Now when man is in the company of spirits in this state he dreams with them, (D. 2436), for the dreams are formed from his memory. That is to say, he dreams with them when the Lord permits; for spirits may be in these dreams without men's sharing them, they may also be continuing them when the man awakes. (D. 664, 2436, 4284.) Man dreams only when the interior sight is opened, and this is done by the Lord alone. It is from and with these dreams of spirits that most of our ordinary connected dreams come. Swedenborg describes several dreams of his own which clearly illustrate the nature of these dreams and their origin. Thus he once dreamed that he had escaped from a prison—then he heard some spirits pursuing a certain man as if it were Swedenborg, and every now and again crying out that they had caught him. The man then came to Swedenborg showing him a black and bloody face. But when Swedenborg woke from this dream and saw into the spiritual world he saw no such scene; and hence he concludes that it was a dream which certain spirits were continuing, and he adds that it signifies the interior state of the evil with respect to the letter of the Word. (D. 1460 seq.)

On another occasion some spirits were dreaming the same as Swedenborg, namely, that they would attack a certain castle and after having taken it would attack Swedenborg. After the dream Swedenborg spoke with those who were still attacking and who thought themselves fully awake, and he had difficulty in convincing them that they had been dreaming. (D. 3792.) These were evidently the passive subjects of interior evil ones, subjects who thought they themselves were attempting this crime, when as a fact they were but dreaming it.

Again Swedenborg dreamed that from some rising ground he saw a ship deliberately wrecked by its captain with the object of drowning the three passengers,—a man, woman and child. He saw these three drowned in the water, one of them slightly emerging in his efforts to escape. Then, while he was pitying them for their sad condition, he suddenly awoke, and found the spirits about him lamenting that they had been drowned, and, indeed, they actually seemed to themselves as if with dripping hair and clothes. This was a representation by evil spirits and which was communicated by them to Swedenborg in his dream. (D. 2240 seq.)

By this indirect means, i.e., by means of dreams or representations induced on the spirits about man, interior evil spirits, and also good spirits, can induce dreams on man, (D. 778-9); and this without the evil spirits at the same time infesting him to his hurt. That is to say, their evil loves can be represented in the imaginations of a sleeper, without infesting his mind. Were evil spirits allowed directly to infest man, or were their subjects active instead of passive, then they would pour themselves into his interior thoughts and affections, (D. 1953), from which he would experience interior suffering and torment together with loss of freedom and with consequent despair of salvation. (D. 1953; see also D. 75, 90, 2744, 2797.) But man is protected from this, for he does not come into such states in dreams. It is true that there is sometimes terror even to nightmare in dreams but these fearful terrors are more the effect of bodily or cerebral conditions than of the dream proper, and, moreover, they are the accompaniments of phantastical dreams rather than of the consecutive dream. To the dream proper, terror does not belong except that mild sort of fear which is the result of the habitual traits of the mind. Thus a man in his dream commits murder or theft or some other heinous crime which he would never dream of doing awake, and yet feels little or nothing of terror or dread; certainly the little fear he may feel is as nothing compared to the fear and dread he would really experience had he actually committed such a crime. He looks on with the most surprising equanimity at the body which he has slain, or the riches he has stolen. He feels absolutely no horror at the crime itself and only a comparatively mild sort of fear lest he be detected,—a fear which is the result of the habitual exercise of his waking thoughts. It is as though he were a passive subject on which hidden forces played, forces which his mind beholds but to which it gives neither assent nor disproval. That evil forces find easy and apt vessels in our imagination wherein they can be represented without our abhorrence, is an index, not to the quality of our internal thought, but rather to the native perversion of our nature. Thus in the Diary, Swedenborg says that it was shown him by living experience in himself that horror at things contrary to nature is not natural to man as it is to brutes, hence that such horror is not in his natural voluntary but only in his intellectual part. Thus horror for adultery is not spontaneous but must be acquired from the understanding and from conscience. And Swedenborg goes on to illustrate this in the same manner as it was illustrated to him, namely, by dreams, i.e., that in dreams man has no horror for such things. It was different with the Most Ancient Church where men had a natural and instinctive horror for evil, and therefore could not be led to do evil even in their dreams. (D. 4368.) The same thing is vividly illustrated in the world of spirits where, when spirits are deprived of reflection and understanding, they act merely from natural instinct, and blindly and unthinkingly act against heaven and against order. They are in somewhat the state of a hypnotic subject, and we are told that when reason or reflection is restored to them they know no other than that they have been in a sleep and dream. (D. 372.) Dreams of this kind illustrate an important principle, namely, that nothing that inflows into man, none of the influences by which he is surrounded and which affect his natural or stir up his imagination—none of these things are imputed to him, except so far as he confirms them from without, that is, by conscious thought. Therefore it is said that no man is to suffer any blame for evils committed in dreams, but that those evils are imputed to him if he confirms them in his waking thoughts. (D. 498.) These dreams may, however, be of use to him, as is indeed pointed out by most writers on dreams, in revealing to him the evils that lie within him, and thus in leading him to self examination—which is probably one of the reasons why they are permitted.

