Prayer And Dream Interpretation

In many ancient cultures the interpretation of dreams was often approached by the use of prayer or meditation.  If this were not done directly than an individual might approach it through a priest or holy man or woman who could approach the dream in this way.

One of the best known descriptions of this is in the Old Testament where Joseph has shown that he can interpret dreams. When Pharaoh had a disturbing dream he hears about Joseph and sends for him.  The meeting is described as follows:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Clearly Joseph is saying that he does not know how to interpret a dream, but God will interpret it.

To understand what this means we have to at least attempt a reasonably clear description of what happens to Joseph when he receives the interpretation of the dream.  Or perhaps another way of putting it is to ask the question, how does he receive the interpretation?

The problem of believing in God

I think it is fairly obvious that when somebody prays it is rather like asking somebody else a question.  To get an answer they have to listen and put aside their own ideas.  So we can presume that in asking for an interpretation, Joseph quietens his own personality and thoughts, and listens for an answer.

Obviously there is a problem here for many people because they cannot believe there can be a spontaneous answer from God or other than from a person’s own imagination.  The story of Joseph interpreting the dream of Pharaoh suggests that Joseph did not know through his own thinking process what Pharaoh’s dream meant, but sought help from God. Whether we believe in God as described as a sort of father figure or not doesn’t matter. We are looking at a piece of anthropological information couched in the language of the times.

The core information is that a person can gain information, help or power from a source other than their conscious thinking and knowledge. Experiments with hypnotism suggest that we are all experts on understanding dreams, but not with our conscious mind. Only when we are in a semi sleep state or a passive open state of being such as prayer or meditation might be, can we access this inner source of insight, information and power.

Everybody dreams every night as shown by sleep laboratories, and their dreams are spontaneous, and with the characters in the dreams speaking without forethought by the dreamer. So there is a source of information other than our conscious mind or imagination. In certain circumstances, such as sleep, and the passive receptive state brought on by hypnotism, meditation and other mental disciplines, it is easily observable that certain parts of our nature can express with sometimes astonishing uniqueness, without the conscious mind taking any active part in it except being quiet and receptive. See How I became a Virgin

Personally, I believe that the process behind the creation of dreams can break through into consciousness and produce similar phenomena as experienced in dreaming, when the conscious personality becomes passive and receptive. This is observable in creative people like William Blake who could witness ‘dream’ images while awake. See The Waking Lucid Dream

Joseph could of course experience and interpret in a variety of ways, but if you are uncertain about the possibility of it I suggest reading the history of the phenomena of hypnotism and of meditation and prayer.  I suggest this because the reason I am writing this feature is not to argue the point but to share something that I was involved in witnessing; namely, the contemporary use of prayer to interpret dreams.

During a lengthy period I was involved with a group of people who attempted to learn and use the passive receptive state of mind mentioned above.  I have written about this elsewhere in such features as Life’s Little Secrets and LifeStream

Some of the group developed unusual abilities in terms of how they related to their own unconscious content and what I have called the dream process.  They could, while awake, experience what appeared to be lucid waking dreams.  Very moving experiences often emerged during this practice.  Also, they demonstrated speaking in tongues, as it has been called by the Christian church. This is I feel an example of the dream process being accessed by our conscious mind. Because we join the unconscious and the conscious there is a marked difference in the responses.

To explain this in another way, people experiencing the spontaneous voice felt they were simply accessing another part of themselves that is usually called “the unconscious”.  This spontaneous voice would respond to questions from the person experiencing it.  And because of that it was sometimes used in an attempt to understand dreams.  Even when such interpretations were received, they were not taken as absolute truths, but as extensions to what could be arrived at by normal conscious thinking.  In fact, often such interpretations were truly helpful, and sometimes quite startling. This has in the past been called mediumship or being psychic. But often the stated theory behind such statements are often misleading. See There Is A Huge Change Happening

In their book Three Faces of Eve by Thigpen and Cleckley, they describe very clearly how a clear understanding of a dream can arise from the unconscious. In fact, they suggest that the master dream creator, the unconscious, understands its own language so well it can easily explain dreams, both from the person or those of a stranger. This occurs despite the conscious personality being quite mystified by the imagery and drama of the dream. This occurs because most people try to think up an interpretation, and dreams are product of the non-rational mind – the unconscious.

