Dreams Language of the Soul by Jerry L. Rothermel

Dreams Language of the Soul

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Dreams

Language of the Soul

by Jerry L. Rothermel

From the onset of human man, in his striving to reach upward toward his Creator, man has regarded dreams as genuine psychic phenomena. In the ancient and primitive societies, the duty of the priests or spiritual leaders was to interpret dreams for their meaning to the individual. We often regard these primitive people as crude and very superstitious; however, they took their dreams very seriously. The interpretations were often the answer to problems in their daily lives. Dreams revolved around their occupation and situations and circumstances in the immediate future. They also regarded the dreaming time as a link between the visible and invisible universe in which man exists.
Early Greek philosophers supported the idea that the dreamstate represented man’s sensitivity to ghosts, shadows, elementals and perhaps even a reception of thoughts from the consciousness of other individuals. Many Greeks thought space was filled with disembodied individuals who gradually disintegrated as time moved forward. They also believed that many times the sleeping individual has a precognition of coming events or the next day’s events. These individuals were thought to be capable of tapping a “psychic graveyard” to communicate with these disembodied entities.
Early Romans in interpreting dreams were more frivolous. They regarded the dreamstate as the product of the waking individuals’s imagination, coming from the unconscious part of that waking state. Dreams were primarily viewed as a type of entertainment, rather than messages from the inner part of the mind. Not until the Roman empire began to spread throughout the world, did the Roman thinkers begin to understand the full extent of the mind. In their conquest of the world, information was gathered and brought back to Rome. These insights led the deeper thinkers to a fuller understanding of the mind’s potential.
The Oriental culture, as recorded in early writings, regarded dreams as communication with the gods. They stressed the past relationships with ancestors. Many writings relate incidents of victory in battle if the warrior class could accomplish certain strategic moves.
Most Western religious leaders viewed dreams as communication to their God, either for personal communication or messages for the masses. These were not taken lightly. Rather they were viewed as spiritual, enlightening communications with their Deity. The Polynesians also viewed dreams as communication with their gods.
With primitive people, aborigines of Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, dreams were believed to be a communication of the following day’s activities and to be utilized for the information gained in this manner. Frequently an individual would receive information in a dream of visiting relatives or problems with these persons. Many would induce the dreamstate with fasting or the use of hallucinogenic drugs.
The American Indian viewed the dreamstate as an important part of his religious rites. Communications from ancestors and with the spirits of nature were transmitted to the Indian shamans, chiefs, and warriors during the dreamstate.
Aristotle, one of the more dedicated and profound thinkers of his time, believed that the dreams of the individual arose from within, psychologically creating his personality. He reasoned that many environmental pressures affecting the personality often affected the dreamstate as well.
Cicero imagined that dreams ere prophetic and divine in origin; however, he added one qualification – that after a heavy meal the dream would not be prophetic in nature.
Plato, whom I regard as reaching into the depths of man, the thinker, experiencing a truer understanding of the nature of dreams, believed that dreams were a communication between the inner and outer man. Plato discerned that the inner soul or psychic content of man communicated in the dreamstate. The inner man used the dream as a method for impressing upon the brain those things needed in everyday life.
During the Medieval Age, additional contributions were given to the meaning of dreams. Many church fathers dominating the thinking at this time were inclined to support Aristotelian and Platonic theory.
Since this time, many philosophers have begun studying the nature of dreams. They have begun to understand that dreams are the individual’s diagnosis of self. Reaching for this broader understanding of the dreamstate, they have gradually realized the beneficial aspects of dreams. These philosophers have progressively moved into a support of the Platonic theory of communication of the inner man to the outer during dreams, primarily because in the speed of modern day life, man does not take time to listen to the inner part of his being. Only through the dreamstate, without interruption, prejudices, and interference, can the inner part of man communicate its message to the physical man.
Modern psychologists have tended to limit their evaluations of dreams; however, the more progressive, experimental psychologists are beginning to realize that dreams are the key to the inner man and his environment as well as the outer man. For four thousand years, man struggled for social acceptance, continuously rejecting the dream as a factual diagnosis of his experience and viewing dreams as fantasies created with the imagination. Then with the upward swing man began viewing the dream again as a factual experience in the inner levels of consciousness.

