The Secret of Dreams Part 2

Chicago Evening American, Friday, March 25, 1921.

Christian H. Ronne, 60, president of the C.H. Ronne Warehouse, 372 West Ontario street, dropped dead in the Traffic Club on the eighteenth floor of the Hotel La Salle two weeks after he had informed his son-in-law, C.A.

Christensen, cashier of the Mid-City Trust and Savings Bank, of a premonition of death.

LOCKLEAR FORECAST DEATH--FRIEND OF AVIATOR TELLS OF STUNT-FLYER'S PREMONITION.

Chicago Evening American, Aug. 4, 1920.

Fort Dodge, Ia., Aug. 4.--Lieut. Homer Locklear, famous stunt flyer, killed in a fall at Los Angeles, Monday evening, had a premonition several weeks ago that he would meet his death this summer, according to Shirley Short, Goldfield Iowa, original Locklear pilot. Short was married recently and is pa.s.sing his honeymoon at his home. He left Locklear in Canada three weeks ago and had planned to rejoin him in a week. "For more than a year we went together doing stunts," said Short. "During that time Locklear laughed at the idea of danger until about a month ago. It was shortly after I left him that he became depressed and told me several times that he would get knocked off this summer. It worried me because it was so unlike Locklear."

WRITES DEATH POEM ON FATAL PLANE FLIGHT.

Chicago Evening American, June 11, 1921.

Washington, June 1.--How Lieut. Cleveland W. McDermott penned a death poem in the plane in which he and six others were crashed to death Sat.u.r.day night was revealed here today.

It is the story of perhaps the most remarkable premonition of death that ever has been recorded before the fatal flight. McDermott, who was a seasoned world-war veteran and accustomed to hazardous flights, wrote seven letters to as many friends. These he placed in the hands of a fellow officer with instructions that they be mailed in the event of his death. The poem was discovered in the lieutenant's personal effects, written on a piece of scratch paper. It had been stuffed in a breast pocket of his uniform. The writing was scraggly, due to the vibration of the motors. This is the death poem:

Another hour and far away I fly; A last farewell to my friends I cry; Then up to the rosy dawn in flight; A battle with the elements I must fight.

Lost in the fog and mist and rain; Tossed hither and yonder I strive in vain To again win out as I have in the past; Little I knew this was to be my last.

Sharp crash, and my wings are broken back; Every wire is useless with too much slack.

Down, down I swirl and slip and spin; Thinking only of all my worldly sin.

The earth seems rushing up to me; While rigged crags raise their heads to greet me.

As twisting and twirling downward I swirl; I bid a sad good-bye to a little girl.

Lower down into the trees I crash; My plane and I have gone to smash.

Up from the Ma.s.s call me, My untouched, unfettered spirit flies Straight to mother's waiting overhead.

Although no one, so far as is known, saw Lieutenant McDermott write the poem, his fellow officers at Golding field pointed out today that every indication points to it having been written during the hour preceding the fatal crash. His first act following the premonition was to write the farewell letters, said a fellow officer today. The poem obviously was written under the vibration of engines, so it follows it must have been set down during the last few minutes of his life. The officer to whom Lieutenant McDermott intrusted the farewell letters mailed them a few minutes after he heard of the fatality.

In this case the premonition seems to have served its purpose advantageously. Death had no terrors for Lieutenant McDermott.

SON'S DREAM LOCATES HIS FATHER'S BODY.

Chicago Herald-Examiner, Thursday, June 23, 1921

d.i.c.kinson, N.D., June 22--A dream in which he saw the spot where his father's body lay led Raymond Everetts, 11, to discover the body yesterday. Tom Everetts, the father, was one of three section men drowned by a flood near Medora Sat.u.r.day. Several years ago the boy announced the death of an aunt shortly before a telegram confirmed his prophesy.

When the ego impresses the lower mind of approaching danger, in dreams or otherwise, it is simply for the individual to be prepared for what is in store for him, just as a wise physician tells his patient when the end is near to be prepared.

Miss Miller, 375 Brenner street, Muncie, Germany, had a premonition of her brother drowning. She states:

"My brother was a great swimmer. Two weeks before he was drowned I had a premonition of his death. In my dream I saw him diving into the river. His head struck a rock, then I saw his lifeless body float before me for three successive nights. I told him of my dream. I begged him not to go bathing, but he only laughed at me, saying, 'I can protect myself in the water.' His death was the exact working out of the premonition of his death."

