*** File Brought To You Courtesy Of... *** /\ _______ / \ _______ __ <_______>=========[O] --------\--- [O]=========<_______> __ | |=============\______ \ / Know \ / ______/=============| | |__|____________________> X Your X <____________________|__| /(____________________) / \ SELF / \ (____________________)\ =========================\ ---\-------- /========================= \==\ \ / /==/ \==\ \/ /==/ \==/ -= MERKAVA =- ------------- A M O R C - = * = - _ / \ _________\_/_________ __________\________| |________/__________ ________________\__________\_______|@|_______/__________/______________ \________________\__________\ | | /__________/______________/ \________________\__________\ | | /__________/______________/ \________________\__________\ | | /__________/______________/ \___________________________\ | | /_________________________/ \ | | / \ | | / \| |/ \_/ THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER, AMORC - - - = = = * * * = = = - - - known as 'The Ancient, Mystical Order Rosae Crucis' throughout the world discourse: Dreams - An Analysis MJ-68-1162 D R E A M S An Analysis by Dr. H. Spencer Lewis, F.R.C. Former Imperator of AMORC It is a common but mistaken idea that all dreams are mystically signifi- cant or of a prophetic nature. Before touching on the probable cause of dreams and the stuff twhich they are made, I should like to call your attention to the fact that throughout all ages, man has been mystified and puzzled by his dreams. The very oldest mystical writings indicate that primative man was often horrified by dreams of any kind. Because he knew so little about mind and its actions and the brain and its peculiarities, he felt sure that the experience through which he passed in his dreams were either satanic or divine. He was impressed with the possibility that during his sleep state he was some different character and that he had probably slipped out of his physical body and roamed the world at large. Dreams play a very important part in the lives of the Teutons, and they gave greater emphasis to those dreams which could be interpreted as prophecies. Dreams that were horrifying or merely ridiculous or amusing were given little thought; but if a dream could be looked upon as a prophesy of some forthcoming incident, it was recorded. By seeking in the wordly affairs some replica of the dream, they built up a great faith in the prophetic nature of certain dreams. Of course, if we were to select from all dreams those which, by thier nature, could be prophetic of some event in our lives, the lives of others, or in the affairs of the nation, and then watch the affairs of ourselves and of the nation closely, we would be sure to find many incidents which might be called replicas of the dream we selected. In this way, we would build a false structure upon an artificial premise. Many of the ancients believed that revelations from the various gods came through the agency of dreams, and during the Middle Ages the belief in dreams as divine revelations of some kind became part of the Christian doctrines. In the Middle Ages the art of interpreting dreams was not always connected with magical powers or with any unusual mental or spiritual attitude on the part of the interpreter. Some persons seemed more apt at anterpreting dreams, and they were looked upon as mystical oracles. However, the interpreter was usually a person with a known philosophical attitude towards life and with a wide knowledge of human nature and human events. We can see in reviewing the interpretations of famous dreams, as recorded in many old books, that the interpreters were simply shrewd students of human events and of that type of mind which logically forecast the result of certain tendancies. To these persons, pre-eminently oracles by reputation and catering to the position they held, it was imperative to watch the law of averages, the beneral tendencies of human effort, and the law of coincidences in every direction. Even the lives of those who patronized them the most were carefully studied and tabulated; therefore, when one of these persons inquired regarding the interpretation of a dream, the oracle would call upon his understanding of the tendencies of affairs and safely prophesy certain future events. By the law of averages, most of such predictions were fulfilled; thus the belief in the prophetic nature of dreams became established. We read in "Laxdale Saga" that Gudrun went to no witch or "possessed" person, but to the great Gest the Wise, for an interpretation of her dream becasue this oracle was universally recognized as an expert in these matters. And we read, also, in "Heimskringle" that King Halfdan and Black consulted his wise oracle and councilor regarding his dreams. We find that there were common beliefs in regard to the meaning of certain things in dreams. For instance, in the "Lay of Atli" we find that Gudrun refers to the dreaming of iron as portending fire. One of the characters in that poem declared that his wife's dream of a polar bear foretold a storm from the east. The general belief in such prophetic symbols in dreams later led to the preparation of dream books, many of which are being republished and sold chiefly to those who