Shamanic Wisdom on Dreaming Your World Into Being

Jeff Oxford

We are all dreaming our world into being, whether we realize it or not. Shamans know that not only are we dreaming in states of sleep, meditation, and trance, but we are also dreaming in our waking state. While most of us have lost the ability to control or lucidly navigate both our waking and our dreaming states, shamans continue to uphold the practice of dreaming with their eyes open, and integrally co-creating their reality. We can learn from shamanic wisdom on dreaming, by integrating these ways to dreaming your world into being.

I had a profound moment not so long ago. I asked the question, who is dreaming me? In your dreaming state, your body is lying in bed doing the dreaming. You are having an experience in one realm, separate from your body. Sometimes these dreams seem very real. So it begs the question, is there another “me” somewhere dreaming this reality? The shamans would say yes. The wisdom of the earthkeepers says that the only reason the world is real is because we have dreamt it into being.

So how do we become dreamers of our dreams and masters of our existence, instead of being dreamed by reality and potentially living in a nightmare?

One of the problems we run into on an existential level when we don’t end up dreaming our ideal reality is that we have set limitations on ourselves. We look at past scenarios and because something hadn’t happened before, we can’t comprehend that it might happen in the future. Even if we don’t limit ourselves, we often put an idea out into the universe but then it morphs, or falls behind into last week’s dream, or it takes a wrong turn and gets lost in among other dreams, and the energy behind it peters out. If you want to travel somewhere but you keep changing direction, then the likelihood of you reaching the intended destination becomes so limited that the only way you end up there is if it happens by chance.

Remember, we do this kind of unconscious dreaming in both good ways and bad ways. What would happen if we were able to instantly dream our world into being? Are we even ready for that?

(A Dream Journal made specifically for dreaming and to keep track of all your dreams and desires)

I was listening to Sadhguru tell a story from the yogic teachings the other day. He tells the story of a man walking in a field and he accidentally stumbles upon paradise. He feels tired and he thinks I wish I could rest somewhere. Suddenly he sees an inviting tree with cushioned grass underneath it. He lays down to nap and after a time he wakes up and thinks to himself, I’m hungry, I wish I had something to eat. When he thought of all of the nice things he ever had to eat, suddenly all of the most amazing food he could possibly want appears in front of him. Then he thinks, I’m thirsty, I wish I had something to drink, and when he thought of all of his favorite drinks, they appeared in front of him. Intoxicated from the food and drink his monkey mind started to wander. He started to question what was happening. I ask for food and food came, I ask for drink and drink came…there must be ghosts around here, he thought. And ghosts appeared. Then he thought, these ghosts are going to torture me! And the ghosts tortured him. Then he thought, these ghosts are going to kill me! And he died.

In this realm, thankfully we have the concept of time, which adds to delays when we request what we want. It’s a good thing, really, that everything we think we want doesn’t happen instantaneously. We could end up in trouble like our friend in the story.

The problem with most of us, especially in the western world, is that we think too much and let our thoughts run out of control. When we do have a handle on things, we use logic and analytics instead of intuition and creativity. Think of a simple-minded person who has no concept of realizing their dreams because their whole life has been limited. Perhaps all they know how to do is pray. So they pray for a home for their family. Even though they don’t have the money to build a house, they have unwavering faith that a higher power will one day bless them with a home. And eventually, when they are in the home they manifested, they might say…the Lord provided. The shaman thinks in much the same way, but without putting it on prayer or faith. For them, it’s a matter of moving through the creative matrix of existence. What some people think of as God, the shaman thinks of as a channel to manifest. There’s a reason people refer to their god as “The Creator”. The shaman is able to tap into that creative power to construct their reality.

To dream your world into being entails pushing past fears, letting go of limiting beliefs, and imagining that absolutely anything is possible. Here are a few tips to start to dream your world into being.

Focus on the destination, not the journey

We dream too small sometimes. You might think, if I had enough money then I could buy the house I want, instead of just thinking of the house you want, and not all the steps you think you need to get there. If you believe that money is the answer, or that it must only happen in one particular way that your human mind deems is the right way, then you might not ever get there. Visualize the end goal, and don’t worry about all the in-between steps. Leave that other aspect of yourself that’s doing the dreaming. When you fully surrender to the process, you might end up being surprised by how it all gracefully unfolds.

Be clear on what you want. Move from compulsive to conscious

As mentioned previously, if we keep switching direction, we’ll never end up at our destination. So stop getting hijacked by shiny objects. The most successful dreams are the long-held ones. Put together a vision board, or a Pinterest page with photos of what you are envisioning, or write it down in a journal and come back to it from time to time. If you are constantly having to edit it, then you’re confusing the energy of the dream. Be clear and concise, but not so exact that you don’t have any wiggle room if you need to change it slightly.

Don’t limit yourself

For those that say it is not possible because of lack of money, or resources, or physical limitations, then it is not possible. In our world, we put so many limitations on our dreams. Remember that everything that we have created on this planet, both good and bad, we have first created in our minds. At one point, humans had never flown. Maybe the only way a human thought they could fly was if their bones got lighter and they grew wings. But now look at all of the functional and exhilarating ways to fly – airplanes, paragliding, kiteboarding, skydiving, wingsuits. Do you think we could have imagined we would now have all of these options 200 years ago? We dreamed the dream of flying, and it manifested in more ways than one. Anything is possible.

Align your physical, emotional, mental, and energetic actions

Physcially speak, emotionally feel, mentally think, and energetically align with whatever it is that you want to dream into existence. When you think one thing, but then tell your friend, this is what I want but I can’t afford it, or you are filled with self-doubt, then you are muddling up your communications with your dreamer. Focus on aligning every action on every subtle level with your goal.

Dream big

It’s one thing to dream up sailboats, a nice car, or the perfect partner. That’s just practice. We need to start to dream bigger so that we can dream our entire reality into one that the shamans have been dreaming of for generations. One that is sustainable, where we can co-create with others within our community, and where we honor and respect this planet as keepers of the garden. For me, I am ready to start co-creating a better future for our Mother Earth, and for future generations. The more people that are in alignment with dreaming our world into a better place, the more successful we will be as a collective.

A Dream Journal made specifically for dreaming and to keep track of all your dreams and desires