The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-09
SLEEP, DEATH, DREAMS.
THE STRANGE ANALOGY THEY BEAR
TO ONE ANOTHER.
Tracing the Analogy in Our Experience.
Instances of Cnricus Cnaccountab1e
Drsams-The Benefit Of Studying Nat
rSpecisl Corresuondence.l

| SfEaJ lnaJOI1 Ol ClN441HSU Uuudu De-
ings are strongly attached to life under
anything ike favorable conditions, and
seem to shrink instinctively from the
idee of humiliation, they invariably en-
Joy sound, unbroleu, Obvious sleep,
and speak OF it as a rare blessing of
nature. Yet such sleep liz, so far as we
may Judge, a counterfeit and exact
counterpart Of death, which is declared
to be the king Of terrors. How Is this
glazing inconsistency TO be reconciled?
Most persons would say that they relish
sleep because it is good for them, be-
cause it is restorative, because it is brief.
Have they any reason for thinking that
death is not good for them, even better
than sleep, since it is eternal?
Men are always illogical. A strange
analogy pervadas the universe. Sleep
and death, as has frequently been said,
are brothers. They must be equally
desirable. Both Of them must give us
rest--one ct close Of day, the other at
close of life. We sleep every fifteen to
eighteen hours, We die consciously
but once. We imagine that we compre-
bend sleep, Death we account mys-
terry, and, being mysterious, it is alarm
! ing. But do we comprehend sleep and
| its concomitant dreams? Not at all.
Dreams have puzzled saGes from time
! out of mind, and puzzle them still
They are far more unintelligible than
death. This seems to be simply the end
of activity, the stop Of functions, the
fnality Of motors. It is no task to con-
| ceive Of the termination Of anything;
the more complicated thing is the
more natural that it should terminate.
| Dreams appear to be q sort Of life, diff
ferent from and yet analogous to our
normal life, while the normal life is sus-
pended. We generally lose while
dreaming all power Of will, all control
Of current thoughts which go on I'M
Emitedly, involving US in contradic-
tons, absurdities, impossibilities. We
appear to share the same feelings, to
cherish the same passions, to perform
the same acts as IN our waking hours.
Nevertheless, in coming out of dream
land we remember that we were not our
actual selves there; that our princi-
pies, our morals, our judgments were
| changed.
Things that are clear, consistent, per-
fectly natural during sleep become in
tangible, incOnceivable, unthinkahle on
our return to the familiar world Plato
seeks to explain this by the theory that in
dreams our souls are freed from the body,
have higher conceptions, more luminous
visions, deeper insight, and that when
fettered and obscured again by the body
we cannot grasp their import. Philoso-
piers and poets in every age have had
numberless fantasies and conceits on this
subject and have given them plausible
names. But we can reach no conclusion.
We are no wiser in the last quarter Of
the Nineteenth century than were the
mystagogues two thousand years ago.
Dreams are curious studies, are exceed
ingly suggestive, are full of interest, but
they battle Us at every turn.
Sometimes dreams appear more real,
more harmonious, more satisfactory than
life itself. How can we tell whether we
are awake or dreaming; where dream
ends and life begins? Our supposed life
may be dream. Our supposed dream
may be life. Philosophers have declared
that neither time nor space exists; that
there is nothing eternal only our idea of
the external Is it singular that in this
clash of opinions, this contradiction of
teaching, men, losing faith in one thing
after another, finally become universal
skeptics? If Pyrrho, the Grecian, could
be such a skeptic twenty-five hundred
years ago the present time should abound
in PyrrhOmiSts.
May not death be dream Of life?
May not life be the death of dream? If
we should die-and may we not?-as Of
ten as we sleep, death would lose its
solemnity. We should think no more
OF dying than of taking our breakfast;
and breakfast may, after all, be more i'm
portant than our exit from the planet.
Nature takes no account of the individual.
We are wholly without consequence
save in orr own partial eyes. Flimsy
as dreams may appear they have PLAYED
q most prominent part in the history of
humanity, The influence thatthey have
exercised is beyond estimation. The
origin OF theology, the primal idea of
power above ourselves, the earliest APP
prehenEion Of what we call God, NAV
have eoIae from dreams. Hobbies has
said that the genesis Of Goa is the dread
of an unknown power. The unciviliZed
man may have been frightened by his
dreams, and from these may have been
evolved, gradually of course, what ulti-
mately became theologic system. This
IS a philosophic, not an orthodox view,
which is based, it is believed, on inspira-
ton.
Dreams differ widely with different
persons. Some of these seem to have |
genius for dreaming. They dream "a
tionally, consecutivelv, to positive ad-
vantage. No doubt all of US dream.
Dreams are the natural attendants and |
outcome of sleep But many who for |
get their dreams on waking believe that |
they have not dreamed. We often rise /
in the morning. and should not think OF 4
our dreams over night if some occur
renee Of the day did not recall them. /
So strange, so ccincideotal, so unac- /
count3bie are dreams often that il is |
not singular they have been considered /
supernatural by those the least disposed 1
10 superstition, full of dread, warming 4
and prophecy. Some accredited dreams .
that sound like fiction are worth chroni- !
cling.
COudorcet, the renowned French I
mathematician and ytbIloSo0l,a- yoa