Dreams Understood By Using Prayer

In the book Myself and I by Constance Newland, she gives several examples of spontaneous understanding of dreams.

I think you can see from the following examples of dreams interpreted by prayer what a wealth of information can be gained. I also have to stress that the dreams had not made any sense to us before the answers we got from asking in the way described.

The first dream shows the struggle and direction from the unconscious/God/the Life Process the dreamer felt.

The dream was that I was at home in North Devon, and for some reason had decided to leave with Gwen. Somehow it was my father and mother I left.

Gwen and I were going to tramp the country, moving south. We started toward Barnstaple on foot. Gwen was going to take the road through Lee, Morthoe, and Saunton. I said why go such a long way? I tried to explain how much longer it was, and then with a smile said, “But of course, you must know all about that, as you have done this all before.”

I am not sure which way we went, but we were on the move. I suddenly realised I had left home without money, blankets, food, or anything except the clothes I stood in. I was very disturbed for a while, thinking of turning back to get money. However, I then felt if I was going on this journey I must commit myself to it. Even so I wondered how on earth I would manage without blankets, sleeping outdoors in the cold. Gwen didn’t seem disturbed, and I went on.

We came to a hill sloping down. Somehow we were then airborne and rushed downwards and across the valley. Then we became frightened because we were hurtling towards the opposite hillside at the wrong angle. We would hit it instead of gliding along above the ground until we landed like planes touching down.

A power cable was crossing the valley. For a while I held it to guide our glide, but was frightened of the current, and it was the wrong angle anyway. But somehow we managed to land okay.

I cannot remember the details too clearly, but I do remember going from door to door begging for food. Also of thinking I would perhaps meditate somewhere in a cave, and beg for my food.

The scene changed and I was in London, looking in Paddy/Charlie’s bookshop. I believe there were a lot of records there. We spoke about something. Then he led me through some streets to a woman’s house. She was in the front garden. I saw she had some sweet corn coming up. It was very vigorous. I asked her how she managed to grow it so strong. I remember noticing my feet were bare and in the earth. She said something about not wanting bare footed hippies in her earth. She was going indoors.

I was then alone trying to find my way back to the bookshop. It seemed a part of London I had traversed many times in other dreams. I recognised landmarks. It was generally to the left.

Here is the response to the dream: This was recorded as well as we could.

Gwen means that in the awakening and turning to God the desire awakes sexuality in you very strongly. But although this is awakened by God, fear of where it will lead, of what relationships it will lead into, occurs.

The argument with Gwen about going south – going south is the descent of consciousness to the body, into the sexual realm. Obviously the problem, even Gwen, doesn’t want the direct route. The problem diverts the flow of descending energy.

Going without money, etc, is the holding onto my sexual feelings. The fear of letting go of them, letting go of relationships, and the insecurity this involves, but the letting go nevertheless. One is thereby not directing or possessing one’s sexual energies. They are left to God to direct.

It is a looking around fearing what people might think.

The food is also the personal “hold” on relationships. The holding onto people, because one “feeds” on the security they bring. Not taking one’s own food or blankets is to let go of people and the warmth and support they give.

Gliding down – The descent into experiencing the problem. The flying is the being carried along by the inner forces to face or experience the fear of the problem.

The power line is the descending divine energies. I let go because I am involved in fear of failure, of being hurt. The power line is also the humility before God; the turning to God. The turning and the descending power are one.

The begging and meditation – The holding the mouth again. It is, I am here shown, the turning away from receiving what God holds out to us to partake of. The turning away through shame and fear, but through humility the acceptance of that sustenance God gives. Then the making whole of one’s inner and outer life, and the flowing of the higher life, the living waters, into the inner and outer life.

