Dreams have long been a source of fascination and mystery to the human race. There have been countless studies done to analyse what we dream about at night, and out of the many theories that have been put forward, the most famous would be arguably be that of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud stated that our dreams expressed our repressed emotions and desires, while Jung, supporting Freud’s theory of the conscious mind, believed that our dreams were more spiritual.
According to Jung, our dreams are a window our unconscious and serve as a guide to the waking self to achieve wholeness and offer a solution to problems we face in our waking life.
Ancient civilisations, such as the Greeks, believed that dreams were prophetic, meaning that you are given knowledge that something is going to happen, or that something is already happening without your knowledge. Acting as a bridge between our world and the world of the Gods, the ancients believe dreams were guides given to us by the Gods, which is not all too different from Jung’s theory if you think about it.
Science has long tried to analyse dreams, for instance, as stated in article published by The Huffington Post in 2012, a research team led by scientists at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratory in Kyoto, Japan conducted a study that revealed that brain activity during dreaming is similar to the brain activity associated with processing visual information in a waking state, meaning that we “watch” our dreams in a manner similar to the way we perceive things visually while we’re awake.
While there have been endless studies and theories put forth, the mystery about dreams remains and it all comes down to what you believe your dreams mean. They could mean something, they could mean nothing.
As for me, for as long as I can remember I dreamt things that ended up coming true. Simple things like getting my first dog, which might seem laughable, but I really wanted a dog and I was told that I could not own a dog in the apartment we lived in at the time. And what do you know, I get gifted a dog for my birthday and I get special permission to keep the dog in our apartment.
Another instance, I dreamt what gender my cousins would be, and I got it right, twice. Some might say that these are all coincidences, but if something happens more than just once, is it really a coincidence?
When I speak of dreams, I mean nightmares as well. Again, studies have been done saying that what we fear ends up translating into our nightmares. But then that led me to ask why am I having dreams about bad things that end up coming true as well? Being psychic is not something that I consider myself, but these instances led me to believe that maybe people are being told things, or being warned in their dreams.
The same way dreams have fascinated scientists and psychologists, they began to fascinate me, and this made me to want to understand more of what I was seeing.
This led me to the most read book on the planet, The Bible, where there are numerous instances of ordinary people having experiences with God, Jesus and their Angels, all through dreams.
Christianity is not the only faith where dreams have been ways for God to communicate with us, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism all give examples where God speaks through dreams.
The Word helped me dig deeper, to find out whether my dreams actually do mean something through the many stories of dreamers. The most famous of all the dreamers in the Bible, in my opinion, would be Daniel.
Filled with dreams, visions and wisdom from God, the Book of Daniel stood out to me. With chapters 1–6 centring on his activities and chapters 7–12 filled with apocalyptic visions, there’s plenty to learn, receive and perceive. Some of the visions he sees are bewildering, but its Daniel’s faith in God that not only gives him the power to see visions, but also to interpret them.
One story that most people will be familiar with is Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (2:1–49), “Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s request that not only do they need to analyse his dream; they need to tell him what his dream was! “Though the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans begged him to tell them the dream so that they could help him understand, he refused. They said “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. 1It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”
Daniel was then finally sought out by the Kings Guard after Nebuchadnezzar had issue a decree to kill all the wise men in the Kingdom. Daniel then prays to God, and the dream is revealed to him.
Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar and says “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days”