​Each one of us has a unique inner Light of the Self, which colors our inner soul and is ours to express in the world. When you experience it, you feel you have come home. When it is blocked from your daily experience, you suffer consciously or unconsciously a deep loss or sorrow. It is through deep self-reflection, including exploration of your dreams, that you rediscover or remember this Inner Light that imprints your soul. 
One of the greatest lessons to learn about dreaming is the ability to experience the light of the inner Self while in the dream state, just as one does in deep meditation. For individuals who do not meditate, dreaming may be their alternate doorway for entering higher states of consciousness to experience the inner light of the Self, whether they recall this experience or not. For those who meditate, the dream life is enriched and dreams begin to assist the meditation discipline. Entering meditation and entering higher dream states can be your partners in self-reflection and in experiencing higher states of consciousness.
Light is the nature of consciousness, and by modifying, controlling or manipulating light we change consciousness, and we can influence or control dreams. It only takes the memory of looking into a clear night sky of stars to understand the mind-altering nature of light as experienced in the three-dimensional canopy of the sky – with its stars of light and contrasting darkness. Mental visualization itself is only possible because of the subtle light of the mind that creates and illumines what we call mental imagery. Every great artist knows the power of light.

​–  Paul Overman, PhD. From his upcoming-expanded edition of Soul Dreaming: Dreaming Under Guidance of Soul for Self, Others and Creation; formerly entitled, The Shamanic Dream.

A man came to see me. He appeared to have a question on his mind. He asked me to lead him into a waking-dream state that I call shamana dreaming. He immediately recalled having extraordinary experiences and abilities as a child, recovering them in this present-time experience — a re-awakening. Then, he saw his past and his "father's" house. It changed before his eyes, old structures and barriers or walls falling-down, creating new visions or openings — his perspective widening. 

As his perspective opened and widened, with the collapsing of the fixed walls of his childhood house (perspectives and expectations of the past), he was transported across an ocean, across time and space and came to a far off mountain. He was shown that this mountain held secrets to "transformation" and that he could be part of that process of transformation, in that place.

He was also shown an alternative choice of living a different life, closer to his current home, and also on a mountain, with other duties to take his time. He was shown some specific details about that life track possibility. Later in life, these choices came his way in most concrete forms for his waking-world reality, and he chose one. He chose the one that felt most familiar, as it appeared, the one closer to home with known-comfortable associations and ways of living – one that appeared to ring immediately in his heart. 

One can only if the two paths will someday meet.

In a post tomorrow I will talk briefly introduce dreams of the past, present and future, and introduce the phenomenon and ability or power to see the past, present and future through inner seeing and inner listening — topics, among others, to be explored over the next few weeks.