Q & A: Do Ghosts Haunt Us While We Sleep?
June 27th, 2008 by John WolfeQuestion: I’d like to hear your opinions and ideas pertaining to ghosts’ ability to interact with us while we sleep. Specifically, I’m curious if they are capable of haunting more than just our physical world? What about our dreams? When I’m asleep, I sometimes have strange haunting encounters with what appear to be ghosts or spirits trying to speak to me. – Lynne R.
Answer: Thanks for your interesting question. I don’t follow commonly accepted psychological or medical interpretations of the dream environment. I personally believe dreams absolutely have a reality and validity that the medical establishment refuses to acknowledge.
On the whole, humanity still knows very little about consciousness, where it stems from and the abilities contained therein. I believe the dream environment is no less legitimate than this physical state we call reality. Dreams represent another way and another world in which consciousness explores itself.
Just as we interact in a consensually agreed upon physical reality, I believe we can also interact in consensually agreed upon dreamscapes. So, if your consciousness is capable of exploring the world you venture into when you close your eyes, it should be possible for other forms of consciousness to do the same thing, right along side you.
Those other forms may be simultaneously attached to a physical body, or they may not be. In other words, some of the beings you encounter during your nightly treks may be other dreamers (like yourself), and then again they may be forms of energy that are no longer “alive” in the way we think of the term.
I used to have several recurring dreams where I found myself walking through strange homes which gave off the impression of being haunted. These locations seemed to have several “nonliving” occupants residing within. Many of them would try and communicate with me in ways that ranged from casual to forceful.
I have even had dreams where these “ghosts” appeared to propel me into out of body experiences just by whispering my name. One minute I was in the dream environment and the next I was fully awake and experiencing symptoms of astral projection- talk about a rude (but interesting) awakening!
Now, even though I feel dreams have a solid validity to them and they absolutely offer the potential for other beings, like ghosts, to interact with us; that doesn’t mean everything is as it appears at that level of conscious exploration. Dreams also have the opportunity to be symbolic representations of things we are experiencing in our physical lives. Then again, our physical world also has this same ability. So, how can you tell what’s “legitimate” and what’s merely symbolic?
Many people believe the way to tell the difference is through the presentation of the dream. I tend to agree with this, as it’s probably the only barometer we have for gauging our experience. I can tell major differences between many of my dreams. Some feel far more real and solid than others. At times, it’s almost impossible, even after waking, to tell the difference between this environment and certain dreamscapes.
To get back to your original question- I do believe the energy, we call ghosts, are capable of interacting in the dream world. I believe consciousness has the means for expressing itself in multiple environments simultaneously. However, most of us, while we are among the “living”, are only capable of zeroing in on two of those means: wakefulness and dream time.
Just because I believe the potential is there for ghosts and spirits to interact with us while we’re asleep, it doesn’t mean we should be frightened. In all of my after hours encounters with “ghosts”, I’ve never had an experience that caused me any serious problems- outside of waking up in a cold sweat.
Often times, the entities we think of as spooky ghosts are nothing more than amiable spirits interested in communicating with us. If we are tuned out and closed off to this potential when awake; they may try when our mind is much more open to the possibility: during sleep. It’s not uncommon for the energy of individuals that have passed on to make contact during the dream state.
If you’re interested in learning more about dreams, altered states of consciousness and astral projection, you may be interested in visiting my new website.
And that does it for this question and answer installment. I would like to thank Lynne for her question, along with everyone that took the time to read this post. If you have any paranormal questions you’d like to see addressed, please contact me. As always, your name will be kept private unless you request otherwise.
If this post has been interesting or helpful to you, please share the information and this site with others. Thank you.
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