DREAMS & SPIRITUAL GROWTH - By Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY CONTINUING EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT
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DREAMS & SPIRITUAL GROWTH
By Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI
OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
CONTINUING EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT
4/8/2021 2
4/8/2021
WEEK 1 : DREAMS IN SOCIAL 3
SCIENCES & CHRISTIANITY
WEEK 2 : THE PRACTICE OF DREAM
APPRECIATION-PART #1
PLAN FOR WEEK 3 : KEY CONCEPTS FOR
THE SERIES DREAMWORK
WEEK 4 : THE PRACTICE OF DREAM
APPRECIATION PART #2
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 4
Science of dreaming
Dreams in world
WEEK 1
DREAMS IN religions & native
SOCIAL peoples
SCIENCES &
CHRISTIANITY Dreams in the Bible
Dreams in Early
Church
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 PURPOSE OF CLASS: Introduce basic 5
knowledge of dream work for oneself and
group, situate it within a Christian framework
informed by science, appreciate it as mean to
enhance spiritual growth for self and others,
practice dreamwork & sharing
BASIC PREMISE: dream appreciation vs
GENERAL dream interpretation, disclaimer as an
enthusiastic dreamworker
REMARKS
GUIDELINES: walking on sacred ground,
respect confidentiality, adjust to your own
rhythm, remember self-care & support,
INVITATION: keep recording your dreams!
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 6
4/8/2021
Research indicates mammals, birds, human beings7
dream, (possibly all living organisms) difficult to
prove even if Koko the Gorilla reported having
nightmares through sign language
According to J. Taylor, it is possible that 100,000
years ago our ancestors dreamt about speaking
before they did (no evidence, of course!!)
We all dream, some do not remember, many do.
Later in class: tips to facilitate dream recall
SCIENCE OF Not dreaming, or lack of REM sleep: waking dreams
DREAMING (visual and auditory hallucinations); interference
with memory and learning; a loosening of
associations; impaired ability to do tasks requiring
focused attention; difficulty maintaining a straight
line of thought, creating irritability and
suspiciousness
Many stages (cycles) in sleep: NREM 1 (2-5%),
NREM 2 (45-55%), NREM 3-4 (16-21%), Rapid Eye
Movement (REM, 20-25%), hypnopompic imagery
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021
REM: dreams are more self-reflective, bizarre, visual, 8
emotional, have more self-involvement, more narrative
quality than NREM dreams, most NREM dreams are brief,
“thought-like” and mundane than REM dreams, REM
sleep deprivation will impede learning complex tasks, and
create “rebound effect”; more REM in future nights,
REM sleep: paralysis of body by brain, maybe so we do not
act out our dreams, cyclic periods of vascular
engorgement of genitalia in both men and women, rapid
eye movement, increases in respiration, etc.
SCIENCE OF HYPNAGOGIC IMAGERY: visual, tactile, auditory,
olfactory or other sensory events, usually brief
DREAMING occasionally prolonged, occur at the transition from sleep
to wakefulness, dreamer may perceive oddities or
nightmarish images like other persons or non-physical
entities in the room or next to him or her
LUCID DREAMING: considered a hybrid form of
dreaming; dreamer is self aware, experiences the same
physiological features of REM sleep: eye movements,
increases in respiration, heart rate and skin potential
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 9
MEMORY PROCESSING - processing and
integrating new information into existing
memory nets. Reactivating memories –
typically emotionally impactful daily episodes
and past memory associations; (Memory “triage” –
emotion as marker for which information is selectively
processed; Extracting the ‘gist’ or meaning from those
memories, Long-term memory consolidation and/or re-
consolidation, Developing an inner model of self and reality;
SCIENCE OF autobiographical
EMOTIONAL PROCESSING – dealing with
DREAMING unresolved or impactful emotional issues of
the day. Stress Reduction and Mood
Control (Fear Extinction, Emotional Problem Resolution)
LEARNING – something new evolves from the
dream experience. Enhancing Knowledge and
Skills (declarative and procedural learning):
Creative, Restorative Adaptive, Transcendent.
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021
Most people on earth: dreams are understood as 10
making invisible forces visible
WORLD RELIGIONS see many motifs as spiritually
salient in dreams: death, gods, ancestors, animals
such as bears and snakes, sexuality, healing and
diagnosis, etc.
