Sense Dictionary

Aeroplane, Airplane

Being a passenger in a plane

 This dream can be mundane or remarkable, since some people hold an irrational fear of flying, while others are indifferent. A plane appearing in the dreams of those nervous of flying is an attempt by one part of the psyche to quell perceived irrationality in another part. Dreams about flying as a passenger may hold a great sense of adventure for the dreamer. This can be due to the journey, the speed, or the destinations available through air travel. Also, it may be due to potential dangers, such as hijacking, which the dreamer may heroically overcome.

Piloting a plane

 Dreams about flying in a plane as the pilot vary tremendously. Is the dreamer a competent person either in sleep or waking? This may indicate a sense of control over circumstances. Does the plane crash? This may reveal a sense of inadequacy or incompetence. Who are the passengers on the plane? This may reveal who you feel responsible for in life, with your flight skills revealing your sense of how well you are fulfilling those responsibilities. If you are piloting the plane, are you competent to do so or are you overwhelmed by the responsibility? Do the other passengers accept or ignore your presence?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Aeroplane, Airplane , Meaning of Dreams about Aeroplane, Airplane , Dream Interpretation Aeroplane, Airplane )

REALITY

"Reality" is illusion only in the sense that there is more than one version. You can alter this aeon's reality, but there are several million separate Kalpic realities that are also primed for re-adjustment.

Reality does not exist apart from you and me. Although it seems to retain a changeless nature, that is merely the illusory consensus which our society clings to. And of course, our perceptions define reality, as do history and tradition, but we can also alter reality by physical, mental & arcane means. There are the perceptionless reality systems, after all (see below). The psychedelics have also played a tremendous role in changing collective reality, that despite the built-in limitation that all psychedelics can do is restructure ephemeral, subjective consciousness on society's lowest, least influential levels.

Ordinary, right-eyed, aeonic reality depends on our senses, but there are realities interwoven through this consensus that do not derive from the bodily senses, in which (as far as our waking minds are concerned) we act unconsciously -- but deliberately. Sense reality, for all its unreliability, is not very flexible, hence it serves as the final testing field (as well as rubbish heap) of substance. Usually our work in the separate realities is more important than our work in "this" one. As for using one's mental expectations as a reality-set, that would apply strictly to the superzeroeth R-Levels.

Reality is "Non-being," and according to Grant: "...withdraws as the Principle of Consciousness recedes and returns to the point of original absence."

Gurdjieff describes the following while under the influence of an anomalous substance: "I perceived directly now that everything in the universe was directly connected, and that moreover these forms were all connected just because they were all one and the same, repeated to provide the illusion of complexity. When presented with such a multiplicity of images, one can infuse them with differences sufficient to completely deceive oneself even though behind it all, one knows and understands the truth." And then, as the ground began to give way under him, he thought, "Everything, as soon as it is formed, flows into infinity in which it is transformed into the void and reformed as a new formation, which in turn is instantly swallowed."

(See also: REALITY , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

bhojana:

food. "That which is enjoyed". There are three types: Lunar, composed of sense impressions; Solar, composed of the breath; fiery, composed of edibles and water.

(See also: bhojana , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Dream Interpretation Scale, scales

Dreaming of scales undermines your sense of justice. It also stands for indecision in a certain matter. If you are weighing something, it means that you are trying to make a decision, or treat other people fairly. Standing on a scale suggests that you might have made a mistake.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Scale, scales , Meaning of Dreams about Scale, scales , Dream Interpretation Scale, scales )

A Theosophical definition of Fohat :

Fohat

An extremely mystical term used in the occultism of Tibet for what in Sanskrit is called daiviprakriti, which means "divine nature" or "primordial nature," and which also can be called "primordial light." In one sense of the word fohat may be considered as almost identical with the old mystical Greek eros, but fohat as a technical term contains within itself a far wider range of ideas than does the Greek term.