Q&A

Now I would like to focus on some of the most frequently asked questions concerning the language of dreams.

What effect do hallucinogenic drugs have on the levels of consciousness?

First of all, when you use drugs you push the Conscious mind aside, just as you do while sleeping. Whatever level of consciousness the drug takes you to, that’s where you are at that time. In other words, it blasts you through to a certain level of consciousness. You’re there, but you have no control as to what level or how long you will remain there. So called “bad trips” are often the result of being in a different level of consciousness totally foreign to the waking Conscious mind. there is little or no understanding of where you are, how you got there, or when you will return. One method of going to the inner levels of consciousness with control and understanding is meditation. Meditation allows the control so you can remember how you got there, what you did while you were there, and bring the memory back to the Conscious mind. It’s all very natural with no flashbacks and no doors swinging open.

Does hypnotism make you bury the things you have stored in the Subconscious mind that you don’t want to remember?

Hypnotism is like sleep. It merely pushes the Conscious mind aside. While hypnotized you would remember in the Subconscious, but you would also remember in the Conscious mind if you wanted to. Hypnotism is not necessarily removing the consciousness, it merely pushes it aside. For instance, we’ll call your left hand the Conscious mind and your right hand the Subconscious mind. Hypnotism merely pushes the Conscious mind down focusing it down, or pushes it to one side.
You can do the same thing in meditation. You can do the same thing with drugs or alcohol; however, you do not get the same effect because you won’t have the remembrance. With meditation, self-hypnosis and sleep, that’s really all you’re doing – pushing the Conscious mind aside so that the Subconscious mind can function.

When you dream about animals, why are you dreaming of habits? What’s the difference between man and animals?

The animal functions on the instinct or compulsion. Animals really don’t have free choice; whereas, man does have Conscious free will and the ability to make decisions or choose discriminately. So anytime you’re working with an animal in a dream, you working with a habit.

What about a horse?

The horse is the symbol of will. In Western society, horses have been utilized for their working abilities on farms or ranches and have more recently been used by equestrian. If you dream of a horse in this situation it symbolizes will power because you are exerting control over the animal. A white horse would indicate you have positive will power; in other words you are capable of making decisions. A black horse means you will power is undeveloped and you should practice making decisions. In other countries, the will might be symbolized in a different animal depending on how that animal is used. For instance, in India the elephant would be a symbol of the will, and in Arabia the camel. It is important to remember that the Subconscious mind will derive its symbols from the people, places and things that are most familiar to the Conscious mind to make the understanding easier and easier.

What about dreams of a white horse with wings?

I would say you white horse is an indication that you have the ability to make decisions, and the wings would indicate they are decisions of your own mind. In other words Subconscious thoughts.

You say that all dreams relate to the person who is dreaming. If I dream that tomorrow you will have an accident and tomorrow you have one, in what way does that relate to me?

If you’re female and you dream that a male had an accident, you would be talking about your Subconscious mind. If you’ll watch, that Subconscious part of your mind will be undergoing an unpleasant experience very shortly. Here’s the reason why. The Conscious mind used the brain to interpret the language coming through from the Subconscious mind. If you draw a line from ear to ear and another line from the front to the back part of your head, you’ll be very close to the pituitary gland. The duty of the gland is to interpret energies. If does not matter if it’s coming from the fingers, the tongue, the nose, the ears, or the eyes – the pituitary interprets energies. The Subconscious puts the information through to the brain and it is up to the pituitary gland to use the information closest at hand to get your attention. So it will use something that will happen tomorrow or something that happened yesterday to tell you a story. It doesn’t matter if it is a precognitive dram or not, it’s about the inner you.

What about dreaming of falling or jumping off a bridge? I’ve come close to hitting the water but I always awake before I do.

A bridge is what you use to cross from birth to death, in other words the bridge across life. Water is life in a dream, Conscious life, or Conscious existence. By not touching the water, a lack of experiencing life would be indicated.

How do you know a bridge represents the same thing to everyone? How can you generalize?

Consider how a bridge is used? Bridges cross something, and if that something is water, water being life, then you’re not really experiencing life.

How do you know that water is life?

