“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(After supper this evening Jane told me she thought Seth might talk about dreams and the subconscious at the session. In the event that Seth might do this, and also discuss our dreams, as he has mentioned doing by way of illustrating the material, I read to Jane just before the session began two very vivid dreams that I have had within the last two weeks, involving my father and other members of my family. The material I read to Jane was from my dream notebook, which I have finally begun.

(As session time neared I lay my dream notebook on the table, as Seth had suggested we do. Jane began dictating on time, in a voice somewhat stronger than usual. Her delivery was average, her pacing slow, her eyes quite dark. And again, she began without wearing her glasses.)

I would like to continue our discussion concerning the layers of the so-called subconscious, in connection now with a study of dreams.

I had intended to cover this earlier but we were sidetracked. The preliminary discussion of the subconscious layers was necessary, since dreams originate in these various levels, and should therefore be interpreted according to the particular symbolisms inherent in the realm of reality to which they may belong.

Considerable confusion can result if a dream from one level of the subconscious is interpreted in the light of data which belongs to another level entirely. Many individuals feel easier with certain such subconscious aspects, with the result that they may be more aware of dreams that originate in particular subconscious areas, and be relatively unaware of dreams originating in other areas, which they may consider either fearful or at best unfamiliar.

We will find in many cases, first of all, dreams originating in that layer of personal subconscious, the most simple being those that have immediate reference to daily conscious life. While such a dream is less complex than others, it is nevertheless an amazing construction, and when we break down the obvious perceived objects or events of such a dream, we will find that the immediate objects and events that have application in daily life, that may be rehashed versions of the day, have nevertheless been carefully chosen.

And while it may seem that all dreams are random conglomerations of unrelated symbols or events, we will see that one of the most important attributes of any dream is indeed discrimination.

For out of a seemingly endless number of possibilities, our individual dreamer actually discriminates with great care, choosing only those dream objects or symbols that have meaning to him; and those dream objects that can best serve his purposes. And even a simple dream that would seem to be concerned with trivial daily events is in reality concerned with much more.

The dream objects are in fact chosen with such precise discrimination that in many instances, on deep examination they will be seen to embody not only data concerning the dreamer’s daily conscious existence, but one and every dream object may be seen to apply on many levels at once.

The dream objects, then, are so cunningly, and if I may say so, almost slyly chosen, that the simplest of them may refer to instances in this existence, to personally subconsciously desired or feared objects or instances, to desired or feared objects or instances in past lives. They, such dream objects, may be the method or means with which the inner self warns the personality of future possible disappointments or disasters.

One dream object may represent simultaneously a simple daily and familiar portion of conscious life, a strong feared or desired portion of the immediately subconscious layer, an event or object from a past life, and a feared or desired future event or future possibility, as the case may be.

An equation exists here. One dream object has reality then in four or five different levels of reality simultaneously, the one object being more than itself, and equal to realities that have existed or will exist in your past or future; the past and future being therefore contained simultaneously within the dream object, by virtue of a quite real psychic contraction and expansion.

The expansion is the dream. The contraction is the return of the dream elements back into the original single object, that is dream object, from which the equation originated, as for example all numbers originate from the number one.

Friends knowing of our sessions have asked at one time or another that I explain what appeared first in the universe, what started it all, and they ask with such ponderous voices. They want a first thing, or a first person. In this discussion on dreams we have indeed an excellent example of how creation is achieved.

It is only according to where you happen to come in this time, so to speak. Each dream, first of all, begins with psychic energy which the individual transforms not into physical matter but into a reality every bit as functional and as real. He forms the idea into a dream object or event with amazing discrimination, so that the dream object itself gains existence, and exists in numerous dimensions.

It does not seem to exist in various dimensions. It does in actuality so exist. If a dream object or event does so straddle what you call not only time but space, and if as I say dream objects and creations maintain some independence from the dreamer, then you must see that although the dreamer creates his dreams for his own purposes, selecting only those symbols which have meaning to him, he nevertheless projects them outward in a value fulfillment and psychic expansion.

