When the body sleeps
QUESTION: Masters, when I was younger I became able to sense I was dreaming and affect the events of the dream, wish myself awake and fly. One day, I had a dream I never forgot. I was alone in a childhood friend’s house and kids were trying to break in. I escaped to the backyard. The kids broke through as a gorilla peered over the fence and joined in. I jumped on the fence and took flight, peering down at the house alone in a grassy plain. I then wondered how high I could go and struggled to go higher. Feeling I was going above the clouds a hand grabbed me and pulled me violently backwards; I awoke in my bed. I have never been able to control my dreams or fly ever again. Was there any message or meaning? ~Christian, Canada
ANSWER: As the physical covering of your soul (your body) goes through its restorative period (sleep), your conscious soul, of which you are normally unaware, takes over your thought processes. Most people having any remembrance of this time period call the snippets of information “dreams.”
Your soul engages in a number of different things during this period. It sometimes goes back and relives experiences it had previously, test-drives ideas it has for new experiences, insinuates itself into someone else’s life or dream sequences, confers with its advisors, or entertains itself in some other manner. A number of spiritual groups refer to this as “going to night school.” Depending on the intensity of the involvement, you may even wake up tired afterwards instead of rested.
Frequently what will pop up during this time are activities that played through your head prior to sleep. This can be the result of a movie, a novel, or anything else to which you gave a lot of thought. Abilities you possess as a soul, which are a part of your being but which you cannot perform with a physical body, such as flying, figure prominently in dreams—particularly in children because the abilities have so recently become impossible.
Your conscious mind, when it becomes aware of these memories of things in which you can no longer participate because of your physicality, makes attempts to prevent a continuance of these behaviors. One of the results is that you snap back into the physical body with a jolt. If the conscious mind becomes awake during a session, it will try to prevent the continuation of something it knows you cannot do. This will result in a physical sensation of restraint.
As you relax into accepting your true identity as a soul, you can tell your unconscious that you wish to dream about your ability to complete some act. This gives you permission to spend time exploring whatever you wish. Happy travels.