``In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep
sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then
he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction
that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride
from man.''
Job xxxiii., 15.
PREFACE.
``Dreams are rudiments of the great state to come.
We dream what is about to happen.''--BAILEY
The Bible, as well as other great books of historical and
revealed religion, shows traces of a general and substantial
belief in dreams. Plato, Goethe, Shakespeare and Napoleon
assigned to certain dreams prophetic value. Joseph saw eleven
stars of the Zodiac bow to himself, the twelfth star. The
famine of Egypt was revealed by a vision of fat and lean
cattle. The parents of Christ were warned of the cruel edict
of Herod, and fled with the Divine Child into Egypt.
Pilate's wife, through the influence of a dream, advised
her husband to have nothing to do with the conviction of
Christ. But the gross materialism of the day laughed at
dreams, as it echoed the voice and verdict of the multitude,
``Crucify the Spirit, but let the flesh live.'' Barabbas,
the robber, was set at liberty.
The ultimatum of all human decrees and wisdom is to gratify
the passions of the flesh at the expense of the spirit.
The prophets and those who have stood nearest the fountain
of universal knowledge used dreams with more frequency than
any other mode of divination.
Profane, as well as sacred, history is threaded with incidents
of dream prophecy. Ancient history relates that Gennadius
was convinced of the immortality of his soul by conversing
with an apparition in his dream.
Through the dream of Cecilia Metella, the wife of a Consul,
the Roman Senate was induced to order the temple of Juno
Sospita rebuilt.
The Emperor Marcian dreamed he saw the bow of the Hunnish
conqueror break on the same night that Attila died.
Plutarch relates how Augustus, while ill, through the dream
of a friend, was persuaded to leave his tent, which a few
hours after was captured by the enemy, and the bed whereon
he had lain was pierced with the enemies' swords.
If Julius Caesar had been less incredulous about dreams
he would have listened to the warning which Calpurnia, his
wife, received in a dream.
Croesus saw his son killed in a dream.
Petrarch saw his beloved Laura, in a dream, on the day she
died, after which he wrote his beautiful poem, ``The Triumph
of Death.''
Cicero relates the story of two traveling Arcadians who
went to different lodgings--one to an inn, and the other
to a private house. During the night the latter dreamed
that his friend was begging for help. The dreamer awoke;
but, thinking the matter unworthy of notice, went to sleep
again. The second time he dreamed his friend appeared, saying
it would be too late, for he had already been murdered and
his body hid in a cart, under manure. The cart was afterward
sought for and the body found. Cicero also wrote, ``If the
gods love men they will certainly disclose their purposes
to them in sleep.''
Chrysippus wrote a volume on dreams as divine portent. He
refers to the skilled interpretations of dreams as a true
divination; but adds that, like all other arts in which
men have to proceed on conjecture and on artificial rules,
it is not infallible.
Plato concurred in the general idea prevailing in his day,
that there were divine manifestations to the soul in sleep.
Condorcet thought and wrote with greater fluency in his
dreams than in waking life.
Tartini, a distinguished violinist, composed his ``Devil's
Sonata'' under the inspiration of a dream. Coleridge, through
dream influence, composed his ``Kubla Khan.''
The writers of Greek and Latin classics relate many instances
of dream experiences. Homer accorded to some dreams divine
origin. During the third and fourth centuries, the supernatural
origin of dreams was so generally accepted that the fathers,
relying upon the classics and the Bible as authority, made
this belief a doctrine of the Christian Church.
Synesius placed dreaming above all methods of divining the
future; he thought it the surest, and open to the poor and
rich alike.
Aristotle wrote: ``There is a divination concerning some
things in dreams not incredible.'' Camille Flammarion, in
his great book on ``Premonitory Dreams and Divination of
the Future,'' says: ``I do not hesitate to affirm at the
outset that occurrence of dreams foretelling future events
with accuracy must be accepted as certain.''
Joan of Arc predicted her death.
Cazotte, the French philosopher and transcendentalist, warned
Condorcet against the manner of his death.
People dream now, the same as they did in medieval and ancient
times.
The following excerpt from ``The Unknown,''[1] a recent
book by Flammarion, the French astronomer, supplemented
with a few of my own thoughts and collections, will answer
the purposes intended for this book.
[1]
``From `The Unknown.' Published by Harper & Brothers
Copyright, 1900, by Camille Flammarion.''
``We may see without eyes and hear without ears, not by
unnatural excitement of our sense of vision or of hearing,
for these accounts prove the contrary, but by some interior
sense, psychic and mental.
``The soul, by its interior vision, may see not only what
is passing at a great distance, but it may also know in
advance what is to happen in the future. The future exists
potentially, determined by causes which bring to pass successive
events.
``POSITIVE OBSERVATION PROVES THE EXISTENCE OF A PSYCHIC
WORLD, as real as the world known to our physical senses.
``And now, because the soul acts at a distance by some power
that belongs to it, are we authorized to conclude that it
exists as something real, and that it is not the result
of functions of the brain?
``Does light really exist?
``Does heat exist?
``Does sound exist?
``No.
``They are only manifestations produced by movement.
``What we call light is a sensation produced upon our optic
nerve by the vibrations of ether, comprising between 400
and 756 trillions per second, undulations that are themselves
very obscure.
``What we call heat is a sensation produced by vibrations
between 350 and and{sic} 600 trillions.
``The sun lights up space, as much at midnight as at midday.
Its temperature is nearly 270 degrees below zero.
``What we call sound is a sensation produced upon our auditory
nerve by silent vibrations of the air, themselves comprising
between 32,000 and 36,000 a second.
. . . . . .
``Very many scientific terms represent only results, not
causes. ``The soul may be in the same case.
``The observations given in this work, the sensations, the
impressions, the visions, things heard, etc., may indicate
physical effects produced without the brain.
``Yes, no doubt, but it does not seem so.
``Let us examine one instance.
``Turn back to page 156.@@@
``A young woman, adored by her husband, dies at Moscow.
Her father-in-law, at Pulkowo, near St. Petersburg, saw
her that same hour by his side. She walked with him along
the street; then she disappeared. Surprised, startled, and
terrified, he telegraphed to his son, and learned both the
sickness and the death of his daughter-in-law.
``We are absolutely obliged to admit that SOMETHING emanated
from the dying woman and touched her father-in-law. This
_thing unknown_ may have been an ethereal movement, as in
the case of light, and may have been only an effect, a product,
a result; but this effect must have had a cause, and this
cause evidently proceeded from the woman who was dying.
Can the constitution of the brain explain this projection?
