thing unknown Dreams

The meaning behind thing unknown Dreams

may have been an ethereal movement,
as in the case of light, and may have been only an effect,
a product, a result; but this effect must have had a cause,
and this cause evidently proceeded from the woman who was dying.
Can the constitution of the brain explain this projection?
I do not think that any anatomist or physiologist will give
this question an affirmative answer. One feels that there is
a force unknown, proceeding, not from our physical organization,
but from that in us which can think.

``Take another example (see page 57).@@@

``A lady in her own house hears a voice singing.
It is the voice of a friend now in a convent, and she faints,
because she is sure it is the voice of the dead.
At the same moment that friend does really die, twenty miles
away from her.

``Does not this give us the impression that one soul holds
communication with another?

``Here is another example (page 163):@@@

``The wife of a captain who has gone out to the Indian mutiny sees one night
her husband standing before her with his hands pressed to his breast,
and a look of suffering on his face. The agitation that she feels convinces
her that he is either killed or badly wounded. It was November 14th.
The War Office subsequently publishes his death as having taken place
on November 15th. She endeavors to have the true date ascertained.
The War Office was wrong. He died on the 14th.

``A child six years old stops in the middle of his play and
cries out, frightened: ``Mamma, I have seen Mamma.'' At that
moment his mother was dying far away from him (page 124).@@@

``A young girl at a ball stops short in the middle of a dance and cries,
bursting into tears. `My father is dead; I have just seen him.'
At that moment her father died. She did not even know he was ill.

``All these things present themselves to us as indicating
not physiological operations of one brain acting on another,
but psychic actions of spirit upon spirit. We feel that they
indicate to us some power unknown.

``No doubt it is difficult to apportion what belongs to the spirit,
the soul, and what belongs to the brain. We can only let ourselves
be guided in our judgment and our appreciations by the same
feeling that is created in us by the discussion of phenomena.
This is how all science has been started. Well, and does not every
one feel that we have here to do with manifestations from beings
capable of thought, and not with material physiological facts only?

``This impression is superabundantly confirmed by investigation concerning
the unknown faculties of the soul, when active in dreams and somnambulism.

``A brother learns the death of his young sister by a terrible nightmare.

``A young girl sees beforehand, in a dream, the man whom she will marry.

``A mother sees her child lying in a road, covered with blood.

``A lady goes, in a dream, to visit her husband on a distant steamer,
and her husband really receives this visit, which is seen by a third person.

``A magnetized lady sees and describes the interior of the body
of her dying mother; what she said is confirmed by the autopsy.

``A gentleman sees, in a dream, a lady whom he knows arriving at night
in a railroad station, her journey having been undertaken suddenly.

``A magistrate sees three years in advance the commission of a crime,
down to its smallest details.

``Several persons report that they have seen towns and landscapes
before they ever visited them, and have seen themselves in situations
in which they found themselves long after.

``A mother hears her daughter announce her intended marriage six months
before it has been thought of.

``Frequent cases of death are foretold with precision.

``A theft is seen by a somnambulist, and the execution of
the criminal is foretold.

``A young girl sees her fiance', or an intimate friend dying
(these are frequent cases), etc.

``All these show unknown faculties in the soul. Such at least
is my own impression. It seems to me that we cannot reasonably
attribute the prevision of the future and mental sight to a nervous
action of the brain.

``I think we must either deny these facts or admit that they must
have had an intellectual and spiritual cause of the psychic order,
and I recommend sceptics who do not desire to be convinced, to deny
them outright; to treat them as illusions and cases of a fortuitous
coincidence of circumstances. They will find this easier.
Uncompromising deniers of facts, rebels against evidence,
may be all the more positive, and may declare that the writers
of these extraordinary narratives are persons fond of a joke,
who have written them to hoax me, and that there have been persons
in all ages who have done the same thing to mystify thinkers
who have taken up such questions.

``These phenomena prove, I think, that the soul exists,
and that it is endowed with faculties at present unknown.
That is the logical way of commencing our study, which in the end
may lead us to the problem of the after-life and immortality.
A thought can be transmitted to the mind of another.
There are mental transmissions, communications of thoughts,
and psychic currents between human souls. Space appears
to be no obstacle in these cases, and time sometimes seems
to be annihilated.''

A few years ago a person whom I will designate as ``A'' related a dream
to me as follows: ``I take no interest in pugilism or pugilists,
but I saw, in a dream, every detail of the Corbett and Fitzsimmons mill,
four days before it took place out West. Two nights before the fight I
had a second dream in which a favorite horse was running, but suddenly,
just before the judge's stand was passed, a hitherto unobserved little black
horse ran ahead and the crowd shouted in my ears, `Fitzsimmons wins!' ''

``B'' relates the following as a dream: ``I saw the American soldiers,
in clay-colored uniform, bearing the flag of victory two weeks
before the Spanish-American war was declared, and of course before
any living being could have known the uniform to be adopted.
Later I saw, several days before the actual occurrence happened,
the destruction of Cervera's fleet by the American navy.''
Signed ``B.''

