In my last presentation, I started to look at the topic of Sleep and Dreams by defining the different levels of brain activity that accompany a person’s transition from wakefulness to sleep. Sleep can be defined as a state of consciousness so I looked at the various states of consciousness we inhabit, whether it be waking, unconsciousness or superconsciousness. If we deem wakefulness to be when we are conscious in our physical-etheric brain, then what happens when the monad moves its focus out of the brain and withdraws it into its higher envelopes of incarnation? It is from this starting point that I want to start to look at the process of falling asleep.
Falling Asleep
When we fall asleep, our monad, focused in its 1st Triad, detaches the Consciousness Thread from the physical etheric brain and leaves this body. It is worth considering this process because it shows that consciousness does not lie in the organic matter of the brain, nor does it function in the etheric body. It is only because the mental body is connected to these lower bodies of incarnation, that the monad is able to focus objectively into the lowest three subplanes of the physical-etheric plane (49:2-49:7). We all should know by now why we don’t need to worry about what the 49:1 permanent atom is doing in this situation.
What happens in this leaving process? The Consciousness Thread detaches from either the navel or heart chakras. This connection point is related to the evolution of the monad itself. Younger souls connect via the navel chakra and more mature souls connect via the heart chakra. At Enlightenment, the Consciousness Thread is connected via the Crown chakra. At this point, the monad no longer needs to detach the Consciousness Thread at all. It is permanently conscious in all its envelopes of incarnation and can move its focus between them at will. The Etheric Web no longer interferes, as this web has been atomised and remade. It no longer disconnects the physical-etheric brain from its subtler envelopes.
Before enlightenment, the etheric web is a very important barrier. However, once free from these restrictions, the monad’s consciousness becomes whole. It now has access to its Meta Consciousness, not just the waking consciousness. Depending on the focus of the monad in its envelopes of incarnation, it is either conscious or semi-conscious in the emotional/mental body. These envelopes themselves are still enclosed within the Lower Causal Body, known as the Persona. Remember, if the monad is focused through the 48:1 emotional atom, it can only be subjectively consciousness in its mental body during its visit here at night. It is objectively conscious to the highest level within the emotional body where it has activated those molecules. In the case of a 2. Community soul, in the lower half. In the case of the 3. Cultured soul, in the upper half.
The Life Thread remains connected to the physical-etheric body during the hours of sleep when the monad shifts its focus to its higher envelopes. Its role is to supply sustaining energies and guide the activities of all the subtle bodies. Have you ever experienced a situation where you are drifting off to sleep and you feel a sudden jolt? This is because your emotional/mental bodies are trying to disconnect from the physical-etheric before it is relaxed enough. A similar situation arises when we awake from a dream in which we were falling. This is symbolic of our higher subtle bodies reconnecting to our sleeping body.
Phases of Sleep
There are two main phases of sleep. There is Deep Sleep when the monad has no contact with its physical body or the world around it. The other is Dream Sleep, where the monad is connected to the physical-etheric brain, via the Consciousness Thread. In this state, the physical body remains in a relaxed state. The monad may have its focus in Dream Sleep back in the physical-etheric body but is internally focused, not looking at the world through its five senses. In this state, the monad is more sensitive to subjective impressions from its subtle bodies.
Why do dreams seem to be so chaotic? The reason is that your monad may be back in residence but your mental body is not. Now you may say, so what. If I am present what does it matter if my mental body is not? The simple fact is that concrete thinking is a function of your mental body, not your casual body, which is what constitutes your persona. It thinks in an abstract way. So your monad perceives all these random images that are presented to it and it tries to stitch them into a coherent linear story and fails miserably.
Looking at this diagram, you see the arrangement of the subtle bodies while you are in a state of deep sleep. The organic physical body may be asleep but the etheric, emotional and mental bodies are still active. The dotted line is the Consciousness Thread. It is connected to one of the permanent atoms/molecule. Wherever the monad is focused is where it is conscious. The Life Thread passes through the Heart chakra’s of all the subtle bodies and firmly connects to the physical-etheric heart. The physical-etheric being, which is a conscious entity in its own right, is in charge when the monad is absent. As I have said in the past, Elvis may have left the building but the show goes on.
The main purpose of deep sleep is to give the physical-etheric body time to recharge, maintain and repair itself. Deep sleep also gives the monad and the other two subtle bodies a chance to escape from the crushing constraints of the physical-etheric world. I am not saying they exist in it, but they are tied to it and this does constrain them. They, like the physical-etheric body, are beings in their own rights.
