Originally posted by Aquanina


...and they only become a nightmare after you wake and realize that everything you had dreamed about was untrue or never happened. *
Much of the problem here is one of perspective, that one is so ready to dismiss one's own subjective reality as "untrue" and then to insist that the Life Events of one's Dream Self "never happened". I really think that we should all validate the existence of our Dream Selves.

Yes, if one is going through a particularly miserable period in one's life, then having a happy dream may effectively serve only to aggravate us to an increased sense of desolation after we awake. But we could always remind ourselves that in another 18 or 20 hours we might again be in that happy place.

We should welcome the consolations of our happy dreams, especially when they offer the most contrast to the disappointments and frustrations of the Waking Life.

But, yes, sometimes we do hear talk of people whose troubles in life have driven them to take an almost permanent refuge in dreams and fantasy. But this is simply a problem of taking a valid consolation to an extreme. Of course, we should concentrate on maintaining a moderation in everything. Sommerset Maughm, the only passible author of the 20th Century, had written a book on the pursuit of spirituality and he entitled it "The Razor's Edge" it being his perception that of all qualities to be attained, the sense of Balance and equilibrium was perhaps the most important.

So while totally rejecting and discarding the Waking Life for the sake of one's dreams and subjective Spirituality would be a violation of Balance on the one side, the reverse mirror reflection polar equivalent of that same mistake would be to dismiss and undervalue one's dreams. When the Higher Mind decides to send us some consolations for our comfort, we should receive them in the spirit in which they were given, that is, with good will and generous feeling.