Fohat may be considered as the essence of kosmic electricity, provided, however, that in this definition we endow the term electricity with the attribute of consciousness; or, to put it more accurately, provided that we understand that the essence of electricity is indeed consciousness. It is ever-present and active from the primordial beginnings of a manvantara to its last end, nor does it then actually pass out of existence, but becomes quiescent or latent as it were, sleeping or dormant during the kosmic pralaya. In one sense of the word it may be called kosmic will, for the analogy with the conscious will in human beings is exceedingly close. It is the incessantly active, ever-moving, impelling or urging force in nature, from the beginning of the evolution of a universe or of a solar system to its end.

H. P. Blavatsky, quoting one of the ancient mystically occult works, says in substance: "Fohat is the steed and thought is the rider." If, however, we liken fohat to what the conscious will is in the human being, we must then think only of the lower or substantial parts  - the pranic activities  - of the human will, for behind the substantial parts stands always the directing and guiding consciousness. Fohat being incessantly active is therefore both formative and destructive, because it is through the ceaseless working of fohat that unending change continues  - the passing of one phase of manifested existence to another phase, whether this manifested existence be a solar system or a planetary chain or a globe or human being or, indeed, any entity.

Fohat is as active among the electrons of an atom and among the atoms themselves as it is among the suns. In one sense it may be called the vital force of the universe, corresponding from this viewpoint to the pranic activity on all the seven planes of the human constitution.

See also: Fohat , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Abandoned

Watching a child realise they are alone is a heart-rending event. In a moment, he or she goes from content to worried to panicked. One of our most primitive fears is the fear of being separated from family, friends or society. In dreams, being abandoned can have several connotations that derive from psychological or physical experience. The primary interpretive question is: `Who abandoned the dreamer, and why?'

Being individually abandoned by a significant other can represent a feeling of insecurity in a relationship. This may reflect concerns about the feelings of another towards you. Are you genuinely receptive to the idea of being loved and valued, or do you view another?s affection as show?

Perhaps you view yourself as lovable as you are known, but fear that more revelation about you will lead to isolation. This could be especially true if there is a taboo experience being kept secret from the person who has abandoned you (e.g. marital infidelity). Dreams of this nature may be recurring if as a child your parents extended only conditional affection towards you.

You may see yourself as completely abandoned. This can represent a major sense of being unable or unworthy to fit into society. In this type of dream, you may not be alone in a physical sense, but lack connection with the people around you. Self-esteem issues, taboo experiences or your ability to receive love should be areas of investigation.

People who view themselves as completely abandoned within a dream often find themselves lacking connection in many day-to-day relationships or experiences. Lastly, you may see yourself as ritually abandoned. This dream experience finds others leaving you for 'your own good?. Where have you left 'unfinished business' in relationships with others? Conversely, have others left your expectations unmet or altogether unrecognised?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Abandoned , Meaning of Dreams about Abandoned , Dream Interpretation Abandoned )

Sound In physics, a name for a group of phenomena, and in common speech auditory sensations; but in theosophic philosophy, sound is an attribute of one of the fundamental cosmic elements, akasa.

Being such, sound becomes more than a mere name describing an attribute: it is an actual efflux or production of the universal working of the akasic fluid. Hence, in a sense, it may be said to be an entity, a real force in nature, and the said phenomena and sensations only some of its effects.

Like the terms light, heat, air -- all of which are entities in occultism -- sound will have different shades of meaning according to the particular manifestation or plane concerned. In its most fundamental meaning, sound is the characteristic effect or spiritual efflux of the Third Logos, the upper end of that septenary ladder of being which constitutes the one manifested Life. In this sense akasa, considered as one of the tattvas (elementary substances), may be said to be the third cosmic Logos; although in a more universal sense akasa is the universal substantial space from which emanates the first cosmic Logos of an individual cosmic hierarchy, such as our solar system. As such, this akasic Third Logos, whose characteristic production is sound, occupies the apex of a triangle, combining both the active and passive potencies of creative energy. Logos is Greek for Word, what the Latins called Verbum, including both forms and vibratory force. Sound is therefore a tremendous occult creative power: it called worlds into being out of chaos, as is said in every cosmogony. This power descends to man, through his divine ancestry, as well as from the higher parts of his constitution, and the power of sound is known to adepts and used by them, being called mantrika-sakti.