I do not think that any anatomist or physiologist will give
this question an affirmative answer. One feels that there
is a force unknown, proceeding, not from our physical organization,
but from that in us which can think.
``Take another example (see page 57).@@@
``A lady in her own house hears a voice singing. It is the
voice of a friend now in a convent, and she faints, because
she is sure it is the voice of the dead. At the same moment
that friend does really die, twenty miles away from her.
``Does not this give us the impression that one soul holds
communication with another?
``Here is another example (page 163):@@@
``The wife of a captain who has gone out to the Indian mutiny
sees one night her husband standing before her with his
hands pressed to his breast, and a look of suffering on
his face. The agitation that she feels convinces her that
he is either killed or badly wounded. It was November 14th.
The War Office subsequently publishes his death as having
taken place on November 15th. She endeavors to have the
true date ascertained. The War Office was wrong. He died
on the 14th.
``A child six years old stops in the middle of his play
and cries out, frightened: ``Mamma, I have seen Mamma.''
At that moment his mother was dying far away from him (page
124).@@@
``A young girl at a ball stops short in the middle of a
dance and cries, bursting into tears. `My father is dead;
I have just seen him.' At that moment her father died. She
did not even know he was ill.
``All these things present themselves to us as indicating
not physiological operations of one brain acting on another,
but psychic actions of spirit upon spirit. We feel that
they indicate to us some power unknown.
``No doubt it is difficult to apportion what belongs to
the spirit, the soul, and what belongs to the brain. We
can only let ourselves be guided in our judgment and our
appreciations by the same feeling that is created in us
by the discussion of phenomena. This is how all science
has been started. Well, and does not every one feel that
we have here to do with manifestations from beings capable
of thought, and not with material physiological facts only?
``This impression is superabundantly confirmed by investigation
concerning the unknown faculties of the soul, when active
in dreams and somnambulism.
``A brother learns the death of his young sister by a terrible
nightmare.
``A young girl sees beforehand, in a dream, the man whom
she will marry.
``A mother sees her child lying in a road, covered with
blood.
``A lady goes, in a dream, to visit her husband on a distant
steamer, and her husband really receives this visit, which
is seen by a third person.
``A magnetized lady sees and describes the interior of the
body of her dying mother; what she said is confirmed by
the autopsy.
``A gentleman sees, in a dream, a lady whom he knows arriving
at night in a railroad station, her journey having been
undertaken suddenly.
``A magistrate sees three years in advance the commission
of a crime, down to its smallest details.
``Several persons report that they have seen towns and landscapes
before they ever visited them, and have seen themselves
in situations in which they found themselves long after.
``A mother hears her daughter announce her intended marriage
six months before it has been thought of.
``Frequent cases of death are foretold with precision.
``A theft is seen by a somnambulist, and the execution of
the criminal is foretold.
``A young girl sees her fiance', or an intimate friend dying
(these are frequent cases), etc.
``All these show unknown faculties in the soul. Such at
least is my own impression. It seems to me that we cannot
reasonably attribute the prevision of the future and mental
sight to a nervous action of the brain.
``I think we must either deny these facts or admit that
they must have had an intellectual and spiritual cause of
the psychic order, and I recommend sceptics who do not desire
to be convinced, to deny them outright; to treat them as
illusions and cases of a fortuitous coincidence of circumstances.
They will find this easier. Uncompromising deniers of facts,
rebels against evidence, may be all the more positive, and
may declare that the writers of these extraordinary narratives
are persons fond of a joke, who have written them to hoax
me, and that there have been persons in all ages who have
done the same thing to mystify thinkers who have taken up
such questions.
``These phenomena prove, I think, that the soul exists,
and that it is endowed with faculties at present unknown.
That is the logical way of commencing our study, which in
the end may lead us to the problem of the after-life and
immortality. A thought can be transmitted to the mind of
another. There are mental transmissions, communications
of thoughts, and psychic currents between human souls. Space
appears to be no obstacle in these cases, and time sometimes
seems to be annihilated.''
A few years ago a person whom I will designate as ``A''
related a dream to me as follows: ``I take no interest in
pugilism or pugilists, but I saw, in a dream, every detail
of the Corbett and Fitzsimmons mill, four days before it
took place out West. Two nights before the fight I had a
second dream in which a favorite horse was running, but
suddenly, just before the judge's stand was passed, a hitherto
unobserved little black horse ran ahead and the crowd shouted
in my ears, `Fitzsimmons wins!' ''
``B'' relates the following as a dream: ``I saw the American
soldiers, in clay-colored uniform, bearing the flag of victory
two weeks before the Spanish-American war was declared,
and of course before any living being could have known the
uniform to be adopted. Later I saw, several days before
the actual occurrence happened, the destruction of Cervera's
fleet by the American navy.'' Signed ``B.''
``Just after the South African hostilities began, I saw
in a dream a fierce struggle between the British and Boers,
in which the former suffered severe losses. A few nights
after I had a second dream in which I saw the contending
forces in a long-drawn contest, very disastrous to both,
and in which neither could claim a victory. They seemed
to be fighting to a frazzle.'' Signed ``C.''
``D'' related to me at the time of the occurrence of the
dream the following: ``It had been suggested to me that
the two cereals, corn and wheat, were too far apart, and
that I ought to buy corn. At noon I lay down on a lounge
to await luncheon; I had barely closed my eyes before a
voice whispered: `Don't buy, but sell that corn.' `What
do you mean?' I asked. `Sell at the present price, and buy
at 23 7/8.' '' The foregoing dream was related to me by
a practical, successful business man who never speculates.
I watched the corn market and know it took the turns indicated
in the dream.
In this dream we find the dreamer conversing with some strange
intelligence possessed of knowledge unknown to objective
reason. It could not, therefore, have been the waking thoughts
of the dreamer, for he possessed no such information. Was
the message superinduced through the energies and activities
of the waking mind on the subjective mind? This could not
have been, because he had no such thoughts; besides, the
intelligence given was free from the errors of the calculating
and anxious waking mind.
We must therefore look to other sources for an explanation.
Was it the higher self that manifested to Abraham in the
dim ages of the world? Was it the Divine Voice that gave
solace to Krishna in his abstraction? Was it the unerring
light that preceded Gautama into the strange solitudes of
Asia? Was it the small voice that Elijah heard in the desert
of Shurr? Was it the Comforter of Jesus in the wilderness
and the garden of distress? Or, was it Paul's indwelling
spirit of this earthly tabernacle? One thing we may truthfully
affirm--that it did not proceed from the rational, objective
mind of the rank materialist, who would close all doors
to that inner life and consciousness where all true religion
finds its birthmark, its hope, its promises and its faith;
which, rightly understood, will leave to the horrors of
the Roman crucifixion the twin thieves, superstition and
scepticism, while the angel of ``Goodwill'' will go free
to solace the world with the fruit and fragrance of enduring
power and promise{.} The steel chains that fasten these
hydra-headed crocodiles of sensuous poison around love and
destiny can only be severed by the diamond of wisdom and
knowledge.