Paddy’s shop – The shop is once more the search for self, and one’s actions arising from self. Having sensed consciousness and God, there arises a working with people bringing balance between their inner and outer life: or making them aware of their inner life.

Paddy – Jock is the inner and outer life, working on the mundane, sexual, materialistic side of human nature.

Being led to the woman’s house is the release, healing; and being cast out of sick sexual attitudes and feelings. Thus enabling one to look into the people’s inner life – or something to do with the dead or inner world.

The woman is the casting out of the forces holding back the real sexual feelings. The sweet corn is the area of self difficult to grow before. But is the release, the fruitful growth of them.

The last part of the dream is the finding again of a state of inner awareness, of integration and higher consciousness, I know, or lived in, in the past, a re-establishment of old abilities.

The dreamer, Cliff, was experiencing a great deal of struggle with his sexual feelings. Some of this was in connection with his moral attitudes. There is a feeling in the interpretation that there is not a moral difficulty if Cliff is guided by the ‘divine descending forces’ – presumably the forces behind the dream process.

The interpretation also tends to lead the dreamer toward greater independence in the advice about not hanging on to security in relationship and fear of letting go. So although it mentions God and trust, it is also good psychological advice.

There are also some interesting suggestions as to the meaning of some of the imagery used. The power lines are seen as descending divine energy or influence, and the difference between Paddy and Jock. Such duality is often shown to highlight the polar opposites inherent in human nature. Because Paddy’s shop is where Cliff found several books on the inner life, it becomes for him a symbol of inner influence. Jock on the other hand was a very material minded person, and led Cliff as a youngster into various money earning activities. Such balance is essential.

Here is a very long dream and its interpretation in prayer/meditation.

Dreamt I was by a large river which I seemed to recognise from another dream. Across the river a man and boy were going to start fishing. The man had a very smart case on a bike which was carrying his rods. On the radio a pop show was interrupted to say the fishing season had begun, and interviewed the man opposite me. One of my children was shouting, and I could hear them on the wireless.

Now I realised I had been waiting by the river for Sheila. I had thought she was coming back, for she had been there, but now wondered whether she had expected me to follow on. I went up some steps across the river from where I had been standing. They were by the side of a tunnel out of which the river flowed. I seemed to be also inside the tunnel looking down on the river and seeing many fish or fish shapes in the water flowing or moving to the tunnel end. I seemed to think that these fish had been released from the other end of the tunnel as it was the fishing season. Some were just fish shapes, and if you caught one – or a special one – there was something precious in them, or a prize to be gained.

The scene changed. I was in a room with a group of people, adult men and women, sitting on the floor. It was a group led by a young fair haired man in a suit – a psychiatrist. I was sitting at the back of the group. Something happened in the group that I cannot remember. But I felt the man had not seen it, or missed the implication of it; or at least, I felt he had, although there was some doubt about this as events developed.

But then the most powerful part of the dream occurred. A silver haired, middle-aged woman came and took my hand as an act of thanks and love. In some way I had helped or touched her. Maybe it was in recognising what was going on, but there was no memory of this in the dream. I now held her close as a deeper communion, and took her in my arms holding her across my lap as one might a child, cradling her head. Then I closed my eyes, surrendered, and seemed to collapse in upon myself – not in body but in consciousness. This was experienced as an intense entrance into formlessness, blackness and bodiless consciousness. I had become one with the woman and she also was taken into this experience. She cried out as it happened, “Bill! Oh no. No.”

I felt perhaps it was too much for her so opened my eyes and “came out”. But as I did so my head nodded vigorously, “Yes”. So I took this as a sign from within to carry on. I surrendered again, in oneness with the woman. She moaned but did not cry out this time. One with her I seemed to be leading her to some great inner experience or initiation through the depths of my surrender.

In the dream however, I never did seem to reach the climax of the event, or experience its end result. But from there on I slept or lay in such peace my whole body was bathed in it.

