Prayer and Dream Interpretation
Tony Crisp
The story of Joseph interpreting the dream of Pharaoh suggests that Joseph did not know through his own thinking process what Pharaoh's dream meant, but sought help from God. Whether we believe in God as described as a sort of father figure or not doesn't matter. We are looking at a piece of anthropological information couched in the language of the times. The core information is that a person can gain information, help or power from a source other than their conscious thinking and knowledge. Experiments with hypnotism suggest that we are all experts on understanding dreams, but not with our conscious mind. Only when we are in a semi sleep state or a passive open state of being such as prayer or meditation might be, can we access this inner source of insight, information and power.
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If you are practised in prayer, or a form of meditation in which you can allow unconscious or spontaneous insights or feelings to arise, then all you need to do is bring your dream to that state and seek such insights. If you are not practised, then learn to allow your conscious critical self to become passive and open, with the understanding there is more to you than your conscious decisions and will - the power that produces dreams while your conscious self is asleep and passive for example. Let thoughts, emotions, even body, be ready to be moved by something other than your conscious decisions - just as in dreams. And don't be satisfied with a wishy washy response from within. Seek something that brings real understanding of your situation here and now and perhaps - forever. Using Your Ability To be ReceptiveThe power to reach into your unconscious resources takes more than determination. To achieve it the conscious mind needs to become quiet and receptive. I am not suggesting that the passive, receptive state of mind is superior to the dynamic, focused will. However, each is an aspect of your total range of mental function. Each accesses different possibilities or processes. Having one without the other is as incomplete as having an accelerator pedal without a brake on a car. Although these functions on a car are totally at odds with each other, they are both necessary. The ability to become passive and yielding is as vitally necessary as being active and resolute if you want to be able to use all your resources. |
Breaking through to the powers and processes beneath your conscious mind. |
The power of this state of mind has been observed by men and women in other cultures for thousands of years. Its importance has been recognised as so great that the yielding or quiet soul has been depicted as of supreme importance in seeking personal healing and enlightenment.
Help If You Cannot Let Go
This is not simply relaxation where you make your muscles passive. That approach holds in it the idea that you must be still and quiet, and the receptive open condition is often completely unlike that. So the stance to take is one in which you drop your conscious decisions, but leave your body, feelings and voice ready to be moved, as they are in sleep. You take on a quiet, accepting attitude, then the inner process that moves you into feelings and imagery while you sleep and dream can begin to function even though you are wide awake. Your inner insights and power can then work with your cooperation instead of against your inhibitions. The process doesn't need you to be asleep, only to stop interfering, judging, deciding what you ought or should be doing. If you can stop forever interfering with your process, and for a time at least, listen and allow, then the creative response from full experience and the other functions usually only found in dreams, can emerge into waking consciousness. However, it is a process that needs to be learned, like riding a bicycle. So take time with it. Remember that perhaps for thirty or forty years you have been living in a prison of self restraint.
Walking in the World of Your Dreams
When you have learned this 'keyboard condition' the world of your dreams begins to open for you and its wealth and wonder begin to unfold. Whether you call this prayer or meditation doesn't then matter. You are learning to have a receptive and open relationship with something that is more than you knew yourself to be. I believe this is what Joseph did.
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