Abraham Lincoln’s Prophetic Dream

Abraham Lincoln’s infamous “prophetic” dream. Was it REALLY prophetic or coincidental?

I’m a huge history buff, and the Civil War Era is a particular favorite.  The bravery and boldness of those men and women fighting for what was right – and winning in the end.  Reading about this period of time is better than any novel or movie on the market today!

Naturally, Abraham Lincoln is someone I love reading about – the more, the better.  The dreamologist and the historian in me meet up each time I (we?) read about the prophetic dream he had during his Presidency.

A few weeks before his tragic assassination, Abraham Lincoln dreamed that he saw someone lying in a coffin.  In the dream, he asked someone was in the coffin.

Their response?  “The President.”

It would be very easy to say that dreams are able to “predict” events based upon this example.  However, logic must prevail.  Many threats, at this time, were being made against President Abraham Lincoln’s life.  The people around him were constantly having to step up their security measures.  No doubt it was a frequent topic of conversation and, given the fact that Abraham Lincoln was (although a great hero) still a mere human, he probably thought about these threats a great deal.

Can you imagine?  Knowing that people want to kill you?!  OF COURSE his dreams were affected.  How could they not be?

Dreams are often our mind’s way of “dealing with” and “processing” information and situations.  Combine this with the fact that stress can greatly affect your dreams, I would imagine that Abraham Lincoln had a very disturbing dream life.

His dream is simply an example of how our fears and thoughts manifest themselves into our dreams.  It’s also a clear example of how we can use our dreams to help and, even, protect us.  If Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest men to ever live, had heeded his dream’s warning and taken extraordinairy securtiy measures, his life might not have ended as it did – or when it did.  If he had realized that the threat was still extremely high – then he could have stayed out of the public eye for a while longer.  OR, insist on much, much tighter security when he did make a public appearance.

Like most things in our lives, dreams can help us to achieve a better life.   And, yes, sometimes, even a longer life.

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” – Abraham Lincoln