You spend about eight out of every twenty-four hours, or one third of your
entire life, in sleep. This is an inexorable law of life. This also applies to
the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Sleep is a divine law and many answers to our problems come to us when we are sound asleep upon the
bed.
Many people have advocated the theory that you get tired during the day,
that you go to sleep to rest the body, and that a reparative process takes
place while you sleep. Nothing rests in sleep. Your heart, lungs and all
your vital organs functions while you are asleep. If you eat prior to sleep,
the food is digested an assimilated; also, your skin secretes perspiration,
and your nails and hair continue to grow.
Your subconscious mind never rests or sleeps. It is always active, controlling all your vital forces. The healing process takes place more rapidly
while you are asleep as there is no interference from your conscious
mind. Remarkable answers are given to you while you are asleep.
Dr John Bigelow, a famous research authority on sleep (Dr John Bigelow,
The Mystery of Sleep, New York and London: Harper Brothers, 1903),
demonstrated that at night while asleep you receive impressions showing
that the nerves of the eyes, ears, nose and taste buds are active during
sleep and also that the nerves of your brain are quite active. He says that
the main reason we sleep is because “the nobler part of the soul is united
by abstraction to our higher nature and becomes a participant in the wisdom and foreknowledge of the gods.”
Dr Bigelow states also, “The results of my studies have not only strengthened my convictions that the supposed exemption from customary tolls
and activities was not the final purpose of sleep, but have also made
clearer to my mind the conviction that no part of a man’s life deserves to
be considered more indispensable to its symmetrical and perfect spiritual
development than while he is separated from the phenomenal world in
sleep.”
Your conscious mind gets involved with vexations, strife and contentions
of the day and it is very necessary to withdraw periodically from sense evidence and the objective world, and commune silently with the inner wisdom of your subconscious mind. By claiming guidance, strength and
greater intelligence in all phases of your life, you will be enabled to overcome all difficulties and solve your daily problems. This regular withdrawal from sense evidence and the noise and confusion
of everyday living is also a form of sleep, i.e. you become asleep to the
world of the senses and alive to the wisdom and power of your subconscious mind.
Lack of sleep can cause you to become irritable, moody and depressed.
Dr George Stevenson of the National Association for Mental Health says,
“I believe it can safely be said that all human beings a minimum of six
hours sleep to be healthy. Most people need more. Those who think they
can get along on less are fooling themselves.”
Medial research scholars, investigating sleep processes and deprivation of
sleep, point out that severe insomnia has preceded psychotic breakdown
in some instances. Remember, you are spiritually recharged during sleep,
and adequate sleep is essential to produce joy and vitality in life.
Robert O’Brien, in an article, “Maybe you Need More Sleep,” in an issue of
The Reader’s Digest, reports the following experiments on sleep:
“For the last three years experiments have been in progress at Walter
Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, Dc. Subjects – more than
one hundred military and civilian volunteers – have been kept awake for
as long as four days. Thousands of tests have measured the effects on
their behavior and personality. Results of these tests have given scientists
astonishingly new insights into the mysteries of sleep.
“They now know that the tired brain apparently craves sleep so hungrily
that it will sacrifice anything to get it. After only a few hours of sleep
loss, fleeting stolen naps called lapses, or micro sleep, occurred at the
rate of three or four an hour. As in real sleep, eyelids dropped and heartbeat slowed. Each lapse lasted just a fraction of a second. Sometimes the
lapses were periods of blankness; sometimes they were filled with images, wisps of dreams. As hours of sleep loss mounted, the lapses took
place more often and lasted longer, perhaps two or three seconds. Even if
the subjects had been piloting an airliner in a thunderstorm, they still
couldn’t have resisted micro sleeps for those few priceless seconds. And it
can happen to you, as many who have fallen asleep at the wheel of a car
can testify.
“Another startling effect of sleep deprivation was its attack on human
memory and perception. Many sleep deprived subjects were unable to retain information long enough to relate it to the task they were supposed
to perform. They were totally befuddled in situations requiring them to
hold several factors in mind and act on them, as a pilot must when he skilfully integrates wind direction, air speed, altitude and glide path to
make a safe landing.
A young lade in Los Angeles who listens to my morning radio talks told
me that she had been offered a lucrative position in New York City at
twice her present salary. She was wondering whether to accept or not and
prayed prior to sleep as follows: “The creative intelligence of my subconscious mind knows what is best for me. Its tendency is always lifeward,
and it reveals to me the right decision which blesses me and all concerned. I give thanks for the answer which I know will come to me.”
