The Revelation of Dreaming About Finding a Toilet When Urgently Needing to Urinate

Xuefeng

November 20, 2022

The myriad phenomena of the vast universe are akin to a wordless heavenly book. Dreaming of urgently needing to find a toilet is one such phenomenon, a chapter in this heavenly book. We need to read it carefully and understand what this heavenly book is trying to tell us.

When we fall asleep, we lose awareness of the external world and instead enter the nonmaterial world. When awake, if we feel the urge to urinate, we find a toilet to relieve ourselves. The key question arises when we are asleep and unconscious of this urge, yet the "self" in the dream becomes anxious to find a toilet. Within the dream, we are awake.

This brings up several questions:

1.Are we asleep or awake when we dream?

2.Outside the dream, we are asleep, but within the dream, we are awake—does this mean there are two versions of "me"?

3.Is it the physical urge to urinate that awakens the "me" in the dream, or does the dream-self become aware of the urgency?

4.When we are deeply asleep, our state resembles that of a vegetative condition or even a "living corpse" whose heart is still beating. Why, then, does a conscious "me" appear in the dream? Does this suggest that when we die, another version of "me" continues to exist?

Let us analyze and reason through this step by step.

Undoubtedly, when we are asleep, we are unaware of the happenings in the material world around us unless stimulated by loud noises, shaking, or a sudden sharp sound. However, if the body experiences physical discomfort—such as pain, intense hunger, thirst, or the need to urinate—the dream-self may engage in activities to resolve this discomfort. In more severe cases, we may wake up entirely. This indicates the existence of both a "waking me" and a "sleeping me." Paradoxically, the "waking me" is often less sensitive, whereas the "sleeping me" becomes sharper and more alert.

The revelation here is that our intuitive, spiritual self is more sensitive and accurate than the rational self we rely on in the waking world. Further, it suggests that feeling and intuition are more reliable than analysis, and spirituality trumps rationality.

The self inside the dream and the self outside it are not entirely the same. While the waking self can easily address physical needs like urinating by finding a toilet, the dream self often fails to find a suitable place. Similarly, a hungry person might dream of a lavish feast, but the dream cannot resolve the hunger. This demonstrates that physical issues require material-world solutions, whereas mental and spiritual challenges demand resources from the nonmaterial world.

When the bladder is full, the only solution is to empty it. Light sleepers may wake up to urinate, while deep sleepers might wet the bed. If the bladder is empty, there is no dream of urgently finding a toilet. This teaches us that if our body is healthy, our mind free of distractions, and our heart at peace, we will rarely dream. Only specific triggers, like a full bladder, cause such dreams. By extension, if we are not hungry, we won’t dream of food; if our heart harbors no fear. we won’t have dreams of being chased by jackals, tigers, leopards, robbers, or evildoers. Other dreams follow the same pattern.

From the perspective of psychoanalysis, humans have the conscious, preconscious, and subconscious mind. Consciousness during waking hours belongs to the conscious mind, while dreaming of finding a toilet stems from the subconscious. Sudden insights while awake arise from the subconscious. For instance, Dmitri Mendeleev’s creation of the periodic table of elements was a result of his subconscious.

In Buddhism, the eight types of consciousness include eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, manas, and ālaya. The first six belong to the conscious mind, while ālaya corresponds to the subconscious. Dreaming of finding a toilet is related to the manas consciousness.

This raises another question: What kind of consciousness drives bees to make honey, spiders to weave webs, and migratory birds to navigate their journeys? My answer is that they do not operate under any specific type of consciousness—they act purely on instinct. But then, what is instinct? Instinct is precisely subconscious awareness, which aligns with what Buddhism describes as ālaya consciousness.

From the perspective of spiritual cultivation, humans have a "small self" and a "greater self." The small self represents conscious awareness, while the greater self embodies subconscious wisdom. The greater self determines everything about the small self.

This brings us to an intriguing question: Who exactly is searching for a toilet in the dream?

We must first ask: Who designed this dream scenario where we urgently need to find a toilet? The answer is obvious—it is the subconscious.

Then, is the subconscious "me" still truly "me"?

My answer is this: The subconscious is the Tao. It is the Tao that governs all occurrences and transformations.

Hunger makes us crave food, fatigue makes us seek sleep, a full bladder makes us want to urinate, and pain makes us groan—all these natural phenomena result from the operation of the Tao. This is the natural way. When we align with the natural way, we experience health, smooth progress, and freedom from misfortune. When we act against the natural way, we encounter illness, difficulties, and disasters—and, naturally, we may wet the bed.

The ultimate revelation of dreaming about urgently finding a toilet is this: The Tao governs all events and changes. The best way to live is to follow the natural way.

With this understanding, we see more clearly that the higher the level of a LIFE, the more it seeks spiritual matters, while the lower the level, the more it pursues material rationality. This is why the guide encourages us to live a spiritual life rather than a rational one—because rationality is a human trait, whereas spirituality is a celestial trait. Rationality belongs to the material realm, whereas spirituality belongs to the nonmaterial realm.