``Just after the South African hostilities began, I saw in a dream
a fierce struggle between the British and Boers, in which the former
suffered severe losses. A few nights after I had a second dream
in which I saw the contending forces in a long-drawn contest,
very disastrous to both, and in which neither could claim a victory.
They seemed to be fighting to a frazzle.'' Signed ``C.''

``D'' related to me at the time of the occurrence of the dream the following:
``It had been suggested to me that the two cereals, corn and wheat, were too
far apart, and that I ought to buy corn. At noon I lay down on a lounge
to await luncheon; I had barely closed my eyes before a voice whispered:
`Don't buy, but sell that corn.' `What do you mean?' I asked.
`Sell at the present price, and buy at 23 7/8.' '' The foregoing dream was
related to me by a practical, successful business man who never speculates.
I watched the corn market and know it took the turns indicated in the dream.

In this dream we find the dreamer conversing with some strange
intelligence possessed of knowledge unknown to objective reason.
It could not, therefore, have been the waking thoughts
of the dreamer, for he possessed no such information.
Was the message superinduced through the energies and
activities of the waking mind on the subjective mind?
This could not have been, because he had no such thoughts;
besides, the intelligence given was free from the errors
of the calculating and anxious waking mind.

We must therefore look to other sources for an explanation. Was it
the higher self that manifested to Abraham in the dim ages of the world?
Was it the Divine Voice that gave solace to Krishna in his abstraction?
Was it the unerring light that preceded Gautama into the strange solitudes
of Asia? Was it the small voice that Elijah heard in the desert
of Shurr? Was it the Comforter of Jesus in the wilderness and the garden
of distress? Or, was it Paul's indwelling spirit of this earthly tabernacle?
One thing we may truthfully affirm--that it did not proceed from the rational,
objective mind of the rank materialist, who would close all doors to that
inner life and consciousness where all true religion finds its birthmark,
its hope, its promises and its faith; which, rightly understood,
will leave to the horrors of the Roman crucifixion the twin thieves,
superstition and scepticism, while the angel of ``Goodwill'' will go
free to solace the world with the fruit and fragrance of enduring power
and promise{.} The steel chains that fasten these hydra-headed crocodiles
of sensuous poison around love and destiny can only be severed by the diamond
of wisdom and knowledge.

A citizen worthy of confidence relates the following dream:
``In December, 1878, I saw in a dream my brother-in-law, Henry Yarnell,
suffering from a bloody knife wound; after this I awoke, but soon
fell asleep again. The second time I dreamed of a similar scene,
except that the wound was the result of a shotgun. After this I
did not go to sleep again. I was much troubled about my dream,
and soon started in the direction of my brother-in-law's house.
I had not gone far, when I met an acquaintance who promptly informed
me that my brother-in-law had been shot.'' Signed ``E.''

A well-known resident of Chattanooga, Tenn., formerly of New York City,
will vouch for the accuracy of the following incident in his life:

``On February 19, 1878, I was boarding with a family on Christopher street,
New York, while my wife and baby were visiting my parents in the country,
a short distance from the city. Our baby was taken sick.
The malady developed into brain fever, followed by water on the brain,
causing the little one's death.

``At our boarding-place there was at the time a quartette of us
grass widowers, as we called ourselves, and in order to pass away
the time pleasantly we had organized a `grass widowers' euchre club.'
We used to meet almost every evening after dinner in the dining-room,
and play until about eleven o'clock, when we would retire.
On the above date I dreamed that after playing our usual evening
games we took our departure for our rooms, and on the way up
the second flight of stairs I heard a slight movement behind me;
on looking around I found I was being followed by a tall figure
robed in a long, loose white gown, which came down to the floor.
The figure seemed to be that of a man--I would say, about seven
feet tall--who followed me up the second flight and along
the hallway, entering my room. After coming in the door he made
a circle of the room and seemed to be looking for something,
and when he approached the door to make his exit he stopped still,
and with a gesture of his hand remarked, `I have taken all you have.'
On the following morning, about 9:30 o'clock, I received a telegram
from my wife announcing the death of our only baby.'' Signed ``F.''