The student of dream-lore knows the ego is ever watchful, and it always impresses the lower mind when danger approaches. There are also cases which appear to indicate when the ego is unable to impress the individual. The information is often conveyed through another person, as the above would indicate, who is sensitive enough to bring the information in the waking state.

HOW TO EVOLVE THE LARGER CONSCIOUSNESS.

It is a very difficult matter for the layman to bring his actual astral experiences into the waking state (but fortunately for us) any faculty that is lacking may be evolved. It takes a very sensitive instrument to register all that is seen, heard and done while out of the body. It also requires physical, emotional and mental harmony, or the dreamer is apt to mistake an actual astral experience for an automaton of the physical brain, or vice versa. To what extent the ego would guide us and warn us, if we were only sensitive and responsive to the delicate vibrations sent down into the physical brain, it is impossible to guess, says L.W. Rogers in his volume, "Dreams and Premonitions." The extent by which we are guided and warned from the ego depends upon how much we are not swayed by our physical methods of artificial civilization implying the power to impress the astral experience on the physical brain.

The habit of our scattering thoughts must also be brought under control. One must be able to concentrate his mind on what he wants to think about. Camille Flammarion says nineteen-hundredths of the human family never think at all. They are merely shallow receptives for the thoughts of others. As you acquire the habit of controlling your thoughts and with the emotions well under control, then you begin to turn the consciousness back upon self, and as the sleeper lays his body down to rest he gives the ego an opportunity to impress itself on the lower mind. Gradually the mind is brought under control. This connects the two different states of consciousness. At first you begin to see pictures, landscapes, faces, etc., only for a flash. Then you will fall into unconsciousness. Once this state is attained, if continued the rest will not be so difficult.

With practice, you will be conscious of yourself leaving your body, conscious of yourself looking down on your body asleep, and seeing yourself going on a journey to inspire a friend or to acquire some knowledge of something you are studying in physical life. In this way you make your nights, as well as your days, to be of a.s.sistance to others. Your nights may be made useful even if you are not conscious of yourself out of the body, by suggesting to yourself upon retiring, that you will go somewhere, and meet some one and a.s.sist them in an unselfish act. If you persist in your suggestion on retiring, your spirit will go where you demand it to go, although you may not remember your experience in your waking state.

Just as it is possible for you to render help to another in sleep, so you can influence them for a good purpose. It is also possible for you to influence another selfishly, and let me warn you here, if you do, you are practicing black art, and as surely as night follows day it will return and burn you as you justly deserve, so beware and think well before you act. He who dabbles in occult teachings for selfish ends treads on dangerous ground, and he will not attain his desires, but rather the reverse. The unselfish soul who acts unselfishly can be of much service to his fellow-man, not only the living but also the misnamed dead, and they can often remember their astral happenings in waking consciousness to the minutest detail. This requires rigid training.

The beginner will find it to his advantage, to resolve before falling asleep that he will bring his astral experience through into his waking consciousness. It is also well to keep a notebook at hand and write down your dreams in the morning, if you cannot remember your dreams.

Speak to no one. Do not leave your sleeping chamber. Before the day is many hours old your dream will come to you. In this way if the student is patient and sincere he will, in time, be able to find out many things of the invisible realm where his soul functions during the time his body sleeps. I do not claim that our physical plane affairs should be guided entirely by dreams, nor are dreams of the fortune-telling variety to be relied upon. You must use your reason and judgment in this the same as anything else, and only when the student has attained to that point in his development where there is no break in consciousness, may he be guided by the astral life. The mystic, and sages, go beyond the astral life. They go into a state of dreamlessness. Listen to what a great mystic said:

"In waking state we are conscious of the objective universe.

In dreaming we are conscious of the inner world. Then we are of great help to the living, and also the misnamed dead. In dreamlessness the true seer turns the light of consciousness back upon itself and in its own light sees the gloom of nothingness. Imagine for a moment the absolute non-existence of the vast world devoid of sight and sound. What remains a vast s.p.a.ce. Imagine the vast s.p.a.ce to be void of ether and the subtle seeds of creation. Perfect stillness reigns supreme over the ocean of universal s.p.a.ce, beginningless and endless. What supports it? It is supportless, soundless, cloudless. He does not see. Yet he is not blind, does not hear, yet he is not deaf. He goes beyond the feeling of time and s.p.a.ce. Every time the true seer enters a state of dreamless sleep he enjoys the span of Ethereal Glory; his consciousness is centered in the bosom of the Absolute."