All World
Gayatri Pariwar

The growth of knowledge gained by the human society in this age of information explosion is truly remarkable. What has been achieved in the 20th century alone is more than what was acquired during the past 5000 years of human civilization. Modern Science claims to have deciphered the secrets of Nature. This does sound credible, looking at the way science and technology have enabled today’s man to use the hidden resources and powers of Nature to bestow enormous comforts on human life. However, the complexities of life, its deep roots and eternal linkage with Nature yet remain far beyond the reach of human intellect.

The ocean of knowledge traversed by modern age largely pertains to matter-based sentient world. The secrets of the inner world of life are yet to be uncovered. It is amazing that today’s man, despite knowing so much about the world around him, knows so little about his own self! The more one tries to know the subtle world, the more enigmatic and mysterious it becomes. Let us take the case of human mind alone. What is it? What is it ‘made up of ’? How does it function? How and why it thinks and feels the way it does? All this remains a mystery and a paradox.

“How the other creatures communicate?”, and  “ How do they express their needs?”, etc, has been studied to a large extent. But, it remains to be known how the human mind communicates within its silent world? Research on human mind so far is mainly focused on the conscious mind and brain functions. While a lot more is still required to be known on these aspects, the inner cores of the unconscious mind appear to be unknowable.
People’s conceptions of the unconscious mind are usually based on sheer imagination, illusions, or guesswork.  However, it appears to be a common belief that the unconscious mind expresses itself via the language of dreams. But, we have no sound scientific basis to answer –– What are dreams? What is their genesis and nature? The enormous live examples of momentous guidelines revealed through dreams, which pose Nature’s challenge before us, the intelligent beings.

The ‘language’ of the unconscious mind and the world of dreams is as interesting and hypnotizing, as are its complexities and mysteries. A large number of erudite psychologists opine that –– as the complications of human life cannot be resolved without experiencing its multiple dimensions in the worldly context, the same way, it would be necessary to experience the reflections of the unconscious mind before attempting an analysis of dreams. The savants of yore seem to have a good hold on this rather occult field of knowledge. Study of dreams was an established discipline of research and practical application in the ancient times. Scriptures mention of many instances when the seers and sages had made trend-setting predictions and given guidance based on the analysis of dreams. The rishis had acquired clear visions of the past, present, and future through the ‘mirror’ of dreams. Understanding of the language of dreams was also popular in the ancient times as a therapy.

The impact of the unconscious mind in unfolding secret knowledge via the medium of dreams has been accepted in the modern times too. Significant scientific discoveries of this age also materialized through the inspirations, clues, ideas, or implications, received in the dreams:

Neils Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of electronic orbits within an atom. This knowledge is the basis of the 20th century developments in Atomic Physics and also provided a breakthrough for making hydrogen bomb.  It is amazing to note that Bohr was revealed the clue of this momentous theory in a dream, which he saw in 1919.  Neils’s mind was engrossed in investigating the atomic structures and properties those days when he once dreamt that he was standing right inside the corona of the Sun surrounded by boiling gases and vapors; and many planets were orbiting around him. He also saw that all these planets and stars were ‘tied’ by thin threads. They cooled down and congregated at a common center; but were soon dispersed due to an explosion and then started rotating in different orbits around this center. This dream gave the much ‘sought-for’ hint to Bohr to visualize the nucleus of an atom and the orbits of its particles moving around this core.

Elias Harve of France had designed the first model of a sewing machine. Everything was working fine except that he could not think about how to put thread in the needle to facilitate continuous stitching by this machine. Despite various trials he could not find any solution for many days. One night he slept while thinking about the problem.  When he was fast asleep, he dreamt that he had been surrounded by a group of barbarous tribes. He saw that these hunters were trying to kill him by the sharp daggers in their hands…. Suddenly he noticed that there was a fine hole in the dagger’s sharp tip through which a piece of cloth (a flag) was hanging. The dream ended abruptly here but its memory remained fresh in Harve’s mind when he woke up in the morning. The picture of the hole in the dragger’s tip – seen in the dream – became clearer in his mind and sparked off the idea of making a sharp hole at the tip of the needle for the purpose of threading…. This is how a dream led to a great invention of the modern era.

Interestingly, the method of large-scale production of bullets was also ‘learnt’ through a dream.  Until about two centuries ago, lead balls were used in the ‘pull and press’ type guns. These types of guns may now be seen in some backward villages, where people use them to scare away the wild animals. These guns were used in the battlefield those days. Production of the bullets was a tedious task as these were prepared by stretching lead wires or cutting lead sheets and then shaping them round. James Watt found this process too cumbersome and crude but he had no alternate solutions. His scientific instinct began searching for easier mechanisms. One of these days he dreamt that he had been blown away by stormy winds. Suddenly it started pouring. He was amazed to see (in the dream) that instead of water or snow this was a rain of tiny balls of lead. It clicked to him in his dream state that this was the alternative improved method of making bullets. He woke up the next moment but the clues provided by the dream were not clear to him. He had written at one place…. “I saw the same dream for four nights in a sequel. It forced me to think and decode the message conveyed by it - blow of wind, rains (stream of water) and lead balls…! One idea flashed that –– all this is an indication of blowing the drops of melted lead in water with the help speedy winds!”

The above idea materialized soon thereafter, when James Watt experimented near a water pond. Unlike today, there were no well-equipped laboratories for scientific experiments in those times. James was looking for a pool of water near a huge tree or wall. He found a pond right behind a church. The place was breezy too. He got the permission to climb up the wall. From there he showered the droplets of molten lead into the pond. To his surprise, these droplets of molten lead  were getting converted into tiny solid balls in the pond. These were indeed the ‘bullets’ he saw in the dream.

Rene Descartes is honored as a great mathematician and philosopher who laid the foundation of several major principles of mathematics and hence of modern science. His invaluable contributions can be attributed to the three history making dreams, which he saw on the 10th November 1619 at around 3 a.m. in the early hours of dawn. Descartes was puzzled those days by the complexities of his own life. The compulsions and attractions on the personal, social and religious fronts on the one hand, and the adversities of circumstances on the other, had put him in a great dilemma and he was unable to decide which way to go? What best to do?  He slept with these questions in mind that night when he saw three dreams in a sequel. The first two offered some practical solutions to his family problems.  The third one was indeed enlightening. He was given a clear direction and moral strength in this dream to devote his life to the evolution and expansion of mathematical knowledge.

Descartes had dedicated his intellectual potentials and acumen for the noble cause vouchsafed to him in the dream. Thereby he had propagated a new line of thought, which was scientifically explicable and sound in reasoning. He had also incorporated the deeper elements of knowledge from religious philosophy. It is indeed remarkable to note that the basic philosophy of life and principles of knowledge, which have influenced the western society since past three hundred years, were inspired by Descartes’ unique dream.  

Renowned philosopher of mathematics, Henry Feihar had compiled the views and experiences of about sixty-nine mathematics scholars. Remarkably, he found that 61 of them had resolved difficult problems in mathematics, or had proved abstract propositions, with the help of the clues provided in the dreams.

The reach of human mind is indeed infinite. Its potentials could be limitless. However, it is unfortunate that most of us know the least about this nearest ‘companion’. Our attentions and efforts remain directed externally in the outer superficial aspect of life. We hardly find time to focus on this inner reflection of our own self. If we ever realize its subtler existence –– the unconscious mind, its miraculous powers would not remain esoteric for too long.

The collective expansion of human minds is as naturally associated with the supreme consciousness as the energy cycle of the living body is with the sunlight. Elucidation of the hidden facets of mind –– expressed in the language of dreams, could therefore open up a limitless source of enlightenment.
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