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ABSTRACT
Despite recent gains in the understanding of dreams and their meaning, the topic of dreams in relation to spirituality has remained largely unexplored. This study investigates the perceived relationship between dreams and the spiritual life in a multi-national sample. It explores the proposition that dreams contain spiritual messages or realisations, and/or whether experiences of apparently paranormal phenomena in dreams inform a spiritual worldview. A sample of 118 people took part in an online survey in which they responded to closed-ended and open-ended questions about dreams, learning, personal development and spirituality. Ninety-eight out of 118 participants (83%) reported having dreams that informed their spiritual life in some way. Thematic analysis revealed four themes within the domain of dreams and spirituality: 1. Bringing the unconscious into the conscious for healing and insight; 2. Accessing spiritual knowledge via intuition and feeling; 3. Spiritual Messages via encounters with other beings in dreams; and 4. Spiritual messages as precognitive information about upcoming events. The findings have implications for an understanding of the formative role of dreams in the spiritual life. Limitations and future implications of this study are also discussed.
Data availability statement
The full dataset is freely available. Contact Dr Oliver Robinson for access.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Oliver Robinson
Oliver Robinson in an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, UK. His research specialism is adult development, and he also writes on topics that traverse qualitative methodology, epistemology and spirituality.
Maria Cristina Vasile
Maria Cristina Vasile was a student at the University of Greenwich, UK, at the time that this research took place. She is now a Teaching Assistant and is soon to start an integrative transpersonal psychotherapy postgraduate training at Re-Vision.