As I survey the history of our kind on this planet, it seems clear to me that there are four reaons why most human cultures, before modern times, prized dreams and the dreamers. They knew the following things:

1. Dreams show us the future

We not only see things that will happen (precognition); we see possible future events that may or may not happen depending on whether we harvest accurate information from the derams and take appropriate action. The dream self is forever traveling ahead of the waking self, scouting challenges and opportunities on the roads ahead. By using our dream memories of the possible future we can make better choices. Working with dreams of this kind can save your life. To my certain knowledge, I have avoided possible death in road accidents on three occasions by clarifying dream previews of potentially fatal incidents and taken specific evasive action.

2. Dreams are medicine

Dreams show us what is going on inside the body. Is there anything strange about the idea that in dreams consciousness make take a tour of the body, diagnosing developing symptoms and noting what the body needs to stay well or get well? The highly rational ancient Greek physician Galen wrote a treatise on Diagnosis in Dreams, insisting that it is irrational for a physician not to fail to take advantage of dream diagnoses. When we get sick, our dreams give us personal imagery that can guide the body on the paths of healing and recovery. The body believes in images and alters its production of natural pharmaceuticals according to the thoughts and images that claim our attention. Our best source of imagery for self-healing is our dreams, which come fresh, personal and customized, unlike the visualization scripts that are becoming popular in treatment centers.

3. Dreams are a direct line to the sacred

Dreams connect us to the God/Goddess we can talk to. In dreams, we receive visitations from our authentic spiritual guides and teachers, who take the forms appropriate to our level of understanding. Dreams show us the spiritual traditions that are calling us. In dreams, we are called to places of inituiation, training and transformation in the Imaginal Realm, where shamans, mystics and creators have always wanted to go. In dreams, we also have natural contact with ancestors and departed loved ones who can show us the paths of the soul after death and offer counsel on our life choices. Through dreams, we also awaken to the voices of the animate natural world around us; the spirits of tigers and flowering trees, of hummingbirds and mountains, come to restore us to membership in the circle of life.

4. Dreaming is all about soul

Dreaming, we learn what the soul (as opposed to the everyday ego) longs for, and begin to remember our soul’s purpose in this world. Dreams also show us where we need to go to reclaim vital soul energy that we lost through pain or abuse, grief or guilt or shame. Through the doorway of a dream, we can learn to reach into an earlier time or another dimenssion – perhaos a land of Lost Boys and Girls – to bring home a younger self that went missing, with all of its gifts of enery, imagination and joy. 

My book The Secret History of Dreaming reviews the vital importance of dreaming to great events and great lives across the whole course of human evolution.