Without it how can an individual exist? How are you born into the physical? In water. Physically man can survive for a much longer period of deprivation from food than from water or adequate liquid. Genesis, Chapter One, Verse One also substantiates this definition of water being life or existence. It states that before there was any form of existence or entities within the earth, there was no earth. Genesis says there was a mighty wind that swept across the waters, then there was the creation of Light.

If the people in your dreams represent yourself, what is this conflicting viewpoint? I’ve had dreams where a friend of mine would be killed and I wouldn’t. How can you live and die at the same time?

Death in dreams is a change. Within the Conscious mind there are twenty-four thousand aspects of the Conscious self, within the Subconscious mind there are one hundred and twenty thousand aspects of the Subconscious self. So there are a total of one hundred forty-four thousand aspects of your Subconscious and Conscious self. It’s a change of mental attitude or a new way of life. Children in dreams are new ideas, new ways of life.

Is everything important?

Yes, your Subconscious mind doesn’t know how to pitter-patter. It has something to say and it says it. It’s up to you to listen, and if you don’t listen eventually it will begin to fade out and stop communicating altogether. Some people don’t remember dreams because they don’t want to face themselves.

How can you practice dreaming?

We teach a method to induce dreaming in the School. Whatever you want to dream about is the last thing you have in your Conscious mind before you drift off to sleep. You can dream about it and still not remember it. The next step is to have a pencil and piece of paper beside your bed so you can write down what you dreamed when you first awake. Dreams come through like echoes, they will bounce off the Conscious mind and bounce back in. the second time it’s a little less volume than the first, then it begins fading until you don’t remember it. You might trigger the memory during the day, but some parts of it will be deleted.

Symbols like water and land, where would that be found on the diagram of the mind?

Water would be the seventh level of consciousness. Wind would be mind in motion or thoughts. The mind can be stilled until it’s as smooth as glass, just like a lake that has no ripples on the water. The ripples are levels of consciousness, but generally when you’re dreaming of water, you’ll be dreaming of your Conscious existence. If you’re dreaming about trees shrubbery, grass, you’ll know you’re dreaming about the Subconscious level of the mind. The sixth level of consciousness is the emotional level of consciousness, so if you wake up crying from an emotional experience in a dream you can bet that you were dreaming in that level. If you’re dreaming of colors that are very bright and distinct, you’re in the fifth level. If you’re dreaming in pastels you’re in the fourth level and if your dream is only light or white you’re dreaming in the third level of consciousness. How do I know these things? Thirty-five years of practice, and thirty-five years of experimenting.

How do you explain deja vu?

Every night the Subconscious leaves the physical body going into tomorrow, next month or next year. There’s no division line in the Subconscious. There’s no sun rising to divide yesterday, today and tomorrow. So the Subconscious mind goes to tomorrow so to speak and merely goes through the experience.

I don’t understand how your mind can see into the future.

Why not? When does the future begin?

There’s a line at night, like a beginning and an ending.

What is the line in the physical? It’s the sun coming up over the horizon. Within the inner levels of consciousness there is no sun rising or setting, it’s a continuum.

Then how is everything in the dream still relating to the individual?

Tomorrow is still about you, your mental attitude. The dream is telling a story about you, even though it may include another person. Your brain uses the things closest at hand to tell you about yourself, remember the function of the pituitary gland that we discussed earlier. For instance, would it be coincidence if white ink were used to print this book? Would it be coincidence if black ink were used? No, it’s a matter of choice. the black ink was chosen because it is readable. We used what was closest at hand to get the idea across to the reader. This is also true with the Subconscious mind. As it brings its message to the Conscious mind, the brain has to use what is familiar to the Conscious mind for the interpretation of the dream. If you learn the A, B, C’s of each level of consciousness in the Subconscious mind then the brain doesn’t have to interpret the energies. The Subconscious will present its message just like it is.

Could you go over more about the elements of reincarnation. It seems that if you do not believe in that theory then it’s almost impossible to understand this concept.

This could all happen from this single lifetime. The purpose is still to harmonize, bringing those different divisions of mind into a single “I” for a single purpose so everything will be filled with Light. So it still works whether reincarnation is true for you or not. A lot of people ask if I really believe in reincarnation, and I tell them no. I know that it’s a fact, so I live it, but that doesn’t imply that you must believe and know that reincarnation is not merely a theory. There are still the three major divisions of mind with seven separate levels of consciousness in those divisions.

