After concluding his explanation of intuition, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan now speaks about the related theme of dreams.

The dream is another wonder, a phenomenon of the mind. In the dream, it is not only imagination and thought that work, but also intuition. Intuitions that arise in the waking state arise in the dream state and become clearer, for at that time a person is naturally more concentrated, his eyes being closed to the outer world. However then, also there is the same problem – no sooner has intuition risen from the depths than imagination rises from the surface, and one does not know which is which. That is why many dreams are confused. A part of the dream is expressive of some truth, and a part of the dream is confused.

There is no dream that has no meaning. If the dream has nothing to do with intuition, then it is a purely automatic activity of all that the mind has gone through in one’s work during the day. The same activity goes on automatically, just like a moving picture before one. Yet, even behind that there is a meaning, for nothing is projected on the curtain of the mind that does not take root in the soil of the heart, producing similar flowers and fruits. If, in the dream, intuition is working, then the dream is narrative of something in the past, present or future.

There is, however, a kind of dream that shows everything upside-down, just like a mirror that shows a fat person thin and a thin person fat, a tall person short and a short person tall. So, there also comes a condition of the mind where everything shows quite the contrary to what it is. This fault can be traced as the fault of the mind. The mind has been turned upside-down; and therefore, all that a person sees looks upside-down, especially in that dream state. Sometimes this dream shows quite the opposite to what was, what is, and what is going to be. If a person did not understand this nature of the dream, then he would interpret it quite contrarily to its real nature.

There are dreams that may be called visions. They are reflections – reflections of persons, of their minds, of worlds, of planes on which the mind has become focused. If the mind is focused on a certain world, then the dreams are of that world. If a person is focusing his mind upon himself, then his own thoughts come to him. If the mind is focused on a certain person, then that person and what is within him is reflected in the dream. If the mind is focused on a certain plane of being, then the conditions of that plane are reflected upon the mind. 

The deeper one goes into this subject, the more one finds that in the understanding of the dream, in its nature, its mystery, its character, one understands the secret of the whole life.

To be continued…