Dream To Live

The Times are Urgent: Let's Dream

There is a popular quote, and open letter, by author and speaker Bayo Akomolafe:

‘The times are urgent: let’s slow down.’¹

We want to add to this:

‘The times are urgent: let’s dream.’

Not the kind of ‘dream of a better future’ kind of dreaming, which is also needed, but to actively engage with our dream experiences while sleeping.

Why?

We are collectively more numb, disconnected, dissociated, distracted and lonely than ever before. We’re missing ‘aliveness’, and one way to re-ignite that is to dream consciously and with purpose - in ways in which it makes us more connected to our environments, territories and one another.

To lucid dream is to become conscious within our unconscious and, surprisingly, as we develop more lucidity while sleeping, we can experience more lucidity while awake also. That means seeing more possibilities for our life, and the world, while previously we only saw limitations and blocks. We need this right now.

This means expanding beyond a sense that life is just happening ‘to me’, but ‘by me’ or even ‘through me’ or ‘as me.’

"Dreams are not just fleeting images; they are a vital part of our waking life, offering insights into our social and spiritual worlds."

— Barbara Tedlock, Cultural Anthropologist and Oneirologist (dream interpreter)

We are also missing communal engagement, sharing of wisdom and problem-solving together, which is how many indigenous and ancestral groups gather together with their dreams.

Looking to societies:

‘in which accounts of dreams and their interpretation are a normal process of interaction and decision-making.’

- Jean A Guy Goulet, Doctor of Philosophy & Professor of Anthropology.

Lake Atitlán, Guatemala captured by Hana Wolf

For example,

‘In Mayan spirituality your dreams are needed, they are more important than the ordinary random thoughts your brain offer you, they have meaning. Dreams connect you with your adiosich, your soul, spirit and consciousness. It’s in dreams you hear the voice of Ajaw and your ancestors, who guide you, warn you of danger, teach you and look out for your health and well being. Dreams tell you your destiny, your nawal, your calling. Dreams are thus sacred, they are reality, and they are taken very seriously as a means of communication in Mayan spirituality.’²

Dreams can be more than just psychological processes but rich with symbolic meaning, teachings, and guidance for your life and path in this world.

In our up-coming short course: Dreams, we are exploring the realm of dreaming on our own, and also invited to share our experiences together in our living research community forum. This is so that we can begin to learn more together, in this process of research.

Our Invitation is to not only step into the role of a researcher but to also expand the definition of what that looks, feels and sounds like.

“It is an opportunity to look closely at our old programs and stories and with it wonder into new territory as collaborators and as women all journeying together.”

• Rozanne López (participant in our Guatemala & Colombia cultural gatherings)

[There will also be a future opportunity to gather, and learn the process of dreaming, in the jungle while staying with a community in Costa Rica - to explore what we can learn together. Join the waitlist for that here.]

The Times are Urgent: Let’s Dream

Ese Eka by Jon Cox and Andrew Bale, Mother and Child, 2016

‘The Sonenekuiñaji (Ese Eja peoples of Peru and Bolivia) have a remarkable relationship to dreams that guide their daily life and gives them a sense multi-natural perspectivism, which they explain as eshawa; it implies a blurring of dreaming and waking realties and gives animals and all animate beings a dimension of personhood, which allows their human identity to permeate through different realities and gain knowledge through their dream narratives.’

(Peluso 2004, 109)

This is incredibly important at this time, to expand our connection to the ‘more-than-human-world’ and develop the solutions needed for our world by that connection.

Listen to an excerpt audio introducing our Dreams Short Course as part of our Living Research Methodology:

To join us, and learn more, about the up-coming short course, shared over 6 weeks of content, starting June 25th, visit:

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Previous cultural explorations with dreaming:

1. https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/the-times-are-urgent-lets-slow-down

2. Molesky-Poz, 1996. Wisdom gathered from [Dreams in Mayan Spirituality: Concepts of Dreaming From the Ancient Mayans to the Contemporary Mayans around Lake Atitlán – Elena Levi, 2010