Whether Divination by Dreams Is Unlawful?
Objection 1: It would seem that divination by dreams is not unlawful.
It is not unlawful to make use of divine instruction. Now men are
instructed by God in dreams, for it is written (Job 33:15, 16): "By a
dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and
they are sleeping in their beds, then He," God to wit, "openeth the
ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to
learn." Therefore it is not unlawful to make use of divination by
dreams.
Obj. 2: Further, those who interpret dreams, properly speaking, make
use of divination by dreams. Now we read of holy men interpreting
dreams: thus Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's butler and of
his chief baker (Gen. 40), and Daniel interpreted the dream of the
king of Babylon (Dan. 2, 4). Therefore divination by dreams is not
unlawful.
Obj. 3: Further, it is unreasonable to deny the common experiences of
men. Now it is the experience of all that dreams are significative of
the future. Therefore it is useless to deny the efficacy of dreams
for the purpose of divination, and it is lawful to listen to them.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Deut. 18:10): "Neither let there be
found among you any one that . . . observeth dreams."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (AA. 2, 6), divination is
superstitious and unlawful when it is based on a false opinion.
Wherefore we must consider what is true in the matter of foreknowing
the future from dreams. Now dreams are sometimes the cause of future
occurrences; for instance, when a person's mind becomes anxious
through what it has seen in a dream and is thereby led to do
something or avoid something: while sometimes dreams are signs of
future happenings, in so far as they are referable to some common
cause of both dreams and future occurrences, and in this way the
future is frequently known from dreams. We must, then, consider what
is the cause of dreams, and whether it can be the cause of future
occurrences, or be cognizant of them.
Accordingly it is to be observed that the cause of dreams is
sometimes in us and sometimes outside us. The inward cause of dreams
is twofold: one regards the soul, in so far as those things which
have occupied a man's thoughts and affections while awake recur to
his imagination while asleep. A such like cause of dreams is not a
cause of future occurrences, so that dreams of this kind are related
accidentally to future occurrences, and if at any time they concur it
will be by chance. But sometimes the inward cause of dreams regards
the body: because the inward disposition of the body leads to the
formation of a movement in the imagination consistent with that
disposition; thus a man in whom there is abundance of cold humors
dreams that he is in the water or snow: and for this reason
physicians say that we should take note of dreams in order to
discover internal dispositions.
In like manner the outward cause of dreams is twofold, corporal and
spiritual. It is corporal in so far as the sleeper's imagination is
affected either by the surrounding air, or through an impression of a
heavenly body, so that certain images appear to the sleeper, in
keeping with the disposition of the heavenly bodies. The spiritual
cause is sometimes referable to God, Who reveals certain things to
men in their dreams by the ministry of the angels, according Num.
12:6, "If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to
him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream." Sometimes,
however, it is due to the action of the demons that certain images
appear to persons in their sleep, and by this means they, at times,
reveal certain future things to those who have entered into an
unlawful compact with them.
Accordingly we must say that there is no unlawful divination in
making use of dreams for the foreknowledge of the future, so long as
those dreams are due to divine revelation, or to some natural cause
inward or outward, and so far as the efficacy of that cause extends.
But it will be an unlawful and superstitious divination if it be
caused by a revelation of the demons, with whom a compact has been
made, whether explicit, through their being invoked for the purpose,
or implicit, through the divination extending beyond its possible
limits.
This suffices for the Replies to the Objections.
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