The Delusion Of Dream-Life

[QUOTING]

We must now inform you of an almost unknown part of serious pupilship -- the time when the body sleeps. One-third of the day is spent in this way without one being able to participate in it consciously. This is a very unpleasant thought. No one likes to pass through the unknown unprepared and unarmed. Therefore, for the serious candidate it is of the greatest importance to come to an understanding of this situation.

There are dangers and life-processes of which man is completely unconscious. There are also great possibilities in man which, because of his ignorance, remain untried. It is certainly not our intention to speak about the nocturnal experiences of man in general. This is a subject which is very dear to the negatively or occultly-inclined man and it has been spoken and written about very often. Dream-life is a good basis for a psychological examination, for in this way, it is often possible to establish the deepest and most subconscious motives of man.

No, we limit our explanation almost entirely to the life of the soul-man during the hours of sleep, and we restrict our discussion to the state-of-being of the serious pupil; to the birth of the soul in him as a state which is clearly demonstrated through his actions.

When we fall asleep, a splitting of the personality takes place and part of it withdraws. However, what usually escapes the attention of investigators is that, besides the splitting of the personality, a splitting of the consciousness occurs as well.

Dualistic consciousness results from the organic cooperation of all atoms that belong to the personality-system. Accordingly, we can differentiate four manifestations of consciousness: two that belong more to the material and etheric bodies, and two that belong to the astral and mental bodies. When someone enters the condition of sleep and the tenuous part of the personality withdraws, the consciousness also splits. The material aspect remains on the material side, sometimes in a state of latency, of inactivity, sometimes in a state of partial activity. The latter is the case when during the day the body has been unduly strained, or if one is extremely nervous or anxious. The other aspect of the consciousness accompanies the astral and mental bodies that have withdrawn. Since everyone's mental body is organized in only a very elementary and incomplete fashion, the consciousness is almost completely governed by the astral consciousness  during sleep. Therefore, as far as present-day man is concerned, one can safely say that his sleeping consciousness is the astral consciousness.

Without further investigation, one can deduce from this that the nocturnal conscious life of man cannot in any way be compared with the conscious life in matter, when the four aggregates of consciousness are found concentrically within one another, co-operating with one another and so mutually controlling one another.

The night-consciousness of man is exclusively an astral consciousness. Whoever really knows what this means will no longer be a victim of the thousand-and-one mistakes that man has made and will continue to make.

The astral sphere of our planet has become incredibly filthy and complicated. If there is one domain of life on our planet that demonstrates the situation of present-day humanity, it is certainly the astral sphere. Here, everything about which one worries in religious, occult and negative movements is accomplished. One can safely say that all life in the astral sphere is delusion.  This does not mean there is no life or movement in the astral sphere; on the contrary, it swarms with life, but this has no real basis, no meaning; it is empty and rotten. It is only a picture, an appearance which is mistaken for reality by all the ignorant. He who is deceived by the dualistic astral life and sees it as beautiful and exalted, is absolutely lost. Let us for a moment revert to our original discussion.

When a new Day of Manifestation dawns in a period of mankind, after a purification of world-spheres, and one can speak of a new beginning; when the part of mankind that is still in duality is once more brought into manifestation, then the pure astral sphere is only a domain in which certain ideas, teachings and and processes project themselves as a series of pictures. One could compare it with a useful and instructive film. As each human being perceives astrally during the night-conscious life, the instructive astral viewing will be of the highest importance for him. In a pure personality that is directed upon a high purpose, this nightly astral viewing can have a good effect upon the action-life of the day, and man can know from within how it should and should not be.

Just imagine that the astral sphere is completely pure and clean at this moment and that the Universal Gnostic Chain fills this field with its powers and teachings. Imagine that during sleep, when we withdraw with the astral self, we would be able to refresh ourselves with all the wonderful powers, all the series of pure pictures assembled for our sake in the astral sphere by the Universal Brotherhood; upon awakening, we would then bring back into the waking consciousness all the glorious help we had received, and be able to profit from it.

But when the astral sphere became polluted and the occultists, among others, made themselves masters of this region, when the reflection-sphere brotherhoods constructed their dream castles -- the churches built their heavenly cathedrals and innumerable iniquities piled up there -- then the astral sphere could no longer serve as an inner instruction-field, and teaching the truly seeking man became extremely difficult. In fact, if applied in the usual manner, it would represent a deadly danger. Therefore, it became necessary for the Brotherhood to devise other means to be of service to the seeker.

You should become aware of these dangers, for night after night you are in the astral sphere with your ordinary night-consciousness, so everything we speak of concerns you directly. It is out of the question that you would be able to dissociate yourself from the astral sphere.

Every group-conscious idea forms a projection, a reflection in the astral sphere. That is the reason why we call this sphere the reflection-sphere. Therefore, there also exists at this moment a reflection of our work and our working-apparatus in the astral sphere of the nature-of-death. This is a reality, a very dangerous reality. For the unholy powers that abuse all projections to delude mankind reside in that so very filthy and wretched astral sphere of duality. There are people who are astrally conscious and able to convey their astral impressions to the waking consciousness. It is precisely such people who are victimized. In this way, they imagine, for instance, that great beings are in communication with them, "angels", "masters", and the like. Or they can imagine that they participate in the inner life of the Gnosis. But they delude themselves and often make others fellow-victims.

In many cases, the dream-life is a great danger, the more so because those, to whom it is of importance to chain you, come to you in a series of images which you so enthusiastically receive. Just as it is possible to make a film which can be shown, so the astral sphere may be compared to a theatre to which you can go every night to see what you like most.

"The Astral Sphere Of Duality" - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

Anyone who is active in the dream-state and mistakes it for reality is sadly mistaken and in grave danger. There is nothing in the reflection-sphere, as it is currently constituted, that can be of any benefit to mankind. Upon waking, one is best-served to forget about whatever took place while the eyes were closed. There is nothing but deception and delusion in the astral realms, and it will remain so until The Great Cleansing - which is now taking place - has been completed.

~ g
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