Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What's in a Dream: A Scientific and Practical Exposition — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What's in a Dream: A Scientific and Practical Exposition
John Stuart Mill · en
``D'' related to me at the time of the occurrence of the dream the following:
``It had been suggested to me that the two cereals, corn and wheat, were too
far apart, and that I ought to buy corn. At noon I lay down on a lounge
to await luncheon; I had barely closed my eyes before a voice whispered:
`Don't buy, but sell that corn.' `What do you mean?' I asked.
`Sell at the present price, and buy at 23 7/8.' '' The foregoing dream was
related to me by a practical, successful business man who never speculates.
I watched the corn market and know it took the turns indicated in the dream.
In this dream we find the dreamer conversing with some strange
intelligence possessed of knowledge unknown to objective reason.
It could not, therefore, have been the waking thoughts
of the dreamer, for he possessed no such information.
Was the message superinduced through the energies and
activities of the waking mind on the subjective mind?
This could not have been, because he had no such thoughts;
besides, the intelligence given was free from the errors
of the calculating and anxious waking mind.
We must therefore look to other sources for an explanation. Was it
the higher self that manifested to Abraham in the dim ages of the world?
Was it the Divine Voice that gave solace to Krishna in his abstraction?
Was it the unerring light that preceded Gautama into the strange solitudes
of Asia? Was it the small voice that Elijah heard in the desert
of Shurr? Was it the Comforter of Jesus in the wilderness and the garden
of distress? Or, was it Paul's indwelling spirit of this earthly tabernacle?
One thing we may truthfully affirm--that it did not proceed from the rational,
objective mind of the rank materialist, who would close all doors to that
inner life and consciousness where all true religion finds its birthmark,
its hope, its promises and its faith; which, rightly understood,
will leave to the horrors of the Roman crucifixion the twin thieves,
superstition and scepticism, while the angel of ``Goodwill'' will go
free to solace the world with the fruit and fragrance of enduring power
and promise{.} The steel chains that fasten these hydra-headed crocodiles
of sensuous poison around love and destiny can only be severed by the diamond
of wisdom and knowledge.
A citizen worthy of confidence relates the following dream:
``In December, 1878, I saw in a dream my brother-in-law, Henry Yarnell,
suffering from a bloody knife wound; after this I awoke, but soon
fell asleep again. The second time I dreamed of a similar scene,
except that the wound was the result of a shotgun. After this I
did not go to sleep again. I was much troubled about my dream,
and soon started in the direction of my brother-in-law's house.
I had not gone far, when I met an acquaintance who promptly informed
me that my brother-in-law had been shot.'' Signed ``E.''