Theos-Talk Archives (October 1995 Message tl00358)

Lewis:< I would agree with you that our astral (dream) life is effected
by our waking state. Since you qualify your statement saying, "...But
how well we tread that Path..", would you agree that our dreams
become more significant as we progress on that Path, but may not be
as important in the early stages?>

Absolutely. In fact, I would go even farther and say that
you won't progress all that far along the Path unless you come to
some understanding (and control over) your dreams. In other
words, at some point in the Great Work, we must address our
dream state, which we are in about 1/3 of the time.

Some time ago, I had an article published in Sunrise
about dreams. Basically, my thesis was that dreams can serve
us as barometers along the Path, because how well we are doing
will always be honestly reflected in our dreams. We may think we
are doing well on the Path, and that we are compassionate, and
honest, and so on. But if we have dreams of hurting others, or
of acting in hurtful ways, then we are just kidding ourselves about
our progress. If we are *really* compassionate, this will always
be reflected in our dreams, and we will act that way no matter
what others in the dream seem to be doing to us (in other words,
irregardless of the dream content).

 When we tread the Path some distance, we should
be able to recall our dreams, and then to control them via what
is called lucid dreaming (which we do in degrees). You can
learn a lot about yourself by recalling your dreams and reflecting
on them. I have had dreams in which I remember past dreams.
I have dreams in which I am Jerry Schueler, and I have dreams
in which I am a totally different person, with a different memory
and so on. I sometimes have dreams in which I have no
special sense of ego at all. All of these kinds of dreams
demonstrate to me the fragile and illusive nature of the ego.

Jerry S.