Swedenborg refers to this use, when, in answer to the question as to whether we should pay any attention to our dreams, he says, as reported by Robsahm, that one who understands correspondences may derive advantage from his dreams, just as a person awake may examine his own state by comparing his will with God's commands. (I Doc. 42.) Indeed, in the spiritual world the evil are sometimes examined, and their past life explored, by means of their dreams, which are openly represented to other spirits while they are dreaming them. (D. 3383.)

Another important thing which these and also other kinds of dreams illustrate is the state of evil spirits after death, in that they then act not from reflection, or from the things stored up in their external memory, but are led along by various persuasions that inflow from others. (D. 4398.) Hence again it can appear why the evil in the World of Spirits are said to be in sleep. (D. 4549.) This was also shown to Swedenborg in a dream,—but a special kind of dream in which the mind was in wakefulness of observation and conclusion. (D. 4398.)

There are two general means by which the Lord protects the sleeping man from infestation by evil spirits. One is by the presence of Angelic spirits through whom the sphere of heaven becomes operative, the order and peace and protection of which is externally manifested in the rule of the cerebellum during sleep. The sphere of these spirits is such that it wards off and holds at a distance all evil, disorderly, tumultuous, and disturbing spheres, just as the cerebellum wards off and subdues all external influences from the sleeping man.

The other means is by the veil of ignorance which is drawn by the Lord between spirits and men. Evil Spirits do not know they are with man, and, therefore, cannot bring him injury, torment or distress.

But in this respect Swedenborg's state was different from that of the ordinary man in that the spirits with him did know that they were with a separate man, (D. 164), and therefore acted more independently of him than is the case with other men. (D. 4437.) In consequence the evil among them not only were filled with hatred of good in all spirits, but burned with specific hatred of Swedenborg and sought in many ways to destroy him. During sleep he was ordinarily protected from them just like other men, but sometimes they were permitted to infest him, to remain in their wakeful activity while he was in slumber. This was done for several reasons. One was in order that he might learn the nature of evil, even to its very ultimation, without himself suffering any real injury. Thus he had a dream wherein he was excited to furious anger against some men merely because they had entered into his room; and he even wanted to kill them. He was then led into the thought that this was wrong, and with this he awoke. This dream showed him in a living way the power of the sphere of certain spirits to dull every force of right thinking and willing. (D. 4834.) On another occasion he had a fearful dream wherein a spirit cast aside two angels who were somewhat near Swedenborg, and immediately began to infest him in a most horrible and unspeakable way—whereby he experienced the intense though concealed hatred of some who were in external piety. (D. 4740.) Again he dreamed of a friend standing by his bed,—a friend whom he trusted; but the friend tried to kill him with a knife and failing this, sprang upon him like a tiger in the effort to tear him and suck his blood; by which Swedenborg learned in a very realistic way the nature of certain very wicked spirits. (D. 2974; see also D. 6008.) Another instance is a dream in which appeared a precipice near which a dog had hidden. Swedenborg was pursuing this dog in order to regain possession of some stolen article. And while he was in this pursuit he was filled with the utmost horror of the precipice and hence had sensible experience of the horror deceitful spirits have at the thought of heaven; for he learned that it was by such spirits the dream had been induced. (D. 3406.) Again in a dream he was permitted to suffer the horrible and revolting torments inflicted by devils in the hells,—the cutting and the tearing and the twisting too terrible to dwell upon. (D. M, 4698.) It was in a dream also that certain antediluvian spirits were permitted to inflow into him with their cupidities, and, indeed, as he says, so grossly that had he been in wakefulness he could not have resisted them. In this dream he felt their influx as a suffocative breath like a dreadful and immovable incubus above him from which he was in terrible labor. (A. 1270, D. 3364.) But, being in a dream, he was not injured; for nothing is imputed to man in sleep.

