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Lesson Eleven
The Evidence of
Experience, (Continued)
* (5) *
Man's ever-increasing curiosity first began to exercise itself
on objects that were far removed from him the
stars. Now it is his normal and natural states and circumstances that preoccupy
him as he attempts to make out the factors which dominate his existence.
One of the topics that has attracted man's attention is that of sleep and
dreams. This is understandable, considering the fact that a significant
part of man's life is spent asleep in the world of dreams.
The various theories that have been put forth on this subject demonstrate
the complexity of the subject and reflect all the lengthy experiments experts
have conducted.
It is a characteristic of man like all living beings to sleep after engaging
in effort and tiring activity. As a portion of his vital activity is suspended,
the functioning of the body also decreases.
How sleep takes place is itself an important question; despite all the
studies that have been made, a definitive answer cannot yet be given. The
whole matter is shrouded in a variety of interpretations many of which
are the result of hasty and unjustified deductions. All that science knows
so far is restricted to certain physical processes which take place in
the realm of the body.
There are as yet no indications that permit us to hope for a solution to
this problem and it would be incautious to predict the emergence of precise
and realistic theories. Nonetheless, the advance of human knowledge may
one day enable man to solve this great mystery that confronts him.
Still more mysterious than sleep are dreams that configuration of various
scenes, images and events in the mind of the sleeper. The phenomenon of
the dream confronts us with all kinds of complex and knotty problems.
All the physiological functions of the body, all its non-volitional and
reflexive acts, continue during sleep with the utmost regularity. The nerves
and the glands, the intestines and the muscles all continue their work.
But man has no power of thought or decision; his will is inoperative, and
his life resembles that of a monocellular being.
The sleeper looks like a lifeless and prostrate figure, but suddenly he
awakens and comes back to life. Sleep and awakening are in fact comparable
to death and resurrection. The Noble Qur'an says the following concerning
the affinity between sleep and death on the one hand, and awakening and
resurrection on the other:
God takes men's souls at the time of their death, and the soul
which does not die, He takes in sleep. Then He keeps the soul that is destined
to die at that time, and returns the others to life for a set period.
(39:42)
In the view of the Qur'an, sleep is outwardly the suspension of the natural
forces in man, but it is at the same time a return of man's spirit to his
inner being. Sleep is the lesser death, and death is the greater sleep.
In both cases the spirit is transferred to a different world. The difference
is that on waking up a person is unaware that he has returned from a journey,
whereas for the one who dies all things become clear.
Dreams have been divided into several categories. A large proportion of
dreams derive from the hopes and desires of the dreamer, or reflect occurrences
he has experienced.
Another major category consists of confused dreams that simply reflect
man's imaginings and illusions.
Then there is a category of dreams of which the defining element is a kind
of inspiration; these dreams foretell events. They sometimes reflect an
as yet hidden occurrence in its exact and real form and sometimes in symbolic
form that can be interpreted by those having the necessary skill.
Since the human spirit has an affinity with the supranatural realm, it
is bound to depart for that expansive universe once sleep puts an end to
its preoccupation with sensory perceptions. There it witnesses certain
realities, in accordance with its degree of preparedness and capacity,
and it is able to deposit the knowledge thus received in the mind in a
way that permits it to be remembered after the sleeper awakens.
There can be no doubt that confused dreams are connected
to certain physical and psychological conditions; they are nothing but
a series of illusions and imaginings. Similarly, the appearance in the
mind of the dreamer of past events, without any reflection of events yet
to come, has no particular value.
This, however, is not the case with dreams the interpretation of which
permits one to forecast events that are still in gestation or which, being
so clear as to leave no need for interpretation, present to us in the imaginal
world the causes and occasions of things in their actual form.
Many instances of this kind of dream have been reported in historical sources.
They occur, moreover, in the personal lives of many of us, and they cannot
all be ascribed to coincidence. They cannot be attributed either to the
reminders of past events of the day or to analyses of them that our nervous
system provides us with, nor do repressed instincts and desires play any
role in them.
Freud interprets dreams as follows:
Generally speaking, what appears to us in the world of dreams consists
of the sensory objects of which we have been aware during the day and of
wishes which have remained unfulfilled for one reason or another. During
the day a man may conceive a desire for a certain woman who is inaccessible
to him; at night he gains possession of her in the world of his dreams.
A hungry beggar dreams of riches and palaces; an ugly man acquires unparalleled
beauty; an impotent old man recovers the vigor of youth; a hopeless and
desperate man finds all his wishes fulfilled. In short, all the wishes
and inclinations that remain unfulfilled during the day, all the feelings
that remain hidden for one reason or another, come into the open and are
freely satisfied in the world of dreams.
Here I will refrain from mentioning the numerous dreams foretelling
the future which are mentioned in historical sources or have been experienced
and related to me by countless trustworthy persons. Let me simply recount
a dream I had myself. On Saturday, April 24,1962, a violent earthquake
shook the city of Lar, leading to heavy losses of life and damage.
About one week before the earthquake, I dreamed that a strong earthquake
was shaking Lar, destroying buildings and raising up clouds of dust that
covered the sky like thick fog.
With this terrifying picture pressing on my mind, I woke up in terror,
probably at about midnight.
