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born of the unconscious and purely accidental association of the occurrences of everyday life plus the ghost dream. The simultaneous dreaming about a departed chief by several members of his tribe seemed to constitute convincing evidence that the old chief had really returned in some form." (952) Ancient man, "... knew the breath could leave the body, and his dreams of doing all sorts of queer things while asleep convinced him that there was something immaterial about a human being. The most primitive idea of the human soul, the ghost, was derived from the breath-dream idea-system." (953) Ironically, these earliest interpretations of dreams, though faulty, gave our ancestors the initial concept of a soul and some sort of spiritual existence.
The papers on the Thought Adjuster confirm that our dreams may have spiritual content, and the origin of that content may be from the Adjuster. But on page 1208, the authors point out that it may be difficult to discern that spiritual content: "While their hosts are asleep, the Adjusters try to register their creations in the higher levels of the material mind, and some of your grotesque dreams indicate their failure to make efficient contact....Your own passions, urges, and other innate tendencies translate themselves into the picture and substitute their unexpressed desires for the divine messages which the indwellers are endeavoring to put into the psychic records during unconscious sleep." And they admonish us to be very careful in trying to find spiritual content in our dreams: "It is extremely dangerous to postulate as to the Adjuster content of the dream life. The Adjusters do work during sleep, but your ordinary dream experiences are purely physiologic and psychologic phenomena. Likewise, it is hazardous to attempt the differentiation of the Adjusters' concept registry from the more or less continuous and conscious reception of the dictations of mortal conscience."
Nevertheless, the authors realize that we probably will try to find spiritual messages in our dreams: "These are problems which will have to be solved through individual discrimination and personal decision." They go on to say that it would be better to think the content of a dream had not come from our Thought Adjuster even if it has: "But a human being would do better to err in rejecting an Adjuster's expression through believing it to be a purely human experience than to blunder into exalting a reaction of the mortal mind to the sphere of divine dignity." The message seems to be that it's okay to look for spiritual content, but don't assume that it is from our Thought Adjuster. Even if it is from this source, it may be so changed that the meaning is distorted or lost.
Bearing the admonitions in mind, I think we can cautiously look at our dream content for messages or spiritual content, knowing it may be just us talking to ourselves. As an example of this, I cite a recent dream I had. I was looking at a street scene filled with Asian people busily doing various things, some just walking, others tending booths selling items. Superimposed on this scene was a similar street scene of Asian people doing various things. The superimposed scene was insubstantial, like the reflection you would see of a scene behind you if you were looking through a glass window. I noticed that if I concentrated on the more substantial scene, the other one would disappear. The interpretation that came to mind is that I concentrate too much on the material and lose sight of the spiritual. I suspect that the people in my dream are Asian because there are Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese folks in my work area. It seems that the message is more likely from me to myself than from my Thought Adjuster. I may have misinterpreted the message, but I feel the meaning I see is appropriate for me, so I choose to see this as the real meaning.
As far as I'm concerned, I will continue to look for spiritual meaning in my dreams, but I'll remember that it's strictly my interpretation and probably not an input from my Thought Adjuster, no matter how impressive the dream may be. After all, I probably have some important things to tell myself, and when I'm sleeping may be the only time I'm really listening. And who knows, my Thought Adjuster might just be able to slip in something of value between the lines. So dream on!
1. Grolier's Encyclopedia on CD-ROM
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