What are Dreams? Does the Soul Travel?

Be very sure that, when the body is asleep, a spirit enjoys the use of faculties of which he is unconscious while his body is awake. He remembers the past, and sometimes foresees the future: he acquires more power, and is able to enter into communication with other spirits, either in this world or in some other.

"You often say, 'I have had a strange dream, a frightful dream, without any likeness to reality' You are mistaken in thinking it to be so; for it is often a reminiscence of places and things which you have seen in the past, or a foresight of those which you will see in another existence, or in this one at some future time. The body being torpid, the spirit tries to break his chain, and seeks, in the past or in the future, for the means of doing so. "Poor human beings! how little do you know of the commonest phenomena of your life! You fancy yourselves to be very learned, and you are puzzled by the most ordinary things. To questions that any child might ask, 'What do we do when we are asleep?' 'What are dreams?' you are incapable of replying.

"Sleep effects a partial freeing of the soul from the body. When you sleep, your spirit is, for the time being, in the state in which you will be after your death. The spirits who at death are promptly freed from matter are those who, during their life, have had what may be called intelligent sleep. Such persons, when they sleep, regain the society of other spirits superior to themselves. They go about with them, conversing with them, and gaining instruction from them; they even work, in the spirit-world, at undertakings which, on dying, they find already begun or completed. From this you see how little death should be dreaded, since, according to the saying of St. Paul, you 'die daily.'

"What we have just stated refers to spirits of an elevated degree of advancement. As for those of the common mass of men, who, after their death, remain for long hours in the state of confusion and uncertainty of which you have been told by such, they go, during sleep, into worlds of lower rank than the earth, to which they are drawn back by old affections, or by the attraction of pleasures still baser than those to which they are addicted in your world; visits in which they gather ideas still viler, more ignoble, and more mischievous than those which they had professed during their waking hours. And that which engenders sympathy in the earthly life is nothing else than the fact that you feel yourselves, on waking, affectionately attracted towards those with whom you have passed eight or nine hours of happiness or pleasure. On the other hand, the explanation of the invincible antipathies you sometimes feel for certain persons is also to be found in the intuitive knowledge you have thus acquired of the fact that those persons have another conscience than yours, because you know them without having previously seen them with your bodily eyes. It is this same fact, moreover, that explains the indifference of some people for others; they do not care to make new friends, because they know that they have others by whom they are loved and cherished. In a word, sleep has more influence than you think upon your life.

"Through the effects of sleep, incarnated spirits are always in connection with the spirit-world; and it is in consideration of this fact that spirits of a higher order consent, without much repugnance, to incarnate themselves among you. God has willed that, during their contact with vice, they may go forth and fortify themselves afresh at the source of rectitude, in order that they, who have come into your world to instruct others, may not fall into evil themselves. Sleep is the gate opened for them by God, that they may pass through it to their friends in the spirit-world; it is their recreation after labor, while awaiting the great deliverance, the final liberation, that will restore them to their true place.

"Dreams are the remembrance of what your spirit has seen during sleep; but you must remark that you do not always dream, because you do not always remember what you have seen, or all that you have seen. Your dreams do not always reflect the action of your soul in its full development; for they are often only the reflex of the confusion that accompanies your departure or your return, mingled with the vague remembrance of what you have done, or of what has occupied your thoughts, in your waking state. In what other way can you explain the absurd dreams which are dreamed by the wisest as by the silliest of mankind? Bad spirits, also, make use of dreams to torment weak and timid souls.

"You will see, ere long, the development of another kind of dream, a kind which is as ancient as the one you know, but one of which you are ignorant. The dream we allude to is that of Jeanne Darc,1 of Jacob, of the Jewish prophets, and of certain Hindu ascetics, a dream which is the remembrance of the soul's experiences while entirely freed from the body, the remembrance of the second life, of which I spoke just now.

"You should carefully endeavor to distinguish these two kinds of dreams among those which you are able to recall: unless you do this, you will be in danger of falling into contradictions and errors that would be prejudicial to your belief."