AFRICAN PEOPLES: common belief that ancestors
DREAMS IN pass to higher plane of existence and may mediate
WORLD between divine forces and the living
RELIGIONS MUSLIM DREAM INTERPRETATION: dream
interpreter is mediator between the divine and the
human realm, Prophet Muhammad said after his
death prophecy left to dream visions as a divine
gift, classical & contemporary dream interpretation
manuals-source unconscious; prophetic and ethical
guidance
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021
The Zohar, book of ancient Hebrew wisdom: “When11
a man has had a dream, he should unburden himself
of it before men who are his friends so that they
should express to him their good wishes and give
utterance to words of good omen” (Zohar II:200a,
259)
Many sayings in RABBINIC WRITINGS about
dreams: most important elaborate passage in
DREAMS IN Babylonic Talmud: Berachot 55a-57b, known as
WORLD TALMUDIC* DREAM BOOK: rabbinic view of
dreaming and dream interpretation
RELIGIONS Guidelines from TDB: uninterpreted dream is like
an unopened letter, reckon with non-sensical factor,
always interpret it positively (even dark dreams) to
invite a positive outcome, dream interpreters must
honor their responsibility, dreamer has a choice
*Mishna and Talmud part of collections of orally transmitted
sayings; compared by some to James Joyce’s Ulysses’ -“steam of
consciousness”
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 12
SENOI PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA: have a developed
dream theory; they share dreams openly where
there is opportunity for feedback on meaning of the
dream, this daily sharing begins to shape the
DREAM SHARING dreamer’s pattern of dreaming
IN NATIVE
PEOPLES NATIVE AMERICANS: dream is a personal and
interactive social process: dreams are magical
spaces within context of dialoging with imaginal
world in the presence of elders, a power dream
becomes much more
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 13
XAVANTE PEOPLE OF BRAZIL: lucid dreams
shared by an elder, new ritual instructions and new
songs revealed, teaches other elders the songs,
later through ritual enactment with costumed
dancers and singers, both a re-enactment of
mythopoetic drama and introduction of new
creative material that becomes part of the tradition
DREAM SHARING IN
NATIVE PEOPLES
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI1. Name two new insights you have
gained about the science of
dreams or dream
sharing/interpretation.
QUESTIONS
FOR SHARING 2. Briefly describe how you
perceive dreams in your own life.
What prompted you to take this
class on dreams?4/8/2021 15
“How much there is in the Bible about dreams!
There are, I think, some sixteen chapters in the
Old Testament and four in the New Testament in
which dreams are mentioned; and there are
many other passages scattered throughout the
DREAMS & book which refers to visions. If we believe the
VISIONS IN Bible, we must accept the fact that, in the old
days, God and his angels came to humans in
BIBLE their sleep and made themselves known to
humans.”
-Abraham Lincoln, Quoted from Lloyd Lewis in Myths after
Lincoln, story told by his bodyguard and biographer
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 16
As Christians we pledge in taking the invisible
world seriously, so seriously we are willing to die
for it!
In Nicaean creed we affirm our belief “in God, the
Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and
DREAMS & all things visible and invisible.
VISIONS IN In the sacraments we affirm our belief in an
“inward and spiritual grace” of which the externals
BIBLE are the “inward and visible signs”
Almost every page of the Bible deals with an
invisible, spiritual dimension; for example, the
Kingdom or Reign of God
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 17
Life of Jesus begins with dreams and angels,
his ministry ushered in with baptism by the
Spirit, & temptations by the devil, climaxes by
transfiguration and reaches mystery in the
Cross and Resurrection
DREAMS & In apostle Paul, an invisible world is
proclaimed, he is overpowered by it on the
VISIONS IN road to Damascus, it reveals itself by visions of
BIBLE being caught up in heaven, he finds rebirth in
Christ through the Cross
There are some seventy passages referring to
dreams and visions in Bible; they both seem to
come from same source of inner world
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI DREAMS: appear to us during sleep, we will see
4/8/2021 18
many examples; VISIONS: intense imagery, sound,
feeling during waking state; most commonly occur
during prayer or periods of major stress or
transition
Example of vision: MARIE OF THE INCARNATION
(Ursulines) mystical vision Christmas 1633
DREAMS & confronted with a powerful vision, saw herself
walking hand in hand with a fellow laywoman
VISIONS IN against the backdrop of a foreign landscape, on the
roof of a small church in this distant, foggy
BIBLE landscape sat the Virgin Mary and Jesus
She recounted the vision to her priest, who informed
her that the nation she described was Canada
From this Marie concluded that her vocation was to
help establish the Catholic Faith in the New World
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 19
4/8/2021
1) Preparing for the dream (vv.10-11): he sets out to 20
Haran, stops for one night, puts stone under his
head, lays at that spot.
