by Mary Beth Emerson, May 2020
Multiple websites about dreams have bloomed on the Internet during this Pandemic. My own dreams have been populated with images expressing hopes and fears; many of them have been wildly entertaining. Dream work has always been a part of traditional psychoanalysis, and much has been written about Divine messaging through our dreams. For those of us gifted with sleep, our dreams in this time of crisis, uncertainty and isolation might gift us with deep insight, or at least become fodder for provocative Social Media posts.
“I can’t think of another universal stressor experience like this,” says Jessica Payne of the Covid 19 Crisis, who studies sleep and stress’s influence on memory and psychological function at the University of Notre Dame. In an interview in Wired Magazine, Payne says that in stressful situations, sleep may be more fractured than usual, causing us to float in and out of REM sleep more frequently, often leading to more dreaming, and a better ability to remember our dreams. Elevated levels of stress hormones can also contribute to strange dreams, as “the rational center” (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) can be deactivated, leaving our sleeping brains to go to dreamland theme parks and ride gnarly roller coasters. And, as much of our lives have moved online, and many of us are way over-exposing ourselves to hourly news updates, it’s likely that all this screen time is creating more trauma than relief. And that will show up in our dreams, too.
Long ago, I read a book called “God’s Forgotten Language,” by John Sanford. A Jungian at heart, he insisted that the Divine is always speaking to us, especially under cover. My own dreams throughout life segments, in times of consolation and in times of darkness, informed me generously when I took the time to examine them, often with my own Spiritual Director. The work was cathartic, and fun.
The central arc of most wisdom teaching is intended to awaken our perception of inner reality, and then reflect its value to us.
May your dreams during these challenging times bring you growth and wonder.