Luiz Carlos Formiga

Sleep and dreams How to analyze the night psychism?

Erick Fromm states that "the unconscious is only in relation to normal activity", "they are simply different mental states, which refer to different existential modalities." So we can assume that the conscious mind is only part of the total psyche. There is a psychic life called "unconsciousness". This psychic activity is the main protagonist when sleep takes the other part out of scene. In fact the unconscious finds itself represented in that fraction of the dream that is recorded in the conscious memory.

What are we to think about the meanings attributed to dreams?

The Book of Spirits (O.L.E.), issue 404.

They are true in the sense that they present images that are real for the Spirit. However, they have no relation with what happens in the bodily life. They are also a premonition of the future, allowed by God, or a vision of what is happening elsewhere, a place to where the soul was carried to.

Do we not know of so many cases of people who appeared to their relatives in a dream to warn them about things that are happening to them?

What are these apparitions but the souls or Spirits of these people communicating with their loved ones?

When you are sure that what you saw is real, it does not mean that there is no imagination involved in this fact, especially if what you saw had already gone through your mind when awake?
The Book of Spirits, question 401. Is the soul a thinking being that remains active during sleep? Is there material evidence of the activity of the soul during sleep? How to interpret them? During sleep, does the soul rest in the same manner as the body?

 "No, the Spirit is never inactive. During sleep, the ties that bind him to the body loosen up; and since the Spirit does not need to be present on that moment, it launches itself into space and goes into a more direct relation with other Spirits." 

Researchers’ report

1. The Encyclopedia of Diderot (Denis, 1713-1784), under the entry "Sleepwalking", tells the story of a young priest who got up at night, headed to his office and wrote long sermons and returned to bed. There are reports regarding mathematical problems being solved, which had not been solved by the same individuals while they were awake.

2. Six months later the individual dreams of the place where he had lost his penknife. He awakes and looks for it and finds it (FH Myers, La Concience Subliminale, Annales Phychiques).
The Book of Spirits, question 402. How can we judge the freedom of the Spirit during sleep?
"Through the dreams. When the body rests, the Spirit has more faculties than when awake.

It remembers the past and sometimes predicts the future. It acquires a greater power and can communicate with other Spirits, whether of this world or the other..."

Can dreams be caused by hypnosis and induce a person to dream of another?
3. Yes, replies Dr. Sherenk-Notzing (Munich, Germany), after a hypnotic experience with the sensitive (clairvoyant) Lina. Their results are very important to the discussion of man as a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual being. The researcher gave the sensitive the post-hypnotic order to dream the next night, with a particular person, and not to forget the dream and tell him about it the following day. In the morning, upon awakening, and in the presence of the researchers, he told them what happened overnight. The hypothesis of a mental transmission by one of the present assistants was not feasible for several reasons, not least because a casual visit of a friend of Mr. FL was reported by the psychic and identified later, based on the description of the sensitive. 

Visits during sleep

The Book of Spirits, question 414. Can two people, who know each other, visit during sleep?
 "Yes, and many who think they never met, come together and talk to one another. You may have, without suspecting, friends in another country. It is so normal for you to meet, during sleep, with friends and relatives, those who you know and which may help you, that almost every night you visit them."

Under the biomedical point of view, how can we see that a person is dreaming?

By a strange eye movements produced at a certain stage of the dream. The period REM (rapid eye movements) is "paradoxical" because at the highest point of relaxation we will find an intense activity of numerous brain structures, varying the frequency of brain waves, and occurring almost next to the awakening state. There is at this stage annulment of smell and taste, but the nerve cells send stimuli to the ears, eyes and to the sense of balance. When awoken at this stage, people were able to tell a dream.

How to interpret the dream we had with a loved one has disembodied?

The task is not easy because we are immersed in a very dense matter. However, the Spirit Andre Luiz (a disembodied physician) gives us a very good example in "The Messengers" (FEB – Brazilian Spiritist Federation) Chapter 38, when she dreams with her disembodied grandmother and interprets the received message.

Dual view and dream: is there something in common?

The Book of Spirits, question 420. Can the Spirits communicate, being their bodies fully awake?

“The Spirit is not closed in a body like as if in a box; it radiates everywhere. Therefore, it can communicate with other Spirits even when awake, although this is more difficult."

Book of Spirits, question 447. Does the phenomenon, known as second-sight, have something to do with dreaming and sleepwalking?

"It is all one and the same. What is called second sight is still a result of the release of the Spirit, without the body being asleep. The dual view or second view is the view of the soul. "

But how can we understand this dream that speaks of the future? How to explain it?
Allan Kardec, in the book "Genesis" discusses the subject in the "Theory of prescience."
Andre Luiz reports that Nieta was carried to the cozy lounge of Dona Isabel. Aniceto, an instructor Spirit, clarifies that many brothers are in this landing point of the Spiritual Work, in the sphere that the embodied call dream.

