Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1909-10-28
THE RIDDLE OF SLEEP
A Mystery That the Mind OF Man
Is Unable to Penetrate.
THE CAVERN OF MORPHEUS.

Its Twin Mystery, Death.
When all is written, how little we
know Of sleep. Ii is a closing OF the
ewes. disappearance, wondering re-
turn. In uneasy slumber. in dreanheSS
dead rest in horrid nightmare or IN
ecstasics Of somnolent fancieS the eyes
are blinded the body is abandoned,
while the inner essence is we know not
where. We have no other knowledge
Of sleep than we have of death. In de-
lirium or coma or trance. no less tnau
in normal sleep and in dissolution, the
soul is gone In these 1t returns, IN |
1hat ii does not come again, or so we
icuorantly think.
Yet when reflect on my death for
get that have encountered 1t many
times already and find myself none
the worse. l forget that sleep. Inc
fly has no shorter existence thah
mans. We hustle about for 4 re"
wears with ludicrOuS Importance. as
h0ttletiies buzz at the window panes.
'rhev, too, may imagine themselves OF
infinite moment in this universe we
share with them. But this Is to take
no account Of the prognostics of sleep
There is something hidden, something
secret. some unfathomed mystery
whose presence we feel but cannot
verify: some permeative thought in
sisteptIv moving in our hearts, some
phosphorescence that glovs we know
not whence through our shadowy at
oms
Neither sleep itself nor half its prom
ises nor mysteries have been nlumbed.
1t is the mother of superstltlons ana
of miracles. In drea ms we may search
the surface powers of the freed soul.
Visions in the night are not all hallu-
cinations: voices in the night are not
all mocking. There is a prophet dwells
within the mind-not of the mind, but
deeper throned in obscurity.
The brain cannot knsw of this holy
presence nor of its life In sleep. The
brain is mortal and untrustworthy.
,,honorraph and a camera for audible
and palpable existence. Strike 1t
blow in childhood so that it ceases It's
1abors and awake 1t by surgery after
forty years and it will repeat the in
fantile action or word it last recorded
and will take up its task on the In
slant. making no account of the inter
mediate years They are nonexistent
to If. Yet to that hidden memory those
diseased years are not blank. 1t knows
it has recorded. though the brain has
slept. And in hypnotic or psychic
trance. when that wonderful ruler IS
released from the prison Of the body. 1t
can speak through the atom blent ma
chinery of the flesh and tell of things
man himself could not know because
of his paralyzed brain. This ruler is
not asleep in sleep, nor in dellrlum IS
It delirious. and in death is 1t dead
Through all the ages it has been our
snhiny which we have interrogated ID
vain. 1t joins not in our laughter nor
our tears We have fancied it with i'm
mobile, brooding features OF utmost
knowledge and wisdom and sorrow. II
has asked us but one question. mol
from the day of Oedipus unto toda!
have we answered rightly. so that W.
die of our ignorance. 1t Is Osiris llv
ing in us. 1t is the unknown God Z
whom we erect our affairs, the f1re Il
the tabernacle the presence behlnd ID
veil. Not In normal wake1ulness
least will it answer our queries, but L
sleep sometimes it will speak. And
NAV possibIy be that at last, after
these centuries, we are learning no.
to question it and in hypnotic franc
and in the fearful law Of suggestlo
are discovering somewhat of its my:
tery and how to employ it for OF
worldly good. Yet to its essential 81
cret we are no closer than our for
fathers were.
We may define dreams and nigh
mare. coma and swoon ana trane
with what terms we will. searcn the
nbysical reasons and learn to gulo
and guard. vet we know no more
them than of electricity. We may b
Gin to suspect that telepathy ana cial
vovance and occult forces of the so'
are not superstitious fancies. and "
may even empirically classify an
study and direct them. Yet the so
itself is no nearer our inquisitlon.
Though we should know of its rea
itv though our finite minds shou
fatbom the infnitUde OF what bene1
would IT be? Would it modify our b
1iefs or our hopes or our faiths: Won
II dictate one action 10 our passiona
lirege There would be no change
human nature ard no reforms OF Il
world. We are the children Of our I
+hars and our children will tread u
prehistoric paths Dreams are our III
whether we wake CT sleep. We droW
through existence. awaking and dyil
md being reborn daily. ever torpesce
and 11namaZod. ard our thousand sul
berous deaths we call restorative sle
-gleen that restores our physical [
inc. building up where we nave 10
down recreating what we destroy.
Rlack-pitch black. indeed-ls u
cavern Of Morpheus. Faith peoples
with varied leGions and builds
chaos into myriad forms. Nightly
enter II and drain the Lethean air a
forget and daily we return with
ioicinrs. babbling of dreams that we
not dreamed. and finally we enter |
the last time and drain somewr
more deeply the essence OF costa
and awake no more and. no more
,,r, IN tba autumn dyed skies OF [