 Chapter 1 of THE SECRET OF DREAMS by Yakki Reza-Zan Everybody dreams, but there are few who place any importance to the phenomena of sleep. Before we can begin to comprehend or even analyze dreams, whether our dreams are symbolic or otherwise, we must first divert from our mind our materialistic conceptions of what the individual called man really is. The external or physical man is no more the man than the coat he wears. The physical man is only an instrument of which the real inner man or soul expresses itself in the physical universe. Various materialistic theories have been given in the past, trying to explain the mighty phenomena of dreams. But these theories have always been more or less unsatisfactory. Why? Because the materialist tries to explain the riddle of human existence, without an individual human spirit, his explanation will always be unsatisfactory. Dreams afford a separation of soul and body. As soon as the senses become torpid, the inner man withdraws from the outer. There are three different 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 body temporarily, whereas in death he has left it forever. In the case of death, the language unite soul and body, as seen by clairvoyant vision, is broken. But in trance or sleep it is released. The real man is then in the astral world. He now functions in his astral body, which becomes a vehicle for expressing consciousness, just as the physical body is an instrument for expressing consciousness in the waking 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 of death. The man is fully conscious in the astral regions, clothed in the body of the astral matter. This astral body is in the physical and extends little beyond it. The astral world is here and now, intra-penetrating the physical, and not in some remote region above the clouds, 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, vis, physical, emotional, and mental worlds, just as the astral intra-penetrates the physical, the mental intra-penetrates the astral. The astral body in which man functions during sleep is the body of emotions and desires, and he expresses these desires and emotions in the physical life. The astral body in which man functions during sleep is very subtle matter. It resembles the physical. In fact, it is an exact reproduction of it. But it can only be seen by clairvoyant vision. When a man leaves his body in sleep or death, the spirit must leave the physical body before it will be rested and recuperated to enable it 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 sleep until six next morning. The ordinary man will awake in feeling refreshed and ready for his daily toil. Let him go to bed at ten, lie awake all night. Next morning he will not feel refreshed, and during the day he may feel sluggish and sleepy. Let him go to bed and lie awake night after night for a few weeks. What will be the result? He will be a physical wreck. Although he may have the same amount of hours lying in bed, he will not feel recuperated and refreshed, unless he has had his natural sleep, and this can only come to pass. When the solar spirit withdraws from the physical body, the physical body is not the man, and as long as our materialistic writers, who endeavor to interpret dreams, fail to grasp the nature of the inner man, the real self, they will be forever groping in the dark. The first question that naturally arises in the mind of the layman is this. How can a man leave his body in sleep and continue its natural functions such as digestion, circulation of blood, etc.? We do not consciously direct the circulation of the blood or any of the natural bodily functions during our waking state. These things go on whether we will them or not. Although the spirit leaves the body in sleep, as previously stated, there is still a magnetic connection with soul and body. This magnetic connection acts on the sympathetic nervous system and the cerebrospinal, which controls the functions of the human organism. In sleep the astral man may be in the immediate vicinity of his sleeping, recuperating physical body, or it may be thousands of miles away in space. The magnetic connection still exists, regardless of the distance. No matter what distance the astral man is away from his physical body, he can return to it with the rapidity of thought, as the saying is, for it is the soul that thinks the brain is only an instrument of the soul. Many of our dreams may be attributed to subconscious memory, for when our mind is centered on a certain train of thought these thoughts are apt to filter through into the conscious state in sleep. The subconscious memory cannot be truthfully called a dream, for it is only a memory of something we have previously perceived in reality or imagination. One only has to examine his subconscious dream in the light of reason to eliminate them. Telepathy does not explain some of our dreams, for just as it is possible for minds to receive telepathic communications, thought transference, from another in the waking state, it is also possible for the so-called dead to have telepathic communication with the living, for thought is a