• Search

An Introduction to This Site and Dreams as a Spiritual Experience

About This Site

This site was put together as a setting where people could share experiences and firsthand accounts of dream exploration from studying Belsebuub’s work and methods for exploring sleep.

Below is a brief introduction to the subject of dreams and how they can be used for spiritual development.

The Spiritual Possibilities of Dreaming

Last night more than 28 billion dreams 1 were experienced around the world. Based on research, we know that many of these dreams would have been re-enactments of what the dreamer thought, felt and experienced during the day. There may also have been premonitions of the future, spiritual experiences, or even lucid dreams where the dreamer was aware within the dream experience.

However, only 5% of these dreams were likely to be remembered 2 – meaning that the vast majority of dream experiences went completely unnoticed.

woman dreaming

Despite being largely ignored, what happens when we sleep is one of the greatest mysteries of our existence. We spend approximately one third of our lives asleep, but know barely anything about the process of sleep and dreaming beyond what science can tell us through an external examination of physical phenomena.

So what does happen when we sleep? Where do dreams come from? Can dreams give us access to spiritual learning, guidance about the future, or knowledge about ourselves?

The importance of Dreams in Ancient Cultures

According to Belsebuub – an author and leading expert on the spiritual significance of dreams – the hours a person spent asleep were once highly valued as they were seen to allow a form of communication with spiritual realms. Belsebuub writes:

All kinds of teachings and learning goes on in dreams. If you look into ancient scriptures and mythology you’ll see that they used to be the main avenue of communication between people and the divine. They would refer to dreams for information and guidance from spiritual realms. This is our most ancient form of dream use, which we are fortunately still able to use today.” ~ Belsebuub, The Hidden Side of Dreams

This emphasis on the significance and meaning of dreams is clearly evident in the ancient practices, myths, and scriptures of cultures and religious traditions around the world.

In ancient Greece and Rome, dreams were seen as a way of receiving messages directly from the gods, and these revelations could significantly influence the outcome of events, as is often depicted in the great epics of the time.

This is also true in Christian tradition, where there are multiple examples of warnings delivered in dreams. For example, after the birth of Jesus, Joseph was instructed by an angel in a dream to flee to Egypt with his family to escape the wrath of King Herod, who wanted to put the baby Jesus to death. 3 Similarly, the wife of Pontius Pilate has a dream that prompts her to send her husband a message to avoid any ill treatment of Jesus. 4 5

Joseph's Dream. Rembrandt. 1645-46.
Joseph’s Dream. Rembrandt. 1645-46.

The Egyptians looked on those who had particularly meaningful or vivid dreams as blessed. They believed that dreams were a perception of realities that existed but could not be seen or heard in waking life. In the Papyrus Insinger – one of the oldest surviving writings about Egyptian wisdom teachings – it is stated that the Creator God made “sleep to end weariness” but dreams to “show the way to the dreamer in his blindness”. 6

The ancient Sumerians also saw dreams as a source of important guidance for actions in waking life. For example, in The Building of Ningirsu’s Temple – a myth inscribed in a pair of terracotta cylinders dating back to circa 2125 BC, Gudea – a shepherd and king of the ancient city of Lagash has a dream that guides him to build a temple, which he then fulfills. Similarly in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the central character asks for and receives dreams that guide him on his quest.

This practice of deliberately asking for guidance in dreams is known as “dream incubation.” It was practiced in a number of cultures and often involved specific techniques used to evoke particular types of dreams or to receive prophecy or guidance.

For example, in ancient Greece, pilgrims would visit the Dream Temple of Asclepius in ancient Epidaurus to receive healing and direction from the god Asclepius through their dreams. The patients would lie down on the floor or on special beds called “klines” which helped them lie on their backs with their head slightly elevated. They would then pray to Asclepius and wait for the god to appear and help them.

Different Types of Dreams

Although ancient sources frequently depict dreams as a channel for communication with spiritual realms and a source of divine guidance, both ancient sources and contemporary research suggest there are in fact many different types of dreams. Dreams can be profound or simple, heavenly, nightmarish, or neutral, and can originate from spiritual realms or simply from within the subconscious of the dreamer.