Another use served by the infestations suffered by Swedenborg was, that he thereby learned how the Lord protects man in sleep, and how spirits are restrained from infesting. Thus one night, after hearing spirits about him who were plotting to infest him, he fell asleep and had a sad dream. He then learned that it had been induced by certain sirens who were most dreadfully punished, and he adds that the punishment was so severe because it is an enormous crime to infest a sleeping man; for men ought to sleep safely, otherwise the human race would perish. I perceived, he continues, that a similar thing takes place with other men whom spirits strive to invade during sleep, although the men know it not, for those with whom it is not given to speak and be with spirits cannot hear any such things, still less see them, and yet similar things are about others. (A. 959, D. 4236-4240.) In other passages also he speaks of the punishment of spirits who sought to infest his slumbers. (D. 3006, 4633.) He also speaks of a dream induced by such infestors in which two men sought to kill him; in this dream nevertheless, he felt absolutely no fear, (D. 4633); thus illustrating the protective power of the angelic guardians of sleep. One method of this protection he on one occasion vividly experienced. Evil spirits tried to infest him, but were themselves seized with a heavy sleep despite their desire to keep awake, (D. 3231), and one was himself vexed and troubled the whole night while Swedenborg slept soundly. (D. 2913.) From which, Swedenborg comments, it was given him to know that evil spirits are forced to sleep with man that man may sleep well even though girt with the evil. (D. 3232.)

He also describes another way in which evil spirits are kept from man in sleep, namely, by a vehement wind which Swedenborg noticed after he had waked from an infested dream, and by which the infestors were dispersed in a moment and miserably punished, (D. 3680), because, as he adds, it is forbidden to harm man in the least degree while he sleeps. This wind is the influx from man's Angelic guardians.

That his open communication with the other world made Swedenborg subject to these dream infestations is evident from the following teaching in the Diary: "Spirits do not know where men are. They seek but are unable to find. It was thus provided that they may not know, for if they knew they would destroy the human race. They would enter into them and cause them to be possessed as of old. When, by chance, they happen upon them while they are asleep, then there seems to be, as it were, a sound of shouting outside them, and it appears as if some one falls clown near his bed and there remains. Man then supposes that it is something or other, some illusion or vision, but it is from this cause. This has happened to me several times while I was asleep, and then I woke and was instructed that this was the cause." (D. M. 4693.)

It would be interesting in this connection to know something of the dreams of those who have forced themselves into open communication with spirits, to see whether and in what respects they differ from the dreams of other men.

That dreams are induced by spirits is not in itself a new doctrine, though little, if indeed anything, more than the fact has been known since the establishment of the Christian Church,—a fact the belief in which is the last remnant of the knowledge concerning dreams which obtained in the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches. Nowadays it is the custom to style this belief in the spiritual origin of dreams as a poetic fancy; and yet, without it, men are absolutely at sea as to the simplest dream problem, as, indeed, most of them candidly admit. And yet it is so hard for natural man to believe that dreams come from spirits, whom he does not see, and whom he thinks he does not feel. It is this difficulty which is met in the Divine Mercy of the Lord by the oft repeated testimony of Swedenborg's actual experiences. It is no longer a theory; it is a fact testified to by an eyewitness and even the simplest man can rest upon the proof of this testimony. Even as early as the Adversaria, Swedenborg frequently refers to having waked from a dream and then having spoken with those who introduced the dream, (2 Ad. 184, 4418), telling them the dream and finding it exactly the same as what they had introduced. (D. 4200, 6319.) He was also let into a state as if in sleep and yet at the same time of full wakefulness as to the mind, so that he could actually witness the introduction of dreams by angelic spirits, with whom he also spoke of the matter. (A. 1977.) He was even granted to himself induce dreams on spirits. On this occasion he was in the state of a spirit among spirits; he was then in the Society of Angelic Spirits whose special delight it is to introduce dreams. The sleeping spirit to whom he then introduced dreams woke three or four times, and, when Swedenborg mentioned the dreams he had introduced, he recognized them at once. They were delightful dreams. (D. 3181.) He also heard angelic spirits on whom they had introduced dreams, and always found that what had been introduced and what had been dreamed coincided. (D. 3381.)

But as how dreams are introduced he is not specific. Yet we can gather from the multitude of teaching concerning dreams that they are not induced with the special intention of inducing dreams, but are, at any rate for the most part, rather the result of the activities of spirits with each other. Thus we frequently read of dreams which, on comparison, were found to be nothing but representations of what those who induced them had been talking about among themselves. With angels and good spirits, in all that goes forth from them there is the desire that it shall give joy to others; and, consequently, wherever their sphere is received it produces, in wakefulness, good thoughts, and, in sleep, beautiful dreams. Their spheres, as also the spheres of evil spirits, of which we shall speak presently, are so many active forces proceeding from them and seeking entrance wherever they may find it. And when the memory of man is in such a state that they can enter, then, in wakefulness, they bring to him elevating thoughts, and, in sleep, when the Lord permits, they represent themselves in the images of the dream world, varied according to the things in the man's memory. The memory is thus like an instrument of strings which, variously attuned, catches up the activities of the atmosphere and sets them forth in tones of harmony or discord. It is from this cause that when angels of superior heavens are in the activity of spiritual thought and speech their thought is beautifully represented among good spirits in the ultimate heavens; and also in their dreams, and in man's dreams. (D. 778-9.)