If you think the mind can see into the future, do you also think we are predestined?

No, the mind still has the right to choose. It can allow the foreseen to happen in the way it has started or to make a deviation from the foreshadowed path. For instance, if you have a rifle with a target twenty feet away and you point the gun and pull the trigger, the bullet will follow its line of course as far as the inner levels of consciousness are concerned. That’s you sun rising — what your thoughts are. The way your thought directs energy will take you on a straight line toward fulfillment of that desire. Or if another energy absorbs it or if there is a deviation from the path, the thought will follow its course to the conclusion from whence it began, just like the rifle bullet.

I had a dream that a girlfriend was marrying a male friend of mine. In the dream, I was the only one who knew she didn’t want to marry. If dreams are about yourself, then what does it mean? I have no plans for marriage?

First of all, the girlfriend is an aspect of your Conscious self because she’s female and you’re female. What’s the problem? She’s getting married and leaving you out. Now, let’s see what the marriage amounts to. When you’re a female, in dreams and in the seventh level of consciousness, the Subconscious mind then would be male. The marriage you dream of would be between these two levels of consciousness — the male and female symbols. There’s an aspect of yourself, whatever you see as a commonality between the two of you, that wants that merging into a single unit between the Conscious and Subconscious minds. You, consciously, are afraid you’ll be left behind if the marriage takes place, and as long as you fight it that will probably be the outcome.

What about going toward the sun?

Your sun is the very point of the Superconscious mind. That’s your original emanation of Light. The moon would indicate your Subconscious mind and the stars your Conscious mind, both containing lesser degrees of the same original Light.

What would thunder and lightning signify?

Confusion within your own Self, both being very potent, uncontrollable energies. Inner turmoil would be indicated concerning something you need to bring under control through understanding. A tornado would also be confusion and turmoil within. If you make a decision you won’t have this kind of dream.

I’ve dreamed of backing my car off a cliff, and before striking the water I began moving in slow motion. Is this odd?

No, it’s very normal. You were probably on your way back into the physical body and while changing levels of consciousness you neglected to change your mental attitude. At this point, you would appear to be moving in slow motion. If you’d changed your mental attitude to suit each level of consciousness you would not have gone into slow motion. You know the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”? It’s very true in dreams. When you’re in the sixth level you have to think sixth level, in the fifth you must think fifth, and that takes some practicing.

If someone broke your arm now, how much of that pain would you experience if everything is mental? What do you think is in the mind and what is in the physical?

It depends on how much attention is given to the pain. Pain is the result of attention to that affected area. You can place your attention elsewhere and never feel pain. You have to get involved in another level of your mind or the physical pain will register.

How do you merge the Conscious and Subconscious minds?

It takes practice. We teach a method of doing this in the School. It takes about nine months to begin to learn how.

Which mind, the Conscious or Subconscious, has more control over the individuals, or does it differ between individuals?

It depends on the individual. Here we come into another division of the Conscious mind. Some call it the devil, some call it Satan, we call it ego. It depends on your ego which part of the mind will dominate. If you’re honest with yourself, the ego will work for you. Then you can tell when you’re thinking in the Conscious mind or the Subconscious mind. The ego is not negative, it is a tool just like the Conscious mind. It should be utilized, just as the Conscious mind is used.

To face reality, then, you would have to bring thoughts from the Subconscious mind to your Conscious mind in order to really look at yourself?

You have to take the Conscious mind and really look at your experiences. Its objectivity of what you think is honest in your Conscious mind. With your Conscious mind you’re retaining in the brain the information and knowledge from this lifetime. Your Conscious mind works like a computer pulling information necessary for the formation of ideas. The Subconscious mind operates separate from that, but you can learn to function in as many levels of consciousness as you desire. I really believe that Buddha, Jesus, Zarathustra, and perhaps Gandhi, were functioning in all levels of consciousness simultaneously.

When I think of sub, I think of beneath or underneath, yet in the diagram of the mind, the Conscious is below the Subconscious.

