Dreams and Liminal Space

The idea or concept of ‘liminal space’ has come to the forefront in recent years.  As noted in a recent program on CBC radio, Ideas, “Until recently, the word liminal was mostly confined to academia. Its roots are in Latin, from "līmen," meaning "threshold" or "doorstep." In anthropology, it's used to describe the middle part of a ritual or rite of passage.” 

The concept of liminal space took off during the COVID pandemic.    As noted in the Ideas program, “Online interest in this specific genre surged early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Google searches for the words "liminal," "liminality" and "liminal spaces" began climbing in March of 2020, when the pandemic first hit North America.”  This is understandable as the Pandemic had characteristics of liminal time and space.  It occurred in between the re COVID time when people could meet and mingle without undue concern and the post COVID time which people hoped and perhaps even prayed for. 

I was discussing the program with my wife Lorna recently, and she noted that dreams are liminal.  I could see her point and agree with it wholeheartedly.  This is exactly ‘what dreams are made of’ – to quote another source.  They c, cur in the space between the conscious and the unconscious.  They often occur in that time of transition between waking and sleeping.  Dreams have a quality which resonate with liminal photography which has developed in conjunction with the increased interest in liminal spaces.  The Ideas program discussed liminal photography, “Since the start of the pandemic, a very niche genre of photography has grown in popularity. Called "liminal spaces," it's largely made up of images of empty, eerie hallways, dark stairways, old arcades and dead malls.” 

Dreams provide a window into the world of the Unconscious which, is an aspect of the human psyche, identified by Carl Jung expanding on the work of Sigmund Freud.   It is part of us which is also not part of us going beyond the boundaries of our conscious awareness.  Dreams are the times in which we become conscious of aspect of that unknown part of our existence of which, by definition, we are conscious.   This is our connection to worlds beyond our awareness where “people fly and water runs uphill” to quote one of the modern guides to dreams, Jeremy Taylor.

If you want to explore the concept of liminal space, the Ideas program can be found at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/15897775-in-liminal-space.   A good introduction to engaging with dreams is, Dreams; God’s Forgotten Language by John Sanford. 

May you be blessed with many dreams on your journey. 

Dreams, God’s Forgotten Language

Last Saturday, Lorna and I led a workshop entitles Dreams, God’s Forgotten Language at St. John’s-by-the-Lake Anglican Church in Grand Bend, Ontario.  As the title suggests the workshop is from the perspective that God speaks to us in our dreams.  We explored how, as in biblical times, God continues to speak to us through the means of our dreams.  The title of the workshop is based on a book by that title by John Sanford who is an Episcopal priest and Jungian analyst.  The workshop title is by way of the Haden Institute where I received training in leading dream groups which utilize the method and concept of dream work developed by Carl Jung.

The approach that we use recognizes that God spoke to many people in the bible through dreams in both the New and Old Testament.  I’m sure that anyone who has a basic familiarity with the bible can identify some occasions in which God spoke to people in and through their dreams.  Indeed, as Sanford notes, there are over seventy occasions in the bible in which God’s uses dreams to send messages to people or passages which refer to dreams and visions.  In the bible and in my understanding, visions are waking dreams.

Dreams come in the service of health and wholeness of the dreamer and in the language of that old Gospel hymn, they are a balm for our sin-sick souls.  However, unlike the people of biblical times, we no longer understand the language of dreams.  Carl Jung, building on the work of Freud, began to develop this language in a way that is compatible with our modern understanding of psychology.  In effect, the language of dreams is metaphor and symbol which make it a challenge for our logical minds to understand and comprehend the message which is contained in them for the dreamer.

There are many dreams which do not have a direct message from God as in many of the biblical accounts.  However, they give us information about where we are in our lives and how we can understand where God is leading us to become the people that God intends us to be.  We are all on a journey in which we may not be aware of what is our true destination or even when we have run into road blocks and have chosen the wrong route.  Dreams can help us find the right path for that journey.  There are many different ways in which can help guide us on that journey.  In my experience, dreams are one of the best ways.  Jung called that journey individuation. 

Blessings on your journey into becoming the whole person God created you to be.

Dreams, God's Forgotten language

For those of you who noticed and may be wondering why I did not send out an edition of the News and Views last week, there were a few things which got in my way.  The main one is that I was poorly adjusted―in a chiropractic sense of the meaning.  My I woke up one morning with a pain in the neck which progressively got worse before I could see my chiropractor.  I subsequently developed a frozen left shoulder which I am dealing with.  I will be seeing a physiotherapist today and see how it goes from there. 

Two weekends’ ago Lorna and I were leading a workshop at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Alliston.  The title of the workshop was Dream, God’s Forgotten Language.  The goal was to introduce the participants to an approach to working with dreams as a way that God is speaking to us today. The workshop was held on Friday night and Saturday and I preached at the Sunday worship services.  A copy of the sermon is attached.

 I was trained to facilitate dream groups through the Haden Institute and Lorna and I have led a number of workshops to introduce the approach to people.  We are currently involved in an ongoing dream group at Elmwood Presbyterian Church in London, Ontario which came out of a workshop we held there a few years ago.  We are also involved in a dream group that meets by Skype which has recently been joined by a member who is based in Abu Dhabi. 

The title of the workshop is based on a book by the same title written by John Sanford, an Episcopal priest.  As the title suggests we need to learn or relearn how God is speaking to us in our dreams.  As shown in the Bible, both Old and New Testament, the people of the bible understood very clearly that God spoke to them in dreams and they treated them that way.  However, for many reasons, today dreams are generally not understood as being from God or even having much significance in our post-modern culture.  The post-modern approach prejudices the scientific method which requires proof to be weighted and measured.  The approach we use draws on the work of Carl Jung which, along with Sigmund Freud, reclaimed the importance of dreams in the inner life of individuals.  This approach is enhanced by a theological understanding that dream help us to become the people that God intends us to be.

As a teaser on the process used let me give a brief description which I hope will give you some idea of how the process works:

·         One of the group members presents that he/she has had by reading it or reciting it from memory. 

·         The group members clarify the dream content to obtain as clear as possible a picture of the dream content.

·         The dreamer gives the dream to the group and withdraws from the activity but listens to the comments of the group members.

·         The group members give their associations to the dream content prefacing their remarks with the phrase, “if it were my dream” or “in my dream e.g. “if it were my dream the 12-year-old boy in the dream would represent something that happened to me 12 years ago.”

·         Once the associations are complete the dreamer is invited back into the group as given the opportunity to share their experience hearing the associations of the group.

·         The other group members are given the opportunity to comment on their experience working with the dream.

In the process, the dreamer will often, but not always, hear something which is relevant to their life and enhances the meaning of the dream for them.  This will often be experienced by an “aha” realization of the message in the dream for them.  It is a rule that only the dreamer can decide if anything said in the group is meaningful for them.

Aha

You may be saying to yourself, “well, that is very interesting, but what is that to do with God speaking to the dreamer”?  When you work with your dreams you will begin to understand that they are giving you information about where your life is on the path that God intends and where you have gone off course.  Above all, it reveals much of the person God created what you are not conscious of or have chosen not to acknowledge. 

I hope that this very brief introduction has given you a sense of how dreams can help you.  Indeed, one of the rules of this dream work is that all dreams are sent by God in aid of the health and wholeness of the dreamer. 

Blessings on you journey,