The Personality and Its Dreams (2)

From Session 174 of the Seth Early Sessions:


"I cannot stress too strongly the fact that mankind in general is aware of very little outside of physical reality.

"He has managed to organize physical reality because he focuses so intensely within it. His knowledge of other realities is limited however to infrequent glimpses. He perceives bits and pieces of other realities. As long as his perception in this manner is so disorganized and so fragmentary he cannot hope to compose any conception of the total.

"The nearest field of reality outside of the immediately physical one is the area of dreams. This field has been given very little study. It represents in many ways a meeting ground between psychic and physical existence. You realize here that the terms psychic and physical are merely designations used for the sake of convenience

"I have mentioned before that in its own way the dream universe is as permanent as the physical universe. Basically its structure is somewhat the same, in that it is composed of atoms and molecules. These particles however simply exist within a different perspective. The inner logic is much more consistent within the dream universe, and action is permitted greater freedom in several important respects.

"That interrelationship between the waking state and the sleeping state has never been clearly understood. One of the main differences between the waking and sleeping states is merely the almost complete change of focus that is involved. When you are using intellectual methods alone you will necessarily fall short in any study of the dream reality. Man is indeed his intellect, but he is much else besides.

"The intuitions must go hand in hand with the intellect. The intellect is useful in interpreting your data in terms that the ego can understand. The intuitions come close to mankind's source, and it is through the intuitions that information pertaining to the dream reality will come.

"The experience involved in learning to change your own focus of awareness will be most beneficial. It will even add to the beneficial nature of your own dreams. You do not have to sleep to dream. Every individual has had his daydreams, and here you can see more clearly this change of focus. I meant to mention this earlier. Ruburt can request levitation dreams, and he will have them.

"Now. If the basic personality is fairly well balanced, then this existence in the dream reality will reinforce his physical existence. The opposite will also hold true. you are involved in a juggling of realities. The dream reality is simply the nearest reality with which you are concerned outside of your physical preoccupation. It is necessary to see the personality as it operates within both realities if you are interested in viewing the personality as a whole. And even then unless you delve deeply you will fall short.

"Studies of space and distance as they are experienced in dreams will be helpful, and our material will indeed deal with such discussions. For investigation into the nature of space and time as they are experienced within the dream framework, will tell you more about the real nature of space and time than you can ever learn through studying their distorted appearances within physical reality. This will be most important to us.

"In normal memory you recall, obviously, but a slight percentage of your dreams, and usually these are from more surface levels.

"I would suggest that you tell yourselves that you will henceforth be able to remember dreams from the deeper levels of your personality, and you should find that you will be able to do so.

"You can also tell yourselves when you wish that you will give special attention to the nature of time and space, as these appear within your dreams. You will discover then upon awakening that many perceptions concerning time and space within the dream state will remain with you.

"As I mentioned, your psychological time experiences will also help you to investigate the nature of time and space to some degree.

"In this sort of investigation instructions then can be given before sleeping, and a portion of the self will indeed continue to work for you in this manner. You can indeed learn much concerning events; but what we are mainly concerned with here is the stuff of dreams, and the framework within which they have their existence.

"For the framework is the same framework in which you have your physical existence. We will make you investigators even in your sleep; and you can see now how your very investigations are bound to change the nature of your dreams themselves. Only in this case nothing will be lost, and much gained. It is unfortunate that medical men who deal with the mind as a specialty have not thought of some of these connections more thoroughly.

"Many problems could be worked out in the dream state. Dependency feelings that are overwhelming could be given freer and safer expression, if the patient had the suggestion given to him that he would dream of himself in dependent positions. He could then behave in the physical environment with greater confidence. He could to some extent have his cake and eat it too.

"For once more, to the basic personality an experience is important according to its vividness or significance on an intimate basis. The personality does not differentiate between a waking or a sleeping experience in any real manner. This also is not clearly understood. Dream therapy could offer great advantages, but here again it could be dangerous in the hands of unscrupulous or rigid personalities.

"The rigidity of a personality is its downfall. We will have some sessions dealing with dream therapy. Through such therapy actions would be allowed greater spontaneity, and channels would not be clogged by impeding actions to any great degree. Dream therapy would actually involve no more than lending a helping hand to a phenomena that already occurs.

"Both psychological and physical illnesses could be largely avoided in such a manner. Rather harmlessly, aggressive tendencies could also be given freedom. The individual involved would experience the aggressiveness, and yet he would hurt no one. Suggestions could even be given so that he learned to understand his own aggressiveness through watching himself in the dream state.

"This is not as farfetched as it might seem. Much seemingly erratic antisocial behavior could be avoided through such dream therapy. I will even say that crimes of the grossest sort could be prevented. The desired but feared actions would not then gather up toward an explosion. The habitual, overly-aggressive or overly-dependent tendencies would not result in habitual aggressive or dependent behavior, for each individual action would be harmlessly expressed.

"If I may indulge in a fantasy, theoretically you could indeed imagine a massive experiment in dream therapy, where wars were fought by the sleeping and not by the waking nations. We will discuss this whole question very thoroughly, as I have been leading up to it for a while.

"I am not suggesting that you substitute dream reality for your so-called waking reality. I am mainly suggesting that the two can reinforce each other to a larger degree than you recognize. Also it is difficult for you to accept the idea that experience within dreams is as vivid and valid a part of the personality as its waking experience.

"The inner ego is quite capable of dealing with both types of experience, and it is of course to this inner ego that your own suggestions will make sense, and be acted upon.

"There are however many considerations here that must be understood.

"We can only begin to discuss them this evening. They are vital and must not be overlooked. When or if, for example, aggressiveness is the problem, then the preliminary suggestion should include a statement that in the dream the aggression will be harmlessly acted out, and not directed against a particular individual.

"The subconscious is quite capable of handling the situation in such a manner. This may seem like a double censure, but it is in all cases the intangible element, the aggressiveness itself, that is important, and not the person or persons toward whom the individual may decide to vent the aggressiveness.

"When the aggressiveness is released, then there will be no need for a victim. We do not want, in other words, to direct an individual to dream about a situation in which he is attacking a particular individual. There are many reasons for this, both telepathic realities which you do not as yet understand, and guilt patterns which would be unavoidable. This again is vital, and we shall discuss such matters to some degree.

"Again, we are not attempting to substitute dream action for physical action, generally speaking. We are talking about specific problems that may arise that need treatment. As far as general practice is concerned, we will deal with our dreams in a much more positive and constructive manner, along the lines of expectation.

"Problem solving will also come under this classification, where solutions are being sought. In our discussion of dependency and aggression I was speaking of potentially dangerous situations, in which an individual shows signs of being unable to cope with these psychological actions through ordinary methods of adaptation. No one can deny that a war fought by dreaming men, at specified times, would be less harmful than a physical war, to return to my flight of fancy.

"There would still be repercussions, however, though less disastrous, that would be unavoidable. For again, basically the personality does not differentiate between a waking and a sleeping experience. The importance of any experience is judged by the personality according to its personal vividness and significance. It is only the ego who makes other distinctions."