Vedanta does not discuss dreams apart from the 'dream' that the 'I' is limited, inadequate, and incomplete. In traditional Vedanta practice, which aims to fix the mind on the Self for the purpose of Self inquiry and ultimately Self realization, dreams are viewed as transient epiphenomena (not self) and are to be dismissed as unreal.

A dream is unconscious content rising to the level of consciousness. The Unconscious is much more than a passive archive of information; its content dynamically forces its way into the present to shape and color experience. When it presents itself as dream symbols it contains valuable infomation.

Traditional Vedanta practice, discriminating the pure Self from its forms and dismissing dualistic views in the conscious mind, made my mind luminous and peaceful; nothing purifies like Self knowledge. However, I noticed that sometimes sensitive people reacted to perceived negative subconscious content in me. It was never anything more than a very minor problem but I got to thinking how I might access this material.

But one day before I could figure it out someone I cared for very much showed a cruel disregard of my feelings. The bubble of love that had been our relationship suddenly deflated and I was left with a wound in my heart. Literally within hours dreams began to pour through this hole like vapours trapped deep within the earth. Although I had dreamed occasionally before, the sheer volume...some even occurred during my waking hours...and the intensity caused me to take notice. I immediately began recording them and studying dream literature...Freud, Jung and the modern dreamworkers.

My dreams were of two types: shadow content and symbols of the Self. Shadow content is information that is unpalatable to oneself and others: anger, greed, pride, possessiveness, covetousness, violent tendencies, etc. These tendencies may cause problems in one's relationships and they contradict one's good opinion of oneself. Until they are acknowledged and accepted they will not go away.

We are all vain in some way. I was not particularly bothered by the occasional uncomfortable moments that happened in relationships but I was interested in the unflattering light in which the shadow dreams presented my ego. Shadow dreams say that on the personality level you are not who you think you are. If you want to free yourself of the ugliness you need to own it. The ego always thinks is it better than it is and it can be expected to resist the shadow's message. But I experienced no resistance; it was time to come to terms with the unexamined stuff. When I had a very realistic picture of my small self the shadow dreams stopped and did not return.

Symbols of the Self are always wonderful whether they be sounds, myths, dreams, or visual symbols. The Self loves to communicate with those parts of itself that have seemingly fogotten it. It communicates in many ways...in fact every event in one's life is a communication. Its messages are beautiful, shocking, wonderful, humorous, provocative and occasionally frightening. It sometimes takes a bit of study to understand the symbols and how the Self is using them but once you get the hang of it you enter a fascinating world.

Make of them what you will, but the dreams and my comments about them here are meant to illustrate the value of dreamwork as a spiritual tool. Read them online or download any or all of them. I suggest that you read 'High Flyer' first and then proceed down the list. Not only is it an interesting dream on a topic of interest to eveyone, it actually predicted the love affair, its disastrous end and the dreamwork that followed. The remainder of the dreams have been organized according to topic starting with love.