Applying Critical Thinking Skills to Spiritual Practice

Photo by John Canelis

While teaching a college level class a Philosophy course on Critical Thinking I am struck by how useful certain concepts of critical thinking can be if applied to one’s spiritual practice.  Among these are:

1. Stop and think. Before making rash judgments about a person or situation:
   1. Step back and reflect on the “who, what and why” of a situation. Then use more complex thinking skills like comparison, evaluation and creativity to understand that situation and person more deeply.
   2. Check the facts and sources, especially on what most likely are rumors and misguided information.
2. Be open to hearing the other person’s views and try to get in their shoes to see where they are coming from. This doesn’t mean you have to accept everything the person says.  It does mean you care enough about that person to respect them, their opinion and the right for everyone to express their views.
3. Be aware that your own thinking processes keeping you from arriving at the truth. For some examples:
   1. In critical thinking the term “Self-serving Bias” refers our natural tendency to watch out for our own interests. While this is healthy to a certain degree, it can certainly go too far, not allowing us to see or understand the interests of other people in a situation.  It robs us of empathy.  We need to stop and be aware when that self-serving bias is kicking in too much.  We may see the self-serving bias at work in others but it is often very hard to spot in ourselves.
   2. Then there is “Ethical Fading,” a concept which means that when we are actively a member of a group, our personal values and morals may “fade” as we adopt the morals and values of the group to which we belong. This is fine if the group’s morals are more developed than our own, but it can be destructive if the opposite is true.  This means:
      1. We have to be aware of the values of the groups to which we belong. Are they lifting us up or are they bringing us down?
      2. We have to speak up when the group with a high standard starts to deviate from its moral compass.

Working with Dream Themes: Being Led by a Woman

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Being led by a woman in a dream was one of the search topics that led a person to my blog so I decided to write a bit on this topic.

Being led by someone suggests that whatever energy this person represents is the energy that is leading the dreamer somewhere.  Whenever one has a dream about someone leading them, as asking questions like “What does this person mean to me?” And “Why would this person be leading me?” need to be done because this person, real or imaginary, is exerting great influence on the dreamer.

If the dreamer often has dreams of being led by a man and then suddenly has dreams where he or she is being led by a woman, this would indicate masculine energy such as the drive to act rationally, compete, excel or succeed has been replaced by a feminine energy.  Feminine energy often includes such traits as acting intuitively, being inclusive, all-embracing, forgiving, etc.  This shift in being led could well represent an aspect of the quest for wholeness in the dreamer, signifying a new area of growth.

Many women (and men, too) who have developed their masculine side with a strong career may experience these dreams later in life as they sense the need to develop the feminine side of their natures.  This kind of drive may find expression in new pursuits with a nurturing or intuitive creative bent such as artistic hobbies, care-giving, mentoring, etc.

For a woman, this kind of dream may also mean that the woman needs to learn such things as taking better care of herself, nurturing herself, standing her ground, trusting her feminine instincts, supporting other women, and understanding what it means to be a woman’s woman.  This is all part of the Heroine’s Journey.  Please click here for an excellent free guide for the lady on such a journey: http://annedavin.com/heroines-journey-trail-guide/.

Dreams of Spiritual Transformation

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Big changes in life are usually easy to detect.  We all recognize when there is a need to change a job, or a desire to get married.  There are external and internal catalysts that tell us it’s time to make a change.   We no longer feel the job is right for us or we meet a special person who awakens new and wondrous feelings.  We go ahead and make the decisions that set in place the change, and change happens.   We get a new job or we get married.   Our lives are transformed.   We judge the success of the change by the outcome of the new job or marriage.

Monitoring Spiritual Transformation is Often Not So Simple

On the spiritual level, the need to make a change, as well as the ability to monitor the success and degree of change is often a lot more subtle, and may take years to notice if we lead a busy, work-filled lifestyle.  The catalysts for spiritual change, especially the profound and life altering changes at the soul level, such as the need to live for a deeper reason, or a loss of feeling comfortable with the way things are can bring on rich, insightful, and even guiding dreams that help one through the often difficult challenges and obstacles that happen later in the process of spiritual transformation.  Dreams help us get prepared for the shift at the soul level.

Dreamwork Helps Monitor Spiritual Change

Doing dreamwork over a long period of time has many advantages, and one of them is the ability to see one’s own spiritual transformation take place before one’s eyes, over a period of time, presently or imminently—before it actually manifests in waking life.  This can be especially helpful if one is going through a long, dark period when no glimmer of hope for change seems so on the horizon.

This transformation can be seen in dreams by symbols and stories of change.  A symbols doesn’t have to be obviously spiritual or religious, but the dreamer will make the association if it is.   An important symbol in the dream may actually morph and change shape, showing the type of transformation that will take place.  A process taking place in the dream may symbolize what the dreamer will go through.  Voices may actually tell the dreamer that change has taken place, or will take place.

I am reminded of a recent dream I had where I parked my car and walked off, only to return to find that my old car had morphed into an amazing new car that had a special feel to it.  Someone in the dream scene told me that I had parked my car in a “zone of transformation” so that caused the car to be transformed!  Previously in the past couple of years, I had dreams of my old car having brake and tire problems—even being blown up, all of which seem to reflect the many spiritual challenges I faced at this time that related to making my way through life.  This transformational dream related to my car certainly lets me know that all those challenges are leading to change!

The Last Glass Ceiling to be shattered by a Woman?

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In the many years that I have been teaching dreams in my dream ministry practice I have had hundreds of women students but only a handful of men students.  The men that I had in class were unusual in that they had highly integrated what I call the “feminine” side into their personality:  They were very respectful of women and women’s ways of doing things, they were sensitive, compassionate and comfortable not being “in control” all the time, and they were very intuitive—often a trait attributed to women.   In other words, they were the exact opposite of someone like Donald Trump.

For much of Western history, when women had no voice, men like Donald Trump ran the show and were in charge of religions and nations.  It is no wonder then that dreams and intuition were not respected as a valid form of awareness because these forms of consciousness require a certain passivity, a receptiveness to information that cannot be controlled—and the information received often runs counter to, and does not support, the practices of these male dominated institutions, especially when the practices are cruel and unjust.  As a result, in the old days, it was often the highly intuitive women, the so-called “witches” that were burned at the stake.

Even though many inroads have been made in allowing women to enter male environments, I have found that the ones who initially succeed are usually the ones that feel they have to act like men, and can outplay the men at their own game.   They can act overly rational, hard-hitting, cold and surprisingly inept at handling people.  The women that follow can be more themselves when men get used to them being around or being in charge.

Since Hillary Clinton has had such a hard time breaking the class ceiling of American politics, and no woman has even come close to entering the power structure of the Catholic Church, it makes me wonder that the very last glass ceiling to be shattered will be when a strong woman’s woman—one who is highly spiritual in a womanly way, and is intuitive and experienced in dreamwork and exploring the psyche—becomes the head a world religion.   Just imagine what a new perspective she can bring!