He adds by saying that in these times, however, it is not easy to convey messages with an instructive content using common places contaminated by a coarser mental matter.

In the cozy lounge of Dona Isabel, the spirits Andre Luiz, Vicente and Aniceto stood there watching. Many newcomers seemed convalescent. Some were able to stand supported by loving arms. They are embodied friends, however in a partial detachment of the physical sleep that came to meet us, with the help of good and gentle spiritual entities. 

The Nieta case and the disembodied grandmother

Most did not understand exactly what they were told. They showed good will in receiving the advice, but could not retain it. "Between them and us there is a thick veil. It is the wall of vibrations." "That is why they are rarely lucid on our side."
Aniceto goes on with the lesson: "Look at that young, embodied, lady (Nieta), talking to her grandmother, who works with us at OUR HOME. Andre Luiz sees an elderly lady (the disembodied grandmother), bright eyes and determined way, embracing her granddaughter”.

"Nieta – said the old lady in a firm voice – “do not give so much importance to the difficulties. Forget those who persecute you, and hate nobody. Keep your spiritual peace, above all. Your mother cannot help you now, but believe me our life does continue. Granny will not forget you. Slander, Nieta, is like a snake that threatens the heart. However, if we face it, strong and calmly, we will see that in no time the snake has no own life. It is a toy that will break like glass, casted by our hands. And, when we overcome the scarecrow, instead of the snake, we shall have with us the flower of virtue. Do not be afraid, dear! Do not miss the sacred opportunity of witnessing the understanding of Jesus! ...”

The young girl did not answer, but her eyes were filled with tears. She demonstrated a divine consolation, leaning tenderly on the chest of that devoted old lady. Andre Luiz, puzzled, asked the advisor. – Will this sister remember everything, when she awakens back in her body? 

Quality of the detachment while asleep

Aniceto smiled and explained:

"Being the grandmother more spiritually developed and also examining the condition of the planes of life, in which both were, the embodied young woman is under the spiritual domain of her benefactor. Between the two there is a reciprocal magnetic current. However, her grandmother has a positive influence over her. The granddaughter does not see the environment accurately, nor hears the words fully. "

"Let us not forget that the detachment while asleep is fragmentary and that the sight and hearing, peculiar to the embodied one, are also limited."

Aniceto adds: "the phenomenon is more a spiritual union of sensory perceptions. The young woman is receiving consolation, from a Spirit to another Spirit."

 Since Andre Luiz’ question was partially answered, Aniceto continues to explain:

 "Upon awakening, Nieta will not remember all the details of this fortunate meeting we just witnessed.

If Nieta will not remember, then what was the use of this meeting with her grandmother, while she was asleep?

Aniceto, who seemed to know the doubts that went through everyone's mind, said: "she will awake, however, encouraged and well prepared, unable to identify the cause of the encouragement she is feeling. She will say she dreamed with her grandmother in a place where there were a lot of people, but she will not remember details, but will add that she saw a snake, a threatening snake, which soon turned into a glass snake, which broke into pieces, when she cast it and it transformed itself into a perfumed flower, of which she still remembers the pleasant aroma. She will also say that she could feel comfort in her soul and, ultimately, will understand the comforting message that was passed on to her”. 

What happens when she awakes?

Vicente, curious, asked: - "will she not remember the words she heard?"

Nieta would have needed to acquire a deep clarity in her physical life – explained Aniceto – and I must tell you that she will remember the symbolic images of the snake and of the flower, because she is in a magnetic relation with her old granny, receiving from her positive thoughts. The benefactor does not only talk, but strongly thinks of her too. However, the granddaughter is not listening or seeing by means of the common process, but fully understands the mental image created by the old lady, and with accuracy will talk about the symbols she had a glimpse of and which are now filed deeply in her real memory. Thus, she will find no difficulty in receiving information about the essence of what the kind grandmother tries to transmit to her suffering heart, and will understand that when calumny strikes a serene conscious it is nothing but a lying snake, which will transform itself into a flower of a new virtue, when faced with the value of a serene and Christian courage.

Andre Luiz says that the lesson had been very significant, because it showed the exchange between the two spheres and recalled the long struggle of those who inquire about the dream world.

How much psychic information can become known, if only researchers were able to move the center of studies, the physiological occurrences to the field of spiritual truths!

Sources:

"The Spiritist approach of Dreams" and "Nieta’s Dream and Teresa’s Nightmare".

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