A citizen worthy of confidence relates the following dream:
``In December, 1878, I saw in a dream my brother-in-law,
Henry Yarnell, suffering from a bloody knife wound; after
this I awoke, but soon fell asleep again. The second time
I dreamed of a similar scene, except that the wound was
the result of a shotgun. After this I did not go to sleep
again. I was much troubled about my dream, and soon started
in the direction of my brother-in-law's house. I had not
gone far, when I met an acquaintance who promptly informed
me that my brother-in-law had been shot.'' Signed ``E.''
A well-known resident of Chattanooga, Tenn., formerly of
New York City, will vouch for the accuracy of the following
incident in his life:
``On February 19, 1878, I was boarding with a family on
Christopher street, New York, while my wife and baby were
visiting my parents in the country, a short distance from
the city. Our baby was taken sick. The malady developed
into brain fever, followed by water on the brain, causing
the little one's death.
``At our boarding-place there was at the time a quartette
of us grass widowers, as we called ourselves, and in order
to pass away the time pleasantly we had organized a `grass
widowers' euchre club.' We used to meet almost every evening
after dinner in the dining-room, and play until about eleven
o'clock, when we would retire. On the above date I dreamed
that after playing our usual evening games we took our departure
for our rooms, and on the way up the second flight of stairs
I heard a slight movement behind me; on looking around I
found I was being followed by a tall figure robed in a long,
loose white gown, which came down to the floor. The figure
seemed to be that of a man--I would say, about seven feet
tall--who followed me up the second flight and along the
hallway, entering my room. After coming in the door he made
a circle of the room and seemed to be looking for something,
and when he approached the door to make his exit he stopped
still, and with a gesture of his hand remarked, `I have
taken all you have.' On the following morning, about 9:30
o'clock, I received a telegram from my wife announcing the
death of our only baby.'' Signed ``F.''
A well-known citizen of Chattanooga, Tenn., relates and
vouches for the truth of the following occurrence:
``Several years ago, when a boy, I had a schoolmate and
friend, Willie T., between whom and myself there sprung
up a mutual feeling of high regard. We were chums in the
sense that we were almost constantly together, both at school
and at home, and among the partnerships we formed was one
of having amateur shadowgraph and panoramic shows in the
basement of Willie's home. This much to show the mental
and social relationship that existed between us. Some time
during this association (I cannot recall the exact night
now) I had a strange dream, in which my chum appeared to
me with outstretched hand, asking me to shake, saying, `I
shall not see you any more.' With that, the dream lapsed
and was over. I thought nothing of the occurrence, and had
almost forgotten it, when one day, about a week later, during
which time I had not had a glimpse of my chum, while he
was out hunting with another friend, W. McC., in following
him over a rail fence, the latter's gun was accidentally
discharged in Willie's face and neck, resulting in instant
death. With this shocking news the memory of the dream I
had had came back to me vividly and puzzled me very greatly,
and indeed has puzzled me to this day.'' Signed ``G.''
The recipients of the above dreams are living to-day and
their names and address may be obtained, none of them are
credulous fanatics or predisposed to a belief in psychic
or spirit phenomena.
The above dreams, except two, cannot be explained by telepathy,
because the mental picture cast on the dream mind had not
in either instance taken place in waking life. This would
account for the dream perception of ``D,'' which did not,
in all probability, take place until after the murder had
been committed.
The vision of ``F'' might be disposed of in the same way.
In this instance ``F'' saw the white-robed specter open
the door, walk around the room and finally, taking his position
as if to depart, say: ``I have taken all you have.'' No
doubt this vision took place at the exact moment of the
child's death.
There are thousands of similar experiences occurring daily
in the lives of honest, healthy and sane human beings, that
rival the psychic manifestations of Indian Yogism or Hebrew
records.
Still men go on doubting this true and loving subjective
intelligence that is constantly wooing for entrance into
the soul and is ever vigilant in warning the material life
of approaching evils. They prefer the Witch of Endor, and
the Black Magicians of ancient Egypt to the higher, or Christ
self, that has been seen and heard by the sages and saints
of all ages, assuming appropriate symbols, as in the case
of the vision of ``F,'' where the angel of death was assumed.
To Paul it appeared as a great personal truth whom he was
relentlessly persecuting. To many a wayward son or daughter
of the present time, it appears as a dead relative or friend,
in order to approach the material mind and make its warning
more effective.
To those who were interested in the teachings of Christ,
but who after his death were inclined to doubt him, this
higher self materialized in the form of the Great Master
in order to impress on their material minds the spiritual
import of his teachings. So, to this day, when doubt and
temptation mar the moral instinct, God, through the spiritual
self, as Job says, approaches man while in deep sleep upon
the bed to impress his instructions that he may change man
from his purpose.
The spiritual world always fixes its orbit upon a straight
line, while the material world is fonder of curves. We find
man struggling through dreadful marshes and deserts of charlatanism
in order to get a glimpse into his future, instead of solicitously
following the straight line of inner consciousness that
connects with the infinite mind, from which, aided by his
Church and the healthy action of his own judgment, he may
receive those helpful spiritual impressions and messages
necessary to solace the longings of the searching soul.
The philosophy of the True Master is the straight line.
Pythagoras, Plato and Christ created angles by running vertical
lines through the ecclesiastical and hypocritical conventionalities
of their day. The new angles and curves thus produced by
the bold philosophy of the humble Nazarene have confronted
with impregnable firmness during the intervening ages the
sophistry of the Pharisees.
``In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep
falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth
the ears of men and sealeth their instruction. That he may
withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man.''--JOB
33:15.
``Man cannot contradict the laws of Nature. But, are all
the laws of Nature yet understood?''
``Real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny.''--LYTTON.
Those who live active lives exclude spiritual thought and
fill their minds with the fascinations of worldly affairs,
pleasure and business, dream with less frequency than those
who regard objective matters with lighter concern. The former
depend alone upon the voluptuous warmth of the world for
contentment; they look to money, the presence of some one,
or to other external sources for happiness, and are often
disappointed; while the latter, with a just appreciation
of temporal wants, depend alone upon the inner consciousness
for that peace which passeth all carnal understanding.