She repeated this simple prayer over and over again as a lullaby prior to
sleep and in the morning she had a persistent feeling that she should not
accept the offer. She rejected the offer and subsequent events verified
that her inward sense of knowing, because the company went bankrupt a
few months following their offer of employment to her.
The conscious ind may be correct on the facts objectively known, but the
intuitive faculty of her subconscious mind saw the failure of the concern in
question and prompted her accordingly .
I will illustrate how the wisdom of your subconscious mind can instruct
you and protect you relative to your request for right action as you go to
sleep.
Many years ago, before the Second World War, I was offered a very lucrative assignment in the Orient, and I prayer for guidance and right decision
as follows: “Infinite Intelligence within me knows all things, and the right
decision is revealed to me in divine order. I will recognize the answer
when it comes.”
I repeated this simple prayer over and over again as a lullaby prior to
sleep and in a dream came the vivid realization of things to come three
years hence. An old friend appeared in the dream and said, “Read these
headlines – do not go!” The headlines of the newspaper which appeared in
the dream related to war and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Occasionally, the writer dreams literally. The aforementioned dream was
undoubtedly a dramatization of the subconscious mind which projected a
person whom I trusted and respected. To some a warning may come in
the form of a mother who appears in a dream. She tells the person not to
go here or there, and the reason for the warning. Your subconscious mind
is all-wise. It knows all tings. Oftentimes it will speak to you only in a
voice that your conscious mind will immediately accept as true. Sometimes your subconscious mind will warn you in a voice which sounds like that of your mother or some loved one which may cause you to stop on
the street, and you find, if you had gone another foot, a falling object
from a window might have struck you on the head.
My subconscious mind is one with the universal subconscious and it knew
the Japanese were planning a war, and it also knew when the war would
start.
Dr Rhine, director of the Department of Psychology at Duke University,
has gathered together a vast amount of evidence showing that a great
number of people all over the world see events before they happen, and
in many instances are, therefore, able to avoid the tragic event which was
foreseen vividly in a dream.
The dream I had, showed clearly the headlines in the New York Times
about three years prior to the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. In consequence of
this dream, I immediately canceled the trip as I felt a subconscious compulsion to do so. Three years later the Second World War proved the truth
of the inner voice of intuition.
Remember that the future, the result of your habitual thinking, is already
in your mind except when you change it through prayer. The future of a
country, likewise, is in the collective subconscious of the people of that
nation. There is nothing strange in the dream I had wherein I saw the
headlines of the New York newspapers long before the war began. The
war had already taken place in mind, and all the plans of attack were already engraved on that great recording instrument, the subconscious
mind or collective unconscious of the universal mind. Tomorrow’s events
are in your subconscious mind, so are next week’s and next month’s and
they may be seen by a highly psychic or clairvoyant person.
No disaster or tragedy can happen to you if you decide to pray. Nothing is
predetermined or foreordained. Your mental attitude, i.e. the way you
think, feel and believe determines your destiny. You can, through scientific
prayer, which is explained in a previous chapter, mold, fashion and create
your own future. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap .
One of my students mailed me a newspaper clipping three or four years
ago about a man called Ray Hammerstrom, a roller at the steel works in
Pittsburgh, operated by Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation. He received
$15,000 for his dream.
According to the article , the engineers could not fix a faulty switch in a
newly installed bar mill which controlled the delivery of straight bars to
the cooling beds. The engineers worked on the switch about eleven or twelve times to no avail.
Hammerstrom thought a lot about the problem and tried to figure out a
new design which might work. Nothing worked. One afternoon he lay
down for a nap and prior to sleep he began to think about the answer to
the switch problem. He had a dream in which the perfect design for the
switch was portrayed. When he awoke, he sketched his new design according to the outline of his dream.
This visionary catnap won Hammerstrom a check for $15,000, the largest
award the firm ever gave an employee for a new idea.
Dr H V Helprecht, Professor of Assyrian at the University of Pennsylvania,
wrote as follows: “One Saturday evening I had been wearying myself in
the vain attempt to decipher two small fragments of agate which were
supposed to belong to the finger rings of some Babylonians.
