Part 3 (2/2)
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 cla.s.sed and considered as such. They cannot be a.n.a.lyzed 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, s.p.a.ce, quality and quant.i.ty.
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 G.o.d 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 ant.i.type. A type of what pre-existed in the imagination of the world, and an ant.i.type 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 l.u.s.t 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 a.s.sume 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 h.e.l.l 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.
{ill.u.s.t. caption = A DIAGRAM GIVING THE THEORY OF THIS BOOK, AND THE RELATIONs.h.i.+P BETWEEN THE MICROCOSM AND THE MACROCOSM.
FRAGMENTARY THOUGHTS FROM DREAM REALMS:}
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 a.s.similation 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 G.o.d 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 bas.e.m.e.nt into the light of spiritual suns.h.i.+ne.
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 relations.h.i.+p 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?
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