As promised, I have come onto a completely new subject, this being Sleep and Dreams. Fear not, all the effort you have made to understand the existence of the Planes of Matter and the Envelopes of Incarnation come in handy here. Traditionally, subjects such as sleep and dreams focus entirely on brain function. Another option is that they dissolve into what symbolic representation is occurring when you dream about a dog eating ice cream, while flying an aeroplane. What I hope to show you is what is going on from a Hylozoic perspective. This is based on what happens, why it happens and when it happens. So, let’s start with some accepted science.
The Science of Sleep
Our brain has several states of activity that are measured in cycle per second (Hz). When we sleep, our brain waves slow down from:
- Beta (30-14 Hz)
- Alpha (13-9 Hz)
- Theta (8-4 Hz)
- Delta (3-1 Hz) – Deep Sleep
OK, so we have these 4 differing rates of brain activity. What exactly do they relate to? The first thing to note is that when we sleep, our brain does not just slow down or stop. It cycles up and down through these various levels of activity. These are categorised into four stages. In Stage 1, we transition between wakefulness and sleep. This stage usually lasts for about 2 minutes. At Stage 2, the body shuts down and our brain waves slow down. Our temperature also drops and our heart rate slows. The brain is functioning at the Theta/Delta state now. At Stage 3, about 40 minutes later, our brain waves slow to a Delta state. By Stage 4, we are in deep sleep. This is when our brains are least active. This is the most refreshing state of sleep. In this state, we are capable of sleepwalking.
What goes down, must come back up. After Stage 4, our sleep cycle reverses and we come up through stages 3 and 2 before entering REM sleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. This is a fascinating part of our sleep cycle and will be discussed in detail further down the line. During REM sleep, some parts of the brain show the same activity as when we are awake. That seems odd. We are asleep and yet our brain is functioning as though we are awake. Interesting. As it says on the tin, when we are in REM sleep our eyes flicker rapidly, our breathing is rapid and our hearts beat faster. After a period of REM sleep, we can awaken briefly and remember our dreams. However, we usefully forget them by morning. If we do not wake up, we go back into Stage 2 sleep and repeat the cycle.
In a period of sleep, we typically spend one and a half to two hours dreaming. This occurs at the end of each 90-minute cycle. Our rest cycles become longer through the night, initially lasting 10 minutes and increasing to 40 minutes. What this diagram is indicating is that what is thought of as sleep is, in fact, a series of events that repeat themselves throughout the night. As one ages, the chances of waking up between these peaks and troughs increase. This is usually due to extraneous physiological facts like frequent trips to the bathroom etc. In young children, the same conditionality’s may exist but they fail to wake and bedwetting occurs.
Dreams
Dreams occur when a person is in the Theta (8-14 Hz) cycle of sleep. This is a very relaxed state between deep sleep (Delta) and relaxed wakefulness (Alpha). The body is deeply relaxed and the brain is in a passive but receptive state. The physical body is paralyses when dreaming to prevent us from acting out our dreams. There is no convincing scientific explanation as to why this should be occurring. After my extensive presentations on the makeup of the bodies of incarnation perhaps you can begin to speculate what is going on.
Esoteric Understanding of Sleep
States of Consciousness
Let’s start with a quick recap of the states of consciousness. First, we have Meta-consciousness. This is the totality of a monad’s consciousness. This includes the waking consciousness, the subconscious and super-consciousness. As you can see from the diagram, waking consciousness is a small part of the monad’s consciousness that operates through the physical-etheric brain. This consciousness is further restricted by the presence of the Etheric Web. I have already discussed the function and purpose of this envelope of tertiary atoms that surrounds every incarnate monad.
What is termed the Human Subconscious lies within the physical-etheric, emotional and mental bodies of incarnation. This consciousness is termed subconscious because the energy vibrating these Elementals do not have the energy to make their presence felt when the monad is awake. Where do these subconscious memories reside? I will get to that in a moment? Our subtle bodies are living entities in their own right. The objective of the monad as it evolves through the 4th Kingdom is to take full charge of these subtle bodies. Before this happy state comes to pass, there is a tussle between the monad and those pesky elementals. Who exactly is in control? I sometimes wonder.
