phetic dreams received by Joseph became the building blocks of Christianity (Innes 18). The birth of Jesus was prefigured in a dream (18). When Joseph and Mary were about to get engaged, Mary had an unexpected pregnancy (Innes18). Later an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him of the child’s destiny (18). Soon after Jesus was born Joseph had another dreams, in which the angel told him to take his family and move to Egypt to stop King Herod from killing his son, and only to return after Herod’s death (18). God told Joseph of the future in this dream. If he didn’t to so Christianity may not exist today. Many Native American civilizations believe that what you see in a dream is something very close to what is about to happen in reality. The Yuma are one of the tribes who strongly believe this. The Yuma regard dreams as the basis of their religion and traditions, believing that they begin before birth and are more real than waking experiences (Innes 24). This is true because when we sleep we don’t have to deal with the problems of waking life. On the word of James Lewis, the Kamia, a neighboring tribe of the Yuma, the knowledge of destiny of the human soul can be derived from dreams (167). He also said that the Dakota interpret dreams as prophetic messages from the spirit world (168). Hirsch stated that some Native American send young boys away for a period of fasting a prayer when they are supposed to receive precognitive messages of their future (22). They are sent to a secluded place without food or water, to have visions of their destiny, which will help him/her find their path in life. They may not return to their homes until they have such a dream. David F. Dinges, the man I interviewed, is the president – elect of a sleep research organization. He enjoys studying stages of sleep. I asked him what he thought about dreams, and if he thought they had the ability to predict the future. H...