But evil spirits are in constant desire to rule and thus to lead spirits. Whenever they see the opportunity they actually induce dreams, that is to say, they bring their subject into a state in which he sees only the things which represent their own loves. Thus evil spirits are not unlike hypnotists who induce phantasies by the direct determination of their will;—from which it can be seen what would be the state of man in sleep, if he were not guarded by the Lord. With Swedenborg, evil spirits did discover that they could induce dreams, and they boasted they could do it whenever they wished, but answer was made them that it was only when the Lord permitted. (2 Ad. 184.)

It is said that the dreams induced by the spirits near man are significative and the word is used advisedly; for they are not correspondential. What flows in from spirits excites whatever, in the man's memory, (and hence also in the memory of subject spirits), is suitable, and its suitability depends on the idea with which it is connected in that man's mind. Swedenborg illustrates this by relating that he had an idea of a certain man, merely from external observation, that he was in natural truth, and when certain angels were speaking about natural truth, this man was represented, and all that he did in the dream simply represented the orderly progression of the angels' speech. (A. 1981, D. 4404.) The same is the case with the spirits, from whom dreams directly flow. After a dream about a fall, Swedenborg spoke with the spirits who had introduced it and afterwards with angelic spirits. The latter told him that the things in the dream coincided with what they had been talking about, and still they were not the same, but only representative of them, and they added that the same speech can be turned into other representations both like and unlike, according to the states of the spirits around man and according to the man's own state. (A. 1980, D. 4033.) Thus it is, that an infinite number of dreams may result from one origin according to the recipient vessels in different memories and affections. (A. 1980, D. 1453.)

Not only are persons excited in dreams, but the spirits by whom the dream is excited actually think themselves to be those persons, (D. 180), a fact which was proved to Swedenborg by experience. (D. 1880-2, 3877, 3 Ad. 5021, 7572 (cf. D. 2752, 509, 2 Ad. 2632), A. 1983, D. 75, 90, 2744, 2797.)

Sometimes, however, when the Lord permits, the person who appears in the dream is actually the same person. Thus Swedenborg saw and spoke with his father in a dream, (A. 6492 2821); so, likewise, he dreamt of Peter of Russia, and when he woke he spoke with him. (D. 5949.) Again he saw Louis XIV in the same manner, and immediately afterwards he was informed by the King that he himself had appeared to his grandson, Louis XV, in a dream or obscure vision. (D. 5980, J. p. 104.) In such cases as these, spirits are permitted to come into more ultimate and determined thought concerning those in the world, and sometimes, also, as was the case with Louis XIV., into their external memory. Thus they could appear and speak in dreams—as likewise in vision—in a manner comprehensible by man. (See A. 10751.) The facts concerning the persons I have mentioned, give us reason to believe that there is at this day sometimes an actual appearance of those who have been dearly beloved. But all is at the Lord's disposal.

That a dream is somewhat sad does not necessarily indicate that it is induced by evil spirits, for it may be significative of the truth. Thus Swedenborg dreamt of his father falling in the water and being rescued by him; and he learned that angelic spirits had been conversing about the things Swedenborg had written concerning the Word. (D. 4191.) We may note, in passing, the evidence of the high estimation in which Swedenborg held his father's memory, as evidenced by the fact that the idea of the Word could find representation by that father.

Again he dreamt of being at a great banquet where he was ashamed of his unsuitable clothing, which was shiny white hair cloth, which he was anxious to change. Some men of the later Most Ancient Church told him that they supposed this dream meant that he should not confirm the doctrine so much by abundant quotations from the Word. He informed them, however, that such a procedure was necessary at this day, and that without the passages it would be like white hair cloth the insufficiency whereof had been experienced in the dream. (D. 4133.) He dreams of a ruined temple with only some remnants of the altar left sunk in a hole into which he began to sink, whereat he was smitten with fear lest he fall into the depth. But the dream was a representation, presumably from good spirits, of the quality at this day of the magnificent temple of the Lord and His Word. (D. 4179.) The same may be said of a dream in which he saw several priests, none of whom knew anything of the internals of the Word. (D. 4841.) Even in what he calls an "ordinary or common dream" he found on waking that it exactly agreed with what angelic spirits had been conversing about, not that it was the same, but it represented it. (6319.) So he dreamt of an acquaintance who stole his bolster and counterpane, and fur lined cloak, whereat he was naturally very angry; and he found that this dream absolutely corresponded with the speech of certain spirits who were above him. (D. 4151.)

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