A dream that I had.

[MountainGuardian]

In my dream there is a great desert, this desert is surrounded by different villages. Each village is seperate and distinct, being in different locations.
Each village is in time, given a book unique to their village, this book contains a map and directions to a specific point within the great desert.

Every book in each village describes a different location within the great desert. These books all promise a great reward to those who have the faith, to follow the path revealed to them within their book.

As time goes on many of these villages follow the paths lain out for them within their books. The result for all of them is the same, when they get to the point described within their book, they see nothing but sand and endless desert, this discourages and angers most of them and they turn back toward their village ashamed of being made a fool.

Out of each group though, there are a few that wait, believing that there must be something there. After waiting, and showing true faith they are rewarded, God comes to each group, in each place of the desert, gathering the faithfull together and leads them the rest of the way to their reward.

The books could only describe the path to God, the rest of the journey had to be led by God.

 

[David69]

did you have any questions about your dream or were you just interperating the dream?

 

[MountainGuardian]

The villages respresent the different peoples of the world.
Each people being given a book or instruction( a set of beliefs unique to their perspective) that directs them along a path to walking with God.

No book exists to take you to the final goal of God, all of the books known to men can only lead you to a point out in the desert, those with enough faith will then be led by the spirit of God.

You may read every book of every village, but it does you know good until you walk down the path and have the faith to walk with God.

 

[YmirGF]

The villages respresent the different peoples of the world.
Each people being given a book or instruction( a set of beliefs unique to their perspective) that directs them along a path to walking with God.

No book exists to take you to the final goal of God, all of the books known to men can only lead you to a point out in the desert, those with enough faith will then be led by the spirit of God.

You may read every book of every village, but it does you know good until you walk down the path and have the faith to walk with God.

This is the danger of taking dreams too literally. If I know anything at all about the nature of dreams, they are rarely what they seem.

 

[David69]

from the well in my dreamland, I traveled along a waterway and ended up in an lake where one big salmon was leaping! when I looked out at the land, it was desert but there was one single pyramid, after a long time, I realised that it was to do with Joseph. I beleive that it will lead to some lost relic. stay there long enough and God allows you to see for yourself the truth. I have learned many things that are in no book.

 

[YmirGF]

First off, and I mean no disrespect, but this sounds like a contrived dream, neatly sanded by your conscious mind, rather than a factual recounting of the dream itself. In my view it lacks features that are peculiar to the dreamscape, hence my perception that it is somewhat contrived.

In my dream there is a great desert, this desert is surrounded by different villages. Each village is separate and distinct, being in different locations.
Each village is in time, given a book unique to their village, this book contains a map and directions to a specific point within the great desert.

Normally there is not a great sense of time in dreams, let alone a neatly laid out chronology. That, however, is a mere quibble. Usually, dreams are from a central locus and are not quite so panoramic. What I mean here is that dreams are from the first person perspective. That said, it is a bit odd that you would be aware of what took place outside your specific area. In theory, you are sanding out areas of the dream that are important so that the end product conforms to your interpretation of the dream. For example, how did you know about the other villages? Was there some narrative taking place you did not deign to report?

Every book in each village describes a different location within the great desert. These books all promise a great reward to those who have the faith, to follow the path revealed to them within their book.

Again, this speaks of a narrative that is going on that you have left out. Sadly, an edited overview of a dream, renders meaningful interpretation of said dream into the realm of the impossible. When giving a dream, stick to the facts. Don't edit or leave anything out. Even your wording is important. Failure to do so makes it impossible for people like me to generate ideas about what your dream symbols are actually referring to. Again, it is the raw data that is important, not your interpretation. Interpretations can presented afterward. There is no harm with that, but try not to do that when recounting the dream itself.

As time goes on many of these villages follow the paths lain out for them within their books. The result for all of them is the same, when they get to the point described within their book, they see nothing but sand and endless desert, this discourages and angers most of them and they turn back toward their village ashamed of being made a fool.

Again, this is a very odd recounting of a dream. It would be much more helpful to describe the different attempts, in detail. Curiously, how would you know about the plights of others, without an existing narrative taking place? I am sensing an agenda at play here.

Out of each group though, there are a few that wait, believing that there must be something there. After waiting, and showing true faith they are rewarded, God comes to each group, in each place of the desert, gathering the faithful together and leads them the rest of the way to their reward.

Um, OK. Curiously, you don't describe your central view in this alleged dream. Why is that? Were you one of the lucky ones? We can only assume, as how else would you know to comment.

The books could only describe the path to God, the rest of the journey had to be led by God.

I see. Not a very helpful detailing of a dream... by a long stretch.

 

[David69]

its very simular story to some guy had a few years back

 

[thedope]

I know what you are trying to describe. I use the analogy of tuning into a radio station with a dial. You can set the dial to predetermined stations represented by numbers on the band, or you can sweep the dial across the bandwidth and listen for the sound you want to hear. In either case as you approach fine tuning static decreases until the signal is locked on. Then there is more play in the dial representing, "in tune", than there was when you were searching for the signal. That is, we are healed in perception to a certain point and then god takes the last step.

This would necessarily be so because we cannot be expected to describe terrain that we had not seen before. That would be like creating your own parents.

 

[MountainGuardian]

First off, and I mean no disrespect, but this sounds like a contrived dream, neatly sanded by your conscious mind, rather than a factual recounting of the dream itself. In my view it lacks features that are peculiar to the dreamscape, hence my perception that it is somewhat contrived.



