Dream-Watchers

In learning to meditate, one good place to begin is with our dreams, since it involves little more than paying attention to something we are already doing. For fifteen centuries Christians overwhelmingly considered dreams as a natural way in which the spiritual world broke into our lives. Kelsey, who has authored the book Dreams: The Dark Speech of the Spirit, notes, “…every major Father of the early Church, from Justin Martyr to Irenaeus, from Clement and Tertullian to Origen and Cyprian, believed that dreams were a means of revelation.”

With the rationalism of the Renaissance came a certain skepticism about dreams. Then in the formative days of the development of psychology, Freud stressed mainly the negative side of dreams, since he worked almost entirely with mental illness. Hence, modern men and women have tended either to ignore dreams altogether, or to fear that an interest in them will lead to neurosis. It does not need to be so; and in fact, if we will listen, dreams can help us find increased maturity and health.

If we are convinced that dreams can be a key to unlocking the door to the inner world, we can do three practical things. First, we can specifically pray, inviting God to inform us through our dreams. We should tell him of our willingness to allow Him to speak to us in this way. At the same time, it is wise to pray a prayer of protection, since to open ourselves up to spiritual influence can be dangerous as well as profitable. We simply ask God to surround us with the light of His protection as he ministers to our spirit.

Second we should begin to record our dreams. People do not remember their dreams, because they do not pay attention to them. Keeping a journal of our dreams is a way of taking them seriously. It is, of course, foolish to view every dream as deeply significant or as some revelation from God. The only thing more foolish is to view all dreams as only chaotic and irrational. In the recording of dreams, certain patterns begin to emerge and insights come. It is not long before it is easy to distinguish between significant dreams and those that are the result of having seen the late show the night before.

That leads to the third consideration- how to interpret dreams. The best way to discover the meaning of dreams is to ask. “You do not have, because you do not ask” (Jas 4:2). We can trust God to bring discernment if and when it is needed. Sometimes it is helpful to seek out those who are especially skilled in these matters. Benedict Pererius, a sixteenth-century Jesuit, suggested that the best interpreter of dreams is the “…person with plenty of experience in the world and the affairs of humanity, with a wide interest in everything human, and who is open to the voice of God.”

Excerpt from:
Celebration of Discipline
By Richard J. Foster