The interpretation in prayer to this dream was as follows:

This dream was brought about because you “slept” with your wife. She brought to you much that her conscious self cannot express. She will become the womb you realised in the dream.

The first part of the dream represents your lower forces flowing into consciousness. The river really represents the stream of life that flows ever on. The man is your new self dipping within for the spiritual life living within you. He brings his new equipment with him. You see the rod case as a gun case because it is transformed aggressiveness or sexual energy. The boy with the man represents your young son. He will stay with you in your spiritual search. He is the way of looking within also. The wireless is merely public announcement. Your new/present way will begin to come to the notice of the public. This is the beginning of your public recognition. Through living with love you have brought this to you.

Now you realised Sheila has been waiting for you or you for Sheila. This means that some love between you, which up until now could not flower, will now begin. Expecting you to follow means she has led the way in this area of thought, but you would not let yourself follow. Through bringing your love to life, you can now express what is necessary in your relationship with her. Your present life situation will lead you to relate to people in a way that will break through their closely guarded barriers.

The river really lives within your soul; the fish are released from another reality beyond your own personal life. The reason you see living fish and shapes represents long-term benefits. Your present life brings into being factors that will not really live except in other lifetimes. These fish will nevertheless afford prizes in the form of bonus outflows from the one life. Your present life will release much that arises from the future. You are a gateway for the future to pour into the present. The past releases the living fish. Past and future are from the one source.

The next part of the dream brings you to your real problem. Your present life was brought about by much thought and love. Your situation at present is one in which love will redirect your life. The group represents the part you will play in much future activity. The man represents the scene in which you will find yourself. Your real situation is not to lead that to love. The man is your thought processes. They miss much of what goes on. The suit is orderliness of thought. Your present self relates more to what is going on beyond the intellect. The group is the people you mix with.

Unconsciously you will touch their lives deeper than you know you have. The event is people’s reaction to what you are doing outwardly. You misunderstand much of this, but your inner self sees and understands. The woman represents those who realised how you touch them. She realises through her feelings how you have entered into her. She represents the mature feelings, the spiritualised life of men and women. They will come to you, then you will bring to them your own inner life. When you close your eyes, this means you drop your outer self and allow the cosmic to lead you in relationship with that person. She cried out because the relationship will be very real and intense. This will cause you to question what you are doing, but nevertheless surrender is maintained. The lack of end to the dream means there is no end to this. The entry into other lives will be so deep, end results will not be visible. The peace is that peace you will find in this. 

Here is a dream that was not understood intellectually, but prayer led to the following insights about far future events.

Dreamt one of the children was smoking a length of rubber electric wire. It didn’t seem to have any wire in it. I told them it was better to smoke cigarettes than that, because that really was poisonous.

 Interpretation in surrender.

The dream was trying to tell you that your son B will smoke. The trouble with B is that he tries to live with three great problems. The first problem is that he lies to himself. When he lies he believes. This causes him tremendous inner confusion. The second problem is that B will live with girls (prostitutes). When this problem becomes real, B will try to give himself reasons for living in this way. The third problem is that B lives within his dreams. The power of his fantasy is that he finds it difficult to adapt to real-life demands.

The smoking brings to Mark the life which he thinks he wants. The rubber means B tries to disguise his desires, but this is more poisonous than direct expression. Let B be told that one should experiment in life to see if that is what one really wants.

When this dream was lived, you brought to B the realisation that he must live life directly.

This dream was experienced when the dreamer’s son was only young, 11, and hadn’t started smoking or going out with girls. In his adult life he became a heavy drinker, smoker, and had a lot of experience with prostitutes. It shows how penetrating such interpretation can be.

Again an illustration of long foresight.

A dream about one of my son in college, sometime in 1989

I dreamt this dream when my son was in the throes of deep depression and I could not see a light at the end of the passage. At about this time a lady that I worked with was telling me about her son who was causing her deep anxiety by running away from home with some friends, abandoning his college course and plans for the future. That night, when I was doing my usual praying for my son, I included this young lad in my prayers. I then had a dream in which I knew the boy would return home and back to college within the week; I also knew that my son would return to college at the end of seven years. The boy did return within the week and went back to college, and as proved later, so did my son at the end of the seven years.