Normally there is not a great sense of time in dreams, let alone a neatly laid out chronology. That, however, is a mere quibble. Usually, dreams are from a central locus and are not quite so panoramic. What I mean here is that dreams are from the first person perspective. That said, it is a bit odd that you would be aware of what took place outside your specific area. In theory, you are sanding out areas of the dream that are important so that the end product conforms to your interpretation of the dream. For example, how did you know about the other villages? Was there some narrative taking place you did not deign to report?

Again, this speaks of a narrative that is going on that you have left out. Sadly, an edited overview of a dream, renders meaningful interpretation of said dream into the realm of the impossible. When giving a dream, stick to the facts. Don't edit or leave anything out. Even your wording is important. Failure to do so makes it impossible for people like me to generate ideas about what your dream symbols are actually referring to. Again, it is the raw data that is important, not your interpretation. Interpretations can presented afterward. There is no harm with that, but try not to do that when recounting the dream itself.

Again, this is a very odd recounting of a dream. It would be much more helpful to describe the different attempts, in detail. Curiously, how would you know about the plights of others, without an existing narrative taking place? I am sensing an agenda at play here.

Um, OK. Curiously, you don't describe your central view in this alleged dream. Why is that? Were you one of the lucky ones? We can only assume, as how else would you know to comment.

I see. Not a very helpful detailing of a dream... by a long stretch.

I do not actually dream visually, I dream in ideas. When I see someone I simply understand the idea of the concept, I do not actually see the person. I do not know what other peoples dreams are like but my dreams are simply sets of ideas, even when I remember what I did yesterday it is sets of ideas combined with emotion, not visual pictures.

 

[YmirGF]

I do not actually dream visually, I dream in ideas. When I see someone I simply understand the idea of the concept, I do not actually see the person. I do not know what other peoples dreams are like but my dreams are simply sets of ideas, even when I remember what I did yesterday it is sets of ideas combined with emotion, not visual pictures.

That is certainly unusual. I would wager that you are actually imposing your ideas on dream constructs, rather than intuiting what they represent. Are you are very strong willed person? Do you have a highly refined sense of order in the day to day world? (I.E. Things are black or white, with little in the way of gray areas?)

 

[MountainGuardian]

I think it would be safe to say that I am a very strongwilled person, As far as a highly refined sense of order in the day to day world, I am a unsure what that means exactly. If it means, does everything have to be organised and orderly, not at all. If you mean in how I organise my mind, I organise lists, sort of like writing a computer program... if this then that. I do not understand most peoples reactions to things, but by watching I can copy what they do so too speak by making lists in my mind of how to react.

Just something to think about... when you dream are you actually seeing images ... or are you simply running ideas and concepts through your mind.

Whether my visual capabilities are normal or not I really do not know, I do know that if you ask me what color something was I will be unable to tell you, or if you ask me to describe someones face I will be unable to, my mind does not seem to be designed around visual imagery. If you ask me to describe the idea of something I can tell you, or if you ask me the dimensions or position I can tell you. The only pictures I ever create in my mind are when I design things or troubleshoot electronics.

 

[YmirGF]

I think it would be safe to say that I am a very strongwilled person, As far as a highly refined sense of order in the day to day world, I am a unsure what that means exactly. If it means, does everything have to be organised and orderly, not at all. If you mean in how I organise my mind, I organise lists, sort of like writing a computer program... if this then that. I do not understand most peoples reactions to things, but by watching I can copy what they do so too speak by making lists in my mind of how to react.

Just something to think about... when you dream are you actually seeing images ... or are you simply running ideas and concepts through your mind.

Whether my visual capabilities are normal or not I really do not know, I do know that if you ask me what color something was I will be unable to tell you, or if you ask me to describe someones face I will be unable to, my mind does not seem to be designed around visual imagery. If you ask me to describe the idea of something I can tell you, or if you ask me the dimensions or position I can tell you. The only pictures I ever create in my mind are when I design things or troubleshoot electronics.

Very interesting. When I dream, I am most definitely seeing images. All my non-lucid dreams are like being in a movie with rich plot twists and turns. What you may find interesting is that my visualization is so refined that all I have to do is describe what I see. It sounds like we may be polar opposites.

 

[Tom Terrific]

In my dream there is a great desert, this desert is surrounded by different villages. Each village is seperate and distinct, being in different locations.
Each village is in time, given a book unique to their village, this book contains a map and directions to a specific point within the great desert.

Every book in each village describes a different location within the great desert. These books all promise a great reward to those who have the faith, to follow the path revealed to them within their book.

As time goes on many of these villages follow the paths lain out for them within their books. The result for all of them is the same, when they get to the point described within their book, they see nothing but sand and endless desert, this discourages and angers most of them and they turn back toward their village ashamed of being made a fool.

Out of each group though, there are a few that wait, believing that there must be something there. After waiting, and showing true faith they are rewarded, God comes to each group, in each place of the desert, gathering the faithfull together and leads them the rest of the way to their reward.

The books could only describe the path to God, the rest of the journey had to be led by God.

Interesting dream.

I was participating in a conversation recently where a Roman Catholic was asking why people had such a problem with Roman Catholic spirituality. I think he was speaking of atheists, primarily; that was more-or-less the context, and so he may have been speaking more of Christian than specifically Catholic spirituality. It occurred to me that the reason non-religious people frequently don't get Christian spirituality is that non-religious people seem to think in terms of power and self-actualization, while Christian spirituality is about surrender and spiritual transformation.

I am, obviously, not a Christian; but I think the same orientation is true of spirituality in general. Faith -- I think a better word is "trust," actually -- is indispensable. You have to reach the point where you are that small boy standing at the top of the basement stairs, peering into the impenetrable darkness below and hearing his father's voice saying, "Jump, I'll catch you," leaps into the unknown.

As a general spiritual principle, it would apply whatever your particular religion might be -- whatever village you come from, whatever book is given you to read.