We live in a world where Paris billboards claim that we are what we wear. Popular culture and the collective's perceptions of human identity, our understanding of what it means to be human, are no longer even skin deep: Who we are is now located not even with or in the body itself, but in a world that exists outside of ourselves. Our identities are constructed according to the collective agenda and its emphasis on materialism. We live, suggests Ken Wilbur, in a flatland that is based upon appearances; in the eyes of the collective, we are what can be seen and what can be measured.
Both Zukov and Moore sound warning bells. Human beings, on a collective level, are in grave danger of losing their connection to their depth or Soul, and by virtue of that, to Spirit by whatever name we call it. We live in a world in which we are defined and allocated roles and identities according to collective agendas, a world in which we have so many choices that we become paralyzed by over choice and surrender our power to others. We give our Selves over, to institutions and ideologies that define who and what we should be rather than who we are for ourselves and in the eyes of God. Of course, to choose not to choose is also a choice, and paradoxically, the only choice is the one we make in the moment; however, choices made by the collective are not necessarily authentic. The choices we are told we should make do not often honour the ground of our being, the Soul, out of which the possibility for human existence and consciousness arises.
In the flatland that has become postmodern existence, dreaming reconnects us with Soul. Dreaming offers the purest and least contaminated access to who we truly are, to the issues and processes Soul undergoes in order express the purpose for our being here in the physical realm of matter and materialism.
Dreamwork, or working with our dreams, involves asking questions. Asking the right questions of a dream image and the context out of which the images arise reveal an individual's Soul purpose and the processes by which Soul expresses and transforms individual consciousness. Dreamwork is not only about analysis, interpretation, and appreciation of the dream images: Dream work is all of these as well as the commitment and attempt to apply the knowledge and understanding gained in the process of contemplation.
While dream dictionaries are helpful for establishing the meaning of dream images on a collective level, understanding the personal meanings within the dream requires deep contemplation of the images and processes in relationship to our own personal experiences in both our lived and dreamed worlds. Moreover, there are many kinds of dreams because there are many realms and worlds in which Soul participates. The world of matter is only one realm among many in which Soul participates.