Always and everywhere the power of mantras and incantations has been recognized. Orators use mantras -- they call them slogans -- with instinctive knowledge of their efficacy, and set afloat phrases that stir the public mind and strongly influence events. Often in daily conversation we instinctively forbear to speak a name or a word, though we would make no objection to writing it.

Sound is a property of akasa, the primary of aether, sometimes called space. In the list of the five commonly accepted tattvas, senses, and organs, akasa-tattva is at the top, corresponding to sound and hearing. The aether of space has seven principles and is the vibratory soundboard of nature in all its seven differentiations. Sound is directed in its operations by fohat, being one of seven radicals.

The power of sound is connected with rhythmic vibration and sympathetic vibration; a powerful voice, sounding the right tone, may shatter a wineglass; and the imagination suggests dangerous applications of this principle. To dabble experimentally in it, or to follow the teachings of pseudo-occultists, would be like an ignorant person meddling with the switches in a powerhouse.

(See also: Sound , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Cars

As in life, the car is simply the best mode of transportation within a dream. In that case, the rest of the dream is more important than the car itself. However, if the dream includes significant information about the car, that image may be worth a deeper look. There are numerous car images in our dream lives. These may include accidents, being a passenger in a car, buying a car or driving a car.

Accidents usually reveal perceived threats, vulnerabilities or anxieties about the well-being of those we love. They may also reflect a sense of being out-of-control or unable to protect others sufficiently. Dreams of this nature can also have a strong premonition feeling to them that inspire additional caution the following morning. Deja vu may be a very powerful element, as well, if the accident occurred on a road often travelled. Heightened sensitivity to careless habits might be a good idea following an accident dream.

Being a passenger in a car may indicate that you feel the driver has control over your destiny. The driver may even be a public figure, such as a celebrity or politician. In these instances, your feelings about the driver and how trustworthy he is can be significant. Buying a car is often a wish-fulfillment or problem-solving dream. These dreams reflect a desire to acquire something that is beyond your means in waking life. If you are in the market for a car, your dreams may actually be trying to help differentiate the best choice.

Driving a car is roughly the opposite of being a passenger in one. However, the passengers may reflect persons to whom you feel an acute sense of responsibility. Again, they may be figures from almost any area of your life. What is important is how you relate to them and how you all agree or differ on your destination.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Cars , Meaning of Dreams about Cars , Dream Interpretation Cars )

MYSTICISM -

1. communication that God makes of his or her spiritual light of the depths of the human heart. (Dhu’n-Nun Misri)

2. absolute (Evelyn Underhill)

3. states characterized by ineffability, that of knowledge (William James)

4. feeling of union with all life.

5. awareness of a dazzling light that fills the mind and heart.

6. experience of being bathed in emotions of joy, awe, wonder.

7 intuitive flashes of awareness and understanding of the universe.

8. merging with the creation, creator, nature.

9. feeling of transcendental love and compassion for all living things.

10. renewed sense of energy and vitality and health.

11. sudden vanishing of suffering and fear of death.

12. enhanced appreciation of art and beauty and less attachment to material things.

13. appearance of ESP and enhanced intellect, gifts and powers.

14. renewed sense of purpose and mission in life.

15. Change in personality and inner radiance. (NAD)

(See also: MYSTICISM , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Ancestor Worship A cult widely observed among peoples and usually defined as the cult of the spirits of parents and forefathers. It implies belief in the continued existence of the deceased and in certain cases in their power of being interested in and affected by the fortunes of their living descendants; the sense of a perpetual spiritual unity and moral reciprocity in obligations and services; and a dependence of the fortunes of the living on the fulfillment of these obligations.