Dreams from Daily Situations and Activities

Our thoughts and emotions during the day return at night to form our dreams. Painting by Robert W. Buss, titled Dicken's Dream, (1804-1875)
Our thoughts and emotions during the day return at night to form our dreams. Painting by Robert W. Buss, titled Dicken’s Dream, (1804-1875)

Many sources describe dreams that are a reflection of the thoughts, feelings, and impressions that a person has during waking life. Since ancient times it has been understood that our actions, thoughts and emotions during the day can return at night, with many of our dreams being affected or created by the subconscious.

The Greek Historian Herodotus wrote that, “The visions that occur to us in dreams are, more often than not, the things we have been concerned about during the day.” 7 Hippocrates theorised that during the day the soul received images and while dreaming it created images. 8 The Indian Upanishads express that dreams are the direct result of desire during the day. 9

Similar views were more recently expressed by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and are backed by modern scientists, who have noticed that dreams often contain heightened emotional states and that habits we have during the day often come back at night in our dreams. 10

In his work, Belsebuub emphasizes not just dreams where we receive spiritual or divine guidance, but also the enormous possibilities of gaining understanding from dreams that are a reflection of the inner workings of the psyche. He explains how from this type of dream a person can gain a deeper level of self-knowledge by seeing representations of their thoughts and emotions in a way that wouldn’t be possible while awake. Belsebuub also explains how this understanding can be used for subsequent inner transformation, and how being able to see these projections of daily thoughts, emotions, and inner states laid out in dreams provides an invaluable opportunity for further exploration.

In his book Gazing into the Eternal, Belsebuub talks about the great insight to be gained from dreams:

“Dreams give a great insight as to what’s really going on inside. With dreams, all that’s in the psyche is free to roam. You’re not constrained by what people might think; instead, all of the different desires, impulses, and reactions have free reign to do whatever they want. So if you want to understand yourself, you also need to look at your dreams.”

Belsebuub also explains that as a person begins to understand and subsequently change the nature of their psychological makeup, this change will be reflected in their dreams, which can therefore provide insight and a continuous feedback mechanism for inner growth:

“Whoever changes here also changes in their dreams, because a dream is a reflection of what goes on here. The psyche is exactly the same between dreams and here. The difference is that here there is a physical body that brings each one back to reality, whereas over there if a daydream occurs, it becomes an artificial reality and the mind becomes submerged in it. So the more change happens here, the more change happens over there, and overall, one’s spiritual capacity increases.”
~ Belsebuub, Gazing into the Eternal

Dreams from a Spiritual Source

While the ancients understood that our dreams could be a product of our subconscious mind, they also understood there was a transcendental aspect to the process of dreaming, another reality that could be accessed while asleep that was as tangible as the waking world.

Many cultures – including those of Mesopotamia, Greece, and India – speak of the journey of the soul beyond the body during sleep where it would learn and be guided in the dream realm before awakening again physically. This concept is also connected to out-of-body experiences (OBEs) – also known as astral travel – since both dreams and astral travel experiences happen in the same place. This can be proven by anyone who becomes lucid while dreaming, and is able to have the same verifiable experiences a person can have in an OBE that begins by projecting out of the body. Despite OBEs being conscious and dreams being unconscious both allow us to experience a parallel dimension while our physical body lies asleep.

In other examples, the Egyptian noun to “dream” is related to the verb “to awaken,” 11, indicating that the Egyptians saw the process of dreaming as a form of waking up – possibly an awakening to dream consciousness during the later phases of sleep when dreams are most vivid. 12 In part this possibility is backed up by recent scientific discoveries which have found that during REM sleep when our dreams are most vivid the functioning of our brain replicates its functioning during the day with areas related to balance and the use of our senses for instance activated.

In his work, Belsebuub talks about the enormous potential of dreams for spiritual exploration. Dreams can often involve vivid premonitions of future events, sometimes offering guidance about how a person should act in the events they know from the premonition will come. Dreams can often include guidance on spiritual development and areas in a person’s life or psychology that need to be addressed or studied; offering insights a person might otherwise be unaware of or have no way of knowing.

As Belsebuub explains in his article on the hidden side of dreams where he talks about where dreams come from and their different influences:

“Dreams are the doorway to the other side; they offer a glimpse of what’s beyond this world and into ourselves.”
~ Belsebuub, The Hidden Side of Dreams

Belsebuub also explains that dreams are our connection to other dimensions and to spiritual knowledge that is inaccessible otherwise in daily life. In dreams a person can be taught by:

  • Being shown things such as universal symbols
  • Visiting temples and places of learning
  • Through being visited by spiritual beings offering guidance
  • Re-visiting past lives or seeing what awaits an individual in the afterlife and beyond; and so on.

