The third kind of Dreams: from the Nafs
In so far as the third kind of dreams is concerned, i.e.,
dreams from one’s own nafs (self), these, also, are of great importance
since they constitute a very valuable yet private picture of the state of
health (or lack of health) of our own inner being. Such dreams function, in fact, as windows to
the soul, and this was recognized by the Swiss Psychologist, Carl Jung, who
made the analysis of dreams an important means of discovering the causes of
mental illnesses etc.
Unfulfilled desires can lead to mental distress and can result
in inner disequilibrium. A dream often
function as nature’s means of seeking to restore mental peace and
equilibrium. As such a dream can reveal
the cause of the distress. A little girl
heard the ice cream truck passing in front of her house. “Mummy! Mummy!” She cried: “Ice cream!
Ice Cream!” But Mummy had no money,
and so the little girl kept gazing in sorrow as the ice cream truck passed her
home. There was an unfulfilled desire
for ice cream lodged in her heart. It caused distress. At night, while she was asleep, nature
repaired the damage in a truly wonderful way.
She saw the ice cream truck in her dream. Mummy had enough money and she bought lots of
ice cream. The little girl sat down and
ate ice cream to her heart’s content.
The unfulfilled desire was fulfilled and her inner state had been
restored to a state of equilibrium.
Praise be to Allah Most High Who created dreams as a medium through which the soul can not
only see itself, but also heal itself.
Dreams which come from the nafs play an important role
since they can be the means through which we can gain knowledge about our own
moral and spiritual development (or lack of development). Thus an individual
may be in a state of external conformity with the moral law in respect of his
sexual conduct. That is, he may not be
misbehaving! But he may not have internalized the externally imposed moral law.
He may be obeying the law only because it is binding on him. He may not as yet
be at that stage of moral and spiritual development in which he conforms with
the law because that is also his own inner conviction and desire. And so he finds
himself in a dream engaged in sexual misconduct. That misconduct, regardless of
what it involved, does not constitute a sin. Rather, it is a mirror of his
inner being. It is an indicator, conveyed
in the most private way possible, of the need for the dreamer to make a greater
effort for achieving an inner conviction
that would support his external sexual conduct of conformity with the moral
law.
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