Jeremiah 23:25-32 warns us to be careful of concentrating too much on dreams. Sirach in the Apocrypha gives a similar warning. Yet dreams play a prominent place in the Bible. Many of the patriarchs received messages through dreams and hypnagogia, and many prophets spoke to God through dreams. Daniel 7 is a perfect example. Or consider Joel 2:28 and it's message that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is dreams.
Yet there is truth in Jeremiah. Dreams are undoubtedly as much psychological and biological as spiritual. I feel that I have been led through dreams, many times. But I am wary of over-belief here. I have found that dream journaling, sleep-attenuated meditation, and lucid dreaming can be a very important tool for personal and spiritual growth. But they must be examined very carefully. And they must accompany prayer and Bible study, as well as extensive self-reflection. The Spiritual is a hair's edge away from self-deception, and it is oh so easy for the ego to manipulate these realms. Exploration of consciousness can be a wonderful side benefit to spirituality, but it must never become an end in itself. The end is always and ever relationship with God and love for His Peoplr.
Who was it that had and interpreted the dream with the seven cows that foretold seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and because of the dream the kingdom saved and was prepared and lived through the famine? I want to say Joseph, but only because I know his brothers sold him into slavery and he gave them food during a famine, though I am sure there was more than one famine.
ReplyDeleteIt was Joseph.
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