Not All Dreams Are Dreams. Because a dream is a bridge between your nightly thoughts and your waking mind, author Stase Michaels suggests that a dream is your only vehicle of memory during sleep. If you have a mystical experience at night, you remember it as a dream because a dream is your only vehicle for memory at night. Though the argument of whether that is so is circular and speculative, anecdotal accounts are ripe with mystical dreams that are experienced as real events—often more real than can be captured by words. Mystical events remembered as dreams have their own signature and flavor, as explained in the following sections.
MYSTIC EVENTS HAPPEN MORE FREQUENTLY DURING SLEEP. Mystic and spiritual experiences tend to occur at night for several reasons. First, logic is placed on hold as you sleep, allowing the mind and soul to explore deeper depths and recesses of awareness. Second, there are no demands, no need for food or drink, and no enticements from electronic toys. As you drift into a peaceful sleep, your unfettered spirit is free to confer with the soul and explore what else is out there. Can anyone prove that mystical events take place during sleep? No, but dream enthusiasts regularly record fascinating examples, like the following.
DIVINE GRACES OFTEN HAPPEN DURING SLEEP. Some dreams are not dreams; they are experiences of divine grace. Whether you actively seek a blessing or it arrives as an unexpected gift, the divine hand at times sprinkles love, healing, and transformation as you sleep. As the New Testament bible phrase goes, “Seek and you will find, ask and you will receive.” One way to recognize a dream that is a sprinkle of divine love is by the results. The dream brings a jolt of energy that leaves no doubt you have been touched by amazing grace. You feel a combination of shock, upliftment, joy, and transformation, though a precise description is beyond words, say those who have had this experience.
DREAM EXAMPLE 1 OF DIVINE GRACE IN A DREAM: CALL IF YOU NEED ME. A young woman drew on her deep faith as she struggled through a difficult job situation. Focusing on her work, she tried to keep a good attitude despite the constant bickering among her coworkers. However, by evening, she often collapsed into tears. One night she dreamed that she was flying through the air on a carpet. As a soft evening breeze flowed through her hair, the carpet landed on a mountaintop. A beam of light appeared from the sky, revealing a phone number in gold letters, one at time, with the numbers 777-7777. As each seven appeared, she was zapped with energy and joy. She felt as though her cup of love was overflowing, and then she woke with a start.
Recognizing seven as a mystical number in many traditions, she knew that God had smiled on her efforts to remain positive in a difficult situation. From that day forward, she sailed through her work days, shrugging off the discord. To her astonishment, within six months the troublemakers had left and were replaced by new associates who had kind and positive personalities. The unseen hand not only bestowed a healing grace on her, in a dream, but its effects also spilled over into her life, transforming a difficult workplace into a pleasant environment.
DREAM EXAMPLE 2 OF DIVINE GRACE IN A DREAM: JUST ASK. Over a one-year period, a man fervently sought to renew his spiritual path and experienced several dreams of amazing grace. These divine zaps encouraged yet shocked him, leading him to wonder if his night-time experiences were a fluke or could happen to anyone. One night, he prayed, “God, if someone seeks your favor, do you always respond? Are you really there?” That night a booming voice answered in a dream, “If you or anyone wants my help, you just need to ask.” Like a strong wind that makes its presence felt, the message left him uplifted and joyous beyond words.
The Great Spirit had answered his question, leaving no doubt that God invites anyone to communicate and to ask for what they need. Such graces are often remembered as dreams. Some dreamers recount a direct physical healing; others speak of emotional healing in a dream as an answer to their prayers. Dreamers with these experiences describe feeling embraced by a divine love so strong that their lives are permanently altered. Most have a hard time finding words for their experience. However, all agree that there is an astonishing healing effect of the “love that surpasses all understanding” which they experienced, and say that it does not dim with time.
NIGHT MEETINGS WITH THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED ON. Loved ones who have died often appear in the dreams of family members and friends. The body of the deceased loved one often appears younger, whole, and full of life. Some say hello, others simply smile. Such nocturnal contacts hint that life is eternal. The encounters feel real and bring joy and consolation to the dreamer.