The following dream illustrates how you can gain insight into another person dreams.

I am 23 years old and have been married for 2 years. Recently I dreamt I was on holiday in Egypt with my husband and parents. We were in the desert and I saw sand dunes ahead and camels with 2 humps. One of them licked my face. I also got very sunburnt. Could you please tell me what it means?  Eliza.

Here is the interpretation given after not understanding the dream at all.

I get the feeling from this dream that you want children. Your life is empty – a waterless desert – without them. That is not to say you have an unhappy life, because the dream shows you in holiday mood and relaxed with your family. So you obviously have their support for becoming a mother.

The big thing in the dream though is when the camel licks you. Its two humps suggest you either want or will have two children, and the lick is a sign of approval and agreement. So the sun is shining on you in this area of your life as you move on to a new and previously unexplored experience of parenthood. And the sunburn warns you to take it slowly. Don’t rush things.

Later a letter was received about the interpretation:

Today 9/11/94 you printed the answer to my letter on my dream about the camel that licked my face in the desert. I would like to thank you for this and say that your interpretation of my dream was absolutely correct. I am desperate to have a baby and have been trying to conceive for over 12 months. I have full support on this matter from my mother as you suggested, she provides a shoulder to cry on through this trying period of my life.

Yours Sincerely Eliza

Later still another letter arrived, this time from Eliza’s mother.

Dear *****,

Many thanks for your fax note sent just now to our daughter Eliza.

As Liz’s parents we know how much she wants a child, and we also know that she is aware how much we love and care for her.

Your interpretation was uncanny!!  We give you many thanks for the encouragement to our daughter.

The best regards

P and B Hanman

What is a wonder to me, even though I am involved in seeing these things happen, is that how can anyone who is totally at a loss to the meaning of a dream, receive such an accurate interpretation. And I cannot say it is through cleverness or worthiness, so I believe in Life/God as a provider of such information.

Here is another interesting dream.

My wife and I were walking out in the countryside. I looked around suddenly and saw my four year old son near a hole. He fell in and I raced back. The hole was narrow but very deep. I could see water at the bottom but no sign of my son. I didn’t know whether I could leap down and save him or whether it was too narrow. Then somehow he was out. His heart was just beating.

This dream occurred to a newspaper reporter. It was so tricky to understand so the reporter was asked to call back while the dream was investigated by praying for help. Here is what was told.

The son here represents the marriage. That is because the son was the result of your marriage. You had an awful row with your wife. It was so bad you felt it was the end of your marriage; that was why the child fell down the hole and you felt he was dead.

But suddenly the child is beside you and his heart was beating, and this show that although it was bad, there is still a heart beating between them and your marriage is okay.

That was what was told but it was difficult to believe because how could it be so definite. However when the reporter rang back he acknowledged he had an argument with his wife and he thought it was the end of their marriage. Also it was such a relief to see the son was depicting their marriage and was not a prediction.

Here is fascinating dream about spiders, and its exploration:

I found your email on the internet for dream interpretation. If this is not correct, I am sorry to be bothering you.

I have had the same dream as I fall asleep for several years. I have it nearly every night just once, sometimes, rarely, twice as I fall asleep. I dream that I find a dried piece of skin or scab somewhere on my body, usually my foot or my hand, though it has varied over the years. I begin to pick at the skin/scab and scratch it until it comes off. When it comes off it unleashes a flood of seed spiders that engulf me. Another variation is I find some odd black hairs growing out of my body and when I examine them more closely they are regular sized spiders crawling out of me and they begin to engulf me.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Again, if this is not correct, I am very sorry for the disruption of your time. Best C

  Here is the interpretation. It was tricky because what was given seem too serious, that is why it was only mentioned in a small way:

