Here are excerpts that are thought provoking.
Enjoy and explore the words of others about dreams.
Links are provided when the author has a website, books for sale or on archive.org.
Of all the different ways and means that help you on your journey, may this page inspire you.
“Dreams provide the most interesting information for those who take the trouble to understand their symbols.
Carl Jung
The results, it is true, have little to do with such worldly concerns as buying and selling.
But the meaning of life is not exhaustively explained by one’s business, nor is the deep desire of the human heart answered by a bank account.”
‘Urania’ by Camille Flammarion, 1890
In the book ‘Urania’ published in 1890 by French Astronomer and Author, Camille Flammarion, there is an account of an incident in which two men experience a physical phenomenon that is later understood to connect with another gentleman’s dream. Suggesting that the dreamer was subconsciously influencing the phenomena while in the dream state.
Enjoy this story and your contemplation of the connection between dreams and physical reality.
Sir Robert Bruce, belonging to the illustrious Scotch family of that name, was mate of a vessel. One day, when sailing near Newfoundland, and while busy with his calculations, he thought he saw the captain seated at his desk, but looked at him attentively, and noticed that it was a stranger, whose cold, fixed look surprised him. He went on deck; the captain noticed his surprise and asked him what it meant.
‘Who is at your desk?” Asked Bruce.
“No one.”
“Yes, there is someone there. Is it a stranger; and how did he come there?”
“You are either dreaming or joking.”
“Not at all. Come down and see for yourself.”
They go down to the cabin, but there is no one at the desk. The ship is thoroughly searched, but no stranger is found.
“And yet the man I saw was writing on your slate; the writing must be there still,” said he to the captain.
They looked at the slate; it bore these words “Steer to the northwest.”
“This must be your writing, or some one’s else on board the ship.”
“No; I did not write it.”
Everyone was told to write the same sentence, and no handwriting resembled that on the slate.
“Very well,” said the captain; “we will obey these instructions and steer the ship to the northwest; the wind is right, and will admit of our trying the experiment.”
Three hours later, the watch perceived an ice- berg, and near it a vessel from Quebec, headed for Liverpool, dismantled, and covered with people. They were brought off by boats of Bruce’s vessel. As one of the men was climbing up the side of the rescuing vessel, Bruce started, and drew back in great agitation. He recognized the stranger whom he had seen tracing the words on the slate. He reported the strange incident to the captain.
“Will you write ‘ Steer to the northwest ‘ on this slate ?” asked the captain, turning to the new-comer, and offering the side which bore no writing.
The stranger complied with his request, and wrote the desired words.
“Will you acknowledge that to be your ordinary handwriting?” asked the captain, struck with the similarity of the two sentences.
“Of course; how can you doubt it? You saw me write it yourself.”
As a reply, the captain turned the slate over, and the stranger was amazed to see his own writing on both sides.
“Did you dream of writing on that slate?” said the Quebec captain to the man who had just been writing.
“No, —at least I have no remembrance of doing so.”
“What was that passenger doing at noon?” Asks the rescuer of his brother captain.
“The passenger was very tired, and had fallen into a sound sleep, as near as I remember, a little before twelve o’clock. An hour or more later he awoke, and said to me, ‘Captain, we shall be saved this very day; ‘ adding, ‘ I dreamed that I was on board a vessel coming to our relief.’ He described the ship and its rigging, and we were very much surprised, when you headed for us, to recognize the exactness of the description.”
After a while the passenger said, “It is very strange, but somehow this ship seems quite familiar to me, and yet I was never on it before.”
View and download ‘Urania’ by Camille Flammarion, 1890 at archive.org
What’s in a Dream by G.H.Miller 1901
“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 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 lust 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 assume 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 hell 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.
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 assimilation of the food he receives from the parent.”
View or download What’s in a Dream by G.H.Miller 1901 at archive.org.
The Dreamer’s Teacher and Oneirocritica, By James Monroe, 1887
Preface
Education consists of the acquisition of a knowledge of that which others had previously known, and the tendency of the human mind is to become biased in favour of its early and long continued training; therefore originality of thought is most frequently found among those whose minds have not been trained in the routine of previous knowledge during a long period of time. And, furthermore, the absence of a thorough education does not unfit one for observing, comparing and reflecting upon the various manifestations of nature; therefore, with a firm conviction that I have discovered some important truths which the world should be informed of, I venture to offer them to the public, although not more than one of my sixty-four years has been spent in a school-room, and but a small portion of my time has been spent in literary work; the balance of my time having been spent in hard labour, business, and the common cares of rearing and providing for a family.
My literary work has been wholly limited to my past and present efforts in developing and propagating the truths connected with the subject of Dreams and Visions.
I have lost some money in my previous efforts to publish these truths, but I do not regret these efforts, and shall be pleased, although I suffer still further loss, provided these truths shall be advanced thereby.
THE AUTHOR.
Page 5-6
Richard Baxter never awoke but from out a dream. He believed the soul was ever active, but that a remembrance of its action was not always carried into the waking state. Dr. Watts entertained a similar belief.
Poseidonius, the stoic, believed that the mind, from its likeness to the Deity, looked into futurity while the body reposed in sleep. He also believed the mind to be affected by countless immortal spirits which abound in the air, and which are stamped with certain signs of truth; and also that the gods themselves commune with mortals.
Strabo supposed the human understanding to be more sensitive in dreams than at other times.
Cyrus, the elder, claimed that sleep resembled death: that the soul could foresee and foreknow whilst the body slept.
Aristotle believed that dreams might be supernaturally commissioned. He also believed that the mind possessed superior powers during sleep.
Plato believed dreams to be emanations of the Divinity.
Chaucer believed dreams to be divinely inspired.
Catherine de Medicis and her daughter received revelations through dreams.