They are strengthened, as were Buddha and Christ, by suppressing
the sensual fires for forty days and nights in the wilderness
of trial and temptation. They number a few, and are never
disappointed, while the former number millions.
Nature is three-fold, so is man; male and female, son or
soul. The union of one and two produce the triad or the
trinity which underlies the philosophy of the ancients.
Man has a physical or visible body, an atom of the physical
or visible earth. He has a soul the exact counterpart of
his body, but invisible and subjective; incomplete and imperfect
as the external man, or _vice versa_.
The soul is not only the son or creation of man, but it
is the real man. It is the inner imperishable double or
imprint of what has outwardly and inwardly transpired. All
thoughts, desires and actions enter the soul through the
objective mind.
The automaton of the body responds as quickly to the bat
of the eye as it does to the movement of the whole body.
By it the foot-steps of man and the very hairs of his head
are numbered. Thus it becomes his invisible counterpart.
It is therefore the book of life or death, and by it he
judges himself or is already judged. When it is complete
nothing can be added or taken from its personnel. It is
sometimes partly opened to him in his dreams, but in death
is clearly revealed.
Man has also a spiritual body, subjective to, and more ethereal
than the soul. It is an infinitesimal atom, and is related
in substance to the spiritual or infinite mind of the universe.
Just as the great physical sun, the center of visible light,
life and heat, is striving to purify the foul miasma of
the marsh and send its luminous messages of love into the
dark crevices of the earth, so the Great Spiritual Sun,
of which the former is a visible prototype or reflection,
is striving to illuminate with Divine Wisdom the personal
soul and mind of man, thus enabling him to become cognizant
of the spiritual or Christ presence within.
The heresy and Herod of wanton flesh, degenerate victim
of the sensuous filth and fermentation of self-indulgence,
is ever striving to exile and suppress, from the wilderness
of sin, the warning cry of the Nazarite voice by intriguing
with the cunning, incestuous daughters of unholy thoughts
and desires.
The objective mind is most active when the body is awake.
The subjective influences are most active, and often fill
the mind with impressions, while the physical body is asleep.
The spiritual intelligence can only intrude itself when
the human will is suspended, or passive to external states.
A man who lives only on the sensual plane will receive his
knowledge through the senses, and will not, while in that
state, receive spiritual impressions or warning dreams.
Men and women rarely ever degrade themselves so low that
the small voice of the desert does not bring them a message.
Sodom and Gomorrah, vile with the debauchery of a nameless
crime, were not deserted by the angel of love until the
fire which they had lighted in their souls had consumed
them. The walls of Jericho did not fall until Rahab, the
harlot, had been saved and the inmates had heard for several
days the ram's-horn and the tramp of Joshua's infantry.
The evangelist Jonah, the Sam Jones of Hebrew theology,
exhorted the adulterous Nineveh many times to repentance
before it fell.
David, while intoxicated with the wine of love, from languishing
in the seductive embrace of the beautiful bathing nymph,
Bathsheba, heard the voice of Nathan. Surely God is no respecter
of persons, and will speak to all classes if the people
will not stiffen their necks or harden their hearts.
Women dream more often and more vividly than men, because
their dream composition is less influenced and allied to
external environments.
All dreams possess an element of warning or prescience;
some more than others. This is unknown to the many, but
is known to the observing few. There are many people who
have no natural taste for music, and who do not know one
note from another. There are also those who cannot distinguish
one color from another. To the former there is no harmony
of sound, and to the latter there is no blending of colors.
They are heard and seen, but there is no artistic recognition
of the same. Still it would be absurd to say to either the
musician or the artist: your art is false and is only an
illusion of the senses.
One man apparently never dreams; another dreams occasionally,
and still another more frequently; none atttempt{sic} to
interpret their dream, or to observe what follows; therefore,
the verdict is, ``There is nothing in dreams.'' (Schopenhauer
aptly says: ``No man can see over his own height.... Intellect
is invisible to the man who has none.'') The first is like
the blind man who denies the existence of light, because
he does not perceive it. The second and third resemble the
color-blind man, who sees but who persists in calling green
blue, and _vice versa_.
A fourth man sees in a dream a friend walking in his room;
the vision is so vivid he instantly gets up and strikes
a match. After making sure there is no intruder about the
room he looks at his watch and goes back to bed. The next
day he receives the unwelcome tidings that his friend died
at the exact moment of the vision.
At another time he hears in his dream a familiar voice cry
out in agony. Soon he hears of a shocking accident or distressing
illness befalling the one whose voice he recognized in the
dream.[2]
[2] For authentic records, see Flammarion's
``Unknown.''
The third man, already referred to, has about the same dream
experiences, but calls them strange coincidences or unconscious
cerebration, etc.
Again, the fourth man dreams of walking through green fields
of corn, grass or wheat. He notes after such dreams prosperous
conditions follow for at least a few days. He also notes,
if the area over which he passes is interspersed with rocks
or other adverse signs, good and bad follow in the wake
of the dream. If he succeeds in climbing a mountain and
finds the top barren he will accomplish his object, but
the deal will prove unprofitable. If it is green and spring-like
in appearance, it will yield good results. If he sees muddy
water, sickness, business depression or causes for jealousy
may develop.
A nightmare suggests to the dreamer to be careful of health
and diet, to relax his whole body, to sleep with his arms
down and keep plenty of fresh air in the room.
He sums up the foregoing with a thousand similar dream incidents,
and is led to believe certain dreams possess an element
of warning.
There are three pure types of dreams, namely, _subjective_,
_physical_ and _spiritual_. They relate to the past, present
and future, and are influenced by past or subjective, physical
and spiritual causes. The latter is always deeply prophetic,
especially when it leaves a vivid impression on the conscious
mind. The former, too, possesses an element of warning and
prophecy, though the true meaning is hidden in symbols or
allegory. They are due to contingent mental pictures of
the past falling upon the conscious mind of the dreamer.
Thus he is back at the old home, and finds mother pale and
aged, or ruddy and healthy, and the lawn withered or green.
It all augurs, according to the aspect the picture assumes,
ill or good fortune.
Physical dreams are more or less unimportant. They are usually
superinduced by the anxious waking mind, and when this is
so they possess no prophetic significance.
Dreams induced by opiates, fevers, mesmerism and ill health
come under this class. A man who gambles is liable to dream
of cards; if he dreams of them in deep sleep the warning
is to be heeded; but if it comes as a reverie while he sleeps
lightly he should regard it as worthless. Such dreams reflect
only the present condition of the body and mind of the dreamer;
but as the past and present enter into shaping the future,
the reflections thus left on the waking mind should not
go by unheeded.
