Dreams and Visions of the Cross
Given that billions of dreams occur around the world every night, it's not inconceivable that some of these feature a cross. In fact, we've had several emails from people who have experienced this, and here's the gist of our thoughts on this phenomenon.
Seeing a cross in a dream, or as some sort of vision when we're awake, is not unusual. Crosses, and other potentially meaningful symbols, have been seen by people for thousands of years. And many of these have been accepted as messages from God (for example, the dream of a black and white dog dreamt by the mother of St. Dominic.)
On waking, for the tiny proportion of dreams that are remembered, the mind naturally tries to analyse such dreams, and the question arises: Was it just the mind playing tricks, or was it a message from God or some other external supernatural force. Let's look at the skeptical view first.
It's all in the mind
Thousands of years ago probably most people believed that dreams were omens from the gods. When awake, we can generally control our thoughts. Asleep, we cannot. Primitive man could not explain sleep, let alone understand the process of dreaming, but since those times, many people have made it their professional and lifetime vocation to study sleep and dreams. And the common consensus is that dreams are created by our own brain activity.
Dreams, whether or not we remember them when we wake up, are an important part of sleep. The process of sleeping not only gives the muscles in our bodies chance to settle down, it also gives our brains chance to sort out emotions and it's not surprising if some of this mental reconfiguring creates experiences which are extremely vivid, repetitive and precise. The brain is capable of easily achieving this without any supernatural influence. In other words, a dream is a psycho-physiological activity with little evidence to the contrary.
Dream Interpreters
So searching for any 'meaning' in dreams is both futile and illogical. We are not ruling out the possibility of supernatural influences on dreams, and they could be a message from God (or the Devil), but it doesn't make much sense. When God has a message for us, we know quite clearly what the message is and we're not left wondering, searching for answers on internet pages like this. God doesn't waste time with cryptic clues. God's way is clear. (That is, if we bother to take notice.)
If you've experienced a special dream and are looking for a meaning, you might be tempted to accept the services of one of the countless 'dream interpreters' who can offer all sorts of illumination on a dream's meaning. Their inconsistency, however, leads one to doubt these strangers have any better notion than the person who actually experienced the dream. One can be so convinced there's some hidden meaning, that the possibility of there being no meaning is unacceptable.
The good news is, you don't have to allow yourself to be fooled by these people. Simply take an objective view, realise it's all in the mind, and then get on with your life.
Messages from God
But we're not completely trashing the possibility that external forces may send messages through dreams. Indeed, there is clear historical record of a Divine origin of some dreams. God, having created man, is fully aware of what dreams are. And whilst it makes no sense to us that messages might be transmitted when asleep, we cannot be certain that God doesn't sometimes prefer this medium. But if God does speak to us, we don't need a psychic researcher to translate for us. We can simply pray to God directly for guidance. (Instant. No cost.)
There is also clear historical record of people who have correctly interpreted dreams. For example, Joseph (acknowledging that true interpretation of dreams belongs to God) and the king, who correctly understood the message sent by God through a dream. The dream warned the king of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Then there's Daniel, who correctly interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, by having the same dream himself. Joseph understood his dream about Mary being pregnant with Jesus, Ezekiel's was pretty clear too (see Evangelists' Cross), and several others.
So how do we know if there's a real message?
If there is a message, the meaning will be unequivocal and no further translation will be required. And this is where you save your time and probably save your money also: Psycho-physiological dreams carry no message and consequently need no interpretation. Dreams carrying messages from God, as noted above, are clear enough not to need any interpretation.
