Jessica
But the mystery of sleeping is made even more mysterious by the phenomenon of dreams. Primitive people, unable to explain the psychology of dreaming or to discover the causes of sleep, observed that, when awake, man can control his thoughts, he is totally unable, when asleep, to either purposely dream about what he chooses, or to control his bodily movements. This made people believe that dreams must be caused by outside and supernatural agencies. The gods, whose power manifested itself in things such as thunderstorms and earthquakes, could just as easily send their communications to men in dreams. Therefore dreams must be sacred and some kind of "messenger" relaying a message from the gods to man.
The meaning of the Divine message conveyed in dreams was sometimes obvious and unmistakable, as when the facts to be known were plain revealed by the deity himself or through the ministry of some messenger. The Divinely sent dream might also at times foreshow some coming event. Moreover, its meaning was not always clear and might be shrouded in symbols, or, if conveyed through oral communication, wrapped up in figures of speech. In either case, the knowledge of the significance of dream would depend on the interpretation.
All the dreams actually recorded in the bible came unsought and often unexpected. That certain dreams may be caused by God seemed to be acknowledged without controversy by the early Fathers of the Church and the ecclesiastical writers. This opinion they based mainly on Biblical authority; occasionally they appealed to the authority of classical writers. Agreeably to this doctrine, it was admitted likewise that the interpretation of supernatural dreams belongs to God who sends them to the dreamer, or to an authorized interpreter.
Medieval theologians added to the reasoning of their predecessors a more careful, and to some extent more scientific, study of the phenomena of sleep; but they found no reason to depart from the moral principles contained in the writings of the Fathers. To the query: Is divination through dreams unlawful? - Thomas Aquinas replies: The whole question consists in determining the cause of dreams, and examining whether the same may be the cause of future events, or at least come to the actual knowledge of them. Dreams come sometimes from internal, and sometimes from external, causes. Two kinds of internal causes influence our dreams: one mental, our imagination; the other, the body: it is a well-known fact that the actual disposition of the body causes a reaction on the fantasy. Spiritual agents, such as God, may also cause dreams directly, or indirectly through his angels, and the devil. Modern theologians, whilst profiting by the progress of psychological research, continue to admit the possibility of dreams supernatural in their origin, and consequently the possibility of dream-interpretation depending on supernatural communications. As a matter of fact dreams are now seldom heeded; only very superstitious persons ponder over the "dictionaries of dreams" and the "keys to the interpretation of dreams" once so much in favour. "As idle as a dream" has become a proverb expressive of the popular mind on the subject, and indicating sufficiently that there is little need nowadays to revive the laws and canons enacted in past ages against divination through dreams.
References to Dreams in the MayDay Pages
Leitmotiv: "Apri la mente a quel ch'io ti paleso/ e fermalvi entro;" is from Dante Alighieri's 'Divina Commedia', in Paradiso, Canto V, verses 40 and 41. Its translation is "Open thy mind to that which I reveal,/ And fix it there within;" (Longfellow's edition), and it is part of Beatrice's discourse on vows and compensations on the ascent to the Second Heaven (where reside spirits who for the love of fame achieved great deeds).
Augustus Owsley Stanley and 1647 Virginia (LSD induced dreaming?)
"Periods of terrible sanity" Clue: The phrase "periods of terrible sanity" appears on a few of the pages, and I've spent a good deal of time trying to track it down, with no success. Following "near a terminal's" clue, I tried again, and have been unable to find the exact phrase in any of Poe's work. However, I did stumble across the following at the Edgar Allen Poe Society of Baltimore's web page:
"In the essay by Montenegro, we see cited a statement by Poe himself that appears essential, and it is that in which he says, 'I lost my reason between long periods of horrible lucidity. During these attacks of absolute unconsciousness is when I drank. Only God knows how often and for how long. Of course my enemies attribute the mental agitation to drinking, instead of seeing in that the cause of it.'"
"What a night for the dancing dead." Either from 'Les Morts Dansant', a song by MAGNUM <http://www.hard-rain.demon.co.uk/MAGNUMS_INDEX_PAGE.html> circa 1985, or taken from something classic and adopted by them. With this puzzle, it could be either... full lyrics here: http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~eleanor/Magnum/disc/05-OnaStoryteller.html...
"When the field has become a garden
And the past is laid to rest
Children play and dogs run barking
Who would know? who would guess?
"What a night, though it's one of seven
What a night for the Dancing Dead
What a night to be called to Heaven
What a picture to fill your head"
(This is all in a dream/revelation.) In the middle, right, Revelation 21:5: "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful."
In context:
21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea.
21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.
21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are
true and faithful.
21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end...
Section 132 of Njal's Saga (IronGrim in Loom-nip) deals with a dream where Odin comes to the dreamer.
Lord, my time is in your hand, To you, my soul convert; You can make me understand, Though I am slow of heart; Lord, in you I live and move, You are light, upon me shine; You are wisdom, power, and love, And all you are is mine.
Webmaster "behold it was a dream" (link) - ??? bunyan ??? And [Pharaoh] slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. --Genesis, Chapter 41
Bunyan quote: As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and, as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and, as he read, he wept, and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?
Virtual reality as a type of dream state? Jessica 5.15.01 Regarding the text on the right side beneath the music: "The Loyal Order of Reconstructed Freaks will meet in The Pendulum Room of Hotel California..." The most hits mention an anime film "Dragon Ball Z" in which the Pendulum Room is a Virtual Reality place. (Read more here: http://eserver.org/home/geoff/cv/pendulum.html
To Owsley (to make dreams true, etc.): I can find this quote attributed to Chaucer, in his version of 'Troilus and Criseyde,' but when I go to the original text, I can't find anything close to the quote. Maybe it's in some translation somewhere, but I can't locate it. However, the phrase appears exactly as quoted in the ad in a poem called 'The Dream,' by John Donne: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/6006/poets/donnej.htm
Webmaster: Rev 21:21 <http://www.primenet.com/~etdt/heaven.html> And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
10/19/00 Clue=May be completely meaningless, but you never know: There is an old story, associated with Thomas Aquinas and re-told by Karl Barth, about two medieval monks who spent many hours discussing the nature of the future life. Would heaven be, they wondered, very much like what they deduced from the Scriptures and their own experience, or would it be quite different? They made a pact that whichever of them passed over the great beyond first would try to send back a message, affirming or denying what they had long discussed. They had already agreed that the future would be "aliter," otherwise than what can be known or imagined, but in what way? Eventually a signal came through to the survivor (in a dream??) which he deciphered as "Totaliter aliter", Totally otherwise.
Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: (God proceeds to "show" Abraham-in a dream?)
"subliminal channel transmission" maybe?
The material world exists nowhere but in the mind. -Jonathan Edwards
The visionary is the only realise. -Fellini
While Abram was sitting at the flap of his tent in the heat of the day, he looked up and saw 3 men approaching- Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty (in a dream/vision?) Genesis 18:1,2 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.