We often observe matters of dress and exterior appearance
through mirrors, and we soon make the necessary alterations
to put our bodies in harmony with existing formalities.
Then, why not study more seriously the mental images reflected
from the mirror of the soul upon our minds through the occult
processes within us?
Thirdly, the spiritual dreams are brought about by the higher
self penetrating the soul realm, and reflecting upon the
waking mind approaching events. When we put our animal mind
and soul in harmony with our higher self we become one with
it, and, therefore, one with the universal mind or will
by becoming a part of it. It is through the higher self
we reach the infinite. It is through the lower self we fall
into the whirlpool of matter.
These dreams are a part of the universal mind until they
transpire in the life of man. After this they go to make
a part of the personal soul. Whatever has not taken place
in the mind, or life of man, belongs exclusively to the
impersonal mind. But as soon as a man lives or sees a thing,
that thing instantly becomes a part of his soul; hence,
the clairvoyant, or mind reader, never perceives beyond
the personal ego, as the future belongs exclusively to God
or the universal mind, and has no material, subjective existence;
therefore, it cannot be known except through the channels
of the higher self, which is the Truth or the Word that
is constantly striving to manifest itself through the flesh.
Our psychical research people give us conclusive proof of
mental telepathy or telegraphy between finite minds. Thus
communications or impressions are conveyed many miles from
one mind to another. This phenomenon is easier when one
or both of the subjects are in a state of somnambulence
or asleep.
In thought transference or mind reading it is absolutely
necessary to have a positive and a negative subject. Through
the same law that mental impressions are telegraphed from
one finite mind to another a man may place himself in harmony
with the infinite mind and thus receive true and healthful
warnings of coming evil or good. Homer, Aristotle and other
writers of the ancient classics thought this not improbable.
The statesman, the poet, the philosopher of the Bible were
unanimous in attaching prophetic significance to dreams.
Has the law of ethereal vibrations undergone any recent
changes to debar or molest the communion of the soul with
its spiritual father, any more than it has debarred contact
with its material mother or environments?
We only understand the great laws of nature by effects.
We know that vegetation planted in native soil and properly
attended with light, heat and moisture, will grow and yield
a certain species of fruit. We may infer how it does this,
but we cannot explain the process of transformation any
more than we can explain why certain tropical birds are
burnished with glowing colors, and that other birds under
the murky skies are gray and brown, while in the Arctic
regions they bleach.
In sleep we see, without being awakened, the angry lightning
rend the midnight clouds, and hear the explosive thunder
hurl its fury at us; but can we explain it any more than
our scientist can explain the natural forces of thought,
of love and hate, or the subtle intuition of woman?
What of the silhouette or the anthelion of the Scandinavian
Alps, and the aerial cities so often seen by explorers and
travelers? Do not they defy the law of optics? Must we understand
the intricacies of articulation and the forces back of it
before we can appropriate speech? Must we discard all belief
in an infinite mind because we cannot understand it, and
therefore say we are not a part of it because there is no
Infinite? Should we discard the belief in the infinitude
of number, because we cannot understand it, and therefore
say that finite number is not a part of the infinite?
No scientist or naturalist is so grossly stupid as to deny
the infinite expansion of numbers? If this be so, it establishes
the infinite of number, of which every finite number is
a part, and thus we have a parallel in mathematics, the
very cornerstone of the exact sciences, for a finite and
an infinite mind. It is from the prototype of this infinite
of number, namely, the infinite of intelligence, that spiritual
dreams proceed. They are, therefore, the reflection of truth
upon the dream mind and occur with less frequency than do
dreams of the other two classes.
There are also mixed dreams, due to a multitude of incidents
arising from one or more sources, which being reflected
upon the mind at the same instant, produce an incoherent
effect similar to that which might be produced by running
the same newspaper through two or more presses all of different
size type.
Again, if you sit before a mirror where flashlights of faces
and other things are reflected simultaneously and instantly
removed, you will fail to obtain a well-defined impression
of what passed before your mind.
If you should pass on a train, at the speed of two miles
a minute, through a forest of flowers and trees, your mind
would be unable to distinguish one flower or tree from another.
It is in a similar way dream life and incidents may fall
upon the mind.
A woman may dream of receiving a letter, and in the same
connection see muddy water, or an arid landscape. Closely
following, in waking life, she is astonished to receive
a letter in about the same manner of her dream, but the
muddy water and the arid landscape are missing.
This is a mixed dream and is due to more than one cause.
The first part is literal in its fulfilment, and belongs
to the spiritual class; the other part of the dream is subjective,
and therefore allegorical in meaning. Together with the
letter, it was a forewarning of misfortune.
These dreams are more difficult of interpretation than those
belonging to the spiritual type. In such dreams you may
see water, letters, houses, money, people, and countless
other things. The next day you may cross water or receive
a letter; the other things you may not see, but annoyance
or pleasure will follow.
Again, you may have a similar dream and not receive a letter
or cross water, but the waking life will be filled with
the other dream pictures and you will experience disappointing
or pleasant surprises as are indicated by the letter or
water sign.
I have selected the allegorical type of dreams for the subject
of this work. Dreams that are common occurrences and are
thought by the world to be meaningless.
I have endeavored, through the occult forces in and about
me to find their esoteric or hidden import.
_Dreams transpire on the subjective plane. They should therefore
be interpreted by subjective intelligence_. This, though
burdened with many business cares, I have honestly endeavored
to do. Through the long hours of many nights I have waited
patiently and passively the automatic movement of my hand
to write the subjective definitions without receiving a
word or a single manifestation of intelligence, and again
the mysterious forces would write as fast as my hand could
move over the paper.
I will leave it for my readers to draw their own conclusions
as to whether automatic writing is the work of extraneous
spirits, through the brain and intelligence of the medium,
or the result of auto-suggestive influence upon the subjective
personality.
It is argued by the Materialist, with some degree of strength,
that the healthy man does not dream, This is, perhaps, true,
in a way, but the whole man comprises the past, present,
and future. The past and future always embrace more of the
conditions that surround him than the present. The present
is only the acute stage, while the chronic stage, considered
from a personal view, is the past and future combined. Man
cannot eliminate entirely these states from himself, for,
while they are past and future to the personal mind, they
are ever present to the higher subjective senses; he is,
therefore, never in perfect health unless these states are
in harmony with the present. The personal self, in a normal
state, cannot free itself from the past or from the anxieties
of the future.
The reader should ever keep before his mind the fact that
no man ever had the same dream twice. He may have had very
similar dreams, but some detail will be missing. Nature
seems to abhor duplicates. You could no more find two dreams
alike than you could find facsimiles in two blades of grass.