Dreams are a product of the emancipation of the soul, rendered more active by the suspension of the active life of relation, and enjoying a sort of indefinite clairvoyance which extends to places at a great distance from us, or that we have never seen, or even to other worlds. To this state of emancipation is also due the remembrance which retraces to our memory the events that have occurred in our present existence or in preceding existences the strangeness of the images of what has taken place in worlds unknown to us, mixed up with the things of the present world, producing the confused and whimsical medleys that seem to be equally devoid of connection and of meaning.
The incoherence of dreams is still farther explained by the gaps resulting from the incompleteness of our remembrance of what has appeared to us in our nightly visions--an incompleteness similar to that of a narrative from which whole sentences, or parts of sentences, have been omitted by chance, and whose remaining fragments, having been thrown together again at random, have lost all intelligible meaning.

We often see in dreams things which appear to be presentiments, but which do not come to pass,--how is this?

"Those things may take place in the experience of the spirit, though not in that of the body, that is to say, that the spirit sees what he wishes to see because he goes to find it. You must not forget that, during sleep, the spirit is always more or less under the influence of matter; that, consequently, he is never completely free from terrestrial ideas, and that the objects of his waking thoughts may therefore give to his dreams the appearance of what he desires or of what he fears, thus producing what may be properly termed an effect of the imagination. When the mind is much busied with any idea, it is apt to connect everything it sees with that idea."

www.spiritwritings.com...

Can two persons, who are acquainted with each other, visit one another in sleep?

Yes; and many others, who, in their waking state, do not know that they are acquainted, meet and converse together. You may, without suspecting it, have friends in another country. The fact of going, during sleep, to visit friends, relatives, acquaintances, persons who can be of use to you, is extremely frequent; and you yourselves accomplish these visits almost every night."

Why do we not always remember our dreams?

"What you call sleep is only the repose of the body, for the spirit is always in motion. During sleep he recovers a portion of his liberty, and enters into communication with those who are dear to him, either in this world, or in other worlds; but as the matter of the body is heavy and gross, it is difficult for him to retain, on waking, the impressions he has received during sleep, because those impressions were not received by him through the bodily organs."


[edit on 21-5-2010 by Shadow Herder]

Interesting stuff, my knowledge isn't extensive on this but I have read quite a bit about it. I have found it very interesting that the spirit "scouts ahead" into your "future" to orchestrate things and also communicate with other spirits.

How do we tell which is the real world?

Is it because we wake up that we realize it was only a dream?

Does anyone remember waking up in a dream thinking that the 'real' world was the dream?

But I wonder, do dreams have any effect on anything? Are they representative of reality?

I've recently started having very vivid and some very disturbing dreams of my own.

dreams are when you open your 3 eye.. you can see future and past events.. problem is today its been kept as a secret. im a shaman in western eyes but i really dont know us much like days before me.. but i feel i need people to wake up of this matrix.. !% are worshipping this fight dark and light they think giving energy to demons makes them powerful.. there is no power stronger then love. life is a test but who knows why i need to write these words..but your true self is your dreams.. but understanding dreams is another chapter reply to: Shadow Herder

a reply to: Shadow Herder

Yes I have had a series of dreams ... where I awoke only to find later I was still dreaming ... I tested these dreams out ... In these dreams I would go to turn on a light switch ... only to find there was NO electricity ie no power ... My dreams were so vivid I became unable to tell what was dream and what was wakefulness ...

Also I have had dreams both mundane and exciting which came to pass ... It informed me to look deeper as to what was truly occuring

I agree with most of what you relay ... When I dream of being with others it is uplifting to know in fact I was with them ... In both this life and the next ...

I call the places we meet in dream "Transit Realms" which are the planets also ... We see with limited vision in our Earth state ...

Also in dreams/Nightmares we can help / play out situations which can assist others less fortunate but who have come to a point of moving on ... The thoughts are actual but the actions not ... By this I mean the one who may harm us in dream is unable to ... So non should fear such dreams

This is a big subject Ie dreams ... It is something I am passionate about ...

Thank you for sharing your insight-fullness

This is part of a post I replied to in a thread on the subject of Deja Vu ... which is also related to dreams ...