feel that the time is ripe to take a plunge into the subject of mysticism. It is regrettable that so much that is worthless is so easily accessible to the seeker for simple reading matter about mysticism. Dreams, on the other hand,j are interesting from various angles. Man is not the only creature that dreams, but certainly he is the one who should use common sense in his interpretation of them. He should realise, first of all, that the mere fact that dreams are possible in the consciousness is a proof of man's ability to extract from the storehouse of memory certain associated and dissociated facts. That is precisely what takes place during the dream state. You should realize that the sleeping state is not always the dream state. One is in a lighter state of sleep when dreaming than at any other time. All light stages of sleeping, however, are not dream states. Just what constitutes the dream state we do not know. However, it is a borderline condition, much like the condition during which many forms of psychic functioning are made manifest. It is unquestionably a state during which the recorded impressions of the memory storehouse pass easily into the objective consciousness across a borderline between the two chambers of consciousness. We know, of course, that all registered impressions remain a permanent record in the subconscious mind. We also know that all impressions made upon the sentient faculties of the body do not really register. Only those things are registered which hold our attention sufficiently long for us to have a concentrated consciousness of them, and this registration automat- ically passes to the indelible records of memory. Even those which are thus impressed and recorded are not easily withdrawn. A process of association of ideas or a selection of the proper key to unlock the classification of desired impressions must be used, and all of the present-day memory systems attempt to show how we may use various keys or a combination of keys in the process of memorizing and withdrawing the memorized facts. During the dream state, however, it would appear that the withdrawing of these registered impressions is simple--so easy that often the impressions seem to rise up and parade before our psychic consciousness without control or direction. The registered impressions that are stored away in the permanent memory of the subconscious mind are classified and indexed by subject and related subject. In order to extract any of these impressions from thier well protected place, one must have the proper key to recall them. It is much like going to the public library and consulting the card index system in order to learn the precise title or number of a book which contains the specific information we desire. Having this title or number makes it a simple matter to locate the partic- ular book and open it to the wanted information. It is true, of course, that in regard to many subjects one can easily locate the book and the information by its general classification. For instance, in every large library, books are classified under the general titles of astronomy, electricity, magnetism, psychology, metaphysics, New Thoguht, and so forth. If one wishes general information on any of these subjects, one merely selects one of the books under the general classification. If, on the other hand, one wishes to learn about some incident of the Crusades in the Twelfth Century, or learn what part of Africa is the oldest in regard to the establishment of schools, one would have to consult the index system. Having determined what key to use, one is able to withdraw the particular book. The use of a key in this sense is much like the use of the principle of associated ideas in recalling recorded and registered facts from the library of memory. For instance, if someone asks us what we did on the first Monday of July, last year, we may be unable to answer until be analysis and looking at a calendar we discover that the first Monday was the Fourth of July. Instantly that date becomes a key to the recorded impressions in our memory. With it, we can open the proper book and bring back the registered impressions of things that occured on that day. The whole process of recollection is based upon this principle of association of ideas. You will note that whenever you are trying to recall the address of someone, a telephone number, or some other incident in connection to a person or place, you generally cencentrate for a few moments and exclude all other impressions while you proceed to correlate and associate certain things in order to bring forth the key to the fact that you desire to recall. The same thing often occurs in dreams. Here it is not necessary to blot out all other objective impressions, since our borderline state of sleep has already blotted them out, leaving us free to manipulate the subjective actions relating to recolloction. Two other things responsible for dreams occur in such a state. Other things may occur, but of these we should not speculate. Conditions of our body and physical consiousness may suddenly present us with a key to some locked-up impressions in the memory, or some external psychic or mental impression may furnish it. Dreams