Read The Dictionary of Dreams Online
Authors: Gustavus Hindman Miller
according as he thinks or acts, antitypes of good or evil in
the imagination of the world which is reflected upon the spiritual
aura of the microcosm previous to taking on corporal form.
While in this state they may be perceived by subjectivity,
and thus the images seen are impressed on the dream mind
during sleep, or on the passivity of the objective sense.
Evil or righteous acts recently committed will more acutely affect
the present waking mind than those enacted at a more remote period.
In a similar way future disaster or success which is soon to occur
will impress the dream mind more vividly than those which are
to transpire at a later date. But in the lives of all men there
are past incidents which they will never forget, and which
will never cease to fill their hearts with pride or remorse.
So, too, in their distant future there are important events
to transpire which are struggling through tumultuous infinitude
to leave their ghastly or smiling impress upon the dream mind.
If your mental states are passive you will receive the warnings.
There are cases on record which show events have been forecast
years ahead of their occurrence.
We do not claim that this book will prove an interpreter of all dreams, or that the keys disclosed will open to you all the mysteries of the future, or even all those surrounding your own personality, but by studying the definitions and the plane upon which they were written, you will be able, through the power of your own spirit, to interpret your own dreams.
The combination of dream and dream influences are as infinite as the stars, or the combination of thought and number. They can only be classed and considered as such. They cannot be analyzed in detail or as a whole.
In mathematics we have nine digits from which an infinite variety
of combinations may be formed and solved by the deduction of the mind.
Through them we may measure time, space, quality and quantity.
The symbol o and I exist by reason of
no thing
and _some
thing_ or death and life. The figure one is subject to
illimitable expansion. It is without beginning in the infinite
of number, as God is without beginning in the infinite of being.
As with the vegetable kingdom, the tiny seed or acorn silently
working its magical transformation into a plant or tree,
and directing its destiny with marvelous intelligence
through the torrid and frigid vicissitudes of the seasons;
so is man without beginning in the infinitude of his own
being or microcosm. Man is both a type and antitype.
A type of what pre-existed in the imagination of the world, and an
antitype of a future life yet to manifest itself on another plane
where the incidents of the one will be subjective, as the events
occurring in infancy or in other planes are now subjective.
His dreams, thoughts and actions, and the influences that
produce them and their multiplying combination, cannot be
numbered or reproduced any more than you can number the leaves
of the forest, or find two exactly similar units among them.
Thus the full meaning or interpretation of dreams cannot be fully
demonstrated through mental or even spiritual stereotypes.
But by the intelligent use of this book you will be able to trace
out almost any dream combination and arrive at the true nature
of its portent.
A wise doctor, in preparing medicine for a patient,
considers well his age, temperament and his present condition.
So should the interpreter of dreams ponder well the mental state,
the health, habits and temperament of the dreamer.
These things no one can know so well as the dreamer himself.
He, therefore, with the aid of this book, will be able to interpret
his dreams by the light that is in him.
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 student is no less bewildered and awed than the geologist
who gropes blindly through the seams of the earth searching
for links in the infinite chain of knowledge, or the astronomer
sweeping the heavens of the macrocosm in quest of new phenomena.
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.
{illust. caption = A DIAGRAM GIVING THE THEORY OF THIS BOOK,
AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MICROCOSM AND THE MACROCOSM.
FRAGMENTARY THOUGHTS FROM DREAM REALMS:}
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.
It is optional with man to obtain spiritual or material manna
as it is disseminated throughout existence. To feed on material
diet alone, contracts and distorts the circle of the man;
but a full comprehension of the needs of the circle, a proper
denial of supply to some of the compounds, together with a tender
care of other parts, will round out the whole into a perfect
physical and mental circle of life.
Dissentious and conflicting results should be avoided in computing
the length and breadth of the compounded circle of man's individual world.
Objective life is one of the smallest compounds in real life.
Dream life is fuller of meaning and teaching of the inner, or God life, than is the exterior life of man. The mind receives education from communing with the dream composition in the great circle.
Consult with your whole nature or circle before beginning a serious work; partial consultations, or material advice only, often brings defeat of objects sought, when a true home counsel would have brought success and consequent happiness.
Man should live in his subjective realms and study more his
relation to other compositions or circles; thus fructifying
and making beautiful his own world through intercourse with
others who have worked in the great storehouse of subjectivity,
and who have climbed already from the basement into the light
of spiritual sunshine.
QUESTION.--What is a dream?
ANSWER--A dream is an event transpiring in that world belonging to the mind when the objective senses have withdrawn into rest or oblivion.
Then the spiritual man is living alone in the future or ahead
of objective life and consequently lives man's future first,
developing conditions in a way that enables waking man to shape
his actions by warnings, so as to make life a perfect existence.
Q.--What relationship is sustained between the average man and his dreams?
A.--A dream to the average or sensual person, bears the same relation to his objective life that it maintained in the case of the ideal dreamer, but it means pleasures, sufferings and advancements on a lower or material plane.
Q.--Then why is man not always able to correctly interpret his dreams?
A.--Just as words fail sometimes to express ideas, so dreams fail
sometimes in their mind pictures to portray coming events.
Q.--If they relate to the future, why is it we so often dream
of the past?
A.--When a person dreams of past events, those events are warnings of evil or good; sometimes they are stamped so indelibly upon the subjective mind that the least tendency of the waking mind to the past throws these pictures in relief on the dream consciousness.
Q.--Why is it that present environments often influence our dreams?
A.--Because the future of man is usually affected by the present,
so if he mars the present by wilful wrongs, or makes it bright
by right living it will necessarily have influence on his dreams,
as they are forecastings of the future.
Q.--What is an apparition?
A.--It is the subjective mind stored with the wisdom gained from futurity, and in its strenuous efforts to warn its present habitation--
the corporal body--of dangers just ahead, takes on the shape of a dear one as the most effective method of imparting this knowledge.
Q.--How does subjectivity deal with time?
A.--There is no past and future to subjectivity.
It is all one living present.
Q.--If that is so, why can't you tell us accurately of our future
as you do of our past?
A.--Because events are like a procession; they pass a few at a time
and cast a shadow on subjective minds, and those which have passed
before the waking mind are felt by other minds also and necessarily
make a more lasting impression on the subjective mind.
Explain this phenomenon?
A.--A changed state from perfect sleep or waking possessed him.
Now, the man's face was only the expression of his real
thoughts and the state of his business combined.
His thoughts were strong and healthy, but his business fagging,
hence his own spirit is not a perfect likeness of his own soul,
as it takes every atom of earthly composition perfectly normal
to reproduce a perfect spirit picture of the soul or mortal man.
He would have seen a true likeness of himself had conditions
been favorable; thus a man knows when a complete whole is
his portion. Study to make surroundings always harmonious.
Life is only being perfectly carried on when these conditions
are in unison.
HOW TO DEVELOP THE POWER TO DREAM.
Keep the mind clear and as free from material rubbish as is