Visits of the deceased to our dreams

According to many belief systems, dreams often tell our future by presenting images of pre-visional situations or with the appearance of symbolic figures including natural objects. It is not always easy to interpret what they are trying to say. But in certain situations, people notice instinctively what the dream is about.

A family experienced a tragic incident as they lost their beloved son. He was the youngest of the family and was diagnosed with acute leukemia of an unknown type. They did all their best to treat him with all possible anticancer treatments, in vain and rather aggravated his condition. At last, they couldn’t help but accept the reality when the doctor said he tried every possible medicine and nothing further could be done.

He was a devoted son and didn’t want to let his aged mother know of this despairing situation because she was very feeble and suffered from a chronic heart disease. The brothers and sisters just explained that her youngest son was still under medical treatment.

It was when he lapsed into unconsciousness and the doctor advised the family to prepare for his death. They were at his deathbed mourning their brother’s imminent passing away. At that time, the mother had a dream of him, knocking on the front door of her house. “Mom, open the door,” said the son. The mother startled from her sleep and rushed to open the door, but nobody was there. It was the exact moment when her son passed away.

At the funeral, she sadly told everybody about her dream. She lamented that he was trying to say good bye at his last minute of life.

Quite a few people told me about their foresight dreams, especially revealing forthcoming death. One of my students had a dream of her brother-in-law struggling to get out of a trap. She watched him sinking somewhere deeper. She sensed it portent and called him the next morning but was not able to reach him. He died from a fatal car accident. My student told me that it wasn’t the first time she had this kind of dream.

Owing to an eerie feeling, many people consult me, when they watch someone they know die or when they meet the recently departed in their dreams. The young often dream about death, which seldom correspond to reality unless they are really intuitive. It is more related with their anxiety about life and the future.

Rarely do the dreams portray our future as it is. The reality is seldom mirrored identically by our dreams. On the contrary, they pervert the situation. We need to carefully observe, the mood, the gesture of the characters and symbolic objects including hair styles, clothes and shoes. People may be able to get a hind by their intuition sometimes, which comes to them when they are fully aware of their life.

Every culture has its own way to console the spirit of the dead. People try to make their farewells during funerals. It is an utmost sorrowful moment for the family who has to bid an eternal farewell to their loved ones. At the same time, it is also a significant ritual to observe the last journey to the afterlife so that he or she can rest eternally without further resentment. In our culture, we believe the dead are wandering around us until they find a peaceful repose. So death itself is not the true end of this life. In Buddhism, people serve the 49th day after death to comfort the dead hoping that they can reach heaven well.

In the meantime, the souls visit to see us occasionally through our dreams. A lucid dreamer is able to communicate with them and even ask what they are trying to say. Although it is not the case for everybody, it won’t be taken dreadfully once you become aware of the life and death, how we come to live in this world and how we leave for the next. <The Korea Times/Janet Shin>