The Recuperative Effect of Sleep
If you look at us when we are awake, we have to be ready to act at all times. This state of preparedness depletes the body’s energy state faster than it can be replenished. During the day or the night, the etheric body continually works to recharge itself and the organic body. This process is however much more effective when the body is resting completely.
We talk about energy but what exactly are we talking about? It is the energy that is stored in our bodies as glycogen? This certainly is a chemical compound that is used by the body to power physical activity. However, Esoterics tells us that it is the etheric that is the main energy driver in the physical-etheric complex. So, what energy is being used and where does it come from? The energy that drives us is electric in nature and has its origins in the physical body of the Sun. The Sun, like all bodies, has numerous envelopes. Each one of these emits energy of some sort. We are interested in the physical energy that comes to the Earth in the form of a substance called Prana. I have mentioned this before and the fact that it is stored in the spleen.
When the body is sleeping, nerves and muscles relax, greatly reducing energy expenditure and this allows the body to recharge itself with this vital pranic energy. This pranic energy that is processed the night before, is used during the day by the body. Think of your spleen as a rechargeable battery that connects to the Sun. This happens during the day and the brighter the sunlight, the greater the density of prana. This may sound too good to be true and all we need to do is stand in as much sun as possible. Let me remind you of an uncomfortable condition known as sunstroke. Too much of even a good thing can become harmful. If we overload our circuits with too much prana, our body is overwhelmed and we suffer for it. But assuming we have not overloaded our circuits and we have ample supplies of prana, deep sleep affords our bodies a time for growth and healing.
So, we are no longer in our physical-etheric body. What do we get up to with this freedom? Our mental and emotional bodies are virtually incapable of fatigue. When we experience fatigue in our waking state, it is because our physical body has become exhausted. As I have already mentioned, the monad and the higher subtle bodies are happy top escape the physical body. This temporary freedom, allows the monad to lead another life, completely independent of the physical life. The monad can go anywhere at great speed. It is reported that the emotional body can travel at 500,000 mph and the mental body even faster. I have not personally measured this with a stop watch. I do wish to qualify the statement, “go anywhere”. Most souls incarnate today don’t go anywhere at all. Their mental and emotional bodies hover over their physical bodies. They indulge themselves in self-centred thoughts that occupy their waking consciousness. If a person has no interest in the true nature of reality when they are awake, they are unlikely to develop this interest when they are asleep.
There is another point I wish to clarify here. People may assume that once you are released from the constraints of a physical body, the whole Universe is open to exploration. This is not the case. Most souls that do make the effort to stray from their sleeping bodies end up on the Emotional Plane. This is most likely to be the plane their monad is focused on. They can therefore only venture on this plane and not the mental or any higher plane. In a previous presentation, I talked about the worlds that surround our planet. These worlds are the envelopes of our Planetary Logos. We dwell in its envelopes of incarnation and therefore the boundaries of this envelope are the effective limits of exactly where we can go. So if you are planning a visit to Venus on your next nightly sojourn be prepared for disappointment.
As I have already mentioned, the monad is able to leave its physical-etheric body by one of three exits. The navel chakra is used by 1. Young and 2. Community souls. The heart chakra is used by 3. Cultured and 4. Compassionate souls. Finally, the crown chakra is used by 5. Enlightened monads. The Navel corresponds to the 48:5-48:7 subplanes of the emotional body. The Heart chakra corresponds to the 48:2-48:4 emotional subplanes. This makes the exit on the Emotional plane inevitable. However, when you exist through your Crown chakra, your Consciousness Thread does not detach. This allows the waking consciousness to remember the monad’s out-of-body experiences and to experience them in real-time. This ability actually developed just prior to Enlightenment. It should be noted and then forgotten that it is possible to acquire this ability before this higher stage of development is reached by practising certain yoga and mediation disciplines. Everything is destined to happen in its own time and in the right order. Push the flight envelope and you risk crashing.
Once you are free of your physical-etheric body if the moaned has reached the 4. Compassionate or 5. Enlightened stage, they are capable of venturing further than just the Emotional World. They can pass into the Mental World. In the case of the 4. Compassionate soul, it is not able to venture higher than the molecular level in the Mental World that corresponds to where its monad is focused. The monad itself resides at the top of the Mental body in the 47:4 permanent molecule. The difference between these two stages of development is that the 4. Compassionate soul is not aware of its nocturnal adventures, whereas the 5. Enlightened soul is.