The Subconscious is beneath the Conscious mind in that it is behind the Conscious mind, but its office is above. When you’re born into the physical there is no Conscious mind. There’s nothing in the brain to draw information from. But the moment you take your first breath, you begin to cry. Someone grabs you and makes you warm and dry. What happens? You’ve got the first piece of information in the brain. The Conscious mind says, “I got some attention from making that noise so I’ll do it again.” You cry and again someone comes to your aid and puts a bottle in your mouth. Now you have two pieces of information. All your life you’ve been putting information into your brain. About the age of fourteen, the Conscious mind is fairly filled. Generally, it is not until about age twenty-one when you learn there’s still more to be learned.

What kinds of things does the Subconscious mind hold? What information do we have from past lives?

All past understood experiences, according to the way you’ve made them a part of your Subconscious, are found in this middle division of mind. Remember the discussion of brain pathways and the examples of automobile driving and learning the multiplication tables. The things you made a part of yourself are the things you will bring with you into the next lifetime. If you consider this seriously, it would explain the genius. Everyone has a talent they did not have to develop and refine. How did it happen? Where did it come from? I think each individual earned that particular talent sometime, somewhere in his past.

What if you comprehended and understood something thoroughly but you were wrong. Would you bring that with you?

Absolutely not. Your Subconscious mind knows only understood experiences. Those things which are understood and used by the Conscious mind become a part of the Subconscious mind. Remember the duty of the Conscious mind is to feed the Subconscious understood experiences and the Subconscious will fulfill all Conscious desires to stimulate this for individual growth. You don’t make something a part of yourself that is wrong.

What about those who thought the earth was the center of the universe?

There is a basis of truth to the earth being the center of the universe. From where you are, the rest of the universe extends outward. Many truths are covered with the physical explanation. Often we think of ourselves as John Doe, a physical man, but the Bible says we are made in the likeness of the Creator. If the Creator is spirit, then we must be spirit also. I understand spirit to be mind or creative intelligence. Perhaps that doesn’t make sense to you now, but if you’ll consider it, I believe you’ll begin to see that you’ll trade this physical vehicle when it is no longer serviceable for you. This does not mean you should neglect this body for you are responsible for it. You’re responsible for keeping the correct fuel in it, keeping it clean, and maintaining the functioning order, the same as you are with your automobile.

In reincarnation, how does your mind transfer from one body to another?

It’s all part of the same body from the third level of consciousness. Read the twenty-first chapter of Genesis.

How does your mind go from one body to another?

The Subconscious mind is a continuum. At this moment you are building your body for the next lifetime with your desires, your fears, your loves and hates. You’re building your next body and mind, just as you’re building your present Conscious mind with your fears, loves, desires, and prejudices. You build your Conscious mind daily by adding information to the brain.

How does the mind get there?

Think about the part of you that dreams. It leaves your physical body every night to get its nourishment from each level of consciousness the same as your physical body does. Consider the point where your arm meets the shoulder as being the third level in the mind. Now move your arm out to the side of your body, up and down, creating an arc. Do you see that the farther away from the shoulder, the longer the arc is? At the fingertips deterioration is very fast, much faster than the point at which the stroke is shorter. So, at the fingertips, or Conscious mind, deterioration could occur hundreds of times before the inner level could deteriorate once. It takes some study to understand.

Besides the mirror, what are other ways to concentrate?

The end of your finger, a candle flame, a spot on a wall, can all be used. Anything to focus your attention and hold it there regardless of outer distractions. Concentration is giving no attention to the five senses, but holding your eyes and your mind on one single thing. In practicing concentration your mind will try to wander, and it will wander a great deal. You merely bring it back to the point of concentration until it stops wandering. Your body will itch, it will ache, it will give all the signs of not concentrating, but if you really want to know about your dreams you have to practice concentration. You can control your dreaming time the same as you control your awake time. But concentration is the key to it.

That are you supposed to concentrate on?

Think of whatever you’re looking at, not about what it’s going to do or where it came from. If you’re looking at a candle flame you think only flame. It’s holding still and listening. Concentration is focusing your attention on a single thing.

Would you go into the Subconscious mind leaving the body during the dreamstate?

