Dreams are a universal phenomenon that all human beings have experienced, however there is still so much more to be understood about them. What causes them, where do the concepts come from, do they have deeper meaning, and can they be controlled?

Dreaming is influenced by the consolidation of these memories during sleep. Most dreams are made up of experiences, thoughts, emotions, places, and people we have already encountered in our lives. (McGovern Institute 2022)

I believe dreams are manifestations of your reality and perceived experiences. Your deepest fears or desires may present themselves in your subconscious mind. But what does it mean when you dream of things that are beyond your own realm of perceived reality?

This thought describes my personal experience with dreaming. As a child, I remember having vivid dreams of places I had never been and then visiting that place from my dream in real life. In more recent times I have had dreams about scenarios that have come to fruition in real life. My dreams are never about happy imaginary things. For instance, I have never had a dream about winning the lottery or sitting on a cotton candy cloud eating ice cream with a unicorn. I only ever see scenarios that closely represent things that could happen in my reality.

In a dream in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds he may speak into their ears and terrify them with warnings to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride to preserve them from the pit their lives from perishing by the sword.

Job 33: 15-18

This work became therapeutic for me as I drew inspiration from The Nap Ministry Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. I practiced rest as a form of reclaiming my time, energy, and discovering things about subconscious abilities. In this collection of images, you will see a contrast of things that are real and things that are fake. Elements of the work symbolize life, God, creation, reality, femineity, and connectedness. You might notice that the images are eerie yet oddly grounded. The existence of an omnipotent force and ability to perceive things beyond reality can be fearful however I find peace in this.

My mind is a womb in which I incubate visions of reality. I am the vessel. Giving life to my visions I create reality but not alone. My visions are not my own but are those of a much more omnipotent force.

My Mind: The Womb