Introduction
This article presents a very thorough explanation of what
dreams are and how they relate to astral travel. The short answer to the title
of this article is yes, dreams are astral experiences. The only difference is
that our sate of consciousness during a dream is not as lucid as it is in a conscious
and positive astral unfolding. There are dreams which are majority, are simple
mental projections that are projected while we are out of the body and our
consciousness not being alert enough identifies with the images and remains fascinated
by the projections of its own mind the whole night until the body wakes up.
The main feature of this article is the following excerpt
from the Secret Doctrine of Anahuac by V.M Samael Aun Weor.
Excerpt on Dreams
“Gnosis teaches that the modern, decadent
psychology of the Western Hemisphere is ignorant of the various kinds of dreams
that exist.
Dreams have a diverse and specific quality,
for they are closely related to each of the psychic centres of the human body.
In fact, we do not exaggerate when we state
that most dreams are linked to the motor-instinctive centre. That is, they are
the echoes of everything we see during the day: simple sensations and motions —
a mere astral repetition of our daily life.
Some experiences of an emotional type such
as fear — which harms humanity so much — usually fit in with those chaotic
dreams of the motor-instinctive centres as well. There are then, emotional,
sexual intellectual, motor and instinctive dreams.
The more important dreams, the inner
experiences of the Being, are associated with the two centres the Superior
Emotional and the Superior Intellectual. Dreams related to the two superior
centres are certainly interesting. Their main feature is what we could call a
dramatic array.
Now then, if we think of the Ray of
Creation, and the Superior and Inferior centres, and the influences descending
throughout the cited cosmic ray, we must admit that some luminous vibrations
appear. These intend to heal us, to inform us about the state in which we are,
and more.
It becomes useful to receive messages, and
to be in contact with the Aztec, Mayan, Toltec, Egyptian, and Greek adepts.
It is marvellous, as well, to have intimate
dialogue with the highest, diverse parts of our Being.
The superior centres are fully developed in
us, and they send us messages, which we must learn to consciously grasp.
In this chapter, those select people who
have had a moment of self-remembrance (in which they saw a common thing or
person in a totally different way) will not be surprised, if I tell them that
such moments have the same quality as one of those rare and strange dreams
related to the two Superior Emotional and Intellectual centres.
The meaning of such transcendental dreams
matches — undoubtedly — the same level of the realization in oneself, of the
Ray of Creation, and, in particular, the lateral Octave of the Sun [sic]
The beginning of our realization of the deep
significance of this specific type of dream is the sign that some forces
struggle to awaken, heal or cure us.
Each of us is a mathematical point in space that
is used as a vehicle by determined sums of “values” (black or white).
Death is a subtraction of fractions. Once
the mathematical operation is completed, the only thing left is the “values”
(good or bad).
In accordance with the Law of the Eternal
Return, it is certain that the “values” return, they are re-embodied.
If a man starts taking into account more
consciously, the small cycle of recurring events of his personal life, he will
be able to verify directly, throughout mystical experience, that, in daily
sleep, the same mathematical operation of death is always repeated.
In the absence of the physical body, during
normal sleep, the “values” merge into the astral light, attract or repel each
other in accordance with the Law of Universal Magnetization.
The return to the vigil state rightfully
implies the return of the “values” to the interior of the physical body.
Extraordinarily, people think that they only
interrelate with the external world.
Gnosis teaches us that we interrelate with
an inner world, which is invisible to the physical, ordinary senses, but
visible to clairvoyance.
This inner, invisible world is much wider,
and it contains many more interesting things than the external world, to where
the five windows of the senses are always opened.
Many dreams relate to the place where we
are, in the inner, invisible world from which the diverse circumstances of life
come forth.
The language of dreams is accurately
comparable to the language of parables.
Those who interpret everything literally,
think that the sower of the Christic Gospel went to sow, and that the seeds
fell on rocks, and so on, but they do not understand the sense of the parable,
because it belongs to the symbolic language of the Superior Emotional centre.
Needless to say here, that any dream as
absurd or incoherent as it may be, has some significance, for it indicates not
only the psychic centre to which it is associated, but also the psychological
status of such a centre.
Many penitent people, who presumed to be
chaste, failed in the sexual centre, and had a nocturnal pollution when they
were submitted to trials in the internal world.
In the perfect adept, the five psychic
centres, intellectual, emotional, motor, instinctive, and sexual, function in
full harmony with the infinite.
What is our mental activity during sleep?
What emotions move or shatter us? What are our activities outside the physical
body’? What instinctive sensations predominate’? Have we considered our sexual
states during sleep?
We must be sincere with ourselves. Plato
rightfully said: “Man is known by his
dreams.” The matter of the erroneous work of the centres is a topic that
demands a lifetime of study by way of the observation of oneself in action and
of the rigorous examination of dreams.
It is not possible to achieve the
understanding of the centres, and their correct or incorrect function, in an
instant. We need infinite patience.
All of life unfolds as a function of the
centres, and is controlled by them.
Our thoughts, ideas, feelings, hopes, fears,
love, hatred, deeds, sensations, pleasure, satisfactions, frustrations, and so
on, are found in the centres.
The discovery of some inhuman element in any
of the centres must be the strongest motive for the Esoteric Work.
Any psychological defect must be previously
understood by way of the technique of meditation, before proceeding to its
elimination.
The extirpation, eradication or elimination
of any undesirable element, is only possible by invoking Tonantzin’s (Divine Mother
Kundalini) aid, a variation of our own being, or particular fohat of each of
us.
This is how we die from moment to moment.
Only death brings forth what is new.
Influences of all kinds reach us, in the levels
of beings and things. If we have understood the Ray of Creation, we will also
acknowledge that, in any instant of life, influences, which are of various
qualities, reach us.
We must always be aware that there are
superior influences that act upon us and are recorded by our psychic system. If
we are, nevertheless, attached to our senses, and we do not pay full attention
to our inner life, we will not be able to perceive these influences.”
Excerpt from the book: “The
Secret Doctrine of Anahuac”, by Samael
Aun Weor.
Summary
Dreams that very lucid are astral experiences and they are
also direct reflections of our psychology. Dreams in most cases are also just
mental projections and in that case they are very useful for us to study so
that we can know ourselves better. The very wise statement from Plato that says
“Man is known by his dreams”, says it all. Any dream that is a projection is an
expression of our psychology.
End (794).
