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Dreams and Religion

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

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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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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