by Ed Parkinson: Do you have dreams? Do you have nightmares?
Are they real? Think about their reality for a minute.
When you are in the dream they are real and when you are in a nightmare the situation you are going through is all too real. Very often in a nightmare we are struggling to escape from the reality because it can be so painful, sorrowful, horrid or frightening. When we do get out of that world and back into this one we are very happy to have been able to escape from the nightmare.
I’m sure there are dreams you’ve had which were beautiful, wonderful and loving. You wanted to stay in them forever. When we wake up from this kind of dream we often keep the feeling of warmth and love with us for most of the day and look forward to it again when go to sleep that night.
In the Western world we have some confused thinking about dreams, nightmares and their reality. When we are awake we say they are not real but when we are asleep and in them we know they are real. How do we sort this out in our heads?
Two realities
We are dealing with two realities. Our physical outer world is real when we are awake and moving around in it. Our dream or inner world is real when we are asleep physically and awake in the dream worlds. When you leave the dream world they are no longer real because you have moved your focus from one reality to another. You, your focus of attention, Soul, has moved from your inner world to your outer world, from your dream world to your physical world. This switch of realities happens as soon as you start to move out of your bed.
When I wake up in the morning the first thing I notice is the light. Is it dark or light? If its light i know its close to getting up time. Then I check my mind for the day of the week and also if there are any appointments I have to meet early this morning. If there is no rush in getting up, I’ll roll over to see the time on my bedside clock. I’ll also check to see how my body feels. Am I still tired or do I have a lot of energy? The answer will determine my next move.
If I don’t have to get out of bed I may drift back into my dreams. I’ll see if there are any still lingering around from a few moments ago. There may be some of interest which I’d like to continue. Getting back into a dream depends on how sleepy I am.
If I’m a little too awake to drop back to sleep, I’ll go over the dreams I had last night. As I lie snoozing in bed I’ll recall as many dreams as I can from the previous night. If there is what I consider a significant dream I’ll go over it in detail, trying to remember it all. I’ll piece it together as I lie almost asleep in bed. This way I can bring the dream from my inner memory into my outer memory. Once I have a satisfactory amount of it transferred, I’ll reach for my journal and start wring what I can recall of the dream. While a lot of what I write may not make logical sense in this physical world, it is all possible in the dream world. Keeping a note of the dream will help me relate it back to something going on in my physical world in a few months time if I don’t already recognise what it relates to.
Writing my dreams
What I’ve found from writing my dreams down, is that I am able to see what they relate to more easily and can sometimes get an insight from them straight away. Other dreams reveal their message after some time has passed and I’ve been through some experiences. Then the meaning of the dream becomes apparent. This is how I move my inner dream reality into my outer physical world.
If the dream relates to something happening at the moment in my life, when I come to that situation I’ll remember the dream insight because I wrote it down earlier. If I didn’t spend the time writing it down I probably wouldn’t recall the dream as I go through the situation and so miss the chance to use the wisdom.
In reality we are living in two worlds
Hopefully this helps you see that we are more than our physical body. We are living in two worlds, our outer physical and our inner dream world. When we are in one we generally disregard the other. When we wake up in the morning as soon as we open our eyes we begin to engage in our outer world. Our focus, our true self Soul, now moves into surviving in the physical world. It requires the gathering of our energy, paying attention to where we are going and getting ourselves organised to start our day. Our dream world is only a distraction in this physical world so we completely forget about it as we focus on what is going on around us. Thus our dream world is no longer real but only minutes ago it was our main reality and existence.
Another reason to be aware of this is to use the wisdom and insights we receive while we are in our dream worlds. Our dream worlds are usually a higher level of existence. Our dreams give us insights into the situations, people and challenges of our physical world. Once we realise the existence of these two realities we can begin to uncover the wisdom and vision from our inner world.
Wake up slowly, gather the memories of your dreams together and bring them into your outer memory, your second reality.
If there is a significant dream, write it down in a dream diary or journal.
Be aware that you can slip into your inner world at any time using your imagination and daydreams. You don’t have to wait to go to sleep.
Wishing you insights, wisdom and love as you explore your two realities.
About the author:
Ed Parkinson is an artist and writer who focuses on exploring the inner or spiritual side of life. Ed’s goal is to give people an insight into their own inner lives and show them a brighter side where they can find hope, understanding and love.
Main artwork – “Realisation” – copyright Ed Parkinson. Limited edition prints are available in sizes A4 to A0.
