Everybody dreams, but there are few who place any importance to thephenomena of sleep. Before we can begin to comprehend or even analyzedreams, whether our dreams are symbolic or otherwise, we must firstdivert from our mind our materialistic conceptions of what theindividual called man really is. The external or physical man, is nomore the man than the coat he wears. The physical man is only aninstrument of which the real inner man or soul expresses itself in thephysical universe. Various materialistic theories have been given inthe past, trying to explain the mighty phenomena of dreams, but thesetheories have always been more or less unsatisfactory. Why? Becausethe-materialist tries to explain the riddle of human existence withoutan individual human spirit his explanation will always beunsatisfactory.Dreams afford a separation of soul and body. As soon as the sensesbecome torpid, the inner man withdraws from the outer. There are threedifferent 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 bodytemporarily, whereas in death he has left it forever. In the case ofdeath, the link which unites soul and body, as seen by clairvoyantvision, is broken, but in trance or sleep it is released. The real manis then in the astral world. He now functions in his astral body,which becomes a vehicle for expressing consciousness, just as thephysical body is an instrument for expressing consciousness in thewaking 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 ofdeath. The man is fully conscious in the astral regions clothed in thebody of the Astral matter. This Astral body is in the physical andextends little beyond it. The Astral world is here and now,interpenetrating the physical, and not in some remote region above theclouds 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 andmental worlds. Just as the Astral interpenetrates the physical themental interpenetrates the Astral. The Astral body in which manfunctions during sleep is the body of emotions and desires and heexpresses these desires and emotions in the physical life. * * * * *The Astral body in which man functions during sleep is very subtlematter. It resembles the physical. In fact, it is an exactreproduction of it, but it can only be seen by clairvoyant vision.When a man leaves his body in sleep or death, the spirit must leavethe physical body before it will be rested and recuperated to enableit 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 sleepuntil six next morning. The ordinary man will awaken feeling refreshedand ready for his daily toil. Let him go to bed at ten, lie awake allnight, next morning he will not feel refreshed and during the day hemay feel sluggish and sleepy. Let him go to bed and lie awake nightafter night for a few weeks, what will be the result? He will be aphysical wreck. Although he may have the same amount of hours lying inbed, he will not feel recuperated and refreshed unless he has had hisnatural sleep and this can only come to pass.When the soul or spirit withdraws from the physical body, the physicalbody is not the man, and as long as our materialistic writers whoendeavor to interpret dreams fail to grasp the nature of the innerman, the real self, they will be forever groping in the dark.The first question that naturally arises in the mind of the layman isthis: How can a man leave his body in sleep and continue its naturalfunctions such as digestion, circulation of blood, etc.We do not consciously direct the circulation of the blood, or any ofthe natural bodily functions during our waking state. These things goon whether we will them or not. Although the spirit leaves the body insleep as previously stated, there is still a magnetic connection withsoul and body. This magnetic connection acts on the sympatheticnervous system and the cerebro spinal which controls the functions ofthe human organism. In sleep the astral man may be in the immediatevicinity of his sleeping recuperating physical body or it may bethousands of miles away in space, the magnetic connection still existsregardless of the distance. No matter what distance the astral man isaway from his physical body, he can return to it with the rapidity ofthought, as the saying is, for it is the soul that thinks, the brainis only an instrument of the soul.Many of our dreams may be attributed to subconscious memory, for whenour mind is centered on a certain train of thought these thoughts areapt to filter through into the conscious state in sleep. Thesubconscious memory cannot be truthfully called a dream, for it isonly a memory of something we have previously perceived in reality orimagination. One only has to examine his subconscious dream in thelight of reason to eliminate them. Telepathy does explain some of ourdreams, for just as it is possible for minds to receive telepathiccommunications (thought transference) from another in the walkingstate, it is also possible for the so-called dead to have telepathiccommunication with the living, for thought is a power, its limitationis unknown.While many of our dreams may be traced to subconscious memory ortelepathy and happenings of material affairs of our daily lives,others are undoubtedly the astral happenings of the ego whilefunctioning in the etheric regions. There we meet not only themisnamed dead but also many of those who are still in the physicalbody, and let me state here that many of our difficult problems ofphysical life are worked out in sleep.The old axiom, "I will go to sleep on it," has a greater significancethan is generally attributed to it, for sleep and dreams have more todo in shaping your lives than you have any idea of. You can go toschool in sleep and study anything you are studying in physical lifeand make marvelous progress. This requires much training, however.Keeping the mind free from evil thoughts is most essential to enablethe sincere investigator to enter that larger state of consciousness,for the thoughts of our waking state have a more or less effect on theego during sleep. Every individual harbors a certain train of thought,whether at business or pleasure this train of thought has a tremendousinfluence 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 PowerMan may be said to live two lives in one, one when he is fully awakeand the other when he is sound asleep. These two lives, of course, isthe expression of his one existence. The highly developed, spiritualman as he retires into the interior world during sleep, realizes astate of spiritual bliss that is far beyond the stage of ordinarymortals. Man has been in the habit of looking at himself as a mass offlesh and muscle with a slight chance of realizing the Divinity withinhim. As the earnest soul gradually arouses himself he finds his properplace in the universe, for within him are all the attributes of deity,and when he reaches the end of the long evolutionary journey that isahead of him he will find himself and know what he is destined to be,a God.