" One is not the body ... One is a soul who inhabits a body for a life span in order to fulfil one's purpose for being on Earth.
When you fall asleep you in effect leave your body ... it ticks over till the concious being rejoins it ... Meanwhile the concious being or soul or spirit whatever you may call it is elsewhere ... I call this being in the transit realms ...

In the transit realms we meet with our soul companions in both this life and even those that have passed over ... We are shown our shortcomings and plan out the next day ... In Soul we have a better understanding of who we are and our purpose ....... On Earth it is so difficult to fulfil one's soul purpose ... The reason for this is Indoctrination which is a whole other subject that I will not delve into here ... only to say it begins when we are born.

So in the transit realms we plan out the day ahead and how we will be in a soul way and also the alternative ... that being our indoctrinated way ... Deja Vu is simply a recalling of what we already knew/planned and also the Soul nudging us to take note and realise that there is something much more going on. "

Great thread. Wise words for sure.

I have often stated on here that I have watched my daughter countless times fall asleep. There is a specific moment. Before that moment if I even move a bit she stirs or looks to make sure I'm there. Than the moment, a chill, a vibration I can feel go right through her. Once that happens I can do a double back with a twist off of the edge of her bed and she wouldn't know it. She's gone somewhere else, enjoy the journey sweetheart.

a reply to: artistpoet

Is one's life purpose a linear path punctuated by specific accomplishments, or is it a nonlinear, generally mutable journey that simply accompanies us by our very existence?

a reply to: sfbread

Is one's life purpose a linear path punctuated by specific accomplishments, or is it a nonlinear, generally mutable journey that simply accompanies us by our very existence?

Good question ... made me think how to explain what I believe

This is what I believe ...
This Universe is Intelligent ... not in an academic sense but in a way of manipulating substance / matter for the benefit of all it contains ... and surprisingly the benefit of other less fortunate Universes ...

Essentially the purpose of the Universe is to survive ... If you think about the general way of Humanity at present it is at odds with this ...

In a way in order to survive there are two essential ingredients required ... Power ... not power in a Man made way but the power that is displayed in the formation of what we glean ... ie Stars such as our Sun ... Our Sun being the powerhouse for life on Earth. Yet power alone is destructive if not tempered with caring how that power is applied or not.

Our role on Earth is less grand but still mirrors the Intention of the Universe.
The Purpose of the Universe is an ongoing thing ie it is Eternal ... Also mutable / flexible in order to deal with substances and situations it encounters ...

However Non can tell you what your purpose is ... that is specific to you ... It comes down to one's Intention ... One can be in accord with the Universal plan or not ... And that can take many forms ... It is about choice ... Harmony or self destruction ...

All I can say is follow your own inner guidance ie intuition ... You do not need a Guru or priest or any ... though it is arranged our paths criss cross so we can share with each other and learn ...

I hope this explains a little ...

a reply to: Shadow Herder

Greetings and Salutations- I enjoyed reading Your piece and I'm sure 'some' will read it and take a 'new path' to their personal awakening, kudos to You/Us/We. Thank You.

It 'may' also assist the viewer of this thread to acknowledge that some "Sleeping aids" (AMBIEN™) will 'rob' the user of making a full connection, or at least if You're reading this and are "female" this incarnate (If You squat to pee) and use AMBIEN™ or something other than Melatonin (naturally developed from the Pineal Gland, which is usually calcified via fluoride in public water..) to reduce Your dose of AMBIEN™ to 1/2 a caplet, this way You'll only 'lose' half the connection, easier to get "Stuck"/separated..

If You're still reading: Your Pineal Gland is IMPORTANT so important that the Catholic™ church has an altar and it is embossed in the Pope's Staff. It's representation in the Church™ is the PINE Cone.

Get the dreams; Get the "instructions" that come with those dreams... Be 'un-aware' and NOT receive the 'info'...

CAREFUL: There are 'some' amongst Us now that have the ability to 'manifest' what it is they have dreamt, so be "Careful of what You wish for"...

namaste
Om Bava ShaviYa Om