Everybody dreams, but there are few who place any importance to the
phenomena of sleep. Before we can begin to comprehend or even analyze
dreams, whether our dreams are symbolic or otherwise, we must first
divert from our mind our materialistic conceptions of what the
individual called man really is. The external or physical man, is no
more the man than the coat he wears. The physical man is only an
instrument of which the real inner man or soul expresses itself in the
physical universe. Various materialistic theories have been given in
the past, trying to explain the mighty phenomena of dreams, but these
theories have always been more or less unsatisfactory. Why? Because
the-materialist tries to explain the riddle of human existence without
an individual human spirit his explanation will always be
unsatisfactory.
Dreams afford a separation of soul and body. As soon as the senses
become torpid, the inner man withdraws from the outer. There are three
different ways which afford this separation. First, natural sleep.
Second, induced sleep, such as hypnotism, mesmerism or trance. Third,
death. In the above two cases the man has only left his physical body
temporarily, whereas in death he has left it forever. In the case of
death, the link which unites soul and body, as seen by clairvoyant
vision, is broken, but in trance or sleep it is released. The real man
is then in the astral world. He now functions in his astral body,
which becomes a vehicle for expressing consciousness, just as the
physical body is an instrument for expressing consciousness in the
waking state.
Consciousness is not annihilated when the man is in the Astral world,
it is only temporarily suspended. Just the same as in the case of
death. The man is fully conscious in the astral regions clothed in the
body of the Astral matter. This Astral body is in the physical and
extends little beyond it. The Astral world is here and now,
interpenetrating the physical, and not in some remote region above the
clouds as so many imagine.
* * * * *
Man is a soul. He has a body. He expresses himself in three worlds.
While he functions in the physical body, viz., physical, emotional and
mental worlds. Just as the Astral interpenetrates the physical the
mental interpenetrates the Astral. The Astral body in which man
functions during sleep is the body of emotions and desires and he
expresses these desires and emotions in the physical life.
* * * * *
The Astral body in which man functions during sleep is very subtle
matter. It resembles the physical. In fact, it is an exact
reproduction of it, but it can only be seen by clairvoyant vision.
When a man leaves his body in sleep or death, the spirit must leave
the physical body before it will be rested and recuperated to enable
it to undergo the strenuous daily toil of physical life.
Here is an example. Let a man go to bed say ten o'clock. Let him sleep
until six next morning. The ordinary man will awaken feeling refreshed
and ready for his daily toil. Let him go to bed at ten, lie awake all
night, next morning he will not feel refreshed and during the day he
may feel sluggish and sleepy. Let him go to bed and lie awake night
after night for a few weeks, what will be the result? He will be a
physical wreck. Although he may have the same amount of hours lying in
bed, he will not feel recuperated and refreshed unless he has had his
natural sleep and this can only come to pass.
When the soul or spirit withdraws from the physical body, the physical
body is not the man, and as long as our materialistic writers who
endeavor to interpret dreams fail to grasp the nature of the inner
man, the real self, they will be forever groping in the dark.
The first question that naturally arises in the mind of the layman is
this: How can a man leave his body in sleep and continue its natural
functions such as digestion, circulation of blood, etc.
We do not consciously direct the circulation of the blood, or any of
the natural bodily functions during our waking state. These things go
on whether we will them or not. Although the spirit leaves the body in
sleep as previously stated, there is still a magnetic connection with
soul and body. This magnetic connection acts on the sympathetic
nervous system and the cerebro spinal which controls the functions of
the human organism. In sleep the astral man may be in the immediate
vicinity of his sleeping recuperating physical body or it may be
thousands of miles away in space, the magnetic connection still exists
regardless of the distance. No matter what distance the astral man is
away from his physical body, he can return to it with the rapidity of
thought, as the saying is, for it is the soul that thinks, the brain
is only an instrument of the soul.
Many of our dreams may be attributed to subconscious memory, for when
our mind is centered on a certain train of thought these thoughts are
apt to filter through into the conscious state in sleep. The
subconscious memory cannot be truthfully called a dream, for it is
only a memory of something we have previously perceived in reality or
imagination. One only has to examine his subconscious dream in the
light of reason to eliminate them. Telepathy does explain some of our
dreams, for just as it is possible for minds to receive telepathic
communications (thought transference) from another in the walking
state, it is also possible for the so-called dead to have telepathic
communication with the living, for thought is a power, its limitation
is unknown.
While many of our dreams may be traced to subconscious memory or
telepathy and happenings of material affairs of our daily lives,
others are undoubtedly the astral happenings of the ego while
functioning in the etheric regions. There we meet not only the
misnamed dead but also many of those who are still in the physical
body, and let me state here that many of our difficult problems of
physical life are worked out in sleep.
The old axiom, "I will go to sleep on it," has a greater significance
than is generally attributed to it, for sleep and dreams have more to
do in shaping your lives than you have any idea of. You can go to
school in sleep and study anything you are studying in physical life
and make marvelous progress. This requires much training, however.
Keeping the mind free from evil thoughts is most essential to enable
the sincere investigator to enter that larger state of consciousness,
for the thoughts of our waking state have a more or less effect on the
ego during sleep. Every individual harbors a certain train of thought,
whether at business or pleasure this train of thought has a tremendous
influence on the ego, in fact it shapes ones destiny.
Choose well your thoughts
for your choice
is brief and yet endless.
--Anna Besant in Thought Power
Man may be said to live two lives in one, one when he is fully awake
and the other when he is sound asleep. These two lives, of course, is
the expression of his one existence. The highly developed, spiritual
man as he retires into the interior world during sleep, realizes a
state of spiritual bliss that is far beyond the stage of ordinary
mortals. Man has been in the habit of looking at himself as a mass of
flesh and muscle with a slight chance of realizing the Divinity within
him. As the earnest soul gradually arouses himself he finds his proper
place in the universe, for within him are all the attributes of deity,
and when he reaches the end of the long evolutionary journey that is
ahead of him he will find himself and know what he is destined to be,
a God.