Dear C – What I see with your dream of spiders is that there is a possibility of an underlying fear, so that when you begin to sink just below waking, just under the surface of your mind, this feeling of being overwhelmed arises. If it were a big thing that emerged it would be easier to deal with. But thousands of little things are difficult to handle because you kill some but there are so many left to get at you. A big thing you could hit with a cricket bat or kill it in some way, but the small things are more difficult. They are a sort of ultimate enemy. You need to find an image that enables you to deal with those feelings. An image that might be helpful is that of jumping into a very hot shower, one you can just about cope with. The water is pouring down and is going to burn up the little bugs. Another image might be that you walk quickly through flames that you are big enough to pass through with perhaps only your hairs being burnt, but the little spiders are going to get burnt up.

Were you at some time frightened of sickness? A sickness that could engulf you and you would be powerless against? If not that, then perhaps an image of something, or an idea of something that has stayed with you just under the surface of your mind.

And here is C’s reply: Dear *****: Thank you….THANK YOU for getting back to me with the dream information. I am fairly well educated about things but could not come up with anything for myself. I think I may have been too close to it.

You mentioned several things that seem to “hit the nail on the head” and I will explore those. The most important thing you mentioned was that of being “powerless against” illness. I do have a life long disease that is manageable but could be fatal. I think this is where I am going to start as that is what seemed to really set off bells.

I really do thank you for this. It has not interfered with my sleep and the dream only occurs as I fall asleep….once asleep, I am fine.

I thank you so much and I am sure that my partner thanks you as well……

Thank you…thank you….thank you…. With gratitude, C

The dreams and interpretations that follow are the result of the dreamer desperately searching for meaning. They may seem strange, but I include them here because of their great interest.

Two dreams. I am in the basement of our house at Woburn Walk. There is a great drain, about a yard square, which is blocked and flooded. With a poker I unblocked it and the water flows quickly away.

Now I noticed that the drain leads to an enormous sewer. My son and I go down. It is as large as big rooms, stretching away chamber after chamber. My son goes off into the sewer and I am very afraid of him being lost, as the sewers are like an immense uncharted realm, with countless turnings. I catch him and blaze a trial to give orientation. There were rats.

Now I go tentatively into the sewers. Underneath a house and a few doors up Woburn Walk, I see the outlet of their sewer blocked with an old coat, perhaps an overcoat. I poke it with my poker. It could easily be dislodged, but I am hesitant as I realised a lot of foul water will pour out and down, making an awful smell. But I feel that if I stand to one side, it will pour harmlessly into the sewer.

Second dream – In the place I live as a youth. Opposite our house is a large printing firm. It takes up several houses knocked into one. Writing this, I remember this has been the scene of many past dreams

I go to a locked doorway on the left of the building. The lock – padlock – is securing the top of the door, but by pushing very hard I forced entry through the bottom, the lock still in place. I cannot recollect why I entered, but now a man comes from another part of the building and catches me trespassing. He accuses me and I make all manner of excuses. I say I could not find the proper entrance, etc. He shows me some visiting cards. At first I am not interested, but become fascinated in colour, beauty and variety of the cards, which have flowers, butterflies and leaves on, all drawn. I feel we were working toward a resolution, but I wake before this happens.

Interpretation in surrender.

When you received this dream you brought to life within you long withheld strength. You were being strengthened by the one life. The present life could not until now reach deeply enough into itself to remove those blockages that stopped the outflow of rubbish from your system. This dream leads you through the blockages which were previously there. Through – breakthrough.

The sewers represent lower levels through which the mind travels. The sewers represent the present source of your strength. Through exploring them you will discover your past – yourself. The rats are love which was betrayed.

When your son runs away, your soul was eager to explore, but your critical mind restrained it. The reason being that when you explore the sewers you will find much that explains why mankind is in the present condition. The sewers were built by men thousands of years ago. They are the level at which mankind once lived. They are the ancient past. They are revealed now because you can face what they will show. Some of the things you find will be the things you have yourself left behind in the sewers. Through your present life you will give to many a way of lifting the sewers back to the surface. For the sewers represents a man’s sunken past. The reason they act as sewers is because in the past man acted as the means for tremendous cosmic forces to flow down into the earth. This faculty was desecrated and now what is represented as the sewers acts in man as the means by which, through which, destructive thoughts, energies, are released, lest they destroy man.