You are the mind, so let’s say that you leave your physical body every night when the Conscious mind closes down. When you drive your car to the store, once you arrive don’t you turn off the key and leave it? The same is true with the real you. When you get to where you’re going and everything is shut down, you get out of the body going to each of these levels of consciousness and take in the substance and nourishment required. Have you ever tossed and tumbled all night and the next morning you’re exhausted? It’s because you didn’t get out of your body. The nourishment hasn’t been fed to the inner self, so you’re exhausted. It’s called astral projection. When you’re projecting into the sixth level of consciousness, we call that the outer projection. Everything you see will be just exactly like you see it with your physical eyes only it will be reversed. In the sixth level of consciousness black will be white and white will be black, hair parted on the left will be parted on the right. From the fifth level on inward, you’re going deeper within and that’s a different thing altogether.

Have you considered that once reincarnation stops we will acquire that Superconscious mind once again?

Yes. I see this as the reason for the Conscious and Subconscious divisions, so that Subconscious with experience and knowledge can reassociate and be compatible with the Creator.

If in the reincarnation process we achieve perfection, then there would be no need to incarn again?

Yes. This is a theory.

What’s the principle that causes you to believe that one can obtain perfection or unity with what you see as the Creator through the two lower levels of the mind?

Thirty-five years of practice and study. That’s what made me believe and know it.

Is is true that there is a vibration for each of those levels of consciousness, and you must attune you concentration to these to achieve the higher levels?

Certainly. But there is responsibility in this concentration. Read about Nicodemus and Jesus in John, the third chapter.

Can you achieve all of this in one lifetime?

I don’t think it’s impossible. Have I? No. I’m not perfect, but I’m working on it.

While working on this, are we not by our choice and attitudes predetermining our future?

Everyday, every moment, you predetermine your future, according to your choices and decisions that day.

Is it possible to contact other people in your dreams?

You can learn to astral project to a certain place, and two people can learn to astral project to the same place if they desire. For instance, one person could be in Chicago and another in New Orleans and they could meet in St. Louis if they knew the routes.

How do you do that?

That takes about two years to learn. It isn’t something that I can explain in five minutes. There are different steps you take to learn the process, the first step is concentration. Most of us scatter our attention. We really function in the physical trying to think of two or three things at once, and there’s really no way you can think of more than one thing at a time. There’s no way a computer will give you more than one answer at a time. Like the computer, the brain only has room for one answer at a time, so in the split second of transition between thoughts we’re bringing our attention back to a single focus.

Can you actually hear people talk to you in dreams? I’ve had dreams where I can definitely remember hearing someone talk to me.

You must remember the pituitary gland is interpreting and what you think comes through your ears really isn’t. It’s coming from the hypothalamus into the pituitary. The hypothalamus works in conjunction with the Subconscious mind, the pituitary with the Conscious mind.

Computers can give multiple answers with many mathematical equation. How do you explain this?

It’s the same thing. Your brain can give you what would seem to be almost instantaneous multiple answers but they aren’t. The thought process produces each individual answer separately. I believe the computer functions the same way.

One night I dreamed the people in my dream told me, “You think you’re dreaming but you will be here with us someday.” What does it mean?

I think you were in astral flight and talking to some dead people. It’s not strange and certainly not bad. By practicing astral projection you can practice dying because it is the same thing. It’s the only way I know to practice dying.

Several years ago I dreamed that my friend’s mother had gone to visit her sister in a nearby town. That night there was a fire in the center of the village. The following day I told my friend of the dream and she said her mother had called and there had been a fire there. I’d never been there, but several years later I went to the town and it was exactly as I’d pictured it.

I think this is also a part of deja vu. That’s the Subconscious mind becoming so bored with the Conscious mind’s sleeping that it goes into the future, into tomorrow to take a look. The words “deja vu” are French, meaning already seen.

That’s why I can’t understand why you say every dream relates to yourself.

Had the person dreaming of the fire paid attention, the next day or looked into the immediate past, she would have found within herself a burning. That is why we recommend recording your dreams. Then you can review them in relation to what was occurring in your physical consciousness at that time. The implications given in a dream may not become apparent for several years.

I dream often of old houses and constructing houses. Sometimes they’re more modern and advanced, sometimes backwards. What would that indicate?

An old house would be a part of the Subconscious mind that needs to be repaired. Building houses symbolizes your Conscious mind that needs to be repaired. Building houses symbolizes your Conscious mind and the additional tools or information placed there by each experience. A house in dreams is mind.