Enlightened monads can leave their mental bodies and explore further into their causal bodies. This again is only possible to a level commensurate with their focus of development. Deep sleep is therefore very important to 4. Compassionate and 5. Enlightened souls. This is where they receive teachings from the Planetary Hierarchy. This is part of their further development that eventually leads to them taking the 4th Initiation (i4) and departing the 4th for the 5th Kingdom.
I wish to talk briefly about what happens when 1. Young souls sleep. Monads at the start of their journey in the 4th Kingdom, are centred in their 49:1 permanent atom. They are incapable of clear objective consciousness in the Emotional World. The 49:1 atom is not capable of comprehending the 4-dimensional nature of the Emotional World. Being part of the 1st triad, they are however capable of subjective dream-like perception of this higher plane. Remember, I have mentioned that we have the potential to be subjectively conscious half a plane ahead of where we are objectively conscious. All the higher stages of human development are capable of objective consciousness on one or more of the subtle planes when they are sleeping. It is just that they don’t realise it.
Awareness
I have often spoken about how there is a natural pattern to how we become aware of more subtle planes. I have also mentioned that this can be a forced exercise. I wish to clarify here that there are four ways awareness can be aroused. The first is the slow but natural course of human development. This is the path most of us take. We all get there in the end. However, you can speed things up by a wilful and persistent effort to hasten natural development. An example could be taking an interest in ‘astral travel’ or spiritual practices. The third method is accidental damage to the subtle body, resulting from the use of magic, witchcraft, electro-shock therapy and the use of psychedelic substances. The last method is when the emotional-mental body is purposefully ‘awakened’ by someone who has already become self-aware in their own higher envelopes. This was the method traditionally used in mystery schools and used by practising yogis today. There are many who profess to be able to do this today, but alas they are as capable as their students. It is the case of the blind leading the dumb.
Activities
I have mentioned that monads that are at the two upper stages of development have the ability to receive tuition on the mental plane. But that is very few of us, so what do the rest of us get up to? Assuming we are actively conscious on the Emotional Plane, we can visit friends and relatives that have passed on. We can even meet up with incarnate souls who also happen to be conscious on that plane at the same time. Other options are that on this plane we can acquire knowledge, develop new skills or help souls that are lost and confused. These souls have often gone through some traumatic experience or have had an untimely death. Have you ever woken and felt exhausted? Well, this may be the reason why. Just another reminder, we are only able to perceive the molecular subplanes that our own subtle bodies have activated inside themselves. If you are only active in the lowest three subplanes of the Emotional body, I personally would give visiting these plane a miss. These lowest subplanes are what is known as Hell and Purgatory in the Bible. You don’t really want to be visiting those places prematurely!
Sleep Associated Activities
There are a number of activities that are associated with the process of sleeping. One of the most common is Sleep Walking. This occurs when the body is in a Deep Sleep phase of the sleep cycle. This is the result of the physical-etheric consciousness learning patterns of behaviour from the monad. Waking consciousness has no recollection of this event because the monad was not present. Sleep Talking is also a result of the physical-etheric being deciding to mimic the speech actions of the monad. Alas, the being has delusions of grandeur. Tertiary matter has a very rudimentary level of consciousness and ends up speaking random gibberish. The worrying thing is that I hear this from people who are awake. Not sure what is going on there! If however, the speaking is coherent and precise, it is possible that another monad has temporarily possessed the sleeping person. More complex behaviour such as Sleep Sex is not caused by physical beings. They are caused by another entity temporarily possessing the physical-etheric body to satisfy lustful desires. Entities that carry out such activities are discarnate souls that still have earthly desires that can not be satisfied without a physical body. This is a salutary warning to all those with addictive personalities. If you have cravings on the physical plane, be it sex, drugs or Rock & Roll, you need to have a physical body to experiences them. Get to the Emotional plane and you still have the desires to engage in such activities. The Emotional subplanes are the home of desires. However, you now have no physical organism to sense them. This sort of possession of a sleeping body is more likely to occur with monads that have loosely connected subtle bodies. The classic example are mediums or someone who is heavily into psychedelic drugs.
That is enough for today. In my next presentation, I wish to continue and look at dream sleep.