Marbaniang, Domenic

In deep sleep at night, When the body is at rest, The soul still has sight In dreams it must test, Whether they be from God Or from the soul unrest; For God often speaks When our thoughts are quiet, And the soul that truly seeks Will surely have light.

The butterfly-or-man problem isn't far-fetched. For instance, there is the case of a man who sleeps and has a dream and the events and arguments in the dream are as rational and congruous to him as he has the sense of rationality and congruity during his waking hours. However, on waking up, he is shocked to realize that the dream arguments were inconsistent and incongruous, but wonders that they possessed strong credibility and sense during the dream-state or the semi-waking state. Much similar might be the case of a lunatic. Yet, psychologists observe that humans possess some form of lunacy at given moments. For instance, take the case of an angered man who is convinced that his anger is justified until he comes to his senses. Therefore, the Scriptures advise us not to trust in our own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all our heart.

A dream may be defined as "thoughts, images, and visions that pass through the mind while one is asleep" (cf. Daniel 4:5 (NIV); Daniel 2:29 (NKJV)). There are at least three sources of dream: 1. The Human Body (The senses being awake to external stimuli while one is asleep). 2. The Soul (Mind, Will, Emotions) 3. The Spirit 1. Body E.g. (a) A person hears someone calling his name in a dream; he awakes and finds that someone in reality had been calling his name. (b) A hungry man sleeps and dreams of eating something; he awakes and finds that it was just a dream. "as when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched." (Isa 29:8 NIV) 2. Soul E.g. (a) A scientist has been thinking a lot about a particular problem; in a dream, the thoughts converge into a solution. (b) A depressed person experiences dreams of anxiety. (c) A man has been watc...