life, I have never lived there, having only ever visited it for a short holiday, or as part of my work. As I’m travelling along going to the city station, I notice that overhead is a large vine or plant like an ivy, covering the overhead wires, and growing on top of it. That looks very nice, and a touch of green I thought. What a great idea. And then I am thinking that the trains were actually much cleaner, faster, and safer, than the Melbourne ones. Melbourne, is of course where I live, and I am used to travelling on the train systems there.
And so upon waking, I recorded all that I could recall of these two dreams, and so I wondered then, what do these dreams mean, for me.
My first thought were that these dreams are interesting, and I tried to see a connection from one to the other. I thought it worth noting, that in the second dream, I was a passenger just riding along in life, but the fact was that I am not actually in my home town. In the first dream, though, I am a leader, and taking and instructing the class, but it is not seemingly going my way either.
My interpretation is that for now, these two dreams are telling me, that I shouldn’t actually move out of from my comfort zone of living in a secure place that I know well, until I am more ready to do so. At the same time, however, I am perhaps a type of person more suited, towards being an introvertive personality, and leaning towards being a silent loner type, and so maybe, I am not really suited, or cut out to be a leader or instructor. Perhaps I am being informed that I should never concern myself too much with finding, or searching for self purpose or direction, in my life.
What I should more come to realise, is that all life is taking me along the way, that the real me or soul should be going, along the path of my overall purpose, only if I relax, and enjoy the journey more, without fighting it, all the time. Relax, as I was in Sydney, on the train, and notice then, that I had the awareness then, to look up and see the beauty around me, and which is always really there, at all times, and that I’m missing now in my life. I miss it because I am trying to be someone I am not, frustrating myself, and always looking for that greener grass, somewhere else, than in my own backyard.
Actually all parts of a dream are important, and they will reflect some part of your own character to you. The beginner is of course me as well, and represents myself on my own path, at my own beginning. And so really the dream shows me, that I have come a long way already, and that rather than allowing life to frustrate me, I need to accept the fact that we all need to start somewhere. And to realise that our journey is more about, how we see things, and what we can see when we enjoy our journey, rather than to get frustrated by our thinking, that our journey is dirty, unclean, and not as good as somebody else’s journey seems to be.
Love and it’s message is in all dreams, and here love is the train, it is the vine, and it is the beginning student. All these, are only parts of love coming to me, and giving me the opportunity to love back, or to allow the frustrations to block the love, and so my main opportunity to love is perhaps lost for another day. Life operates in the same way, and so to me all life, and including all of our dreams, are only all about bringing us all a greater love, and an increased understanding of love, and so an increased ability to love, from this greater understanding and ability to love, that we have now grown into, from the lessons from life, and from our dreams.
Great reasons indeed, to take our life, and our dreams seriously, and something for us all to think over, and perhaps though, not to lose any sleep over. For the answers might just come to us in our dreams, to what we are now thinking over, so intensely.
