The Virtue of Dreaming

“And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.” Numbers 12:16
Any student of history is familiar with these words: “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” Of course, these come from the very moving speech given by Martin Luther King in 1963.
They were in an important message to all God-loving people to open our eyes to the status of the poor and the Black families in the United States. They moved a people to demonstrate in the streets against this almost 400 years of oppression to people of color.
But there are other ideas of dreaming. Mama Rose in Gypsy sang the following: “I had a dream, a dream about you, baby. It’s gonna to come true, baby.” Of course, she ended up singing about how everything’s coming up roses, for herself. It was a self-positive wish in a troublesome movie. This is true also when Lun Tha and Tuptim sang “I have dreamed and enjoyed the view,” about their forlorn and impossible love in the King and I. My favorite, however, is from The Man of La Mancha: “To dream the impossible dream,” a forlorn reverie by a slightly daffy landowner in Spain.
In all cases, the dreams are promises of better things to be.
Not all dreams are happy dreams; but that is a later note. I am in constant pain/discomfort, and I awake two or three times at night due to this condition. The dreams I awaken from during the night are precious to me; they always are dreams of great promise. I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room, during the night. The dreams are pleasant; they are happy dreams. The unpleasant dreams come in the morning, telling me to get out of bed, I have been lazy too long.
I also meditate a great deal; I find myself meditating when I first get into bed; I also pray for those who I know need God’s love and affection. I rarely pray for myself. The meditations I have are always in the mode of a prayer. Not a prayer for forgiveness, but a prayer for a better understanding of who I am, what my relationship with God is. Through my meditations, I have learned to listen for God’s voice; it is very gentle; it is the wisp of the wind rustling the outer edges of my consciousness. It is a true reverie of beauty. I sit on the patio behind our house; it is a favorite place of meditation. More often than not, I will picture a beautiful cardinal; when I open my eyes, I am surprised when a cardinal is sitting on the table in front of me. One time, I was a little upset, only to open my eyes and see a hawk snatch a mouse from our back garden. At first, I was terribly upset, but then I realized that both creatures were of God and what I saw was a normal occurrence.
This brought me closer to understanding how God is directing my life. I no longer fear my pain; so, I decide to write about my dreams and what dreams are for.
When I meditate, I am almost in a dream state; many of the ideas that come to me are a result of these meditative times. I do not consider the dream states as a time of unconsciousness, because my mind is so active learning who I am and what my relationship with God is, what my relationship with my family is, and what my relationship with all whom I meet, old friend or newly discovered friend. Oh how blessed I am when the virtue of dreaming turns to meditation.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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