power, its limitation is unknown. While many of our dreams may be traced to subconscious memory, or telepathy, and happenings of material affairs of our daily lives, others are undoubtedly the astral happenings of the ego while functioning in the etheric regions. There we meet not only the misnamed dead, but also many of those who are still in the physical body, and let me state here that many of our difficult problems of physical life are worked out in sleep. The old axiom, I will go to sleep on it, has a greater significance than is generally attributed to it, for sleep and dreams have more to do in shaping your lives than you have any idea of. You can go to school and sleep, and study anything you are studying in physical life, and make marvelous progress. This requires much training, however. Keeping the mind free from evil thoughts is most essential, to enable the sincere investigator to enter the larger state of consciousness, for the thoughts of our waking state have a more or less effect on the ego during sleep. Every individual harbors a certain train of thought, whether it business or pleasure. This train of thought has a tremendous influence on the ego. In fact, it shapes one's destiny. Choose well your thoughts, for your choice is brief and yet endless. ANNA BASANT IN THOUGHT POWER Man may be said to live two lives in one, one when he is fully awake, and the other when he is sound asleep. These two lives, of course, is the expression of his one existence. The highly developed, spiritual man, as he retires into the interior world during sleep, realizes a state of spiritual bliss that is far beyond the stage of ordinary mortals. Man has been in the habit of looking at himself as a mass of flesh and muscle, with a slight chance of realizing the divinity within him. As the earnest soul gradually arouses himself, he finds his proper place in the universe, for within him are all the attributes of deity, and when he reaches the end of the long evolutionary journey that is ahead of him, he will find himself and know what he is destined to be—a god. CHAPTER II Varieties of Dreams In order to distinguish and classify the different kinds of dreams in which everyone has an experience, they may be divided into four variations. Nearly all dreams may be classified under this heading. 1. Physical Stimulus 2. Subconscious Memory 3. Telepathy 4. The actual astral experience of the ego or soul in the astral region. Physical stimulus may be the direct cause of impressing certain issues on the physical brain which may appear to be a reality. The falling of a book, picture, or any article in the room may cause the sleeper to dream of firearms. A soldier may dream of a battlefield. A sensitive female may dream it as a burglar. A person who throws the bedclothes off him on a cold night may dream of snow and ice. The continual dropping of water from a faucet in the room of the sleeper has been the direct cause of a friend of mine dreaming of a passenger train. The steady tramping of footsteps overhead may be the cause of dreaming of thunderstorms, etc. We must also take into consideration the physical and mental environments of the sleeper. The Subconscious Memory The subconscious memory may be the direct cause of certain dreams. When the mind is centered on certain things, the sleeper goes over his life again and again in phantom fashion. He lives over the experiences of his daily life. Very often the ego enlightens the sleeper of some material thing for his own benefit which he may use advantageously in his waking state. But as he generally looks at the phenomena of dreams as hallucination of the brain, he allows many a golden opportunity to slip through his fingers because the materialist brain cannot grasp things of the spirit. All of the knowledge and rubbish of our past lives is stored up in the subconscious mind where it remains in minute form. Memory is only the awakening of the subconscious mind, a long and forgotten incident that has made a deep impression on the mind, is apt to filter through into the conscious state in dreams. In times of illness or when one's vitality is low, the dream picture of the past is apt to play a very prominent part in one's sleep. Childhood and long forgotten scenes come up frequently and appear as real and genuine as if they had only happened the previous day. They frequently give the dreamer joy or sorrow according to the stages he passed through. Even action of past lives may come up into the subconscious. Dreams of running around nude without any feeling of shame may be the memory of a previous existence. Falling from a high cliff or trees, being chased around by some wild animals may be attributed to a primitive past. Dreaming of primitive people, places and things, only takes the dreamer a step nearer the stone age from whence he came. Instead of looking at these subconscious dreams with horror and dread, as some people do, they should study them and shape their lives accordingly. Telepathic dreams or thought transference. Telepathy is a known and established fact. The connection between minds without material means of any kind has often