OrEd-T-18.3-Basis of the Dream
14. Arising in my sleeping dreams is a world that seems quite real. It is not the world I saw before I slept. Planned around what I would have preferred, it is a distortion. The ego looks upon itself and me as vulnerable and always under attack. But in the dream, I am "free" to change whatever seemed to attack me into a tribute to the ego. This would be my wish, because I had identified myself with the ego,
15. My conflicting wishes govern my dreams, and dreams are chaotic for they have no concern for what is true. Perception substitutes illusions for truth. Dreams change the sleeping world to suit the ego. On waking I don't take dreams seriously, because reality is so outrageously violated. Dreams represent the ego's inability to tolerate reality, and my willingness to tolerate unreality and the ego.
16. I don't find the differences disturbing in what I see asleep and awake. It seems that what I see when I am awake is blotted out in dreams. Yet, on awakening that world is still there. In dreams I arrange everything. People are what I would have them be and do, with no limit on substitution. In the dream, it seems as if the world were given me, to make as I wish. I do not realize that I am attacking the world, trying to triumph over it and make it serve myself.
17. Dreams are temper tantrums in which I scream, "I want it this way!" and so it seems to be. The dream's origin is within me. Made of anger and fear, the illusion of satisfaction is replaced by the illusion of terror. My ability to control a world I prefer is terrifying. My attempts to blot out reality are fearful, so, I substitute the fantasy that reality is fearful, and guilt is real.
18. I have the power to make a world as I want it to be. Because I want it, I see it in dreams. And while I see it, I believe that it is real. Here is a world that seems to be outside me, yet it is only within the mind. I do not realize that the emotions that are produced in the dream come from within me, nor do I respond to this world as if I made it. It is the figures in the dream, and what the figures do that seem to make the dream. I do not realize that they are acting out for me, for if I did, I could not see them as guilty, and the illusion of satisfaction would be gone. When I awake the dream is gone, but what caused the dream is not gone.
19. The wish to make an unreal world is still with me. What I see on waking is only a different form of the world I see in dreams. The content is the same, therefore, all my time is spent in dreaming, only the form has changed. Dreams are a protest against reality, and are the fixed, insane idea that I can change reality. The special relationship has a special place in waking dreams. I am trying to make my sleeping dreams come true. Determined to keep the special relationship, I cling to unreality, preventing myself from waking up to truth. Seeing more value in sleeping than in waking, I continue with the special relationship.
20. Always practical in His wisdom, the Holy Spirit accepts dreams and uses them as a means for waking, where I would have used them to remain asleep. The first change that comes before dreams disappear, is dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams. That is what the Holy Spirit does with the special relationship. He doesn't take it away or destroy it, but uses it differently, to help make His purpose real to me. The special relationship will remain as a source of joy and freedom, and not of guilt and pain. It will not be for me alone, for its holiness becomes an offering to everyone.
21. The special relationship will become a means for undoing guilt in everyone blessed through our holy relationship. It will be a happy dream, and one which we share with all who come within our sight. Through our happy dream, the blessing which the Holy Spirit has laid on our relationship will be extended to all. He has not forgotten anyone. He uses everyone who calls on Him, as means for the salvation of everyone. And He will waken everyone, through us, who offered our relationship to Him. If I only recognized His gratitude! And Jesus' gratitude, for they are joined in one purpose, being of One Mind with God.
22. Let me not close my eyes in dreaming. It is unbelievable that I would wish to make a world that is not real. Now, the purpose of our relationship has been changed to the purpose of truth. We had been choosing between dreams, and now we see that at last, we have made the choice between truth and all illusions.
23. Heaven is sure, for we have chosen truth. It has come for we have been willing to meet Heaven's conditions in the special relationship. This is no dream. The Holy Spirit has gently laid the real world in our relationship--the world of happy dreams from which awaking is so easy and so natural. For as our sleeping and waking dreams represent the same wishes in the mind, so do the real world and the truth of Heaven join in the Will of God. The dream of waking is easily transferred to its reality. For this dream comes from our will joined with the Will of God. And what His Will would accomplish is always done.
