I was born in a Communist country, and atheism was pushed on us since the first years of life. Atheism was the state religion. What you are told as a kid has very strong influence on you, as you believe everything the adults tell you. Many are born in families that have Atheism as their family religion. I know many examples of people who believed that false religion for part of their life and then managed to get themselves out of its grip. I suppose Ray refers to people who willingly embrace atheism as adult thinking persons and not to those who were brainwashed into it since ever. I was once told by a very thoughtful old lady, I embrace atheism not because I believe it can be true, but just because it fits my lifestyle.  We can so easily hide ourselves behind a finger, like little kids, sometimes. (As a youngster with hormones ranging, she was trying to corrupt me and convince me to go sleep with her)

David in the Hebrew Bible prays: "Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good." In our youths we do many terrible things without realizing the gravity of what we are doing.

Maybe some of those kind dreams are warning dreams to change our paths, as to not end up in the Land of Darkness, that Ray talks about? Just wondering, I had those dreams too in my youth.

Ritu The people I am around are "heavy" dreamers. They could talk on and on forever about all kinds of dreams. I could write many books just with the dreams I had. I inclined to believe some of those were prophetic dreams about the future.  But I have to admit there is also a lot of noise dreams that don't seem to make any sense at all. I believe the kinds of foods we eat influence a lot the kind of dreams we have. When I switched to a mostly plant-based diet my dreams changed, and I could also more easily remember them. A heavy meal can give you night long nightmares. 

I inclined to believe there is strong correlation between our spiritual life and the kind of dreams we usually dream. At least that's what my experience has been. When you are in communion with God, you enter some kind of rest where you don't strive any longer, and the dreams follow that kind of restfulness and serene peace and joy. 

I also find the if there is a recurring theme in the dreams, those kinds of dreams are usually God and his army of holy beings trying to instruct us, protect us from peril, etc. The scenery may be different, but the theme is the same.

You see this idea in the Hebrew Scriptures too. The Egyptian Pharao has 2 dreams with the same theme. 7 ugly, gaunt cows eat 7 well feed beautiful cow. In the second dream 7 thin and scorched ears of grain swallow 7 full and healthy ears of grain. Same theme but the imagery is not necessarily the same. You can see this idea in other parts of Hebrew Bible and the New Testament too.

"For God may speak in one way, or in another,  Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction"

That's a quote from the Hebrew Bible, Job 33:14-16. The way I understand that is that God speaks to everybody (man used in generic way meaning humankind) - everybody dreams. Yet not everybody pays attention/perceive/remembers and acts accordingly. 

Angela Derbawka Although I did reply under your comment, I didn't necessarily mean to state anything about you Angela. I am sorry if what I wrote in a hurry, came that way.  I was just stating a general fact that I don't agree with Ray, that people who dream are rare.  I said we; I included myself in that too.

TBH, for a moment, when Ray stated that, I thought, wow I dream a lot, I am one of those "rare" people. But pretty much everybody dreams all the time, it's natural part of life.  And research seems to validate that. Even the very rare people who say they don't dream, research seem to indicate that they just don't remember their dreams. But dreaming is normal part of the human, dog and many other animals experience. I said dog, because my little Bishon sleeps next to me while working, and I can see and sometimes even hear him acting his dreams. He may move his legs as if running, sometimes he cries or barks while sleeping. He is dreaming...

Angela Derbawka We are totally special, unique and amazing! I would argue though that how much we dream is not something that somewhat makes us more special, because that's something that is extremely common. According to my understanding, somebody who doesn't remember dreams is more "unique", those kind of people are very rare. In fact I haven't met one yet.

Most people have this kind of dreams, we are not special in any way, because of the kind of dreams we have. You would hard press to find somebody who doesn't have this kind of dreams.

And note that it is not that they don't dream, it's just that they can't remember their dreams.

According to this research, people who can't remember their dreams are rather rare, 5-6% of people.  Does Everyone Dream? | Discover Magazine