been demonstrated by the very simple method of one person acting as a sender while the other acts as a receiver. The sender thinks of a certain subject selected beforehand. He may write it down on slate or paper. This often helps him to keep his mind concentrated on the subject he wishes to send to the receiver. The receiver places himself in as a receptive position as possible, and keeping his mind calm the impression he receives he makes note of. After a few experiences he may find the message to be correct word for word. This is telepathy. In sleep there is often telepathic conditions between minds who are in close sympathy with each other, such as a man and wife, mother and children, or people whose business brings them close together, may exchange thoughts during sleep. For instance, in one case a mother received the thought of her boy, who was away from home, telling of his sickness. A few days later she received a letter verifying her dream. A salesman dreams of a friend telling him of his company, doing a big business in a neighboring town. Upon his friend's return his dream was found to be correct. A lady in San Francisco, whose husband was in Australia, for three successive nights, dreamed of his returning to America. She did not expect him until early in the fall of the year. She was dreaming of him in the spring. On the fourth morning after her dream she received a letter telling her about his unexpected return. These are so-called telepathic dreams, usually from minds of living people, although telepathic connection from minds of discarnate beings is possible. The actual astral experience of the ego during sleep in the astral world. The actual astral experience in which the ego sees distant sights and visions, which he knows do not actually exist upon the physical plane, such as communicating with the dead, recovery of lost and stolen property, having premonitions of a certain thing which actually happens, such as approaching danger or death. Above are but a few of the actual astral experiences of the ego which it endeavors to impress on the physical brain. Sometimes it impresses them by symbols. For symbols are the true language of the soul, and to know how to interpret the meaning of the symbols of your dreams is of the utmost importance to the beginner. A symbolic dream, which is an actual astral experience, can only be interpreted by the dreamer himself, for no one lives your life but yourself. The first impression you receive intuitively of a dream you see symbolically is usually correct. The reason the layman does not interpret his dreams correctly, by following his intuition, is because he generally has some material idea of his own concerning dreams. Here is a dream that may be said to be an actual experience of the ego, taken from the Chicago American, July 17, 1920. Dream's son drowned, found bodies in river, Burlington, Vermont. The dream was responsible for the finding of the bodies of George Raymond Jr., fourteen years, son of George Raymond, and his uncle, Winford Raymond, in the Lemoyle River at Fletcher. According to Winford's father, the vision of the boy's mother appeared before him in a dream, and directed him to look for the boys in the river. They had been absent from home since Sunday. The dream was so vivid that the father wakened, and at two o'clock went to the river bank, where he found the boy's clothing. At daybreak the bodies were recovered. Here is a dream of the so-called dead, whom many believe exist in a state of dreamless sleep or annihilation, appearing in a vision, and so impressing on the astral brain of the sleeper where the boy's bodies were, that he actually brought the vision or astral experience through into the waking consciousness. Here is proof of a mother looking over her children, even if she is separated from them through the doorway of the tomb. No sane person today can actually believe the tomb to be the doorway to the night of oblivion. Many of the misnamed dead are present, and when we go to sleep at night we meet them and converse with them, just the same as if they were inhabiting their mortal bodies. We do not claim, however, that the dead are all knowing, but free from the physical bodies the spiritually enlightened ones have a broader vision of things, especially if there is a close sympathetic feeling between the dead and the living, as they appear to have been in this case, for the conditions must be absolutely harmonious before one may bring his actual astral experience into the waking consciousness. An interesting case of the dead appearing in a dream was that of Mrs. Marie Meng, 15 West Shillers Street, Chicago. Mr. Charles Peterson, former lieutenant of the Danish Army, was a rumor with Mrs. Meng for a number of years. He had no relatives or near friends in America. Mr. Peterson had been ill for some time with asthma and finally was taken to Hanuman Hospital, 2814 Ellis Avenue, Chicago. In less than a half hour before she received the telephone call telling of his death, she suddenly awakened and told her husband Mr. Peterson had appeared to her in a dream. She states, he appeared in a white cloud and seemed well and happy. He died about 1.30 a.m. Saturday, March 18, 1921. It was an easy matter for C. Peterson to appear in a vision to the only one who had shown any sympathy and kindness toward him during his illness, and his land lady being asleep was functioning in her astral body, which becomes a vehicle of consciousness. And as there was sympathy between the two, it was possible for her to retain her astral vision in waking suddenly as she did. The dead are not dead at all, as many imagine. This man is only physically dead because he has lost his physical body. He is not intellectually and emotionally dead because he has not lost that part of his mechanism of consciousness, which is the seed of thought and emotion. The physical body only allows us to express ourselves in the physical world, but it is not the man any more than the clothes he wears. Extract from the Sunday Herald Examiner, May 8, 1921. New Ghosts are Writing Poetry by Universal Service Paris, May 7. Can a ghost write poetry? You betcha, says Baron Maurice de Wallafie, the French satirist who tells of a remarkable book of spirits poems just published in Paris under the title of The Glory of Illusion. Three years ago died Judith Gattier, niece of Theophile Gattier, and left a collection of slightly passionate novels and collections of poems which were circulated among friends. One of these friends was a girl, Judith's most intimate companion. A year after Judith's death, this girl dreamed a dream. In the dream Judith appeared and commanded her to seize a pencil and write to dictation. The result was a series of poems of an erotic character which are triumphs of meter and scan perfectly. They are published in the name of the girlfriend, Mel S. Meyer Zundell. But Mel Zundell says they're not really her works at all, but were directly dictated by her dead friend. Previous to Judith's death, Mel Zundell says she never wrote a line of poetry. Here we have direct proof of an invisible intelligence directing this young lady to write poems which she admits she never wrote before her friend's death. The materialistic skeptic, who is always ready to interpret dreams as coincidences, cannot call this a coincidence before the testimony of such facts when they are brought to the eyes of an intelligent public. The would-be interpreter of human existence remains baffled and silent. They can neither deny these facts nor do they dare to explain them. Friday, May 6, 1921, Chicago Daily News By Marian Holmes Dear Marian Holmes, I should like, just out of curiosity, to get the opinion of some of your corner readers, as well as your own, on the enclosed sketch of a dream I had when working out west. About twenty-six years ago I was working in the west, near the mining-country, and one night I dreamed I was in a mining-town, the name of which I did not know in my dream, nor had I ever seen it in reality. I was crossing the street to a store-building painted white, and in my hand I carried an envelope that I was to deliver to the boss of the store. When I arrived at the center of the street, I was met by three men who were coming from the opposite side, one of whom stopped me saying, Come with me, and I will show you where there is a gold mine. I replied, I haven't time to go now. But he insisted, Well come anyway, and when you have time you can go and get it. So I went. We started off in the direction of what I have since learned is the richest locality in gold mines, and after walking a while we seemed to float through space. Then we came to the ground a few feet from the top of the mountain. We walked up to the top and again floated in the air in a semi-circle, landing at the foot of another mountain a few miles to the west. The stranger said, I want you to note the peculiar formation of this country in this stream and right here, walking a short distance, is where you will find the gold. About three months later I decided to return to Chicago, and in the train I met a cigar salesman, who as soon as we became friendly insisted that I should locate in one of the towns on his route, and gave me a letter to a certain friend of his in the mining district. When the friend had read the letter he wrote another to a friend of his own, on whom I was to call. As I went down the street I carried the letter in my hand, and as I crossed the street I stopped short, for the store I sought was the store of my dream. Three years ago at a summer resort where a company of us were telling strange dreams, I remarked that the weak part of my dream was that one of my guys was supposed to be a dead relative of my own, and my mother remarked at once, I had an uncle, a prospector, who died out west in the mining country, but nobody ever knew just where. Chicago. Curious. Marion Holmes's Answer. Dr. Peterson, the New York Neurologist, in a recent magazine article on dreams and their meaning, points out that many dreams thought to be prophetic can be accounted for physiologically, and a verse that there was never a purely prophetic dream. He would contend no doubt that your waking thoughts having been a good deal engaged with western