I would just through in a third option. Or perhaps underline and stress an element of what is called "lucid dreaming".
There are, I have had and I know others to have had dreams which were obvious "real". That is to say, they were an extensive of this realm of reality (... perhaps I am not "modern" enough yet).
I strongly resist the Class 101 Pop Psychology approach that "all dreams are part of yourself" or "all elements of dreams are elements or reflections of yourself". That is not true. At best, the further you get is the question, "and how did that feel for you?" (which you can sit at home and do yourself); at worst, it belongs to a school of thinking which believes we are all just meat and dreams are just electrons firing off by accident.
Of course, many dreams are just elements or reflections of our self. Many are complete junk, just the brain/soul de-stressing or sorting stuff from the mundane world. But others are not. To tell the difference is important.
The sort of stuff I am talking about is, in a sense, off into the prophetic realm but not necessarily of biblical importance. My guess is that only those who believe or accept that we are spirit beings in the material would start to accept this. That is to say, we do travel outside of the body, even of the mundane world, meet with others and interact. If pressed I could come up with fairly obvious examples of what I mean.
Its amazing ... I once met a man that never had any dreams. It sounds like the start of a novel but it was true. He was so sad. I think he made the mistake of spending all his sleeping hours asleep.
There are, I have had and I know others to have had dreams which were obvious "real". That is to say, they were an extensive of this realm of reality (... perhaps I am not "modern" enough yet).
I strongly resist the Class 101 Pop Psychology approach that "all dreams are part of yourself" or "all elements of dreams are elements or reflections of yourself". That is not true. At best, the further you get is the question, "and how did that feel for you?" (which you can sit at home and do yourself); at worst, it belongs to a school of thinking which believes we are all just meat and dreams are just electrons firing off by accident.
Of course, many dreams are just elements or reflections of our self. Many are complete junk, just the brain/soul de-stressing or sorting stuff from the mundane world. But others are not. To tell the difference is important.
The sort of stuff I am talking about is, in a sense, off into the prophetic realm but not necessarily of biblical importance. My guess is that only those who believe or accept that we are spirit beings in the material would start to accept this. That is to say, we do travel outside of the body, even of the mundane world, meet with others and interact. If pressed I could come up with fairly obvious examples of what I mean.
Its amazing ... I once met a man that never had any dreams. It sounds like the start of a novel but it was true. He was so sad. I think he made the mistake of spending all his sleeping hours asleep.