When you were a child and watched the man cleaning drains, you knew that part of your life purpose was to help people bring this function to life so they could be healed.

The strength you will find in exploring the sewers is that of being able to face the worst in human beings, and also see within it what was once whole and designed. Your strength will pierce them to a remembrance of their own sublimity.

Remember, when God brought destruction/the flood, it was to cleanse man of the desecration he had brought upon himself. God does not strike man. Man was cleansed. Then forgetfulness was laid upon him that he might beget a new life. Through breakthrough you have gained the strength to remember who you are, who we were, who you will be.

The last part of the dream means that strength will begin you to bring healing and cleansing to those whose life you touch. Three people need your help now. One is BC, pray for her. Another is Su. Lift her through your love. The third is your wife. Bring her healing by laying on of hands.

The place you broke into was locked because you had cut yourself off from your own business ability. The man is three strengths – Purpose- Prosperity – Thoroughness. Your present attitude brings you into conflict with these. The man shows you how you wish to do things in the wrong way – the wrong door. Your present direction will bring you back into this realm of ability. Let May be the time of your change. It is a printing firm because you will be led to bring ideas to many in book form.

A dream about transformation.

Last night I dreamt I was in bed with a woman B who I was in love with. We were very close, but I never had sexual intercourse with her, and the idea of this was stressed in the dream. That is the idea that I hadn’t. As morning dawned a man came into the room or area of the bed from the left. He was a very shadowy figure, and difficult to define. In his presence I saw that the sheets were very bloodstained, and wondered if he would think I had intercourse with B. I thought B must have had a period or was in some way injured. Now in the morning light I went out to a great elm tree nearby. Catching the lower branches I swung up and up with great delight and ease, to the top of the tree. It was a beautiful feeling.

Looking down I saw a rather fat greasy looking man talking to B, demanding rent she owed him. She seemed to need my help, so I went down and sorted out the difficulty.

I was then walking across a very big area of cultivated land, with thousands of tiny plants growing. I was with my wife and the children, and we were trying to get them to avoid stepping on the seedlings.

We reached a lower level that was covered in shallow water. As we paddled through it, we came to a spot where two wash sinks had been sunk into the ground, making the water much deeper. P and R, my two young children fell into these. I rushed back and pulled P out. Peter, an older son pulled R out. I pumped P’s chest and he began to breathe again. Peter was having trouble so I did the same with R. The fact of the breath pulsing again was emphasised in my awareness.

An interpretation in surrender

The release of rising energies which led by lifting consciousness.

Your lover is disorientation. The influx of massive inner and outer experience that causes a retreat, a curling up. A mass of inner release. Being in bed with her is given as the releasing of the energies. An experience of the state of massive release and conflict.

Not having sex with lover means not becoming deeply involved in the negative release. Not letting the released energies express in outer disordered activity, fears, etc. The release will be interiorised as the direction of energy. The detached watching the process of release.

The shadowy man is shown as the coming of the Christ into ones life. The measure against which one sets ones life. One’s conscience. The higher judgment. The blood is the experiencing in their sexual pain and agony. Really a very primal pain. That she is the inner energies flowing into mature growth. The energy of Life opening to God, the maturing of the individuation process. Growing as a person into higher awareness. Swinging up the trees rising joyfully to higher awareness.

The man and rent – The man is the repressed sexual energies. The back rent is the locked up energies in past repressions of pain etc. These have to be paid up, to right things.

The seedlings are the wonderful and harmonious release of energies that follow. It is the “Dance of Life.” The giving the receiving. The ascent and descent. The whole spectrum of dance.

P and R – Submergence of consciousness beneath emotions, and the breathing again after being expelled from within. The emotions had entered the intellectual realm of consciousness, sudden urging it. Like the Lotus, it is a growing above the water into the air.