life, your dream carried the same train of thought straight through. He would probably characterize the incidents of the rich minds, the store and the relative, as merely coincidental, but as the writer of a textbook on mental philosophy observes, to call such dreams coincidences leaves the mystery as great as before. It is evident Curious is not as Curious as what he signs himself. If he had investigated his dream he may have found it to his advantage. Warden Dreams of Jail Delivery, Foyle's Attempt. Chicago American February 24, 1921 New Orleans February 24 Because Captain H. J. Ruffier, Warden of the House of Detention, deemed there was a jail delivery on, a general effort to escape from the prison was frustrated. Forty prisoners confined in one big room on the two-lane avenue at the side of the building were detected working at the bars of a window and picking at the brickworks under another window when discovered. This dream may be attributed to mental telepathy. The prisoners evidently had been planning their escape for days, creating thought forms. It was possible for the Warden in sleep, out of body, to be mentally impressed of the delivery and bring it through into waking consciousness. Dreaming to Some Purpose Chicago Daily News February 24, 1921 Huntington, West Virginia Mrs. Mattias Stepp was told in a dream to write songs. She did so, and two of them were accepted and published in New York. Ghost Guides Her Brush Chicago Evening American June 8, 1921 Peoria is all excited today over the announcement by Benjamin H. Circovich of the Peoria Art League that a canvas painted by a woman in her dream with the hand of the immortal and long since departed whistler guiding her brush is on display at a local theater mezzanine floor which gave space to the annual exhibit of the league. Mrs. William Holly Smith, wife of W. H. Smith of Peoria, is the woman. She and her husband are among the wealthiest and most socially prominent families in Peoria. Dr. William Holly Smith is well known as a student and writer on sociological problems. Both he and Mrs. Smith claim to have frequently received spirit messages from the dead. Several weeks ago Mrs. Smith said she was sleeping soundly when whistler appeared in a dream. The famous artist commanded her to don her artist smock and get her brushes, paints, and palette. Then she translated to canvas the instructions he imparted. And frequently his hand guided her brush. She worked feverishly all night and in the morning awoke fatigued but the picture was finished. Chicago Tribune, Saturday, March 12, 1921 Dreams being led to a hiding place of missing girls. Mother's vision of her daughter comes true. Girl of my dreams. Sounds like the title of a new song, doesn't it? The girl as Evelyn needs Ysko, seventeen years old. She lives at 3939 South Campbell Avenue. Last Wednesday night she disappeared from home. That night and on Thursday night her mother dreamed of her. In both dreams she saw her daughter enter a flat building. It seems to her in her dreams it was on Cottage Grove Avenue, near 27th Street. Last night Mrs. Needs Ysko reported the girl's disappearance to the police. Lieutenant Ben Burns, to whom the mother talked, asked her if she had any ideas to where the girl might be staying. She told her dreams. Told to go through with it. Do you think it would be any use to go over to Cottage Grove Avenue and look around? She asked. I haven't much faith in dreams myself, and I guess the police would think I was crazy if I asked them to make a search on the strength of a dream. Lieutenant Burns believes in dreams and hunches and such things, and he advised Mrs. Needs Ysko to go through with it. Mrs. Needs Ysko went over to Cottage Grove Avenue and walked around until she saw a flat building that looked just like the picture that had come to her that night in her vision. She had seen her girl sitting in a dining room of such a flat. The house proved to be 2727 Mystic Numbers. The family of William Llewellyn lives there. Get police to help find girls. Mrs. Needs Ysko went to the Cottage Grove Avenue police station and asked for help to search the flat for her girl. She did not say anything about her dream for fear they would laugh at her. Detectives Pierroth and Fitzgerald accompanied her to the building. An answer to the ring Evelyn herself came to the door. Evelyn had been visiting a friend. The mother had, no doubt, been thinking daily of her daughter's disappearance and unconsciously impressed the idea on the ego, and as the ego carries out the impressions of her waking state, she actually brought the knowledge of her astro-experience into the waking consciousness, and the intense desire on the mother's part was the direct cause of her bringing the same experience through two successive nights, showing the ego can impress on the mind important information. The ego is also the source of premonitory dreams. Haz Premonition Drops Dead in Hotel LaSalle Chicago Evening American Friday March 25, 1921 Christian H. Ronney, 60, president of C. H. Ronney Warehouse, 372 West Ontario Street, dropped dead in the traffic club on the 18th floor