A well-known citizen of Chattanooga, Tenn., relates and vouches
for the truth of the following occurrence:

``Several years ago, when a boy, I had a schoolmate and friend, Willie T.,
between whom and myself there sprung up a mutual feeling of high regard.
We were chums in the sense that we were almost constantly together, both at
school and at home, and among the partnerships we formed was one of having
amateur shadowgraph and panoramic shows in the basement of Willie's home.
This much to show the mental and social relationship that existed between us.
Some time during this association (I cannot recall the exact night now)
I had a strange dream, in which my chum appeared to me with outstretched hand,
asking me to shake, saying, `I shall not see you any more.' With that,
the dream lapsed and was over. I thought nothing of the occurrence, and had
almost forgotten it, when one day, about a week later, during which time I had
not had a glimpse of my chum, while he was out hunting with another friend,
W. McC., in following him over a rail fence, the latter's gun was accidentally
discharged in Willie's face and neck, resulting in instant death.
With this shocking news the memory of the dream I had had came back to me
vividly and puzzled me very greatly, and indeed has puzzled me to this day.''
Signed ``G.''

The recipients of the above dreams are living to-day and their names
and address may be obtained, none of them are credulous fanatics
or predisposed to a belief in psychic or spirit phenomena.

The above dreams, except two, cannot be explained by telepathy,
because the mental picture cast on the dream mind had not in either
instance taken place in waking life. This would account for
the dream perception of ``D,'' which did not, in all probability,
take place until after the murder had been committed.

The vision of ``F'' might be disposed of in the same way.
In this instance ``F'' saw the white-robed specter open the door,
walk around the room and finally, taking his position as if
to depart, say: ``I have taken all you have.'' No doubt this
vision took place at the exact moment of the child's death.

There are thousands of similar experiences occurring daily in the lives
of honest, healthy and sane human beings, that rival the psychic
manifestations of Indian Yogism or Hebrew records.

Still men go on doubting this true and loving subjective intelligence
that is constantly wooing for entrance into the soul and is ever
vigilant in warning the material life of approaching evils.
They prefer the Witch of Endor, and the Black Magicians of ancient
Egypt to the higher, or Christ self, that has been seen and heard
by the sages and saints of all ages, assuming appropriate symbols,
as in the case of the vision of ``F,'' where the angel of
death was assumed.

To Paul it appeared as a great personal truth whom he was
relentlessly persecuting. To many a wayward son or daughter
of the present time, it appears as a dead relative or friend,
in order to approach the material mind and make its
warning more effective.

To those who were interested in the teachings of Christ, but who after
his death were inclined to doubt him, this higher self materialized
in the form of the Great Master in order to impress on their material
minds the spiritual import of his teachings. So, to this day, when doubt
and temptation mar the moral instinct, God, through the spiritual self,
as Job says, approaches man while in deep sleep upon the bed to impress
his instructions that he may change man from his purpose.

The spiritual world always fixes its orbit upon a
straight line, while the material world is fonder of curves.
We find man struggling through dreadful marshes and deserts
of charlatanism in order to get a glimpse into his future,
instead of solicitously following the straight line of inner
consciousness that connects with the infinite mind, from which,
aided by his Church and the healthy action of his own judgment,
he may receive those helpful spiritual impressions and messages
necessary to solace the longings of the searching soul.

The philosophy of the True Master is the straight line.
Pythagoras, Plato and Christ created angles by running vertical lines
through the ecclesiastical and hypocritical conventionalities of their day.
The new angles and curves thus produced by the bold philosophy
of the humble Nazarene have confronted with impregnable firmness
during the intervening ages the sophistry of the Pharisees.

``In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,
in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth
their instruction. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide
pride from man.''--JOB 33:15.

``Man cannot contradict the laws of Nature. But, are all the laws
of Nature yet understood?''

``Real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny.''--LYTTON.

Those who live active lives exclude spiritual thought and
fill their minds with the fascinations of worldly affairs,
pleasure and business, dream with less frequency than
those who regard objective matters with lighter concern.
The former depend alone upon the voluptuous warmth of the world
for contentment; they look to money, the presence of some one,
or to other external sources for happiness, and are often disappointed;
while the latter, with a just appreciation of temporal wants,
depend alone upon the inner consciousness for that peace
which passeth all carnal understanding.

They are strengthened, as were Buddha and Christ, by suppressing
the sensual fires for forty days and nights in the wilderness of trial
and temptation. They number a few, and are never disappointed,
while the former number millions.

Nature is three-fold, so is man; male and female, son or soul.
The union of one and two produce the triad or the trinity
which underlies the philosophy of the ancients.

Man has a physical or visible body, an atom of the physical or visible earth.
He has a soul the exact counterpart of his body, but invisible and subjective;
incomplete and imperfect as the external man, or _vice versa_.

The soul is not only the son or creation of man, but it is the real man.
It is the inner imperishable double or imprint of what has outwardly
and inwardly transpired. All thoughts, desires and actions enter the soul
through the objective mind.

The automaton of the body responds as quickly to the bat
of the eye as it does to the movement of the whole body.
By it the foot-steps of man and the very hairs of his head are numbered.
Thus it becomes his invisible counterpart. It is therefore the book
of life or death, and by it he judges himself or is already judged.
When it is complete nothing can be added or taken from its personnel.
It is sometimes partly opened to him in his dreams, but in death
is clearly revealed.