usually occur in a peculiar borderline state, midway between complete subconsciousness and partial objectivity--in that state where we are not completely asleep, or where our objective consciousness is not thoroughly dormant. In this state, a cold breeze from an open window suddenly blowing in our face or hands may give us an objective impression of extreme coldness, which, being carried across the borderline is interpreted as a chilly, icy impression. This may be taken up by the subconscious as a key to subjects pertaining to the North Pole, winter with its ice and snow, a sudden plunge into an ice-covered lake, or many other things connected with extreme cold and ice. With such a key, the memory storehouse of impressions connected with such subjects is unlocked, and all the impressions which have ever been registered in our memory from books, motion pictures, and actual experiences pertaining to the North, frozen areas, to winter, and to coldness and ice generally come parading out. In the morning, we recall having a dream about skating and falling into a frozen lake, or of being high in an airplane where it is very cold, or being on an expedition to the North Pole, or some other peculiar incident. Perhaps, while we were in the boderline state, something or someone may have touched us on the hand or on the face, or even a fly may have suddenly alighted on the temple or the forehead, giving us the impression of a sudden jolt or shock. This may have been interpreted as a pistol wound or a blow with evil intent. Immediatly memory impressions relating to such things are unlocked, and we have another peculiar dream. We might cite thousands of things such as sounds, flashes of coloured lights, the changes in temperature, pains from an improperly digested meal, the touch of blankets on the face, and many other things which could cause the unlocking of impressions from the memory. With impressions recieved from external sources, we have that peculiar classification of thoughts recieved from the minds of others. Perhaps someone somewhere is thinking of us with such concentration that there is a transmission of thought. This thought recieved while we are in a borderline state, acts as a key and unlocks impressions regarding the person whose thought reached us. Or, if the impressions do not relate to the person who sent the thought, they may relate to things connected with his life and activities. There is the possible and interesting third process whereby we may recieve an impression from the Cosmic or from the Universal Mind in regard to some event transpiring at a distant place, or is about to occur, for all things are registered in the Cosmic long before they manifest on the material plane. Recieving such an impression may also cause us to dream by supplying a key to the memory storehouse. It seems that nothing we dream ever pertains to anything we have not registeredin its fundamental area. Of course, we may take impressions from the memory of a giraffe and hippopotamus, and combine them into a unique animal, as a part of our dream. Later, we see that this could not have come from the memory because we could never have seen and registered such an animal. We may also take several impressions from memory pertaining to occurrences in our own lives and unite them to mak a new impression or picture, much to our surprise and inability to explain when the dream is recalled. Not all dreams are recalled. Many of them do not pass over into the objective consciousness at all. The peculiar borderline state in which dreams occur is a rapidly fluctuating state with most sleepers. Turning in a bed from one side to the other partially awakens every sleeper, and for a moment brings him to a borderline state. But during that short space a dream may be started. Before it is underway, the sleeper is again more than 90% subjective, and the dream stays in the subconsciousness, never reaching the objective. On the other hand, in those periods when deep sleep seems to be impossible, and a borderline state lasts for minutes or an hour, many dreams may pass over to objective consciousness and remain vivid in the mind in the morning. All in all, dreams are intensely interesting and they certainly prove one great outstanding fact: Man has a dual consciousness and a dual state of mind, and he can live at times in either state or on the borderline of both. We know that the activities and excitements of a dream can affect the physical body, tire and excite us to the same extent that a physical experience can. Therefore the realities of dreams are just as important and just as effective upon our physical constitutions as are physical esperiences. One thing should be kept in mind: It is impossible for another to interpret your dreams. The greatest oracles or wise men of the past, who interpreted dreams, like those today who would pretend to interpret them, can do nothing more than guess at the significance of any dream that you may have. If there is in the dream a real communication or impression of prophecy or advice, transmitted to you from some other person's mind through a key message being sent, no one but you and the person who sent the thought as a key could fathom the mystery