If your heart remains connected to a deceased loved one, they may say hello in a dream communication soon after passing or sometimes, years later. Such a visit by a deceased love one is remembered as a dream and may be a response to your feelings of loss. The person visits to assure you they are still alive in eternity, and in spirit. Such across-the-veil meetings are consistent with teachings about heaven and the afterlife that most religions mention but do not describe in detail.
Many believe the next realm of life is not far away in time or space, which allows loved ones who have passed on, to drop by. Mystics suggest that a bond of love makes it natural for a departed loved one to touch base from time to time, and bridging the gap between from afterlife to the dreamer is easiest during sleep.
DREAM EXAMPLE OF A CONTACT WITH A DECEASED LOVED ONE: TREAT HER RIGHT. Most dream visits by the dearly departed are marked by few words, though on occasion the deceased person may speak up. A striking example came from a father who died suddenly, about two years before his beloved daughter’s wedding. A few weeks before her wedding day, the groom, who had never met her dad, told the bride’s family about a dream that startled him. He described a dark-haired man with high cheek bones who said, firmly, three times, and each time louder than the last, “Take care of my daughter!” By the third time, the young man stammered, “Yes, sir,” in response, in the dream.
The family laughed, recognizing the man in the groom’s dream as the bride’s father who had passed on. The dream brought back fond memories of how protective her dad had been toward his baby girl. Leaping across the veil, her dead father introduced himself to the groom. Though the husband-to-be was a fine young man, he reminded him that he wanted the best for his little girl. When there is love, family ties are eternal.
ASTRAL TRAVEL DURING DREAMS. Mystics claim that the soul can leave the body at night, during sleep, to take short jaunts. The experience is called “astral travel,” also known as astral projection or an “out-of-body” experience. During astral travel, the sleeping body stays put while the soul soars out into the world and beyond, remaining connected to the body via a mystical thin, silver cord. The silver cord allows the soul to find its way back to its sleeping body.
TYPES OF ASTRAL TRAVEL. Anecdotal accounts report astral treks that give glimpses of other heavenly realms. Or, they can be journeys related to near-death experiences whereby a person dies or comes close to dying, visits the afterlife, but revives and lives to relate their experience. Astral travel can also happen during sleep—as a dream that is a mystic experience—remembered as a dream.
ASTRAL TRAVEL DREAMS. Some dreams of soaring down familiar streets at night, high above trees or buildings, may be experiences of astral travel. Ditto for dream scenes of enthusiastic chats with friends or associates that continue conversations that may have begun earlier in the day or renew a friendship, as a chat between friends. Astral travel dreams often depict real streets, people, and places that you recognize, and when you return from such night travels, the body may feel a jolt as it lands.
DREAM EXAMPLE 1 OF ASTRAL TRAVELS: A NIGHT VISIT WITH A FRIEND. A young woman who was concerned about a friend’s health dreamed that she was flying through the air and hurtling over familiar city landmarks during the night. Fully aware of where she was, she soaked up the scene of glowing streetlights and deserted city roads. She arrived at her friend’s home. Watching as the friend slept peacefully, she was assured that her friend was okay; the dreamer had accomplished her mission. She then realized that she had been away from home for a long time and was separated from her body. The awareness made her wake up with a jolt, as if her soul had landed back in to her body with a thud.
DREAM EXAMPLE 2 OF ASTRAL TRAVELS: A NIGHT STUDY SESSION. Teachers with an interest in dreams report dream experiences of “night study sessions.” Such dreams depict conversations with enthusiastic students that are a continuation of a topic that began in class, earlier in the day. The dreams feel real, like experiences of astral travel shared by a group, spurred to gather once again because of a mutual enthusiasm for a topic.
DREAM EXAMPLE 3 OF ASTRAL TRAVELS: JOURNEYS TO DISTANT LANDS. Dreamers report jaunts to distant lands to visit loved ones for a brief soul connection. Such an experience is common among twins separated by distance, or between married couples where one spouse is on deployment in a distant land. Details of conversations that take place during such a night visit may be forgotten, but the intense awareness of the connection they made with a loved one remains.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY. Such examples suggest that astral travel can be initiated by a concern for a loved one, a shared enthusiasm, or a longing for a loved one. Such heart links may initiate astral travels that are remembered as dreams. Mystics have described such experiences for centuries, which leave some to wonder how much we have yet to learn about uncharted soul horizons.... not all dreams are dreams: mystic experiences remembered as dreams dream meaning
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