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Dreams and Religion

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion
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Does divinity appears in dreams? To answer this we must broaden our conceptions of “divinity,” and the scope of the term “dream.”

At the age of 31, I was wrestling with my soul’s desire to fly, to reach for a higher realm and find my authentic self, symbolized by flying. This urge appeared in several dreams, along with images of the opposite: fear of falling/failing. In one dream:

Finally I went to the center of my being, through a pool into two underground levels to a bird, still walking in its placenta, having not left this place. Then I saw the top pool drain, leaving a central hole and the problem of self-discovery. Very rich, warm, friendly dream.

At the center of my being, under the surface, was a bird, still in its placenta, but walking, ready to be born. I knew that was in the center of my personal being, a piece of what Plato and others call “being” itself or ultimate reality: “true being dwells, without color or shape … the soul’s pilot” (Plato, Phaedrus, 247c). This is the...

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Correspondence to Lee W. Bailey .

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Bailey, L.W. (2014). Dreams and Religion. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9022

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9022

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