A man cannot live two days exactly alike. Different influences
and passions will possess him. Consequently, no two dreams
can be had under exactly the same influences. Stereotypes
are peculiarly the invention of man and not of God or nature.
Since it is impossible to find a man twice in exactly the
same mental state, it is equally impossible for him to dream
the same dream twice; therefore, it is only possible to
approximate dream interpretation by classing them into families.
This I have attempted to do in a more comprehensive way
than other writers who have preceded me.
All men are acquainted with health and sickness, love and
hate, success and failure. Sickness, hate and failure belong
to kindred families, and often ally their forces in such
a way that it is hard to say whether the dreamer will fail
in love, health or some business undertaking. But at all
times a bad symbol is a warning of evil, though that evil
may be minimized or exaggerated, or _vice versa_, according
as signs are good.
Thus, if the dream symbol indicates wealth or fortune to
the peasant, his waking life may be gladdened by receiving
or seeing a fifty-cent piece, or finding assuring work,
while the same symbol to a wealthy man would mean many dollars,
or a favorable turn in affairs.
It is the same in physical life. A man may hear the sound
of a wagon. He cannot determine by the rattle of the wheels
whether it is laden with laundry, groceries or dry goods.
He may judge as to its size and whether it is bearing a
heavy or a light burden. When it objectifies he will be
able to know its full import and not before. So with dream
symbols. We may know they are fraught with evil or good,
as in the case of Pilate's wife, but we cannot tell their
full meaning until their reflections materialize before
the objective sense.
Death is more frequently foretold by dream messages or visions,
as explained in another part of this chapter.
During sleep the will is suspended, leaving the mind often
a prey to its own fancy. The slightest attack of an enemy
may be foretold by the unbridled imagination exaggerating
the mental picture into a monstrous shark or snake, when,
indeed, a much less portentous sign was cast from the dream
mold.
A woman may see a serpent in waking life and through fright
lose reason or self-control. She imagines it pursues her
when in reality it is going an opposite direction; in a
like way dreams may be many times unreal.
The mind loses its reason or will in sleep, but a supersensitive
perception is awakened, and, as it regains consciousness
from sleep, the sound of a knock on the wall may be magnified
into a pistol shot.
The sleeping mind is not only supersensitive as to existing
external sounds and light, but it frequently sees hours
and days ahead of the waking mind.
Nor is this contradictory to the laws of nature. The ant
housed in the depth of the earth, away from atmospheric
changes, knows of the approach of the harvest, and comes
forth to lay by his store.
In a like manner, the pet squirrel is a better barometer
of the local weather than the Weather Bureau. With unerring
foresight, when a wintry frown nowhere mars the horizon,
he is able to apprehend a cold wave twenty-four hours ahead,
and build his house accordingly.
So in sleep, man dreams the future by intuitive perception
of invisible signs or influences, while awake he reasons
it out by cause and effect. The former seems to be the law
of the spiritual world, while the latter would appear to
be the law of the material world. Man should not depend
alone upon either. Together they proclaim the male and female
principle of existence and should find harmonious consummation.
In this manner only can man hope to achieve that perfect
normal state to which the best thought of the human race
is aspiring, where he can create and control influences
instead of being created and controlled by them, as the
majority of us are at the present day.
God, the highest subjective source of intelligence, may
in a dream leave impressions or presentiments on the mind
of man, the highest objective source of intelligence.
The physical sun sends its light into the dark corners of
the earth, and God, the Spiritual Sun, imparts spiritual
light into the passive and receptive soul.
Man, by hiding in a cave, or closing the windows and doors
of his house, may shut out all physical light; so he may
steep his soul in sensual debauchery until all spiritual
light is shut out.
Just as the vital essence of the soil, the mother of nature,
may be extracted by abuse, either from omission or commission,
until neither the light of the sun, nor the moisture of
the heavens will wake the flush of life, so may the spiritual
essence be deadened when the soil of the soul is filled
with the aged and multiplying weeds of ravishing materiality.
The dream mind is often influenced by the waking mind. When
the waking mind dwells upon any subject, the dream mind
is more or less influenced by it, and it often assists the
waking mind in solving difficult problems. The personal
future, embodied in the active states of the universal mind,
may affect the dream mind, producing premonitions of death,
accidents and misfortune.
The objective mind rejoices or laments over the aspects
of the past and present, while the spiritual mind, striving
with the personal future, either laments or rejoices over
the prospective conditions.
One is the barometer of the past, while the other is the
barometer of the future.
If we study carefully the spiritual impressions left upon
the dream mind, through the interpretations of this book,
we will be able to shape our future in accordance with spiritual
law.
Thus our temporal events will contribute to our spiritual
development, and in turn our spiritual knowledge will contribute
to our temporal welfare. Without this harmonious interaction
of the two great forces in man, the Divine plan of destiny
cannot be reached.
This can only be accomplished through the material mind
or reason dominating the animal emotions of the heart. In
this way we would not covet our neighbor's goods, or grow
angry with our brother over trifles.
The house vacated by the sefish{sic} appetites of the world
would be filled with the whispers of spiritual love and
wisdom necessary to the mutual welfare and development of
body and soul.
The theory used in this book to interpret dreams is both
simple and rational. By the using of it you will be surprised
to find so many of the predictions fulfilled in your waking
life. We deal with both the thought and the dream. The thought
or sign implied in the object dreamed of and the influence
surrounding it are always considered in the interpretation.
Thoughts proceed from the visible mind and dreams from the
invisible mind. The average waking mind receives and retains
only a few of the lessons of life. It is largely filled
with idle and incoherent thoughts that are soon forgotten.
The same may be truly said of the dream mind. Many of our
day thoughts are day dreams, just as many of our night dreams
are night thoughts. Our day deeds of evil or good pierce
or soothe the conscience, just as our night symbols of sorrow
and joy sadden or please the objective senses. Our day's
thoughts are filled with the warnings and presence of the
inner mind and our night's thoughts are tinctured and often
controlled by our external mind.
Some writer has said: ``Everything that exists upon earth
has its ethereal counterpart.'' Christ said: ``As a man
thinketh so is he.'' A Hindu proverb says: ``Man is a creature
of reflection; he becomes that upon which he reflects.''
A modern metaphysicist says: ``Our thoughts are real substance
and leave their images upon our personality, they fill our
aura with beauty or ugliness according to our intents and
purposes in life.'' Each evil thought or action has its
pursuing phantom, each smile or kindly deed its guiding
angel, we leave wherever we ignobly stand, a tomb and an
epitaph to haunt us through the furnace of conscience and
memory.
