Night visions

LITTLE ROCK — On the surface, dreams can seem to be a collection of random images and feelings that make little sense. But in many of the world’s religions, dreams are more than sleep-induced fantasies, and analyzing them can lead to spiritual growth and discovery.

The Rt. Rev. Larry Maze, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas, has been studying dreams for more than 25 years. He calls dreams “God-given images” delivered in a spiritual language.

In Scripture, God used dreams to teach people about themselves, Maze said.

“God is still using dreams” for this purpose, he said. “Dreams keep coming as a window into the unconscious.”

Maze, who often leads workshops on dreams and has spoken on the topic in a dozen states, said dreams can bring balance and understanding of the inner self.

“The more we understand ourselves, the more we’re at peace with who we are,” he said. “God is calling us to wholeness. All dreams come to us for a purpose of wholeness and healing.”

The holy Scriptures for Jews, Christians and Muslims include many of the same stories about dreams. Examples include Jacob’s ladder to heaven and Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh’s dreams.

In Judaism, dreams are said to be one-sixtieth prophecy, meaning they are the beginning of something greater than man understands, said Rabbi David Lipper of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock. Prophecy is God-centered, Lipper said, adding that it’s possible to find a “kernel of divine truth in dreams by prodding and exploring.”

Dreams are the first step in embracing the subconscious, he said.

“Having a dream is a very hu- man thing and creating significance to that moment is a very human need,” Lipper said. “If dreams are embedded in the consciousness, there’s a reason why we think about something while unconscious.”

Lipper said dreams are relevant in the Jewish tradition and are not simply rejected or dismissed as irrelevant or unimportant.

“They are given a good hearing,” he said.

The Jewish mystical teachings of Kabbalah include a story about a dream as an “outof-body experience,” Lipper said. In the story, 10 men are sitting around a table. One has a mystical experience, while the other nine anchor him to this world, he said.

SEARCHING

For Muslims, dreams can have many meanings. Dreams can point to a need or something an individual is searching for, said Sayed Osman, imam at the Islamic Center of Little Rock.

“Dreams are from what is inside,” he said. “If you’re looking for something, you will find it in a dream.”

Dreams also play a vital role in Hinduism, and there are many stories about dreams in the Bhagavad Gita, a book of sacred Hindu scriptures, said Sharmila Sanka, secretary of the Hindu Association of Northwest Arkansas.

Hindus view dreams as a link between past and present. This idea is linked to the Hindu belief in reincarnation or rebirth.

During a dream, the soul travels out of the body and “flies into the air,” where it meets many other souls, which can represent people the individual may have been connected to in previous births, Sanka said.

Dream interpretation can lead to spiritual growth and understanding in all religions, not just in Christianity, because much of the spiritual journey is also a mystical one, Maze said.

“Dreams touch parts of us that we don’t know and reveal deep truths about ourselves,” he said.

The only wrong way to interpret a dream is to let someone else explain what it means, because it gives that person “authority over the dream,” Maze said. When people ask him to interpret a dream for them, Maze offers suggestions, but ultimately says, “It’s your dream.”

“Only the dreamer can tell what the dream is,” he said. “Dreams are tremendously intimate. They come out of our own self images.”

Dream interpretation is also up to the individual in Judaism, Lipper said. The rabbi said he does not interpret dreams for his congregation because it’s a personal experience.

“There’s an expectation that in order to understand, we have to drill deeper to explore the experience to see what’s there,” Lipper said.

Interpreting dreams is a matter of “appreciating the depth of religious feeling and fervor,” Lipper said. “Most people flow along on a flat level at the surface, but there’s a whole lot of space below that you can go to for meaning and understanding. You can’t comprehend mysticism on the surface. You have to get deeper into the story to make sense of it.”

ONLY CERTAIN PEOPLE

According to Islamic teaching, individual Muslims should not interpret their own dreams, Osman said. Muslims believe the ability to interpret dreams is a gift from God that only certain people receive, and only those who have received the gift can explain dreams.

Muhammad Ibn Sirin, a Muslim dream interpreter in the eighth century, wrote that if two people have identical dreams, there may be different explanations, Osman said. For example, a man once told Sirin about a dream where he was making the call to prayer. Sirin said the dream meant the man must go on a pilgrimage. A few days later, a different man approached Sirin with the same dream, but Sirin told the second man that he was a thief and had to repent.

The reason, Sirin explained, was that the first man’s face was “bright with light,” while the second man’s face was dark and full of sin, Osman said.

Osman said he does not have the gift of dream interpretation. If a member of his congregation needs a dream interpreted, Osman asks dream-interpretation scholars in his native Egypt to help. He said this happens about once a month.

In Islam, the focus is simply on whether a dream is good or bad. Traditional teachings state that if someone “sees a good dream,” they should praise God and tell everyone about it, Osman said. But if someone “sees a bad dream,” they should seek refuge from the devil with God.

“A bad dream won’t hurt you if you don’t tell it,” Osman said. “Everything happens from God. We thank God for a good or bad dream. We believe in God that he has the destiny for us, good or bad.”

Osman said the Koran offers guidance for ensuring good dreams, including washing hands, face, hair and feet before going to sleep; sleeping on one’s right side; not analyzing life so much; remembering God before sleep; and being pious during the day.

SEEKING ADVICE

For dream interpretation, Hindus often turn to grandparents, other relatives and religious leaders. Individuals can also interpret their own dreams, said Sanka, who often talks to her mother and friends about her dreams.

Hindus believe that controlling thoughts and senses can alter the nature of dreams, Sanka said. Living only in the present is most important because it is “precious,” she said. This keeps the mind in the moment and focused on positive things. Whenever the mind drifts to the past or future, individuals should chant the name of the supreme god, Krishna, she said.

Sanka said every dream has significance, and dreams can be a desire to fulfill a need or can forecast the future. She said she has experienced several dreams that have come true.

Maze became interested in the works of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychotherapist who saw dreams as a window into the unconscious, more than two decades ago. He is particularly interested in Jung’s use of dreams in self-understanding and examining dream images as a “way of revealing a lot about us that we don’t know,” he said.

Examining dreams in this way, Maze said, can lead individuals down a path of spiritual self-discovery.

“Whatever shows up in dreams is a manifestation of ourselves, and that’s why interpreting dreams is so important,” he said. “Dreams are some aspect of self that wants to get attention. I don’t think dreams waste time telling you what you already know. They tell you about what you don’t know. We explore to find out what the images tell us about ourselves.”

Interest in dream study has become more common as people have become more interested in personal journeys and in recognizing the “divine spark” within themselves, Maze said.

“The more we understand about ourselves, the more we take control and become more whole, which leads to deeper spirituality,” he said.

Dream tips

The Rt. Rev. Larry Maze, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas, regularly lectures on dreams and holds workshops to guide individuals through dream interpretation as a spiritual practice. He offers the following tips as a starting point for dream interpretation:

Be open to dreams by making a point to remember them.

Write down every detail of the dream as soon as possible after waking. Include the energy and feeling of the dream.

Ask questions and break down the dream by making associations.

Use dream dictionaries only when stumped on a dream’s meaning. First, try to figure it out on your own.