I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain
To see for certain what I thought I knew
Far far away, someone was weeping
But the world was sleeping
Any dream will do
This fascinating lyric comes from the Broadway show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Will any dream do? Or do we all have specific dreams as Joseph did that can predict the future?
Or reflect the past?
Or help us be more self-aware?
Or help us listen—really listen?
Or help us see for certain what we thought we knew?
Psychologist Alfred Adler’s posited that dreams are an open pathway toward our true thoughts, emotions and actions.
I wonder if sleep is a gift given by God in order that we may dream?
Do you dream in color?
Do you dream at all?
If not, you can try this experiment in generative absurdist lingustics—a dream generator.
Do you have recurring dreams?
Do you remember your dreams?
Can you pick a dream back up after waking?
Do you dream epic dreams?
Do you have someone interpret your dreams?
Do you die if you hit the bottom before waking up?
Are dreams a way to complete us? to make us whole? to heal?
What do all you dreamers out there think? Weigh in on this controversial subject.
If this post intrigues you, please share it with your friends to deepen the conversation by clicking one of the buttons below.
21 responses to “Who Else Wants To Dream Like Joseph?”
After several years when I didn’t remember my dreams at all, I’ve recently begun to have excessively vivid dreams – I’m talking in Technicolor and Dolby 7.1 surround sound. Unless the symbolism is dreadfully obvious, I’m not very good at interpreting my own dreams. Fortunately for me, though, I have a very close friend who has a lot of insight into dream imagery so I often ask her for an interpretation when I get stuck.
I feel compelled to write down as much as I can remember about my dream as I can remember – sights, smells, feelings, who was present, who I thought might be present – and in as much detail as I possibly can. I seldom re-read these descriptions until three or four days have passed.
Although I cannot deny that my dreams have sometimes shed some insight on some facet of my life or my circumstances, more often than not I think my dreams are little more than my subconscious taking out the trash.
I have recurring dreams and have gone through several different sequences over the years. There was a season of my life when I felt like everything was out of my control, I was stretched too thin, too many plates spinning, etc…. the recurring dream during those years was me flying, but it was more like I was a helium balloon; I would float up in the sky but couldn’t come down nor could I control in which direction the wind was blowing me… very disturbing.
We are currently transitioning from a church were we’ve worshipped & served for 9 years, and we are visiting other churches. I’ve dreamed several times that people (specifically the senior pastor) are talking about “why the Moores left the church” to several congregants. It’s like I’m just a fly on the wall, as I’m not really present for the conversation.
Dreams are a common and expected topic at our family dinner table. We all have them in our family and I believe. I have had dreams warn me of things. I have had recurring dreams teach me things. As a very small child lucid dreaming seemed normal. My kids picked this up more than I. So, I am sure there is something to this. Perhaps dreams are the sixth sense we lose when we grow up because we are told that is the way of things.
PS One of our friends wrote on this topic today at http://www.thinkingdiva.com photographer Sheri O’Neal
@Sweetie Berry, Thanks for that link, Sweetie. Powerful!!
Randy, I keep a journal simply for dream reflections and notes when I first awake. I find that when I compare it to the prayer journal and reflecting back a few months. If take time to sketch, write notes, or record on my iphone what I dreamed while the details are fresh, I find they become more vividly real in my mind by doing the tactile processing of them. For me, memory is tactile locked so seeing it in my dreams is not enough to keep the details in my memory..writing it down or sketching it makes all the difference.
@Sweetie Berry, That is awesome, Sweetie. Awesome!! “For me, memory is tactile locked so seeing it in my dreams is not enough to keep the details in my memory..writing it down or sketching it makes all the difference.” Thanks!
I can’t remember the last time I had a dream at night. What’s the cure? I dream so much during the day..perhaps that’s the problem.
@Don McAllister, Ahhhh, Don. Isn’t it fascinating. I dream almost every night multiple times.
i really want to be able to have night dreams again. it is funny…. for the first six months after my husband died i never dreamed at night at all. even now, 12 years later, i still rarely dream.
i wonder if i am afraid to dream day or night……
@Lauree, Oh my goodness, Lauree. I hope that dreams come back your way very soon…
Once in a while, I have a dream in which I realize that I’m dreaming and take active control, which is always fun, because in your dreams, you can fly.
While I believe one certainly can have a prophetic dream (God willing), I tend to believe that dreams are the mind’s way of looking back and continuing to chew on things while you sleep, and, I’ve heard that the other people in your dreams are usually representatives of some facet of yourself. When I look back over past dreams, look at the events in them, and consider what the people in them were saying and doing, and as I think about all of that in light of real life events and thoughts that were happening at the time, I can almost always see a correlation.
For instance, I once had a dream in which I was running barefoot very quickly over lots of different kinds of surfaces – grass, jagged rocks, knobby tree roots – and none of it slowed me down or hurt my feet. A friend suggested that perhaps I was feeling like there were a lot of potentially disruptive things happening in my life, but that I was feeling like I was coping well with all of them.
This week, though, I had a very apocalyptic dream – a hole forming in the clouds, lights coming out of the hole and moving around on the ground (with kids chasing them), then the clouds forming very large animal and vehicle shapes which then wreaked havoc, explosions, dodging giant boulders, traffic jams from all of the people trying to flee…. I’m not yet sure what that meant, if anything.
@Chris, Chris, I love this. “because in your dreams, you can fly.”
Lately, my dreams have been a very welcome escape from reality. Outside of a few days where I had nothing but killer nightmares I’ve had a lot of happy ending, hero-gets-the-girl type dreams. It’s odd how much more refreshed I feel in the morning when I’ve had an encouraging dream.
@Jason, Ha! I’ve never thought about dreams being refreshing. Great observation, Jason. Thanks!
I think dreams allow us to teach us, both from our inner hearts and from the Holy Spirit. My dreams are always vividly real, though often quiet and a time of conversations….and so very often preparing me for things soon to be or in my distant future…I love dream journals…fascinating how God uses them in our lives…
@Sweetie, Sweetie, can you tell us more about dream journals?? please.
Whoa! Since I love musical theatre I LOVE that version of it. I’ve never had that one. I’m sure it’s just as scary!
@Tom Eggebrecht, Yep. terrifying.
I have a recurring dream that I am in college and have missed a certain class for the entire semester. It’s the last week and I have never been to class, nor have I done any of the homework. It’s terrifying! Ha! I have been told that psychologists say its the dream of perfectionists? Have you ever had a dream like this?
@Tom Eggebrecht, Yep, Tom. I have a recurring dream that I’m directing a musical and I’m up on stage desperately finishing the set and the audience is full and I tell them pleadingly, “It is almost ready, it is almost ready, just a little bit longer.”