Closely following in the wake of our multiplying evil thoughts
are armies of these ghastly spectres pursuing each other
with the exact intents and purposes of the mind that gave
them being. If we consider well these facts we will be forced
into thinking our best thoughts at all times. Thoughts are
the subjective and creative force that produces action.
Action is the objective effect of thought; hence the character
of our daily thoughts is making our failure or success of
to-morrow.
The impersonal mind deals with all time and things as ever
present. The objective mind is constantly striving to penetrate
the spiritual realm, while the spiritual mind is striving
to enter matter, hence our actions have their subjective
counterparts and their subethereal counterparts. The universal
mind, in harmony with the evolutionary plans and laws of
the macrocosms, materializes through functions of the microcosm,
imparting to each, with its routine of failure and success,
its daily objectivity. The inner or passive dream mind may
perceive the subjective types or antitypes many days before
they objectify through the microcosm. Their meaning is often
wrapt in symbols, but sometimes the actual as it occurs
in objective life is conveyed. Our own thought images which
have passed before the objective mind may be perceived by
the clever mind reader, but those antitypes which are affecting
our future, but which have none other but subjective existence,
are rarely ever perceived by any one except by the power
of the higher self or the spirit within. For this reason
we are enjoined by the sages to study self. With the physical
mind we only see physical objects, with the subjective mind
we see only subjective objects. This was Paul's doctrine
and it is the belief of the best psychic thought of this
century. By means of our reason-- an objective process for
divining the future--aided by mathematical and geographical
data, we may outline the storm centers and the path of the
rain days before they appear in certain localities. After
eliminating all contingencies arising from clerical error
and counteracting influence, the prognostication is sure
of fulfilment. For centuries ahead the astronomer foretells
the eclipse of the moon and the sun and the arrival of comets.
He does not do this by crossing the borderland dividing
the spiritual from the physical world. In a like manner
the subjective forces operate upon their own planes and
know very little even of their own corporal realm, just
as our physical senses know little, if anything, of the
soul or spiritual habitation. They know that by gross living
the sense of conscience may be dulled, or that by right
living it may be strengthened. In like manner the subjective
mind perceives by its own senses certain invisible types
of evil seeking external manifestations in the microcosm.
It knows that these forms of error will work harm to the
objective mind, and that if persisted in they will pervert
all intercourse or interchange of counsel between the two
factions of the man. In this there is no spiritual perception
of physical objects, any more than there is in mundane life
a sense perception of spiritual images and antitypes. The
former only sees the forms that manifest on its plane, while
the latter can note only those common to its sphere. Each
may recognize and feel the violence or good that these manifestations
will do to their respective counterparts, but we have no
reason to believe that normal objective or subjective states
have visional powers beyond their own plane. The mind of
man acting upon the mind of the macrocosm will produce,
according as he thinks or acts, antitypes of good or evil
in the imagination of the world which is reflected upon
the spiritual aura of the microcosm previous to taking on
corporal form. While in this state they may be perceived
by subjectivity, and thus the images seen are impressed
on the dream mind during sleep, or on the passivity of the
objective sense.
Evil or righteous acts recently committed will more acutely
affect the present waking mind than those enacted at a more
remote period. In a similar way future disaster or success
which is soon to occur will impress the dream mind more
vividly than those which are to transpire at a later date.
But in the lives of all men there are past incidents which
they will never forget, and which will never cease to fill
their hearts with pride or remorse. So, too, in their distant
future there are important events to transpire which are
struggling through tumultuous infinitude to leave their
ghastly or smiling impress upon the dream mind. If your
mental states are passive you will receive the warnings.
There are cases on record which show events have been forecast
years ahead of their occurrence.
We do not claim that this book will prove an interpreter
of all dreams, or that the keys disclosed will open to you
all the mysteries of the future, or even all those surrounding
your own personality, but by studying the definitions and
the plane upon which they were written, you will be able,
through the power of your own spirit, to interpret your
own dreams. The combination of dream and dream influences
are as infinite as the stars, or the combination of thought
and number. They can only be classed and considered as such.
They cannot be analyzed in detail or as a whole. In mathematics
we have nine digits from which an infinite variety of combinations
may be formed and solved by the deduction of the mind. Through
them we may measure time, space, quality and quantity.
The symbol o and I exist by reason of _no thing_ and _some
thing_ or death and life. The figure one is subject to illimitable
expansion. It is without beginning in the infinite of number,
as God is without beginning in the infinite of being. As
with the vegetable kingdom, the tiny seed or acorn silently
working its magical transformation into a plant or tree,
and directing its destiny with marvelous intelligence through
the torrid and frigid vicissitudes of the seasons; so is
man without beginning in the infinitude of his own being
or microcosm. Man is both a type and antitype. A type of
what pre-existed in the imagination of the world, and an
antitype of a future life yet to manifest itself on another
plane where the incidents of the one will be subjective,
as the events occurring in infancy or in other planes are
now subjective. His dreams, thoughts and actions, and the
influences that produce them and their multiplying combination,
cannot be numbered or reproduced any more than you can number
the leaves of the forest, or find two exactly similar units
among them. Thus the full meaning or interpretation of dreams
cannot be fully demonstrated through mental or even spiritual
stereotypes. But by the intelligent use of this book you
will be able to trace out almost any dream combination and
arrive at the true nature of its portent.
A wise doctor, in preparing medicine for a patient, considers
well his age, temperament and his present condition. So
should the interpreter of dreams ponder well the mental
state, the health, habits and temperament of the dreamer.
These things no one can know so well as the dreamer himself.
He, therefore, with the aid of this book, will be able to
interpret his dreams by the light that is in him.