Currently, we dwell mainly on the 1st Triad in three triad units. These are the 49:1 and 48:1 permanent atoms and the 47:4 permanent molecule. It is from there that we control our subtle bodies. Wherever we are actually focused and for most of us that is in the 48:1 permanent emotional atom, determines with what success we control all three envelopes of incarnation. The subtle bodies continuously communicate between themselves via the chakra system. I have already discussed how this structure spans all three envelopes simultaneously.
As promised, I wish now to briefly talk about where exactly our subconscious memories are stored. The immediate answer could be, well if it is an emotional memory, then in the emotional envelope. Yes, but where? Firstly, what is the vast bulk of the emotional envelope? It is Elemental Essences. What are these? Secondary Matter. What is the one overriding characteristic of secondary matter? It is passively conscious. This means it can respond to conscious inputs but can not initiate or remember them. So, clearly, memories can not be stored in elemental structures, because they are composed of elemental essences and these are made from secondary matter. What is more, these elemental essences are acquired anew in every incarnation. This means that not only do they have no inherent memory but your monad has never seen them before. Yet you have this subconscious memory. Where else can we look for our stored memories? How about Tertiary Matter? Yes, this would fit the bill. Tertiary Matter is actively conscious and has a rudimentary memory. Where is this matter found in an envelope like the emotional body? We can start with the skin of the envelope itself. This is tertiary matter. Is this where our subconscious memories are stored? No! Why? Because this tertiary matter is also acquired anew at every incarnation. We are running out of options. Wait a minute, what about the 48:1 Permanent Atom, isn’t that made from tertiary matter as well? Yes, it is and what is more significant this atom is not dissolved at the end of each incarnation. It is migrated back into the Higher Causal Body to return to a freshly minted emotional body at the start of a new incarnation. This is where your subconscious lies, in your Permanent Emotional Atom (48:1).
It is this structure, sitting right at the top the emotional egg that radiates its memories into the elemental essences located in the emotional envelope. These essences then aggregate into elemental structures that represent the actual emotions and desires. Now getting back to the point about the strength of these desires, if they are weak, then they are not recorded consciously by the brain. You have to actively find a pathway back to these memories before they become activated and appear in your conscious thoughts.
Unconscious
OK, so we have dealt with the subconscious part of ourselves. What exactly happens when we are unconscious? This state is obviously registered in our physical-etheric brain and consequently the physical body as a whole. You are unconscious when your monad is no longer present. ‘Elvis’, has quite literally, left the building. This piece of information may alarm you at first. If you are not here any more, what stops you from dying? The reason this does not occur goes back to those tertiary atoms that make up the whole of your physical-etheric body. There are no elemental essences to be found on this plane of matter. They may influence it but they are not present on it. The inherent consciousness of tertiary matter means that they can carry on their functions without having to have the focus of the monad present to control them. When it comes to the beating of your heart, you have no direct control over that at all, at present. Your heart beats because your tertiary matter remembers what its function is. Some devas regulate this function on your behalf. That is another long but interesting story. So ‘Elvis’ may have left the building, but your trusted tertiary friends take care of your breathing, circulation, energy replenishment, immune system, cell repair and growth. That is a relief. Could you imagine how tedious life would be if you had to actively focus one all these events, all the time, for them to happen at all? The ironic thing is that these function I have just described all occur more efficiently when the monad is not present, rather than when it is.
If all this is the case, how do we manage to control our bodies at all? The monad’s consciousness is far more advanced than the tertiary matter in the physical-etheric body. This allows us to wilfully control our physical bodies. Notice the use of the term will. I have mentioned will-power before but it is worth reiterating. Will is linked to the Motion part of the Holy Trinity. It is the application of energy, hence the use of the word power. The power that is used to guide the physical-etheric body is Impulse. The emotional power that drives us is called Desire and the mental power we bring into force when we try to achieve anything is Determination.
When the monad is absent from the physical-etheric body, it can wilfully control itself. However, due to its low levels of consciousness, it can only roll over, pull up sheets and sleepwalk. One thing should now be very obvious. For us to be objectively consciousness in any of our bodies of incarnation, we have to be present. This means is it not possible to be objectively conscious above the envelope of incarnation where the monad actively resides. For most of humanity, today that is the 48:1 Permanent Atom located in the emotional body.