What about a second story house with a stairway but no first floor?

The first story is the Conscious mind and the second story is the Subconscious mind. There needs to be some work done on the Conscious mind since it does not appear in ;the dream as a part of the mind. An old house with antiques represent old ideas that still have value.

What about a glass house that’s really shiny?

You’re really seeing the mind. Between each level of consciousness there is a type of glass or veil, but you can see through it.

What are birds?

Birds that can fly are thoughts.

What are dead birds?

Dead birds can’t fly, so they would symbolize thoughts not being used.

What does flying represent?

Astral projection.

What makes astral flight be astral flight?

Astral flight is your recognition that you are in movement. You can feel the wind go by and you can direct where you’re going by turning your arms. Some people in astral flight will spin all the time, head over heels. I’m telling you how you can know that you’ve started astral flight. Have you ever thought you were about to drift off to sleep and you jerk awake? That’s just how long it takes to get out of your body. Here’s what happens; you get so far out, but not far enough away that distraction won’t draw you back. Something happens to bring your attention back to the physical and that jerks you right back into the body and you think you’ve fallen. The body hasn’t even moved except for the jerk you were consciously aware of. If you’ll remember an experience like this, you’ll recall when awakened your nerves were jingling and you were physically shaking.

The more jerking is related to how far out of the body you are?

The farther away, yes. In learning to astral project, the farther you get away from your physical body the more it takes to jerk you back in. You have more control.

When I fly in a dream, I usually start by running and jumping. Sometimes I take off, sometimes I don’t. What would this signify?

You’re probably trying to get out of your body. I used to do the same thing several years ago.

What about flying in a helicopter?

Once you recognize you are in astral flight, your desire is all it takes to take you anywhere you want to go. You’ll go there with thought. It’s much faster than light.

What causes you to astral project when you’re wide awake?

I’ve coughed myself out of my body. It could be a desire, it could be any number of things.

Is it possible to dream without being asleep?

Yes, we call those daydreams.

Do they have the same meaning?

Sometimes they do, it depends on the individual. Someone who allows their Conscious mind to absorb all the thoughts around them would not be daydreaming, but someone who is creating thought in their mind is.

Are daydreams in your Subconscious mind?

Most daydreams are in your Conscious mind. They can be in your Subconscious mind, because you learn to place your attention there.

What is a dream about someone who has died several years before?

You are at the place where they are. If they’re talking to you, then it’s a dream and whatever aspect you see in that person is an aspect of yourself.

What if you have the same dream several nights in a row — a sexual dream and you awake talking?

To begin with, a sexual dream indicates harmony between your Subconscious and Conscious mind. Your Subconscious is trying to get an idea across to you so pay attention to it.

My husband is black and rarely are there black people in his dreams. Even if they’re black in real life, they’re white in his dream. What does that mean?

The meaning of another race other than your own indicates you have a decision to make. There’s something you need to decide to overcome — the doubt or indecision symbolized by the people of a different race in your dream. It has nothing to do with your conscious desires. It’s your Subconscious mind telling you you need to resolve the indecision. It’s just a part of the dream, showing you don’t see any difference.

Would you say the environmental impact and the level of development determined the significance of your dreams?

Yes, I believe so. Depending on your awareness, where your thoughts are. Wherever your thoughts are, that’s where you are. Wherever your dreams are, that’s where you are. Your Subconscious becomes the real you during your dreams. When we are what we call awake and identifying only with the physical, we often call that reality, but reality is all of it. It’s a matter of learning where your attention is. That’s reality!

I think of a scripture when you say “When we come into the physical we die.” Is that what Jesus meant when he said, “You’re dead while you live.” We exist but we’re mentally asleep or dead?

Yes, that’s a very good explanation.

What happens when something happens then you dream about it afterwards?

It’s your brain using the event closest at hand to get across the point. Your brain will also use what’s at hand, the thing closest to you. It will always do this. Write these down and remember the rules of dreams. Every dream is about the dreamer. Everyone in the dream is the dreamer. Look at your dreams and be honest with yourself. They’ll tell you volumes. Write your dreams down. Believe me it’s a language. You’ll have to learn that language if you ever want to go within. If you want to really be born again, you have to learn the language of your dreams because that’s where it all begins.