Dreams:a way to listen to God, the title of a small book by Morton Kelsey, a late 20th century Christian mystic. He brought spirituality alive again, particularly as a priest in the Episcopal Church beginning in the 1970’s. I cherish this book title because it captures the potential power and impact of listening to your dreams.The stories of the world’s major religions encompass dreams and visions–the world beyond the five senses. In the first two chapters of the Christian Gospel of Matthew five dreams are recorded.

No faith expression holds the patent on understandings of “God”. However, listening to this energy which comes both from within and from beyond us has the power to enhance and enliven us. “God”: an intelligent, loving energy that wants to help us live more fully, love more wastefully, become more of whom we are meant to become? (to paraphrase Bernie Siegel and Jack Spong). We can recognize this energy when we respond to an experience with mystery, awe and wonder.

The key is in the responding, particularly when you want to begin remembering your dreams. I liken this to any relationship. If a friend’s name appears on your caller ID and you do not answer, you are not developing the relationship. On the other hand, if you answer and make a connection, the relationship may flourish. This happens with dreams. If you begin simply by remembering how you feel when you wake, you have started to develop your relationship with your dreams. The next step is to write down whatever comes to you when you wake. It may be a feeling or a single image–or a full blown dream. I promise you that if you write these down, you will soon remember your dreams more fully because you have chosen to develop the relationship with your unconscious.(more about the unconscious in a future blog).

Yes, dreams can be more elusive than we would like them to be, and interpretations more challenging than we might want them to be. That is when sharing dreams with a trusted person can be helpful. I work with a Jungian analyst to listen more deeply to my dreams. He is not only steeped in dream interpretation (as Jungians usually are), he also has a more objective perspective than I can possibly have. He constantly reminds me that figures and images and actions in dreams represent aspects of my own unconscious. They are trying to tell me about myself by using images and people. Again this mystery of understanding a dream is about a relationship that is not superficial. Dreams do not comment on the weather or gossip about other people. They are directed to us personally as a way for us to move more intentionally through our lives so that the meaning of our lives is continually revealed and enhanced.

Listening to dreams: a way to lead a more intentional and meaningful life.