- Feb 5, 2002
- 183,735
- 66,941
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
What Aquinas writes about dreams is something we have all observed, and it calls for closer consideration: “those things which have occupied a man’s thoughts and affections while awake recur to his imagination while asleep.” This implies that our nighttime dreams are not wholly beyond our sway. Indeed, it grounds a very practical approach to improving our dreams.
The point here is not to attempt what is impossible, namely, somehow to dictate what we dream when asleep. Rather, accepting that dreams are to a great extent beyond our control is a good opportunity to reflect on the human condition, and even embrace it in humility. Aquinas also suggests that our dreams might occasion some insight into ourselves, whether about our desires or our bodily dispositions.
Of particular importance is that we are not directly responsible for what occurs in our dreams due to the lack of free judgment. For this reason, there is no place for scrupulosity regarding what we ‘do’ in our dreams.
Yet all this said, it makes great sense that we consider how we might strive to bring even dreams more under the gentle and life-giving sway of right reason. Aquinas notes two things that are often confirmed by experience. First, what is on our mind right before going to sleep has a more proximate effect on our dreaming. And second, thoughts accompanied by passion or desire tend especially to leave a kind of “trace and inclination” in the soul, making it more likely that such thoughts will affect our dreams.
Continued below.
The point here is not to attempt what is impossible, namely, somehow to dictate what we dream when asleep. Rather, accepting that dreams are to a great extent beyond our control is a good opportunity to reflect on the human condition, and even embrace it in humility. Aquinas also suggests that our dreams might occasion some insight into ourselves, whether about our desires or our bodily dispositions.
Of particular importance is that we are not directly responsible for what occurs in our dreams due to the lack of free judgment. For this reason, there is no place for scrupulosity regarding what we ‘do’ in our dreams.
Yet all this said, it makes great sense that we consider how we might strive to bring even dreams more under the gentle and life-giving sway of right reason. Aquinas notes two things that are often confirmed by experience. First, what is on our mind right before going to sleep has a more proximate effect on our dreaming. And second, thoughts accompanied by passion or desire tend especially to leave a kind of “trace and inclination” in the soul, making it more likely that such thoughts will affect our dreams.
Continued below.
