St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-05-27
~ THE LAND or DREAMS.

/, ~ THE LAND or DREAMS.
csajseturss on the Mysterious Working
u the Mind In Sleep.
Dreams used to be accepted - vaga-
Ttes Of the mind. prompted by undisci
plised articles Of diet, suchlas mince pit
or Welsh rarcbit Thus dreams were
left without dignity and m unneces
sary odium cast on deserving and
friendly articles Of food. With the ad.
vance Of psychology in club discussions
and in the university extension courses
different views have come about The
extreme position held is that waking
life Is all an illusion. the real life VIC
live il in dreams The completest ex.
position of this il in Du Marrier's re-
markable novel. ''Peter lbbetson.
That, to be sure. is . novel, but its
readers. who hold the same view, insist
that through Peter Ibbctson the con.
viction of Mr.. du Maurier are distinctly
perceived. He even describes the
method Of dreaming true" - It is
callaA
dream trrc, according to the
recipe, one must lie nat on the back,
cross the feet and clasp the hands be-
hind the head. Ir that position, with
the thoughts on what ono desires to do
or see in drea--. sleep must come un-
der those conditions The theosophists
say that in this case the consciousness
Is merely transferred to the astral
plane. where all things past and to
come are photographed, and the mind
wandcrs, As It were, through series Of
rooms filled with pictures. In night
mares the mind has got into . room
where is the picture Of some horrible
deed. The experiment, it will be seen.
seems easy enough, but - most people
sleep in knots, or attitudes Of self-de-
fcnse, the relaxation OF the position it.
self will be found to be more difficult
than appears. It is possible to suggest
against this view that the food eaten
in dreams alone would not long
maintain, the power to dream
1t all. This seems to give .
certain positive value 10 waking life
and regular meals Other people do not
go SO far, bat hey contend that the
mind can be made very useful while
the body Is laid up for .repairA The
capacity Of the mind to work when dis.
embarrassed Of the demands Of the
body il enormously increased. Instead
OF allowing It to waste it's power and
expcnd its activity, like . growing and
frequently naughty child. in play and
mischief, it should. by discipline, be
made TO perform useful and praise
worthy deeds The student should set
It to studying his lesson. to solving his
problems The author should teach il
to 60 on with his novel, or perhaps
have ready for him in the morning
new and original, rs Cole.
ridge was surprised by having his mind
present him when he awoke with
"Kubla Khan" From all directions
come intimations that dreams are to be
put in harness and set to work.
There arc people, however. on the
other hand, who object to dreaming at
all. and have made it matter Of will.
When night comes the thoughts, like
ought to come home to roost.
Before going to sleep they recall all
their wandering ideas and lay them up
in an orderly pile near by, as they lay
their clothes on q chair BY the bedside.
This Is done with system, and. when ac-
complished. they fold their hands and go
into . dreamless sleep. to awake with
both mind and body refreshed. These
people believe that the mind can 60 OF
into irresponsible wanderings, but they
don't believe it ought to be trusted
without the guidance Of the will. It is
likely to get into trouble, for there are
and unseen powers without
moral principle that may corrupt the
mind, or in its absence get possession
Of the unseen body. So il seems that,
dreaming or not dreaming, both are
matters Of consequence and may fully
engage the waking inind-if il has
nothing more important to think about
N. Y. Sun.