Many artists, mathematicians, and others, have performed their greatest intellectual feats during sleep.
Page 20
From information gathered from general intercourse with the world, I am led to believe that my own experience in dreaming represents the average in the number of dreams among the masses of people generally. I have kept a record of my dreams during many years past, and find by reference to that record that the average of my experiences amount to about two hundred dreams per year. This number is all that were remembered, including long and short ones. They were received quite irregularly; sometimes two or three in one night, with a waking interval after each one of them, and at other times I have passed many nights without any dreams. Fatigue, anxiety, or, as before stated, hot weather, appears to be among the chief causes which prevent a remembrance of dreams.
The length of my dreams, as recorded, varies from one line to two pages of foolscap — the average being about a dozen lines to one dream. Some were as vivid as reality, while others were only partially recalled by considerable mental effort. I have no doubt but a large portion of them were symbolic foreshadowings of events relating to my various business enterprises, but the signification of the greatest number of them was never discovered, and the meaning of some others was discovered too late to profit by the foreknowledge which they brought. The signification of some others seemed plain enough, but they were disregarded, and loss suffered in consequence of so doing, and yet I can recall a very small number which were understood and heeded and their benefits realised.
I am well aware that in the eyes of those who judge of all benefits according to their pecuniary aspects, the work of my spare hours during many years will appear trifling; but I am very certain that I have found evidence in the inspiration of some dreams that the soul without the flesh can act, and that it does so act, both while it is yet bound to the flesh and also after it has shuffled off* the mortal coil. And the demonstration of such facts is no trifle, but well worth the patient effort of years, for it has established knowledge where even faith was dying out.
I know that all dreams do not originate in the natural mind, because some are prophetic, and the natural mind has no prophetic faculty. And in case of an incidental event, such as the accidental discharge of firearms by which a life is lost, the event is often foreshadowed in a dream before it has an existence elsewhere, so far as the natural mind can know, for there appears to be no natural causes in operation to bring about such an event, for in such case all depends either upon the impulse of the mind, or thoughtless motion of the hand, at the moment of its occurrence. And furthermore, I know that my unexpressed thoughts upon certain subjects have been answered through the dreams of other persons, who knew nothing either of my thoughts or the subject of those thoughts, they not having even heard of the subject. We must infer that such knowledge comes from a supermundane source.
The greatest obstacle in the establishment of a universal conviction of the fact of prophetic dreams, is the symbolic language in which the greater number of them are received.
Page 23-24
Joseph, of Egypt; Daniel, of the Hebrew captives in Babylon; Achmet, author of Oneirocritica; Astrampsychus, author of Oneirocriticon; and Artemidorus, author of another Oneirocritica. Among the works here named or unnamed, that of Artemidorus appears to have gained the greatest celebrity. He flourished in the second century of our era, and established a system of correspondence to collect facts relating to the subject. He wrote the result of his investigations and conclusions in a work of five volumes. It has been translated into several languages; but the age in which he wrote, and for many centuries later, the masses were unlearned, the printing press unknown, and consequently his work could not be fully appreciated; and in the Middle Ages, and also in more modern times, the disposition and power of the church has been such as to silence, by persecution and disapproval, all matters relating to spiritual phenomena which did not come through the regular channels of the priesthood, and contribute to the support of the same. Consequently, all valuable ancient literature and discoveries relating to dreams and their interpretation has disappeared from the world, and nothing but the worthless and flashy stuff remains; therefore, these pages are almost wholly original.
Dreaming, on account of its frequency, is the most prolific source of evidence concerning the spiritual world, and life and intelligence independent of the material organs.
Difficulties in dream interpretation Pg 200-201
Opinions of matters and things are formed from such related circumstances as are presented to the mind. Those opinions may have been foreshadowed in dreams, and yet they may or may not be the truth. This fact constitutes one of the chief difficulties in our efforts to interpret dreams, because it is not always the absolute fact that is foreshadowed, but only what will appear to be the fact at some future time.
Our hopes and fears are also foreshadowed, and are often cutely presented in symbolic forms, and yet they are liable to prove false. Or, in other words, the foreshadowing is previous to the hopes or fears, and simply reveals a future state of mind rather than the true fact.
Dreams are also often conditional warnings or promises, given in answer to secret or unexpressed intentions in regard to business or other matters; and when such intentions are abandoned there is, of course, no fulfilment of the dream, and consequently no evidence to any person, except the one who entertained the secret thoughts, that there was a foundation for the dream. But in such cases we find the most valuable part of dream knowledge, because the result is conditional, and the intention may be abandoned when it has not a favourable promise.
Some dreams have but few points; it is, physiological causes, etc. therefore, difficult to discover the subject of such dreams. Others are so vague and obscure that it requires a keen perception of resemblance to discover their application. And, furthermore, there are trifling dreams that are both symbolical and literal, and there is difficulty in distinguishing between the symbolical and literal parts, and there are also dreams produced from Then we have the theory of lying spirits, which has some evidence for its support, but which we yet hope may be otherwise explained. But after making due allowance for the difficulties before mentioned, and all others which remain to be discovered, we yet have valuable truth remaining, and we may hope that a more thorough knowledge of the subject will enable us to separate the truth from all its surrounding difficulties.
View and download The Dreamer’s Teacher and Oneirocritica, By James Monroe, 1887 from archive.org
“The Visionary stressed that man’s negative attitudes and emotions were a cancerous contaminant for his body and mind, but that through correct dream interpretation, he could find renewed hope for solving problems.
Mary Summer Rain, EARTHWAY
Dreams could show him the subconscious sources for damaging negative attitudes and thereby give him the tools to correct them.
She also stressed that the antidote for the contamination was to make corrections based on the direction given by dream interpretation.”