The expansion occurs, again, as the dream drama is acted out. For the dreamer a contraction occurs as he is finished with the events or drama for his own purposes, but energy cannot be taken back.

Energy projected into any kind of construction, psychic or physical, cannot be recalled, but must follow the laws of the particular form into which it has been for the moment molded. Therefore, when the dreamer contracts his multi-realistic objects backward, ending for himself the so-called dream that he constructed, he ends it for himself only. But the reality of the dream continues.

The fact also remains that on other levels but conscious ones, you know and every individual knows that the dream world that the conscious mind believes so foolish and irrational, is indeed constructed by the inner self with utmost care, with a precision known only by the intuitions. And each individual knows that such a splendid creation as this then exists beyond the self that was its origin.

You create this universe individually and collectively, man and all other beings within it, in the same manner that you create your dreams. The only difference is that your conscious energies are focused upon only one rather minute aspect of creation, and all other larger fields of activity are closed off by the outer senses, simply so that the bulk of your attention be momentarily fixed upon one small area.

We will indeed return to our dreams as connected with various levels of the subconscious, but this is in itself connective material so to speak, and I will continue.

I can hear anticipated objections. Even those who are familiar with our material, and know the various means by which individuals create a fairly cohesive body of physical data and call it the physical universe, even these persons will say that while they agree that the individual creates the physical universe with the cooperation of others, that universe has a unity and permanence and recognizable form that the dream world does not have.

They will then think that there is no real comparison to be made between the two, since each individual dream world would be a conglomeration of diverse individualistic symbols, even if they were projected into a type of universe of which the conscious mind was ignorant.

So, when you consider the dream world, you have the same sort of a universe, only one constructed on or within a field which your outer senses cannot perceive. But it has more continuity than the world known by the outer senses so intimately, and there are similarities within it that are amazing to behold.

You know that many, but not all by any means, dream symbols approximately mean the same thing, but only approximately, and only for a particular group of human beings who experienced reality on the physical plane for a comparatively short period. The symbol of fire for example as a dream symbol, simply did not exist in the way that it does now to men born before mankind learned to use fire for warmth, or to cook his food.

The old symbol of fire still does exist, fire as mysterious grandeur or destruction. Only later did it become a symbol of hearth and warmth, so that to some extent dream symbols are cultural.

I want to make a point however, that the dream universe is as real and cohesive as your own, and that the same glue of telepathy holds it together, and gives it not only as much reality but validity in actual terms.

Their dream worlds are not then so diverse in some ways as you might have supposed. Certain symbols are constructed into realities in the dream universe, then, in much the same manner that certain ideas are constructed into matter in the physical universe.

The same sort of psychic agreement holds the dream universe together as holds the physical universe together. If a man could actually focus his concentration upon those hidden, feared, mainly unknown, unrecognized elements in the physical universe upon which men simply cannot agree; if he could focus upon the dissimilarities rather than the similarities in the physical universe, he would wonder what gave anyone the idea that there was even one physical object upon which men could agree.

So do you, viewing the seeming chaos of dream reality, wonder how I can say that similarity here occurs, and cohesiveness and actuality and comparative permanence. The dream means something to the individual who originates it, selects its elements most carefully, but in order for him to use it he must create it.

The conscious mind does not even know, and cannot of itself command, the legs to walk across the floor. Is it any wonder, then, that the conscious mind does not know how it creates the dream universe?

But the legs do walk, and the dream universe does exist. As the entity expands and originates new personalities, and these personalities then become independent individuals, so do the individuals create dream or so-called dream realities and individuals of the dream universe, which are independent.

The term “dream” I use because you are familiar with it. It is not a good term necessarily. I will use the term, somewhat better, of hybrids, as the one to refer to personalities or individuals given existence by mankind in his dreams.

At our next session I will continue with this, and continue into an interpretation of dreams as they affect the individual dreamer in the physical field, and connect them with the levels of the subconscious. However I wanted you to understand that the elements of the dream world, originating in energy, also continue in existence when the dreamer may have forgotten them; and that all energy or any energy, given or adopting any type of form, must then continue at least momentarily to adapt to the laws inherent therein.