The next day I told some of the notables of Lar and my friends of my dream,
and they still sometimes recall the occasion.
At the time, they naturally interpreted my dream in different ways, but
two or three nights later an earthquake of medium force occurred, causing
only moderate losses. One of the religious scholars of the city came to
see me and said: Yesterday's earthquake is the one that you dreamed
of. I replied that the brief and relatively harmless earthquake we
had just experienced bore no resemblance to the horrifying scenes I had
witnessed in my dream. (The person in question still remembers what happened.)
Finally April 24 arrived. Toward the end of the day a ruinous earthquake
was visited on Lar. The city shook violently, buildings collapsed, clouds
of earth and dust rose into the air, and countless people, young and old,
men and women, were swallowed up by death.
Those who survived the earthquake rushed to the ruined buildings to help
the wounded. The sight that presented itself during those grim moments
was truly shattering.
A particularly remarkable detail is that in my dream I had seen the small
child of one of my relatives who lived in a neighboring house. I saw him
passing in front of a part of the house that was about to collapse, so
I called out to him to get out of the way, which he did.
When the earthquake occurred, the only part of the house that collapsed
was the one that had done so in my dream; the rest of the house remained
standing, and nothing happened to the child, because when the earthquake
happened he began running from one corner to the other in panic, moving
out of the way of danger just when that particular part of the house began
to collapse!
Would be it at all logical to accept as an explanation for the countless
dreams of this type which accurately foretell the future the interpretations
of materialists who regard all dreams as the result of the appearance in
the mind of everyday events or of the fear of the unknown? Can such dreams
be regarded, as the Freudians claim, simply as the reflection of repressed
desires that come to the surface of the unconscious in order to delude
the ego?
How can our perceptive apparatus perceive events that lie beyond the material
circumstances surrounding us? How can it become aware of an event that
has not yet occurred? Is there any way of explaining such awareness except
in terms of a link between the human spirit and the supramaterial world?
It must then be the case that man gains awareness from the world of the
unseen, from a source which is aware of the future, in just the same way
that astronomical facilities permit him to record the rays emitted by the
galaxies. Why should it not be accepted that the waves emitted by the world
of the unseen may be picked up by the spirit of man, acting as a receiver,
with the result that matters that are not knowable by natural means are
made manifest in the world of dreams?
Let us take another look at what the leaders leading materialist thinkers
say on the general subject of dreams:
Contrary to what was imagined for centuries, dreams do not foretell
the future or disclose any mysteries to us. The question of interpretation
does not therefore arise. On the contrary, if we fully believe what Freud
says, we must agree that dreams depict events out of the past. In other
words, dreams result from past occurrences, and are not indications of
future occurrences.
Apart from this, careful experiments have shown that dreams
material phenomenon, without any involvement of supernatural forces.(Dr.
Arani Khabidan va Khab Didan, pp.15-16)
Is this really the case? Do dreams never inform us of future events or
other unknown matters?
The materialists are of course free if they wish to ignore realities and
to give a totally unrealistic interpretation of dreams that have nothing
to do with the thoughts and occurrences of everyday life.
They pretend that their theories represent the pinnacle of perfection and
they imagine they have discovered all the mysteries of the universe and
the principles that govern the life of man. They suppose that whatever
appears to be a mystery or resists explanation in terms of logic quite
simply does not exist, so there is nothing left to explain or discover!
They should recognize, however, that such an attitude to clear and the
self-evident truths is the sign of a spirit in revolt against established
truths.
It is always the habit of the materialists, in their attempts to destroy
the beliefs of others, to analyze hastily and impatiently whatever does
not fit into their narrow framework of thought, imagining themselves able
to supply answers to the most complex of questions.
However, if one studies matters soberly and patiently and attains some
degree of acquaintance with non-sensory phenomena, one's vision expands
and one becomes less inclined to accept monodimensional explanations.
It must not be forgotten that theologians have never denied the influence
exerted on dreams by past thoughts and perceptions or by wishes and desires,
as well as other factors, internal or external. Certain diseases and mental
disorders cast their shadow on many dreams. But the phenomenon of the dream
cannot be regarded simply as the reflection of the activity of the brain
and the nervous system, or of repressed desires. Many dreams may indeed
be related to such factors, but this is not the case with dreams that foretell
future events. As we have seen above, such dreams cannot possibly be explained
by referring to material factors and causes; they represent the distillation
of a different form of reality.
The astounding feats of ascetics must also not be dismissed
out of hand. Many people have themselves witnessed their remarkable deeds,
apart from which manifest examples of their feats are recorded in numerous
books of history.
If we regard the spirit as an epiphenomenon of matter, feats such as these
which draw on forces hidden within man are bound to remain inexplicable.
All the various phenomena we have discussed in the past two chapters point
to the existence of a reality in man that is independent of his physical
being, that survives death of the body. This is the only conclusion that
profound thought will yield.
If we compare man to an airplane made up of different components, each
of which has its own function, we must agree that this airplane needs a
skilled pilot to guide and direct it with his expertise. The pilot does
not belong to the same category as the components and instruments that
make up the airplane, although his existence is absolutely necessary for
its functioning. The spirit is the pilot of the material body.