Man has also a spiritual body, subjective to, and more ethereal
than the soul. It is an infinitesimal atom, and is related
in substance to the spiritual or infinite mind of the universe.
Just as the great physical sun, the center of visible light,
life and heat, is striving to purify the foul miasma of the marsh
and send its luminous messages of love into the dark crevices
of the earth, so the Great Spiritual Sun, of which the former
is a visible prototype or reflection, is striving to illuminate
with Divine Wisdom the personal soul and mind of man, thus enabling
him to become cognizant of the spiritual or Christ presence within.

The heresy and Herod of wanton flesh, degenerate victim of
the sensuous filth and fermentation of self-indulgence, is ever
striving to exile and suppress, from the wilderness of sin,
the warning cry of the Nazarite voice by intriguing with the cunning,
incestuous daughters of unholy thoughts and desires.

The objective mind is most active when the body is awake.
The subjective influences are most active, and often fill
the mind with impressions, while the physical body is asleep.
The spiritual intelligence can only intrude itself when
the human will is suspended, or passive to external states.
A man who lives only on the sensual plane will receive his
knowledge through the senses, and will not, while in that state,
receive spiritual impressions or warning dreams.

Men and women rarely ever degrade themselves so low that
the small voice of the desert does not bring them a message.
Sodom and Gomorrah, vile with the debauchery of a nameless crime,
were not deserted by the angel of love until the fire
which they had lighted in their souls had consumed them.
The walls of Jericho did not fall until Rahab, the harlot,
had been saved and the inmates had heard for several days
the ram's-horn and the tramp of Joshua's infantry.

The evangelist Jonah, the Sam Jones of Hebrew theology,
exhorted the adulterous Nineveh many times to repentance
before it fell.

David, while intoxicated with the wine of love, from languishing
in the seductive embrace of the beautiful bathing nymph, Bathsheba,
heard the voice of Nathan. Surely God is no respecter of persons,
and will speak to all classes if the people will not stiffen their
necks or harden their hearts.

Women dream more often and more vividly than men, because their dream
composition is less influenced and allied to external environments.

All dreams possess an element of warning or prescience;
some more than others. This is unknown to the many, but is known
to the observing few. There are many people who have no natural
taste for music, and who do not know one note from another.
There are also those who cannot distinguish one color from another.
To the former there is no harmony of sound, and to the latter
there is no blending of colors.

They are heard and seen, but there is no artistic recognition of the same.
Still it would be absurd to say to either the musician or the artist:
your art is false and is only an illusion of the senses.

One man apparently never dreams; another dreams occasionally,
and still another more frequently; none atttempt{sic} to interpret
their dream, or to observe what follows; therefore, the verdict is,
``There is nothing in dreams.'' (Schopenhauer aptly says:
``No man can see over his own height.... Intellect is invisible
to the man who has none.'') The first is like the blind man who
denies the existence of light, because he does not perceive it.
The second and third resemble the color-blind man, who sees
but who persists in calling green blue, and _vice versa_.

A fourth man sees in a dream a friend walking in his room;
the vision is so vivid he instantly gets up and strikes a match.
After making sure there is no intruder about the room he looks
at his watch and goes back to bed. The next day he receives
the unwelcome tidings that his friend died at the exact moment
of the vision.

At another time he hears in his dream a familiar voice cry out in agony.
Soon he hears of a shocking accident or distressing illness befalling
the one whose voice he recognized in the dream.[2]


[2] For authentic records, see Flammarion's ``Unknown.''


The third man, already referred to, has about the same dream experiences,
but calls them strange coincidences or unconscious cerebration, etc.

Again, the fourth man dreams of walking through green fields
of corn, grass or wheat. He notes after such dreams prosperous
conditions follow for at least a few days. He also notes,
if the area over which he passes is interspersed with rocks or other
adverse signs, good and bad follow in the wake of the dream.
If he succeeds in climbing a mountain and finds the top barren
he will accomplish his object, but the deal will prove unprofitable.
If it is green and spring-like in appearance, it will yield good results.
If he sees muddy water, sickness, business depression or causes
for jealousy may develop.

A nightmare suggests to the dreamer to be careful of health and diet,
to relax his whole body, to sleep with his arms down and keep plenty
of fresh air in the room.

He sums up the foregoing with a thousand similar dream incidents,
and is led to believe certain dreams possess an element of warning.

There are three pure types of dreams, namely, _subjective_,

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Dream dictionary entry taken from 10,000 Dreams Interpreted by Gustavus Hindman Miller. Psychologist World provides these definitions as a courtesy and is not responsible for, or for any consequences resulting from the use of, Miller's archaic dream interpretations.