Man is the microcosm or a miniature world. He has a soul
and mental firmament, bounded by the stellar dust and the
milky way, and filled with the mystery of suns, satellites
and stars. These he can study best by the astronomy of induction
and introspection. He has also a physical plane, diversified
by oceans, lakes, rivers, fertile valleys, waste places
and mountains. All are in cosmic interdependency as they
are in the macrocosm. Here rests the mystery of being--the
grandest of subjects! The student is no less bewildered
and awed than the geologist who gropes blindly through the
seams of the earth searching for links in the infinite chain
of knowledge, or the astronomer sweeping the heavens of
the macrocosm in quest of new phenomena. The two planes
are dependent upon each other. It is the smile or disease
of the firmament that blesses or diseases the earth. It
is likewise the impure firmament of the microcosm that diseases
the body and soul. If it reflects the drought of thought
or the various states of evil, deserts will enlarge, forest
of infectious, venomous growth will form the habitation
of lust and murder. Before great moral or physical revolutions
or catastrophes occur, clouds will darken the horizon of
the dream mind; storms will gather, lurid flames of lightning
will flash their volatile anger; the explosive thunder will
recklessly carry on its bombardment; bells will ring, strange
knocking will be heard--symbols of a message-- phantom forms
will be seen, familiar voices will call and plead with you,
unknown visitors will threaten you, unearthly struggles
with hideous giants and agonies of mind and body will possess
you; malformations of the most hideous type will seize your
vision; shrouded in sheets of a whitish vapor, evanescent
specters, with pallid face and of warning countenance, will
cling around you, and contagion and famine will leave their
desolate impress upon the flower of health and in the field
of plenty. Thus all of us would be nightly warned in our
circle or miniature world if we would develop subjective
strength to retain the impressions left upon our dream mind.
But in spite of all reason and conscience-- in spite of
the inductive knowledge received through our senses-- we
go on from day to day, and step by step, feeding our soul
on the luscious fruit of the outward senses, until the rank
weeds of sefishness{sic} have choked out all other forces.
Thus the soul is filled with thought images that assume
the form of vicious animals, homely visaged fowls, rabid
and snarling cats and dogs, leprous and virile serpents,
cankerous lizards, slimy intestine worms, hairy and malicious
insects. They are generated by greed, envy, jealousy, covetousness,
backbiting, amorous longings and other impure thoughts.
With the soul filled with this conglomeration of virus and
filth, why doubt a hell and its counterpart condition, or
expect the day or night to bring happiness? If evil thoughts
will infest the soul with ravenous microbes, good thoughts
and deeds will starve and suppress their activity, and create
a heaven to supplant them. With this grand and eternal truth
in view, man should ever think kindly of those about him,
control his temper in word and action, seek his own, think
the best of thoughts, study to relieve the worthy poor,
seek solace in the depth of being, and let gentleness and
meekness characterize his life. Then will he sow the seeds
of a present and future heaven. His day thoughts and his
night thoughts in harmony will point with unerring forecast
to a peaceful end. Spiritual and helpful warnings will fall
upon the dream mind, as gently as dew upon the flowers and
as softly as a mother's kiss upon the lips of love. When
our external lives are guided by the forces within, sweet
are the words and messages from our own spirit; for those
who are truly blessed are those who seek divine love through
the channels of their inner world of consciousness.
Man is a little circle or world composed of the infinitesimal
atoms thrown off from the great circle or parent world,
and fitting into his place in the zone of life. If in the
revolutions of the great circle he catches more material
he increases his circle to objective or subjective growth:
if he absorbs spiritual or mind atoms as they fall from
the great body of creative source, he enlarges or contracts
his own circle according to the assimilation of the food
he receives from the parent.
It is optional with man to obtain spiritual or material
manna as it is disseminated throughout existence. To feed
on material diet alone, contracts and distorts the circle
of the man; but a full comprehension of the needs of the
circle, a proper denial of supply to some of the compounds,
together with a tender care of other parts, will round out
the whole into a perfect physical and mental circle of life.
Dissentious and conflicting results should be avoided in
computing the length and breadth of the compounded circle
of man's individual world. Objective life is one of the
smallest compounds in real life.
Dream life is fuller of meaning and teaching of the inner,
or God life, than is the exterior life of man. The mind
receives education from communing with the dream composition
in the great circle. Consult with your whole nature or circle
before beginning a serious work; partial consultations,
or material advice only, often brings defeat of objects
sought, when a true home counsel would have brought success
and consequent happiness.
Man should live in his subjective realms and study more
his relation to other compositions or circles; thus fructifying
and making beautiful his own world through intercourse with
others who have worked in the great storehouse of subjectivity,
and who have climbed already from the basement into the
light of spiritual sunshine.
A FEW QUESTIONS AND SUBJECTIVE ANSWERS REGARDING DREAMS.
QUESTION.--What is a dream?
ANSWER--A dream is an event transpiring in that world belonging
to the mind when the objective senses have withdrawn into
rest or oblivion.
Then the spiritual man is living alone in the future or
ahead of objective life and consequently lives man's future
first, developing conditions in a way that enables waking
man to shape his actions by warnings, so as to make life
a perfect existence.
Q.--What relationship is sustained between the average man
and his dreams?
A.--A dream to the average or sensual person, bears the
same relation to his objective life that it maintained in
the case of the ideal dreamer, but it means pleasures, sufferings
and advancements on a lower or material plane.
Q.--Then why is man not always able to correctly interpret
his dreams?
A.--Just as words fail sometimes to express ideas, so dreams
fail sometimes in their mind pictures to portray coming
events.
Q.--If they relate to the future, why is it we so often
dream of the past?
A.--When a person dreams of past events, those events are
warnings of evil or good; sometimes they are stamped so
indelibly upon the subjective mind that the least tendency
of the waking mind to the past throws these pictures in
relief on the dream consciousness.
Q.--Why is it that present environments often influence
our dreams?
A.--Because the future of man is usually affected by the
present, so if he mars the present by wilful wrongs, or
makes it bright by right living it will necessarily have
influence on his dreams, as they are forecastings of the
future.
Q.--What is an apparition?
A.--It is the subjective mind stored with the wisdom gained
from futurity, and in its strenuous efforts to warn its
present habitation-- the corporal body--of dangers just
ahead, takes on the shape of a dear one as the most effective
method of imparting this knowledge.
Q.--How does subjectivity deal with time?
A.--There is no past and future to subjectivity. It is all
one living present.
Q.--If that is so, why can't you tell us accurately of our
future as you do of our past?
A.--Because events are like a procession; they pass a few
at a time and cast a shadow on subjective minds, and those
which have passed before the waking mind are felt by other
minds also and necessarily make a more lasting impression
on the subjective mind.
* * * *
Q.--To illustrate: A person on retiring or closing his eyes
had a face appear to him, the forehead well formed but the
lower parts distorted. Explain this phenomenon?
A.--A changed state from perfect sleep or waking possessed
him.
Now, the man's face was only the expression of his real
thoughts and the state of his business combined. His thoughts
were strong and healthy, but his business fagging, hence
his own spirit is not a perfect likeness of his own soul,
as it takes every atom of earthly composition perfectly
normal to reproduce a perfect spirit picture of the soul
or mortal man. He would have seen a true likeness of himself
had conditions been favorable; thus a man knows when a complete
whole is his portion. Study to make surroundings always
harmonious. Life is only being perfectly carried on when
these conditions are in unison. |
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