It is a popular belief, and has been thru all ages, that dreams foretell for us what will happen. Many remarkable cases seem to prove this. All nations of antiquity believed in the divine nature of dreams. The Bible is full of allusions to dreams and most of the important events were revealed to men thru dreams.
Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder which reached into the sky and that angels were ascending and descending. His whole life was shaped by this vision. His son, Joseph, was called “The Dreamer” by his brothers. We all know the fascinating story of his dreams, his interpretations of the visions of the butler and the baker and his reading of Pharaoh’s dream which eventually obtained for him the position of ruler over Egypt. The Books of the Prophets and of Daniel are based on dreams. So are many of the incidents of the New Testament.
Coming down to more modern times, we find that many intelligent men—writers, inventors, kings—believed in dreams.
Franklin believed that he obtained a clearer insight into political events thru his dreams and often acted upon the inspiration he received while asleep.
A celebrated doctor discovered a well-known remedy thru a dream. Tartini, a celebrated musician, is said to have composed his “Devil’s Sonata” under the inspiration of a dream in which the devil appeared to him and invited him to try his skill upon his favorite fiddle. When he awoke, the music was so firmly impressed upon his memory that he had no difficulty in writing it out on paper.
The poet Coleridge is said to have composed his poem “Kubla Khan” in a dream. He had taken an anodyne for some slight indisposition, and fell asleep in his chair. When he awoke he retained the impression of over two hundred lines of verse which had come to him in his slumber.
Cabanis, the philosopher, found in his sleep the conclusions of many problems that he was not able to solve while awake. Condorcet, the mathematician, found in his sleep the final steps in a calculation that baffled him while awake.
Napoleon was a great believer in dreams and was often guided by them in his campaigns.
Columbus, it is said, dreamed that a voice spoke to him saying, “God will give thee the keys of the gates of the Ocean,” and that it was this that kept up his courage.
In remote times the greatest of importance was attached to dreams. The ancients resorted to them in cases of difficulty or calamity. When pestilence spread among the Greeks before Troy, Homer represents Achilles as taking refuge in dreams, his reason being,—