of the Hotel LaSalle two weeks after he had informed his son-in-law, C. A. Christensen, cashier of the Mid-City Trust and Savings Bank, of a premonition of his death. Locklear Forkast Death, friend of aviator, tells of Stuntflyer's premonition. Chicago Evening American, August 4, 1920 Fort Dodge, Iowa, August 4. Lieutenant Homer Locklear, famous Stuntflyer, killed in a fall at Los Angeles, Monday evening, had a premonition several weeks ago that he would meet his death this summer, according to Shirley Short, Goldfield, Iowa, original Locklear pilot. Short was married recently and is passing his honeymoon at his home. He left Locklear in Canada three weeks ago and had planned to rejoin him in a week. For more than a year we went together doing stunts, said Short. During that time Locklear laughed at the idea of danger until about a month ago. It was shortly after I left him that he became depressed and told me several times that he would get knocked off this summer. It worried me because it was so unlike Locklear. Wright's Death Poem on Fatal Plane Flight Chicago Evening American, June 11, 1921 Washington, June 1. How Lieutenant Cleveland W. McDermott penned a death poem in the plane in which he and six others were crashed to death Saturday night was revealed here today. It is the story of perhaps the most remarkable premonition of death that has ever been recorded before the fatal flight. McDermott, who was a seasoned World War veteran and accustomed to hazardous flights, wrote seven letters to as many friends. These he placed in the hands of a fellow officer, with instructions that they be mailed in the event of his death. The poem was discovered in the Lieutenant's personal effects, written on a piece of scratch paper. It had been stuffed in a breast pocket of his uniform. The writing was scraggly due to the vibration of the motors. This is the death poem. Another hour and far away I fly, alas farewell to my friends I cry, then up to the rosy dawn in flight, a battle with the elements I must fight. Lost in the fog and mist and rain, tossed hither and yonder I strive in vain. To again win out as I have in the past, little I knew this was to be my last. Sharp crash and my wings are broken back. Every wire is useless, with too much slack. Down, down I swirl and slip and spin, thinking only of all my worldly sin. The earth seems rushing up to me, while rigged crags raise their heads to greet me. As twisting and twirling downward I swirl. I bid a sad goodbye to my little girl. Lowered down into the trees I crash, my plane and I have gone to smash. Up from the mass call me. My untouched, unfettered spirit flies, straight to my mother's, waiting overhead. Although no one, so far as is known, saw Lieutenant McDermott write the poem. His fellow officers at Golding Field pointed out to-day that every indication points to it, having been written during the hour preceding the fatal crash. His first act following the premonition was to write the farewell letters, said a fellow officer to-day. The poem obviously was written under the vibration of engines, so it follows it must have been set down during the last few minutes of his life. The officer to whom Lieutenant McDermott entrusted the farewell letters mailed them a few minutes after he heard of the fatality. In this case the premonition seems to have served its purpose advantageously. Death had no terrors for Lieutenant McDermott. Son's dream locates his father's body. Chicago Herald Examiner. Thursday, June 23, 1921. Dickinson, North Dakota. June 22. A dream in which he saw the spot where his father's body lay led Raymond Everts, eleven, to discover the body yesterday. Tim Everts, the father, was one of three section men drowned by a flood near Medora Saturday. Several years ago the boy announced the death of an aunt shortly before a telegram confirmed his prophecy. When the ego impresses the lower mind of approaching danger, in dreams or otherwise, it is simply for the individual to be prepared for what is in store for him, just as a wise physician tells his patient when the end is near to be prepared. Ms. Miller, 375 Brenner Street, Muncie, Germany, had a premonition of her brother drowning. She states, My brother was a great swimmer. Two weeks before he was drowned I had a premonition of his death. In my dream I saw him diving into the river. His head struck a rock. Then I saw his lifeless body float before me for three successive nights. I told him of my dreams. I begged him not to go bathing. But he only laughed at me saying, I can protect myself in the water. His death was the exact working out of the premonition of his death. The student of dream lore knows the ego is ever watchful, and it always impresses the lower mind when danger approaches. There are also cases which appear to indicate when the ego is unable to impress the individual. The information is often conveyed through another person, as the above would indicate, who is sensitive enough to bring the information in the waking state. 