of the dream or tell its real significance. Therefore, dream books and dream dictionaries are useless. Asking others to interpret your picture symbols and peculiar ideas presented in dreams is equally useless, for no one can help you in this regard. If your dream means anything at all, it must be interpreted by you. If you have a dream that seems unusually significant, the thing to do is to analyze it as best you can, and make a note of it accompanied by the date and day and your brief analysis. Then watch to see if some future dream or experience in life will check with it in some way. By this process, you can discover after a year or so whether your dreams have any significance or not. - - - - - - - - - DREAM EXPERIENCES If you are having an experience while you are asleep and recall in the morning that during the experience you thought you were dreaming or having an unusual experience, you may be sure it was not a dream. During a real dream the person who is dreaming never questions the situations, conditions, or incidents connected therewith. He never feels that he is in a peculiar state mentally or physically. He never analyzes his status, or his surroundings. He accepts even the most unusual and complex situations as perfectly natural. The thought never occurs that he is either dreaming, or having a vision, or psychic experience, or anything else. If a negro dreams that he is a white man, it never seems surprising, and he does not question it or wonder about it. He had no realization that his colour has changed, or that he is a different person In in the dream he goes though some experience that changes his colour, he will realize that it is a part of the experience, but he will not question it in any other sence. If a poor man finds himself rich in a dream, he takes it as a matter of course. When a dream is not a dream, however, the mind is filled with questions. The person looks around him and wonders how he reached the place where he is. He has a realization that he is still sleeping but having an experience of some kind at the same time. He wonders how real his experience is and whether he will awaken and remember it. In other words, he is conscious of the fact that he is having an unnatural experience. The dreamer, on the other hand, feels throughout his dream that he is just natural, and that life surrounding him in his dream is the only life he knows of. Those experiences that seem like dreams, but in which we question the conditions and question ourselves, and analyze and wonder about the things that are happening, are either psychic experiences or mental experiences, BUT THE ARE NOT DREAMS. Genereally speaking, they are cosmic or psychic experiences of some kind. AN INTERESTING DREAM In the report of a dream an individual says: "In these dreams I became keenly conscious of the fact that I am really dreaming, and that I also believe that I am projected onto another plane of existance apart and entirely separated from the material world. During these dreams, I often say to myself, 'Now here is another opportunity to explore the psychic realm in which I now find myself, and I will try not to awaken until I experiment on this plane which seems so free of limitations.'" Anyone who has had such an experience as this has not had a dream but a real psychic experience.The fact that the dreamer, or thew one who thinks he is dreaming, is conscious of the fact that he is in an unusual state or on a different plane than the one in which he usually lives proves that he is conscious of his present state as well as of his daytime or waking state. This being so, he cannot be in a dream. I hope that these brief remarks will help to make clear the difference between dreams and psychic experiences. VISIONS AND REVELATIONS Another question along these lines pertains to the difference between a vision and a revelation. The two may seem to be identical, but they are not. One may have a vision in which a revelation is made, and one may recieve a revelation through a vision or otherwise. What may be termed a revelation may come to a person in meditation as a flash of cosmic illumination in the form of a thought, a picture, an impression, an idea of some kind, but there may be no vision with it. Sometimes an urge or an intuitive impulse to do or write something, or see something in a critical situation constitutes a cosmic revelation. But in such instances there may be nothing seen, and therefore, no vision of any kind. On the other hand, one may have many visions without any revelations. All visions are more or less inspiring, pleasing, and uplifting, but in point of actual information conveyed or truth revealed, there is no revelation. The difference between revelation and intuitive impulse is very difficult to determine at times. In a meditative mood our own objective reasoning may work to create an idea, an impression, and from the storehouse of memory several thoughts may be brought to the borderline and so related as to create an idea. These are not revelations in the mystical sense. A revelation is a truth unfolded through Cosmic Consciousness. It is something that comes to us from without and beyond the mundane plane. * * * * * * * * MJ-68-1162