“About midnight, weary and exhausted, I went to bed and dreamed the
following remarkable dream: A tall thin priest of Nippur, about forty years
of age, led me to the treasure chamber of the temple…a small, lowceilinged room without windows, with scraps of agate and lapis-lazuli
scattered on the floor. Here he addressed me as follows: The two fragments, which you have published separately on pages 22 and 26 belong
together, and are not finger rings. The first two rings served as earrings
for the statue of god; the two fragments you have are the portions of
them. If you will put them together you will have confirmation of my
words.”
I awoke at once. I examined the fragments and to my astonishment
found the dream verified. The problem was then at last solved.”
This demonstrates clearly the creative manifestation of his subconscious
mind which knew the answer to all his problems.
Robert Louis Stevenson in one of his books, Across the Plains, devotes a
whole chapter to dreams. He was a vivid dreamer and had the persistent
habit of giving specific instructions to his subconscious every night prior
to sleep. He would request his subconscious to evolve stories for him
while he slept. For example, if Stevenson’s funds were at a low ebb, his
command to his subconscious would be something like this: “Give me a
good thrilling novel which will be marketable and profitable.” His subconscious responded magnificently.
Stevenson says, “These little brownies (the intelligences and powers of his
subconscious) can tell me a story piece by piece, like a serial, and keep me, its supposed creator, all the while in total ignorance of where they
aim.” And he added: “That part of my work which is done when I am up
and about (which he is consciously aware and awake) is by no means
necessarily mine, since all goes to show that the brownies have a hand in
it even then.
To those who suffer from insomnia, you will find the following prayer very
effective. Repeat it slowly, quietly and lovingly prior to sleep: “My toes are
relaxed, my ankles are relaxed, my abdominal muscles are relaxed, my
heart and lungs are relaxed, my hands and arms are relaxed, my neck is
relaxed, my brain is relaxed, my face is relaxed, my eyes are relaxed, my
whole mind and body are relaxed. I fully and freely forgive everyone, and
I sincerely wish for them harmony, health, peace and all the blessings of
life. I am at peace; I am poised, serene and calm. I rest in security and in
peace. A great stillness steals over me, and a great calm quiets my whole
being as I realize the divine presence within me. I know that the realization of life and love heals me. I wrap myself in the mantel of love and fall
asleep filled with good will for all. Throughout the night peace remains
with me and in the morning I shall be filled with life and love. A circle of
love is drawn around me. I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, I sleep
in peace, I wake in joy, and in Him I live, move and have my being.”
1. If you are worried that you will not wake up on time, suggest to your
subconscious mind prior to sleep the exact time you wish to arise, and it
will awaken you. It needs no clock. Do the same thing with all problems.
There is nothing too hard for your subconscious.
2. Your subconscious never sleeps. It is always on the job. It controls all
your vital functions. Forgive yourself and everyone else before you go to
sleep and healing will take place much more rapidly.
3. Guidance is given you while you are asleep, sometimes in a dream. The
healing currents are also released and in the morning you feel refreshed
and rejuvenated.
4. When troubled by the vexations and strife of the day, still the wheels of
your mind and think about the wisdom and intelligence lodged in your
subconscious mind which is ready to respond to you. This will give you
peace, strength and confidence.
5. Sleep is essential for peace of mind and health of body. Lack of sleep
can cause irritation, depression and mental disorders. You need eight
hours sleep. 6. Medical research scholars point out that insomnia precedes psychotic
disorders.
7. You are spiritually recharged during sleep. Adequate sleep is essential
for joy and vitality in life.
8. Your tired brain craves sleep so hungrily that it will sacrifice anything to
get it. Many who have fallen asleep at the wheel of an automobile can
testify to this.
9. many sleep deprived people have poor memories and lack proper coordination. They become befuddle, confused and disorientated.
10. Sleep brings counsel. Prior to sleep, claim that the Infinite Intelligence
of your subconscious mind is guiding and directing you. Then, watch for
the lead which comes, perhaps on awakening.
11. Trust your subconscious completely. Know that its tendency is always
lifeward. Occasionally, your subconscious answers you in a very vivid
dream and a vision in the night. You can be forewarned in a dream in the
same way as the author of this book was warned.
12. Your future is in your mind now, based on your habitual thinking and
beliefs. Claim that Infinite Intelligence leads and guides you; and that all
good is yours, and your future will be wonderful. Believe it and accept it.
Expect the best and invariably the best will come to you.
13. If you are writing a novel, play or book or are working on an invention, speak to your subconscious mind at night and claim boldly that its
wisdom, intelligence and power are guiding, directing and revealing to
you the ideal play, novel, book or revealing the perfect solution whatever
it may be. Wonders will happen as you pray this way.