3 How To Evolve The Larger Consciousness It is a very difficult matter for the layman to bring his actual astral experiences into the waking state. But fortunately for us, any faculty that is lacking may be evolved. It takes a very sensitive instrument to register all that is seen, heard, and done while out of the body. It also requires physical, emotional, and mental harmony, or the dreamer is apt to mistake an actual astral experience for an automation of the physical brain or vice versa. To what extent the ego would guide us and warn us, if we were only sensitive and responsive to the delicate vibrations sent down into the physical brain, it is impossible to guess, says L. W. Rogers in his volume Dreams and Premonitions. The extent by which we are guided and warned from the ego depends upon how much we are not swayed by our physical methods of artificial civilization, implying the power to impress the astral experience on the physical brain. The habit of our scattering thoughts must also be brought under control. One must be able to concentrate his mind on what he wants to think about. Camille Flameron says 1900s of the human family never think at all. They are merely shallow receptors for the thoughts of others. As you acquire the habit of controlling your thoughts and with the emotions well under control, then you begin to turn the consciousness back upon itself, and as the sleeper lays his body down to rest, he gives the ego an opportunity to impress itself on the lower mind. Gradually the mind is brought under control. This connects the two different states of consciousness. At first you begin to see pictures, landscapes, faces, etc., only for a flash, then you will fall into unconsciousness. Once this state is attained, if continued, the rest will not be so difficult. With practice you will be conscious of yourself leaving your body, conscious of yourself looking down on your body asleep, and seeing yourself going on a journey to inspire a friend or to acquire some knowledge of something you are studying in physical life. In this way you make your nights as well as your days to be of assistance to others. Your nights may be made useful even if you are not conscious of yourself out of the body by suggesting to yourself upon retiring that you will go somewhere, and meet someone, and assist them in an unselfish act. If you persist in your suggestion on retiring, your spirit will go where you demand it to go, although you may not remember your experience in your waking state, just as it is possible for you to render help to another in sleep, so you can influence them for a good purpose. It is also possible for you to influence another selfishly, and let me warn you here. If you do, you are practicing a black art, and as sure as night follows day it will return and burn you as you justly deserve, so beware and think well before you act. He who dabbles in occult teachings for selfish ends treads upon dangerous ground, and he will not attain his desires, but rather the reverse. The unselfish soul who acts unselfishly can be of much service to his fellow man, not only the living, but also the misnamed dead, and they can often remember their astral happenings in waking consciousness to the minutest detail. This requires rigid training. The beginner will find it to his advantage to resolve before falling asleep that he will bring his astral experience through into his waking consciousness. It is also well to keep a notebook at hand and write down your dreams in the morning if you cannot remember your dreams. Speak to no one. Do not leave your sleeping chamber. Before the day is many hours old your dream will come to you. In this way if the student is patient and sincere, he will, in time, be able to find out many things of the invisible realm where his soul functions during the time his body sleeps. I do not claim that our physical plain affairs should be guided entirely by dreams, nor are dreams of the fortune-telling variety to be relied upon. You must use your reason and judgment in this the same as anything else, and only when the student has attained to that point in his development, where there is no break in consciousness, may he be guided by the astral life. The mystic and sages go beyond the astral life. They go into a state of dreamlessness. Listen to what a great mystic said. In waking state we are conscious of the objective universe. In dreaming we are conscious of the inner world. Then we are of great help to the living, and also the misnamed dead. The true seer turns the light of consciousness back upon itself, and in its own light sees the gloom of nothingness. Imagine for a moment the absolute non-existence of the vast world devoid of sight and sound. What remains a vast space? Imagine the vast space to be a void of ether and the subtle seeds of creation. Perfect stillness reigns supreme over the ocean of universal space, beginningless and endless. What supports it? It is supportless, soundless, cloudless. He does not see, yet he is not blind, does not hear, yet he is not deaf. He goes beyond the feeling of time and space. Every time the true seer enters a state of dreamless sleep he enjoys the span of ethereal glory. His consciousness is centered in the bosom of the Absolute.