In winter:
"...the brown bear shared dreams with the dead but the white bear walked the sea ice." (I, p. 187)
The brown bear hibernated, therefore dreamed, therefore entered the realm of the dead.
To our ancestors, it seemed that, while asleep, they left their bodies and entered another realm where they could meet, i.e., dream about, the dead. It followed that there was in fact another realm to be entered temporarily in sleep and permanently at death. That realm was neither a heaven nor a paradise but the mere absence of life: darkness, silence etc. It would have been better if it did not happen.
“Say not a word in death's favor; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than king of kings among the dead." -Achilles”
Dreams result from sleeping brain activities. Consciousness is a property of organisms with central nervous systems. Or so I think. But there is nothing to warrant all the certainty that is expressed on the matter.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I also believe God sometimes authorizes saints or angels to appear to certain persons in their dreams.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
In waking experience, JB Phillips saw and heard CS Lewis conversing with him about a Biblical passage although Phillips' wife, present at the time, neither saw nor heard Lewis. Vivid imagination by Phillips. Or possibly a communication by the then dead Lewis provided that certain assumptions are made, of course.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I, unsurprisingly, favor those "certain assumptions." There are Biblical accounts of God or angels appearing to certain persons in dreams.
Ad astra! Sean
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