Many of the dreams we’ve been working with lately offer an answer to the question, “Why do we do dream work?” From one perspective, I think we’re fortunate to have dream work because it can reveal so much about what’s going on inside us – things we might not normally discover or recognize.
Without the inner exploration made possible through my dreams, I would not be so compelled to face many of issues that affect my life. I’d simply continue acting out established patterns or mannerisms, believing that’s “the way I am,” and that’s “how it is.” To do so is to be righteous in one’s ignorance.
Dream work takes a person deeper into the depths of themselves until, eventually, they come face to face with their suppressed mannerisms. Often a person can say “No” to what is revealed in the dream process, and the process will move on to images that are less confronting.
In other words, our higher self is always aligning with the whole of things – with the universe. At the same time, our lower-self nature is inclined to put its focus on what it sees directly in front of it. In your dream, you saw two men in a tub, inside a huge warehouse; once your focus was on them, the rest of the expanse was lost to you (see Inner Warehouse).
As a result, you woke up feeling a bit grumpy, and slighted in some way, because part of you knows there’s so much more. Your dream wasn’t able to take you somewhere that it could have taken you – further into the depths of yourself – because your attention on the surface detail prevented it.
I feel fortunate that something about me is seeking to open up more of what this life is really about. If we get too focused on the external life, at the expense of our inner lives, we remain cut off from who we really are.
It’s like saying, “I’m okay with the veils that exist between the inner me and the outer me.” We’re still affected by the inner, but in a more unconscious way. If we identify the outer world as “supreme,” the inner worlds will remain a mystery.
So, dream work provides us an opportunity to pierce those veils. In doing so, we can bring more and more of our higher self into our daily life. Thus, through the density of the physical form, a human being can access the inner plane and, in doing so, directly experience how we are both the microcosm and the macrocosm. As life opens up more and more, these other levels, in which we are all intertwined, can be revealed.
Of course, dream work isn’t meant for someone who doesn’t want to change, or who blames their condition on outside forces. Dream work is for those who truly want to take responsibility for who they are. We really are spiritual beings having a human experience. Dream work is a process that can reconnect us with the wholeness of the universe, of which each of us is a part.
For a continuation of this discussion, see Bridging Two Worlds.
