SINCE the dawn of time, dreams have fascinated mankind. Dreams from the Bible, from mystics, shamans, wise men, poets, authors, artists, scientists, and psychologists have always been a source of creativity and knowledge and have been crucial to the development of civilisation.
There are countless examples of famous dreams throughout history. In AD 332, Alexander the Great dreamt that if he laid siege to the city of Tyre, he would conquor it. Encouraged by this, they fought and won. Similarly, St Joan of Arc’s dreams prompted her to fight for France against the English.
Some dreams are not so propitious. Before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln dreamt of a coffin surrounded by weeping people and guarded by soldiers. “Who is dead?” he asked. “The president was killed by an assassin,’ was the reply. The assassination of US President Kennedy was also predicted in many dreams, including those of a woman who telephoned the White House the day before and warned that if Kennedy went to Dallas, he would die.
Biblical dreams were believed to be direct messages from God.
Some of the better-known include the dream where Jacob saw an angel. Jacob’s dream of angels climbing a ladder to heaven and the vision of another Joseph, who dreamt he and his brothers were binding sheaves of corn in a field and while his stood upright, his brother’s sheaves bowed in deference to him. An opium-induced dream brought the poet Coleridge his famous “Kubla Khan” poem, which begins: “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree..." The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson found that his dreams often inspired his stories, including The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Recently, Kekule, the German chemist, discovered the molecular structure of benzene through his dreams. When he reported his findings at a conference, he said, Let us learn to dream, gentlemen, then we may perhaps find the truth. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In dreams we see ourselves naked and acting out our real characters, even more clearly than we see others awake,” while for Jung, the great psychiatrist, a dream was “a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the psyche.”
What do dreams do? They mirror the day’s events; they can review and even solve unresolved problems; they bring to the surface of our minds unconscious desires, conflicts, and impulses; they connect us to the past, present, and future; and they can give us signs, reminders, and warnings that may help us choose our path or another.
In other words, dreams can heal, teach, warn, and guide us. The objective and honest insight they give us, if we listen to them, can result in our waking up with a totally clear answer to what may have been, pre-sleep, an insoluble situation or problem.
As soon as we begin to listen to our dreams, ask questions of them, and act on the answers and information given to us, we immediately draw on far more of our intelligence than before. This can empower us to do, change, or become anything we want. It is through dreams that we and young people can tap into vast reservoirs of intelligence, memory, and creativity, which can empower us all to master life’s challenges.
As the famous psychic Edgar Cayce said: “All dreams are given for the benefit of the dreamer; would that he interpret them correctly.”
Therefore, we the youth, should ask ourselves as future leaders.
Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What have I done and dreamed for Namibia, and what will be my role in the 21st Century?
In order to accomplish our role in the 21st Century, we need a few ingredients. Our youth should have clear guiding dreams that engender persistence and perseverance, even in the face of setbacks and failures of dreams. We should have dreams, purpose, passion, and trust.
A youth should have the ability to create a vision and dream that others find inspiring enough to follow. This vision and dream must have emotional impact, passion, and a human face. May I evoke and invoke the words of Rabbi Histra when he said: “A dream that is not analysed is like a letter that has not been read.”
*Reverend Jan A Scholtz is the former chairperson of the //Kharas Regional Council and former !Nami#nus constituency councillor and is a holder of Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA.