The Language of Dreams
Travelers and early archeologists encountered the vast beauty of the pyramids, temples and obelisks of ancient Egypt, but at first had no comprehension of what the hieroglyphic language of the ancient Egyptians meant. They did grasp that the hieroglyphs were a language of pictures and images, representing words and concepts. However, it was still many years before scientists were able to decipher the secrets of the Egyptian language.
The language of dreams is also a language of pictures and images, and like archaeologists we must take time to unearth their rich meaning. Fortunately, each of us carries a personal Rosetta Stone, because dream imagery and symbols are simply metaphors arising out of our own unique life experience and personal associations. Once we understand their metaphorical language, we find that our own dreams can be a profound source of problem solving, guidance, as well as healing in everyday life.
Dreams are not purposefully mysterious. Metaphor is simply the natural language of our brain employs when in the dream state. In fact, the rich language of dream metaphor is a language we rely on routinely in everyday life. Consider the following conversation and listen for the metaphors:
"I'm really through with this relationship. I'm shutting the door behind me! You ask me what will I do now that there's no one to love me? Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I don't want to miss the bus in my life and never have the relationship I've always hoped for. But I'll tell you I'm sick of giving him second chances and if he calls again I'll go right through the roof!"
Now we don't need a dream dictionary to understand what that woman is saying. On the other hand if we dreamed that same story, with images of doors and busses and roofs, we might be scratching our head and thinking our dream bizarre if we didn’t attend to its visual metaphors.
Dreams and poems are made of the same metaphorical stuff. And to get at the heart of any metaphor we must open to the experiences they describe. The great 19th-century poet Rilke could just as well have been describing how to work with a dream when he spoke about metaphors as actual experiences: “For the sake of a single poem," he said— and we could add for the sake of a single dream:
"…you must see many cities, many people and things…and know the gestures, which small flowers make when they open in the morning. You must be able to think back to streets in unknown neighborhoods, to unexpected encounters, and to partings you have long seen coming; to days of childhood whose mystery is still unexplained…to childhood illnesses…to mornings by the sea, to the sea itself, to seas, to nights of travel…and it is still not enough."
Understanding our dreams in this way helps us embrace our lives more fully, relate more intimately and effectively in family, social and work relationships—and feel more grounded in the spiritual dimension of life.
Read on to find how dreams have the power to inspire and change our lives.
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