To recap on where this focus is and how it manifests in society today. 4. Compassionate people are incapable of casual consciousness because the monad is centred in the 47:4 Molecule. 2. Community and 3. Cultured souls are incapable of objective mental consciousness because the monad is centred in the 48:1 Permanent Atom. 1. Young souls are incapable of objective emotional consciousness because the monad is centred in the 49:1 Permanent Atom.
It should be noted that although a monad may be present in a particular permanent atom or molecule, objective consciousness is not possible on the upper subplanes of a particular world. This is the case because the higher molecules in that envelope are not activated. When we comes to experiencing the world around us, the physical world is apprehended through our five senses. Our higher bodies experience their realities through resonances. This brings us back to why you are not aware of your subconscious thoughts. They are simply not resonating a) at a frequency we are capable of picking up, or b) at a level that is powerful enough for us to detect.
Waking Consciousness
When we are awake, all our subtle bodies align around us. The monad itself resides in either the permanent 49:1 or 48:1 atoms or the 47:4 permanent molecule. This total structure is known as the 1st-Self. The monad simultaneously perceives activity from the physical-etheric, emotional and mental bodies. I have already discussed that this is a major feature of having all the triadic structures on the same triad plane. This instantaneous communication allows for effective development of all three lower envelopes at once in the 4th Kingdom. The barrier exists when it comes to communicating between triad levels.
The Life Thread connects the heart chakra of the etheric, the emotional and mental bodies back to the Upper Causal Body. This is often called the Soul in Christian literature. I tend to shy away from using this term too often, as many think they are their soul. They are not, the soul is just an envelope, full of activated secondary elemental essences. It is the monad that activates these molecules slowly and comes to reside in this envelope eventually when it is enlightened. However, it moves on from this envelope, dissolving it completely in its further passage through its triad structures. If you were your soul, what happens to you when that structure is no more? It is for this reason that Hylozoics focuses on the Monad. This is the only indivisible unit of matter/consciousness/energy in the entire Universe. It is only this structure that is immortal. Whatever you may wish to call the structure the Life Thread connects to, without this connection, all the lower bodies would not function. This is the primary energy source in our bodies of incarnation. When this thread detaches, you die on the physical plane and withdraw your energies on the higher planes systematically. You finally return to your causal body to sleep between incarnations.
As already mentioned, our waking consciousness is restricted by the body’s etheric web. The result of this is that most of the activity occurring in the emotional and mental bodies remains in our subconscious. I would like to differentiate here that the use of the term subconscious does not imply that these particular thoughts or emotions are not strong. It is just that there is no way for the physical-etheric brain to connect to them at present.
We are talking here about objective perception and its blockage by the existence of the etheric web. This does not, however, stop subjective perception occurring. How does this happen if the web is there? Remember those useful chakras. They are not just found on diagrams of people sitting in the lotus position. They dwell in all our lower bodies of incarnation and more importantly, they link them all together.
The Consciousness Thread links the permanent atoms/molecule of the etheric, emotional and mental bodies back to the higher causal body. The Consciousness Thread is often mentioned and then just passed over. Stop and think about this thread for a minute. We have talked about being awake and conscious and also unconscious. The reason these two states exist is that this thread is connected to our physical-etheric brain. It runs up from that connection to our mental body. This is what allows us to think. This thread runs even further. Remember, what is termed the higher causal body is the other half of the lower mental body. I have already discussed this division in some detail. So, although the Consciousness Thread runs up to the causal body, does not mean we are conscious to this point. Why? Because as already stated, we are only conscious where our monad is actually focused. Even then, we are only conscious up to the level in that envelope where those particular molecules have been activated. There is also the small matter of the Material Bridge that has to be built before this thread is properly connected to the causal body. Having said all that, this thread is vital. We need it to be actively connected to our physical-etheric brains to control this body and register our senses. Without it, we would be zombies. Hang on a minute, that could explain quite a lot.
So to wrap up; when the Consciousness Thread is disconnected, the monad is no longer present. The physical-etheric being now has control. Remember, I said this is a being in its own right. Mercifully, it does not run amok. It just allows the body to sleep. When the Consciousness Thread is connected, the monad has full control of the physical-etheric body as it is more powerful. Involuntary actions of the body are always managed by the physical-etheric being, with a little help from our deva friends.
In the next presentation, I wish to continue our journey into the world of Sleep and Dreams by looking at the process of falling asleep.