Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-21
Magnetic Dreams.


One of the fundamental doctrines of Schopen-
hauers philosophy is that the world as We know
it has not an independent existence Like
Berkeley he held that it is merely an appear
ance." The only real existence he maintained,
is ''the thing in ITSELF" and ''the thing in it.
self" he identified with the will In ordinary
circumstances we know the will only as it mani
tests itself under the forms of space, time and
casualty; but he contended that there are states
of the brain in which we penetrate behind these
forms, and come into contact with the will as it
is IN its own nature At such times we ESCAPE
from the system of intellectual illusions
which it is the business of science to inyes-
tIGate; we are in the realm of absolute truth
which constitutes the proper domain Of phi
losophy. Even members OF the Society for
Psychical Research are not likely to take up
higher ground than this and they will certainly
not surpass SchOpenhauer in the confidence
with which he drew conclusions from his ulti-
mate principles. The states Of the brain which
lead to such surprising results occur when we
are in "a magnetic sleep" and magnetic sleep
may be produced when we are asleep in
the ordinary way. 1t does not follow
that If we fall into magnetic sleep
we shall have magnetic Dreams and. il
we do dream magnetically. it does not follow
that we shall remember what we have dreamt
magnetic sleep is far deeper than ordinary
sleep, and in the slow process of awakng from
1t we may forget the spectacle which it has en-
abled us to see Sometimes. however the i'm
preston which the vision has produced on our
feeling remains; and on these occasions if the
vision has been one of coming disaster Gas it
commonly is in the worst of possible worlds,
according to SchOpenhauer). We have what is
called pTesentiment of evil and our PRESENT.
ment is sure TO be realized sooner or later.
at other times our magnetic Gream-that u.s.
our perception of realities-may be transformed
into sort of allegOry which is capable of diff
ferent interpretations OF this kind were the
predictions of the Delphic oracle. which fire.
quently could not be understood until they
were fulfilled. SchOpeGhauer was not OF Opn-
ion. however, that our mysterious visions in
their original form invariably pass from the
memory: and he gives an example of one which
ne himself had an opportunity of studying.
This instance seemed to him all the more re-
markable because it related to matter of little
Importance. One day he was writing a letter in
great haste, and when he had finished the third
page he intended to strew writing-sand over
what he had written. In his hurry he seized
the inkstand instead of the vessel containing
sand, and dashed the contents over
his letter. AS the ink poured from his desk
ne rang for the maid to wipe it from the floor.
When she was engaged in doing SO she said:
Last night dreamt that 1 should be wiping
ink-spots from the floor here" THAT is not
true" answered SchOpenhauer. sit is true"
she replied ''ahd when awoke mentioned it
to the other maid who sleeps with me-" Just
then the other maid happened to enter the room
in order to call away her fellow-servant Scho-
penhauer. advancing to meet her, at once asked:
What did this girl dream last night?'' IL don't
know" Yes you do; she told you when she
awoke." "Oh, to be sure" the maid then said,
''she dreamt that she would be wiping ink
spots from the floor here" Schopenhauer
gravely points out that this anecdote is not
only sufficient evidence for magnetic dreaming,
but that it establishes the truth of the doctrine
that everything happens in accordance with a
fixed and necessary order.