In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “A Dream Within a Dream”, he asks a thoughtful question. “Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?” Dr. Sharon Hewitt Rawlette wrote of this question in her “Is Life a Dream” article published in Psychology Today. “The ability of the dream world to appear real has led many thinkers—philosopher René Descartes (1641) being the most prominent Western example—to wonder whether the world we experience while awake might itself be a dream. If the dream world feels just as real as the waking one (at least while we are in it), how can we know for sure that we’re not currently living in a dream—a dream from which we may one day wake up?”
Our brains
Have you ever had a dream so real that when you awoke it took some time to realize that it was only a dream? Such dreams tend to reside with us for a time. Other dreams fade quickly once we are conscious. I’m fascinated by how our brains process information we experience during waking hours. Subconsciously, we mold various facets of our day into a dream. Such dreams can bring perfect clarity, and others leave us asking “what was that all about?”
Dreams from the scriptures
The scriptures contain powerful examples of how God inspires, instructs, and warns His children through their dreams. In the Old Testament, Abimelech’s life is spared by a warning dream about the identity of his new wife Sarah. Jacob saw a ladder in a dream that reached heaven. He saw Jehovah and the angels and was instructed regarding the blessings which would come to him and his posterity. Pharaoh and Joseph, Solomon, Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar all dreamed dreams which were prophetic.
In the New Testament, Joseph to whom Mary was espoused, received an angelic visit in a dream more than once. These warnings kept the newborn Savior safe from harm. The wise men were instructed to return home a different way in a dream. Peter was instructed to take the gospel to all people in a dream.
In the Book of Mormon, Lehi saw the Tree of Life in a dream. And we are richly blessed for the teachings we learn from this dream. Jacob, near the end of his life records, “that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream,”.
God’s instructions
The scriptures are full of examples where dreams were used by God to instruct, motivate, and create learning opportunities for His children. Not all dreams are revelatory experiences. One could suppose that most dreams are simply our brains processing and gathering jumbled bits of information into random scenes. Yet sometimes, God blesses us with great insight and pertinent revelation in our dreams.
For those revelatory times, if we are prepared, we can be richly blessed. We can bless the lives of others by sharing what God taught us in a dream. The prophets have written, the poets have wondered, and the philosophers have debated the power of our dreams. In Acts 2:17 we read, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”.
Being an “old man”, I’d say it is time for a nap!