2) The dream (vv. 12-15): ladder up to sky, angels
going up and down, God promises offspring and
expanse of land, assures him of protection and gift
DREAMS & 3) Response to the dream (vv. 16-22): Jacob is
VISIONS IN BIBLE: confirmed that God resides in that place, does
ritual with oil and stone, he names it Bethel,
JACOB’S DREAM promises a tithing of 10% because looked after by
GEN 28: 10-22 God
Jacob’s DREAMWORK: recognizes being visited by
God, sees significance of the place, he acts on the
dream creating an altar, he receives the covenant
which defines a relationship (conditional; accepts if
God follows through on promise) between God and
chosen people
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 21
JACOB’S DREAM GEN 28: 10-22
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 BOOK OF DANIEL: Latest book of Old Testament, 22
most complete treatment of dreams, author offers
message to his people struggling against oppressor
Antiochus Epiphanes, story of a Jewish man exiled
in Babylonia, highly regarded for skill, learning
and wisdom
First unrecalled dream: IMP: “But as for me, not
because of any wisdom that I have more than all the
DREAMS & living has this mystery been revealed to me, but in
VISIONS IN BIBLE: order that the interpretation may be made know to the
king, and that you may know the thoughts of your
BOOK OF DANIEL mind” (vv. 30)
He interprets another dream in Chap. 4, 10-17;does
a sound bit of dream interpretation: King has
become like tree, great spacious, flowing with life
and beauty and assumes god like role; warns him of
his hubris; he does not heed message and loses his
mind for seven years (corresponding to 7 years
reign)
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI Joseph considers putting away after discovering
4/8/2021 23
pregnancy, “the angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream” bidding him to retain Mary as wife and
telling him the child is of Holy Spirit (Matt, 1:20)
Wise men are told, after having found child Jesus,
are “warned in a dream not to return to Herod”
(2:12), immediately after Joseph again visited by
DREAMS & angel of the Lord in a dream, bidding him flee to
VISIONS IN BIBLE: Egypt for safety (2:13)
GOSPEL OF After sojourn in Egypt, Joseph bidden once more by
an angel in another dream to return to land of Israel
MATTHEW (2:19) and yet another dream bids him to return not
to Judea but Galilee (2:22)
First two chapters of Matthew five dreams: every
decision in action packed section based on revelation
made by God in a dream
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 24
FOUR CONCLUSIONS ON DREAMS AND VISIONS*
1. D & V regarded, in both old and New Testament, as
revelations from God, Daniel and Joseph, revered as
skilled interpreters, Abraham and Solomon who
understood revelations God gave them were regarded
as great and wise, those overcome by their inner
experience, Paul and Ezekiel, great missionaries and
DREAMS & prophets
VISIONS IN 2. From this perspective entire Bible is story of God’s
breakthrough into human conscious mind via the
BIBLE unconscious
3. Many religious experiences such as Jacob wrestling
with adversary and Moses and burning bush may be
seen as of a visionary kind
4. The early Church regarded dreams the same way as
the Bible; as revelations from God.
*This section, along with the previous slides, is extracted from
chapter 6 of Sanford’ book, Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 25
CYPRIAN, one of the founders of Latin Church,
asserted that councils were guided by God through
dreams and visions
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: dreams are enough for God to
send to those attuned to him, no need for
extraordinary revelations or visions
DREAMS AND TERTULLIAN: dreams as one of the charismata of
God, dreams visions promised to people of his time
VISIONS IN as much as apostles
EARLY CHURCH Constantine received important dream-vision
before his battle for Rome, opened new era of
Western civilization
SYNESIUS OF CYRENE: “dreams more than any
other thing, entice to hope” “and when our heart
spontaneously presents hope to us, as happens in our
sleeping state, then we have in the promise of our
dreams a pledge from the divinity”
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 26
EARLY CHURCH
© Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI4/8/2021 27
By Jerome, probably due to mistranslation in Latin
Vulgate from original Greek and Hebrew Bible; dreams
are bulked in with soothsayers & witchcraft
Became a superstitious practice and not associated with
God, especially after invasions of Rome by Barbarians
In Western World, dreamwork tool of magic, demonic, &
superstitions
EARLY CHURCH: In Greek speaking cultures, faithful to first five centuries
DREAMS IN
teaching by Church Fathers, maintained original dream
tradition passed on by Gregory of Nyssa and others
DISFAVOR Thomas of Aquinas (1225-1274) had dream and revelatory
visions, said to have been instructed by Apostles in dream
to compose a difficult theological issue
Aquinas: end of his life had a vision: “such things have been
revealed to me that all I have written seems like straw, and I
now await the end of my life”
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