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[page 105:]
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AN OPINION ON DREAMS.
———
VARIOUS
opinions have been hazarded
concerning dreams — whether they have any connection with the invisible
and eternal world or not; and, it appears to me, the reason why nothing
like a definite conclusion has yet been arrived at, is from the
circumstance
of the arguers never making any distinction between Mind and Soul;
always
speaking of them as one and the same. I believe man to be in himself a Trinity,
viz. Mind, Body, and Soul; and thus
with dreams, some induced by the mind, and some by the soul. Those
connected
with the mind, I think proceed partly from supernatural, and partly
from
natural causes; those of the soul I believe are of the immaterial world
alone.
In order to support this position, it
becomes necessary
to show how the soul's dream and that of the mind are distinguishable;
and whether sometimes, or indeed often, they are not both at the same
moment
bearing their part in the nocturnal vision.
That dreams, or, as they were then
generally called, visions, were a means of supernatural
instruction, if we believe
the bible at
all, is proved by Jacob's dream, the several visions of Ezekiel and
other
prophets, as also of later date, the Revelations to Saint John; and
there
appears no reason why this mode of divine communication should be
discontinued
in the present day.
We thus come to the difference
between dreams of
the mind and visions of the soul — making this
distinction
of terms, not only on account of convenience, but also, as I consider,
of applicability. Upon retiring to rest after a fatiguing day of either
corporeal or mental exertion, should a dream present itself either as
recapitulatory
of, or connected with, the past events, this I should say was produced
by the immaterial mind, which, unlike the body, was still in a state of
vigor and activity; and reflecting or re-enacting at night the scenes
which
had occupied its attention and energies during the day. But when
slumbering,
should a vision be induced either concerning Heaven or Hell, or any
mystical
and apparently prophetical forewarning of a coming event, and in
connection
with which the awakened visionist can trace no analogy to his thoughts
or actions, this, I say, must proceed from the soul; as the
mind
cannot have any thing to do with that it has not been engaged upon, as
we all know that the mind only expands, and is active in proportion to
its various degrees of employment. Not so the soul; that of the infant
is as ripe as the man's; it is as immortal and as ready for Heaven; and
I have known children have nightly visions which were as evidently
superior
to the general tenor of their youthful ideas as possible, and which,
had
they not for the time being appeared to have had their mental powers
raised
above their usual level, they would have been totally unable to
narrate.
It is a question, in my humble
opinion, whether the
soul ever slumbers at all; whilst the mind evidently does, or else we
could
always give upon waking some relation of our thought's employment
during
sleep. Besides which, it not unfrequently happens that when broad
awake,
a temporary absence of mind as it is called, takes place, and
the
person so affected cannot with all his endeavors discover upon what his
meditations have been employed, or whether they have been so at all.
Thus three portions of the one man seem to be most
essentially different,
in this way; that the body often sleeps, the mind occasionally, the
soul
never; and now I am expected to explain how, if the soul never
sleeps, we have not always some vision to employ our
waking consideration.
I imagine that here in order to remember the vision of our soul, it
is necessary for the connecting link between it and the body,
viz.
the mind, to be in full activity, although possessing its powers of
memory
from the eternal nature of its superior, and companion, the soul; thus
rendering it no difficulty to the mind to retain the reminiscence of
its
own dream, as the soul never sleeps; which assertion may receive
additional
confirmation from the following argument; that were it only for one
single
moment to be unconscious of its existence, this would at once break in
upon its eternal principle, as being a suspension of its own powers,
and
which cannot happen to eternity. It is the slumber of the mind and not
the soul, therefore, which causes forgetfulness. |
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