Volume 6, Issue 6, page 4

point of concentration, you will find yourself
rising, as it were(not upwards, but thru veils
of consciousness) into a new dimension, just
as solid as this one. Should you fail to maintain your concentration on an object in the
dream, you would lose your connection and sink
into a subconscious state and then awaken natural ly.

The thought comes: "What shall I do if I am
consciously dreaming, or in a new dimension,
and I desire to get back to ordinary body
awareness?" You simply remember the basic
rule: Just assume with the sense of feeling
that you are in your regular physical body and
you will be. I t is that simple. If you run
around and say, "That sounds scary, that
sounds -spooky", and the like, forget the whole
thing until you gain a bit of spiritual maturi ty.

When you have mastered the above exercise,
you can do it at any time with a bit of attention; then you will be master of dimensional
experience. The only reason we are in this
particular environment is that we happen to
agree at the moment that it is the solid and
real one.

What about dreaming of future events? We
know that the future is mapped out ahead of us
according to present-time considerations and
beliefs. (When we change the present belief
pattern, we automatically alter the future sequence of experiences.) Events, remember, are
always a present reality. We experience them
from various points of view and this gives the
concept of time. So, it is possible to dream
of events (which exist now, but are set up for
future waking experience according to present
subconscious patterns) of the future. The
dream then is the same, but out of context
with the time sequence.

Should you dream of an experience which you
deem undesirable, and you feel it is a vision
of the future (altho all dreams of this type
are not, as many spring from fears and other
causes), you simply change it as a personal
experience by not accepting it as your lot in
life, and by changing your outlook. We are not
puppets of fate.

Some persons dream vividly, others hardly
notice their dreams. When we dream , we exercise astral or energy facilities; but all
dreams are by no means astral flights and
journeys. When we awaken, we experience in the
physical ; when we dream, we experience thru
the astral senses ; and when we have dreamless
sleep, we do so thru the causal or mental area
of our being. Deep, dreamless sleep is the
closest to pure awareness, if we could awaken
in that state.

Before we go on with the sleep state, let
us look at the experience of visions. Men and
women who see visions are detailed all thru
religious history. It is, of course, just as
possible to see visions as it ever was. When
we say that visions are given by God or grace,
we are exhibiting our own misunderstanding of
the experience. Just as dreams are subconscious
experiences, so visions are more on the superconscious level , tho it is possible for them
to intermingle. All visions are filtered thru
the conditioned consciousness of the individual, therefore partly colored by the beliefs
of the individual.

Visions of long-past persons are not necessarily indication of the return of that person , tho we like to think so . Do you see how
it is that mortal longing gets in the way of
pure experience? I have talked with individuals who saw visions which were clearly distorted subconscious experience; and when this

is pointed out, they have said: "Well you may
be right, but I (or we) like to think they're
real and sent from God." What have our whims
or mortal longings got to do with truth? Are
we to be content to drift thru life with the
attitude of "I like to .think it true", or are
we going to come to that place in consciousness where we know truth? So we see how it is
that a man's enemy shall be of his own household (of his own preconceived notions and mental setup) .

Often a vision will be in symbolic form and
will need interpretation. This happens because
the person with the vision is not high enough
in consciousness to just know the truth. The
best way to know anything is to know it. So,
we see how it is that truth filters thru human
conditioning and breaks forth upon our consciousness at that level of our understanding.

Learn to dream consciously and awaken from
the belief in limitation. There is the classic
story of the Oriental king, who had vivid
dreams that he was a butterfly. After awhile
he exclaimed: "I know not whether I am a king
who dreams he is a butterfly, or whether I am
a butterfly who dreams he is a king."
Learn the value of meditation just before
retiring and just upon awakening. At these
points of the change in conscious awareness,
it is a valuable time to meditate. Then you
won't take problems into the sleep state to
ingrain them deeper, and on the other hand, you
will be able to start the day right in the
morning by moving into your higher awareness.

A final exercise is the technique of attaining conscious immortality. The idea is
this: We are immortal, birthless, deathless.
We humanly are not aware of this because we
have been conditioned thru eons to the idea
that we are limited, subject to environment,
etc. But if we can somehow come to the point
where we are the silent witness , become aware
of awareness, then we can rise above the belief of separation and be aware of our real
nature. To try to unravel the past (which does
not exist) is a hopeless task. We have the
plain and simple advice to be "absent from the
body and present with the Lord", or Universal
Law. When you can do this, you step free of
the idea (and that's all it is) of duality.

At night when you retire, relax on your
back and gently watch the going-to-sleep process. Keep the attention at the point between
the eyebrows (not necessarily the eyes themselves at this time). And as the body relaxes,
as the mind settles down, and the change of
viewpoint takes place which we term sleep, you
maintain the attitude of watching the process
from the sidelines. You will notice that the
body gets quiet, the thoughts settle down, the
hearing is the last to go. You may be aware of
the surroundings for awhile, as tho in a
dream, yet you are detached on this borderline
state. Then, as you watch, you come into a
state of beingness which is characterized by a
clarity of mental vision -- not an unconscious
state or mental chloroform, as one has stated,
but a level of awareness beyond the limits of
mortal expression.

This may last a moment; it may last several
minutes; and eventually it may last the night
thru. While the body is resting, you are. awake
in eternity. When you are in this state all
the time, then you have, conquered death. Then ,
even tho you desire to allow yourself to be
embodied from time to time and experience the
play of lights and shadows of human existence,
you are ever free and centered in Spirit.
4 The ABERREE OCTOBER, 1959