Why are Dreams Such a Mystery in our Modern World?

Mainstream science has many theories about how and why we dream, but none of them offer a conclusive understanding of the phenomena. Most current theories revolve around dreams being a purely physical or psychological phenomena with no supernatural or spiritual context. As such the process of dreaming does not receive the widespread attention it deserves, an attention Belsebuub explains was valued by some ancient peoples:

“Dreams can teach much more than psychology, as they are a communication vehicle between this dimension and the next. Every time you dream you can potentially get information that will help you to understand something. This is why some ancient peoples valued them so much as a guide.”
~ Belsebuub, The Astral Codex

Scientific studies show that dreams occur in all phases of sleep, and that we dream even if those dreams are not remembered. But science can do no more than theorize about the purpose of sleep for our mind and body, and has no neurological explanation for why many dreams have a narrative basis. Interestingly, despite science not understanding the source of dreams, some of our most well-known scientific principles were inspired or discovered through dreams such as the table of the elements and the scientific method itself!

With the majority of mainstream science unwilling to investigate the possibility that there may be more to dreams than simple remnants of the subconscious, it is up to us as dreamers to explore their reality through direct experience if we want to test the view held by many ancient cultures on the possibility of a great learning and guidance being available to us through sleep.

People throughout the ages have used dreams to learn about themselves, to problem solve, to invent, to heal, and to gain direct access to advanced spiritual guidance. These possibilities are still available to us today and it’s within everyone’s reach to reclaim the hours usually lost to unconscious, unremembered sleep.

Belsebuub’s Work on Dreams

From 1990 to 2010 Belsebuub taught others how to remember and gain spiritual knowledge from dreams. He wrote several books and numerous articles on the subject, and has made over 70 media appearances, many of which focused on helping others explore the spiritual potential and implications of learning from dreams. He withdrew from public life in 2010.

In his book, The Astral Codex, Belsebuub shares that:

“There’s much to be learnt from dreams; remembering them will give you an insight into your psychology and will get you used to the astral realm you’re going to explore. Although much is projected by the mind, they can still occur in real places that you have traveled to in the astral plane from within a dream and you can get much information from their scenes, from the symbols in them, and from any teachings that may have been given.”

Site Editors

We are practitioners of Belsebuub’s work who are enthusiastic about exploring dreams and wanted to provide a place for others who are interested in the subject to share their experiences or read the experiences of others.

  1. 7.1 billion people multiplied by a research backed average of 3 to 5 dreams per person/night – http://www.dreamresearch.ca/articles.php
  2. Michael Eysenck. Fundamentals of Psychology. Chapter 5, p. 122. Psychology Press, 2009.
  3. Matthew 2:13
  4. Matthew 27:19
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate’s_wife
  6. Gotthard G. Tribl – Dream as a constitutive cultural determinant – the example of ancient Egypt: https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/viewFile/9075/2923
  7. Herodotus. The Histories. Book 7, page. 415. Translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 1998
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream#Classical_history
  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream#Classical_history
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream#Dynamic_psychiatry
  11. Gotthard G. Tribl. Dream as a constitutive cultural determinant – the example of ancient Egypt. Chapter 4.1: Lexical Remarks, p. 26 of the International Journal of Dream Research, Volume 4, No. 1 (2011). https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/viewFile/9075/2923
  12. http://www.medicaldaily.com/while-dreaming-during-rem-sleep-brain-captures-visual-images-darting-eyes-347716
1 comment
  • That’s a quite comprehensive article about dreams and gives a nice concise overview.
    Thanks for putting all this information and resources together. It’s handy and useful while sharing with others who are interested.

Who Is Belsebuub?

Belsebuub is an author who has previously published several books on dreams and out-of-body experiences and has discussed these topics widely in the media. He withdrew from public life in 2010. Read more about Belsebuub's work on dreams...

More Experience Sites

More experiences with Belsebuub's work:
- Mystical Experiences
- Out-of-Body Experiences
- Self-Discovery

Read more about this series of sites here.
error: