Dream On
The time had come for a spiritual guide to begin to instruct one
of his students about the intricacies of dream interpretation. In time,
the student was destined to become a great mystical teacher, but,
before her destiny would be realized, the student had to be trained in
a variety of disciplines, and, today marked the occasion when this
student would start to learn about dreams.
Her guide had decided that the best way to begin the process was
to permit his trainee to sit in on a few sessions during which dream
interpretation took place. This would enable the student to see, first
hand, how the guide did things, and, as well, offer opportunities for
the student to ask questions about whatever might transpire on such
occasions.
Normally, people came to the guide with their dreams at
different times of the week, according to whenever their dreams
might have occurred. However, in order to accommodate the
schedule of his student, he issued a special announcement to the
community in which he lived indicating that for the next two weeks
only, the usual routine concerning the reporting of dreams to the
guide would be suspended and people should relate whatever dreams
they might have had during the week at some time which was
convenient to them on Fridays.
The first Friday of the new arrangement arrived, and three
people were sitting in the lobby of the center awaiting their turn to
tell their dreams to the spiritual guide. The teacher and his trainee
received these people, one at a time, in a relatively small room near
the back of the center and away from the lobby.
The first person to present a dream was a woman. She obviously
was very nervous, and while she wanted her dream interpreted, she
also seemed to be embarrassed about the whole process.
This woman started to talk about her dream several times, but
stopped each time. As she did this, she would alternate between shyly
looking at the guide out of the corner of her eye and staring down at
the floor as she played with her purse.
The teacher gently encouraged her by saying: “Sometimes,
because dreams are cobbled together in a symbolic language which
combines elements of both the material world and the non-material
realms, the form of the symbols which give expression to the dream
may, on the surface, suggest one thing, when, in reality, the meaning
of the dream is quite something else. So, if you find the surface form
of your dream somewhat embarrassing, don’t worry, because the
symbols used there may not mean what you think they do.”
The words of the spiritual guide appeared to relieve the woman.
She hesitated only a brief moment before telling her dream.
She said there were parts of the dream which she had, since,
forgotten, but the portion which remained with her was this: “She
had seen herself engaged in an intimate embrace with the spiritual
guide, and they were passionately kissing one another.”
She added: “I find the dream very embarrassing, and it has been
bothering me all week, for I really don’t think about you in such
terms, but, nonetheless, this is the dream, and I am hoping you can
help me determine if it means there is some kind of spiritual problem
going on with me.”
The guide’s eyes twinkled and he laughed in a gentle way. He
responded with: “I can well understand why the dream’s form might
cause you discomfort, but, in point of fact, your dream is a wonderful
sign. The dream informs us that you are both embracing, as well as
in the embrace of, this spiritual path, and, moreover, you are being
lovingly looked after, in a very intense way, by some of the great
saints of our mystical tradition.”
The teacher and the one who had just related her dream talked
a bit longer about different facets of the mystical way. After a few
moments, she asked the teacher’s permission to leave, thanked him
for his kind words, and following a few words of farewell from the
guide, she left.
Approximately five minutes later, another woman appeared at
the entrance to the room, and proceeded through the doorway when
beckoned forward by the teacher. She sat down near the spiritual
guide, looking at the trainee as she did.
She quickly glanced at the trainee a few more times, before
returning her attention to the guide. The trainee’s presence seemed
to unsettle her a little.
Noting this, the teacher nodded toward his trainee, and said: “I
have complete confidence in my companion’s integrity and capacity
to be discreet with respect to anything she may witness here. I have
asked her to sit in on some of these sessions so that she may learn
about the interpretation of dreams, and, in time, she will be taking
over some of my responsibilities in this area.”
He was silent for a few seconds and, then, added: “If you would
rather tell me about your dream at another time, we could, I’m sure,
find a time which works for both of us. It’s entirely up to you.”
The woman mulled over the teacher’s words for a moment and
said: “No, in the light of what you have said, I don’t mind her being
here. I was just a little surprised to see her when I came in and the
unexpectedness of it kind of unnerved me a bit.”
The teacher nodded his head in a manner that indicated he
understood. He waited for her to begin describing her dream.
She looked at the teacher and smiled in a very charming way.
The woman seemed quite excited as she worked her way toward
articulating her thoughts.
“Well,” she began, “my dream was about you. I sense there was
more to the dream than I will say, but since the other parts are so
vague, I’ll just stick to what seemed to be the main theme of the
dream.”
She smiled that charming smile again, and continued: “You and
I were locked in a very intimate embrace, and we were passionately
kissing one another.”
When it was clear the woman had said all she was able to about
the dream, the spiritual guide said: “Sometimes, in our dreams, there
are different things which become entangled with one another, and,
as a result, there is a potential for confusion to arise within us in
relation to such dreams.”
The teacher expanded on his initial commentary: “For example,
sometimes we project our own desires or passions onto a situation,
and these desires obscure the real significance of the dream. In order
to be receptive to the true meaning of a dream’s message, we, first,
may have to take charge of our own lower nature – that is, we may
have to go through a process of purification so that we become
masters of our passions, rather than have our passions be our
masters. In short, we must seek to learn how to embrace the truth,
rather than embrace our desires and passions.”
The teacher looked at the woman, smiled, and said: “If you will
reflect on what I have said, I believe you may come to understand the
nature of your dream. I have given you a sufficient number of
indications to assist you, and along with a little reflection, you should
be able to derive benefit from what your dream is telling you.”
The guide, then, requested the woman’s help: “If you don’t
mind, would you tell the other people who are waiting to see me that
there are a few things which I have to do before I will be ready to
receive anyone else. I’ll send out word, shortly, to let those waiting
know when they may start coming in again.” The woman agreed to
the teacher’s request, he thanked her for her assistance, and she left.
When the door closed behind the woman, the teacher turned to
his trainee and asked: “Do you have any questions so far?”
The trainee nodded and said: “These two woman both seemed to
have exactly the same dream, and, yet, the interpretations they were
given were almost completely opposite from one another. How does
one know which meaning to give to which individual?”
The teacher moved his head in a manner that suggested he was
saying – ‘Yes, this is the problem’. He elaborated by saying: “There
are, at least, three dimensions to every instance of dream
interpretation. First, there is the language of dreams which, on the
one hand, involves symbols that combine elements of both the
material and spiritual world, and, on the other hand, conveys a
spiritual communication between the individual having the dream
and the One Who is arranging and structuring the message which is
being conveyed to the individual through the dream.”
The guide paused briefly, and, seconds later, said: “A second
dimension of the dream revolves about the spiritual condition of the
person who is having the dream. And, finally, a third element arises
out of the spiritual condition of the person who is providing the
interpretation of a dream.
“As you pointed out, these two woman did have exactly the same
dream -- at least as far as the outer form of the their dreams is
concerned. The first woman is very sincere about the mystical path,
and, as well, she has been working very hard to devote herself to this
way. Her dream was meant to convey to her that her sincere efforts
are being rewarded and, consequently, she was receiving many
spiritual blessings through the loving gaze of some of the great
mentors of this path.
“However, the second woman has not, yet, settled down to
commit herself to the path. As a result, she is embracing this path
primarily through her lower, base emotions, and, in the process, she
is conflating physical desires and spiritual love.”
“Thus, the same sort of dream can mean a great many things,
depending on who the dreamer is and what that person’s spiritual
condition is at the time of the dream. There is no ‘Compendium of
Dreams’ which can be consulted that will be able to inform one what
any given dream symbol means, because a symbol without a context
is meaningless, and the spiritual condition of the dreamer is what
provides the necessary context to lend meaning to a dream symbol.”
The spiritual trainee was listening intently to her teacher as he
was talking about the nature of dreams. When he seemed to have
come to the end of his comments, she asked: “You earlier had
mentioned a third facet of dream interpretation – namely, the
spiritual condition of the one who is providing the interpretation of
a dream. How does that fit in?”
“Ah, yes,” said her guide. “This is extremely important, and,
sometimes, unfortunately, it can lead to tragedy when in the hands,
so to speak, of the wrong person.” He shook his head, as if
remembering a particular instance of that to which he was alluding.
“I recall when I was being trained by my spiritual mentor, just
as you are now being trained by me. My teacher told me about a
friend of his who had become interested in dreams and their
meaning.
“There had been a spiritual guide to whom this friend of my
teacher would go whenever he had dreams. But, on one occasion, this
friend had become ill. He not only was unable to leave his house but,
apparently, there also was something wrong with his phone, yet,
because he had a powerful dream of some sort, he wanted to know its
meaning as quickly as possible.
“So, he told his dream to a neighbor of his and asked that
individual to communicate the dream to the spiritual guide to whom
the friend of my teacher used to go. Now, this neighbor was sort of a
silly person, and somewhere on his way to relate the dream to the
spiritual guide as he had been requested, he met an acquaintance
and, at some point, this neighbor told his acquaintance about the
mission he was on.
“With a little prodding from his acquaintance, the neighbor of
my teacher’s friend described the dream, just as it had been given to
him. Upon hearing the dream, the acquaintance provided some
interpretation or other.
“Shortly, thereafter, the neighbor and his acquaintance parted
company, and the neighbor proceeded to fulfill the task which he had
been requested to do by my teacher’s friend. When he reached the
house of the spiritual guide to whom he had been sent, the neighbor
explained why he was there to the individual who came to the door.
“The teacher, who had been the one to receive the neighbor at
the door, agreed to listen to the dream. When the description had
been given, the teacher asked the man if there was someone else who
already had given an interpretation of the dream.
“The neighbor said that, in fact, someone had given an
interpretation. Upon hearing this, the teacher shook his head back
and forth, with a sad expression on his face
“The teacher informed the man that since someone else already
had interpreted the dream, whatever benefit might have been
inherent in the dream would be limited and shaped by the spiritual
condition of the person who did the interpreting, and, furthermore,
the teacher feared that since the person who had provided the
interpretation was not even involved with mysticism, a great
disservice had been done to my teacher’s friend because the latter
had been robbed, in a sense -- at least temporarily and, possibly,
permanently -- of the blessings for which the dream had been
intended as an harbinger.”
The spiritual guide who had been telling the story about his own
mentor’s friend became silent, as if lost in thought. Eventually, he
said: “Today, the whole idea of dream interpretation has become
something of an industry, as if anyone, irrespective of spiritual
condition, is competent to provide proper interpretation of dreams.
More damage is done than people know by the manner in which
ignorance, of one kind or another, obscures and distorts the purpose
of dreams, as well as their language, their source, their meaning, and
their value.”
The mystical mentor again became quiet, and, then, a moment
later, broke the silence with: “I also remember someone else about
whom my teacher told me. This individual had a deep-rooted desire
to be a spiritual guide, but, apparently, this was not in that person’s
destiny, and, therefore, she was never authorized by her teacher to
give spiritual instructions to people who wished to step onto the
mystical path.
“At some point, this woman’s teacher passed away, and as
human nature is often inclined to do, the woman’s desires to be a
spiritual teacher were manifested in a dream which, on the surface,
suggested she should immediately assume the duties of a spiritual
guide, including the initiation of those who were seeking entry into
the mystical way.
“When she reported this dream to my teacher, she was told:
“Since you received your authorization in a dream, perhaps, you
should refrain from being a spiritual guide anywhere but in your
dreams.”
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