Touching the More in you

A simple way of understanding how such amazing result can occur, is to see prayer as a way of opening to the More of who we are. It doesn’t have to be explained in religious terms; because simply being alive is a miracle we do not understand. And if we stand before the miracle of our own existence, and admit there is so much we do not understand, it is a first step to touching the More. We can call it the unconscious, we can call it intuition, but it is still a mystery. If we open ourselves to this mystery it may actually respond in ways we would never expect. But of course we need to open to it without all the clutter we usually put in the way; such things as this is nonsense; nobody I know can do it; I believe in a rational way of living; and so on.

If such thoughts and beliefs are put aside and you open your mind, your emotions, your body and sexual feelings, ready to respond, you have a good chance to receive the More of you.

Paths to the More

I believe there are ways we can make more use of our own level of intuition that are touched by prayer, because from a position of having no observable intuition at all, I have been able to use intuition often enough and well enough to make it an extra tool in problem solving or decision making. I have shown others how to do this, and see from this that it is a skill that can be developed or enhanced.

I have called this necessary state of mind and body the Keyboard Condition. In other words you learn to hold your body, emotions, imagination, sexuality and memories like a keyboard that can be played on by your inner self/Life/God. In this way you are holding your body free to move spontaneously; you are letting go of any control or resistances you might have in connection with your emotions; you are relinquishing your thoughts and goals, and you are leaving the stage free for your imagination – all to be able to respond to something other than your conscious will – all ready to be moved spontaneously.

Remember that when you go to sleep another will creates dreams, body movement, emotions, and all the phenomena of dreams without your conscious will needing to be active. It is this inner process, of dreams that expresses when you can create the Keyboard Condition.  If you doubt that it is the dream process, it might only be because you have not worked with your dreams in the way of asking them for advice.

Also, each person may receive information in a slightly different way. For some it comes as a physical movement, or as when a dowser holds his rod. Often it arises as spontaneous images like a daydream. Some people find themselves talking aloud from other than conscious volition; while others receive through emotional shifts. In each case, however, something spontaneous and unplanned is allowed to arise into consciousness, whether in movement, images, sounds, or emotions, or even direct knowing, exactly as dreams do.

While dreaming we spontaneously move, speak, eat, have sex, and all these arise while our conscious will is ‘asleep’ or surrendered. Therefore we can say the unconscious itself is speaking when we speak in dreams. In fact when we experience a dream we are allowing the unconscious or Life in us to communicate. But dreams are often not easy to immediately understand. But while awake we interpret what arises much more quickly. So when I allowed myself to ‘dream’ while awake the results were often startling, as what was said frequently gave information or viewpoints that were totally new or unknown to me consciously. I could ask questions about almost anything and gain an informative response. The unconscious, and of course the cosmic mind, are immense databanks of information and experience; asking a question starts a ‘search’ and ‘synthesising’ process that sorts immense amounts of data to find something matching the question. The exercises below explain ways of learning to allow your unconscious and cosmic mind to activate your speech. See Using Your Intuition – 1

A Condition of Body and Mind

So you need to practise a condition of body, mind, and feelings that allows unplanned fantasy in whatever way it is going to arise. Jung taught some of his patients to allow their hands to fantasise while they watched without planning moves or interfering, judging, or criticising. And of course, as already said, one of the big interference’s is the thought or feeling that nothing of importance can come of such an irrational activity. Perhaps at first nothing does arise, but maybe our intuition is a little rusty from years of non use and needs limbering up. How would you be physically if you had been tied and gagged for years and now someone asked you to move and speak?

At first you would barely be able to move, and only mumbling would come out of your mouth. So it is a learning process to gain this skill. Practice is necessary, just as one would with the piano or typing.

So keep on approaching the mystery that you are, and let that mystery know itself in you.

See: Life’s Little Secrets; Keyboard Condition; Self Regulation; LifeStream; Aphorisms.