In such circumstances, many people are turning to other, non-traditional sources for religious guidance. From this perspective, then, it makes complete sense that interest in dreams, and specifically in the spiritual dimensions of dreams, has become so strong in our culture. Dream often speak to our most troubling, conflict-filled concerns, and offer us guidance, inspiration, and hope. Indeed, it is interesting in this regard to compare out culture's current interest in dreams with the special role dreams play in non-Western cultures that have recently encountered the forces of Western modernity. A final contribution of religious studies to dream research involves the appropriate methodological tools to use in studying dreams.
Dreams are, and always have been, a powerful source of religious experience and insight.
Phenominologically speaking, it is a plain fact that dreams do at times speak directly and powerfully to people's basic spiritual concerns. Many modern dream researchers have, to their credit, recognized this fact. But these researchers, who generally come from fields like depth psychology, cognitive psychology, and neurology, have no always had the conceptual resources needed to examine adequately the spiritual dimensions of dreams. Here is where religious studies must be brought into the dialogue, for the religious studies can provide the vocabularies, methods, and models we need to understand fully this important aspect of human experience. We must begin by attempting to clarify the relationship between dreams and myths.