The gate of history swings on small hinges. Sometimes, seemingly little things have a great impact on the course of humanity. It is no secret that a relatively small number of people have a disproportionate influence on history (think Julius Caesar, Ghandi, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Adolf Hitler, etc) In our own personal lives, we are deeply influenced by our dreams. I'm sure that you can easily think of several dreams that have impacted your life in some way. Many of the most influential people in history have dreamed dreams that have in some way altered their behavior in a way that changed the course of history.
Let's look at a few of the dreams that changed history.
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman, a former slave who lead hundreds of slaves to freedom by means of the underground railroad says she regularly dreamed about where to go to find safe houses. Pretty impressive considering she never lost a single “passenger."
Mahatma Ghandi
Mahatma Ghandi, who had been looking for a way to liberate his people from England had been meditating for days looking for a solution. One night he dreamed that everyone in India stopped working for 24 hours and devoted their time to fasting in prayer. This dream was the beginning of one of the most astoundingly revolutionary accomplishments in human history.
General George Patton
General George Patton, one of the most successful generals in history had so many dreams about strategy and his enemies’ plans that his personal secretary Joe Rosevich became very accustomed to getting calls from Patton in the middle of the night with instructions he had received in his dreams. One of these dreams lead to the successful surprise attack of the German Troops just as they were preparing to mount an attack on Christmas Day during the Battle of the Bulge. These many dreams and their success lead Patton to believe that he had some type of psychic ability. He trusted his dreams even more the intelligence he received from his intel officers.
Hannibal
Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, had a dream in which he saw an enormous, black serpent slithering along and destroying all that was in its path. The sky was overcast with smoking clouds and streaks of lightning. A beautiful young man then appeared (still in the dream) and told Hannibal that he (the young man) had been sent from the council of the gods. He told Hannibal that the dream was representative of the destruction of the Roman Empire and told him to "Go! The fates are going to be accomplished". Encouraged by this dream, Hannibal began his invasion of Italy shortly thereafter.
This list could go on and on. When you really start to look into the profound impact our dreams have on us, it makes you wonder why more attention is not paid to this important part of our lives. How seriously do you take your own dreams?
If you are interested in taking your dreams more seriously, you may want to learn Dream Leaf. It helps with lucid dreaming and dream recall.