This can be seen from the ancient Roman ideas portrayed in the Aeneid, where the household gods (lares and penates) are so carefully preserved through all vicissitudes. This belief and practice point to times when death was regarded as merely an event in a continuous life. With the ancient cults, the sense of personal separateness seems merged in the more vivid sense of family unity, from whose privileges and obligations death is no discharge. In fact, theosophy suggests that the reimbodying ego of an ancestor actually takes a body born of its own descendants as a result of the transmigration of life-atoms. Thus what might be called an ancestral blood stream, or a tree with collateral branches, subsists.

The basic idea behind ancestor worship seems to be that its holders envisaged unity in a continuous and never-ending stream of lives, perpetuating itself in succession through the ages, and out of which and back into which individuals arise and sink, an idea in direct contrast to the modern view that the individual is the most important factor in life.

(See also: Ancestor Worship , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

ego: The external personality or sense of "I" and "mine." Broadly, individual identity. In Saiva Siddhanta and other schools, the ego is equated with the tattva of ahamkara, "Imaker," which bestows the sense of I-ness, individuality and separateness from God.

See: ahamkara, anava.

(See also: Ego , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Asat (Sanskrit) (from a not + sat being from the verbal root as to be)

Not being, non-being; used in the Indian philosophies with two meanings almost diametrically opposed: firstly, as the false, the unreal, or the manifested universe, in contrast with sat, the real; secondly, in a profoundly mystical sense, as all that is beyond or higher than sat. "Sat is born from Asat, and Asat is begotten by Sat: the perpetual motion in a circle, truly; yet a circle that can be squared only at the supreme Initiation, at the threshold of Paranirvana" (SD 2:449-50).

In its lower sense, asat signifies the realms of objective nature built out of and from the various prakritis, and therefore regarded as illusory in contrast to the enduring Be-ness or sat. In its higher sense asat is that boundless and eternal metaphysical essence of space out of which, in which, and from which even sat or Be-ness itself is and endures. Asat here is parabrahman-mulaprakriti in its most abstract meaning.

(See also: Asat , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Zebra

Dreams of zebras often reflect a sense of changeability in your waking life. You may see yourself as having two (or more) distinct identities that compete for predominance in your behaviour, morals and other life roles. This is especially true for people who struggle with workplaces that demand questionable ethical practices or for those who are unfaithful to others.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Zebra , Meaning of Dreams about Zebra , Dream Interpretation Zebra )

Ethics In theosophy, a philosophy of moral conduct based on the inner structure and operations of the universe itself, not a mere code of conventional behavior. The grounds alleged for moral conduct depend on one's view of man and the universe.

Theosophy distinguishes between a person's real self and the illusive personal masks which are mistaken for that self. As with Kant, a sharp distinction is drawn between wish and inclination on the one hand, and the sense of moral obligation on the other; this latter is regarded as supervening upon the drama of self-interest and imposing a higher law.

Recognizing the essential oneness of the individual with the universe, not only spiritually but on all planes, the student of occultism strives for the subordination of the personal self as an individual to the common good of all mankind, and indeed of all things that are. With this training, the student in time comes keenly to realize that there is no longer a moral obligation lying upon him to subject his personal wish to the common good, but that this subordination becomes the first joyful duty of all his life. In this manner spiritual powers, faculties, and attributes are gained, as well as intellectual expansion that, when more or less complete, combine to make the full adept or initiate. A master of wisdom is one who has developed an individual consciousness of his oneness with the Boundless, and this is the very foundation of the ethics of theosophy.

The human ethical sense is a manifestation of one's awareness and willing cooperation with the inherent spiritual laws of the universe. No person can misconduct himself without injecting disharmony into the human hierarchy of which he is a part, and for this he must pay, though nature does not revenge or punish but readjusts or restores the disturbed harmony. Though these essential laws are eternal and changeless, the degree of their manifestation at any time or in any group vary; so that we may speak of ethics also in a relative sense. The world saviors and messengers from the Great Lodge, in obedience to cyclic necessity, strike for humanity the ethical keynote for each coming cycle.

(See also: Ethics , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ahamkara (Sanskrit) (from aham ego, I + kara maker, doer from the verbal root kri to do)

I-maker; conception of egoity or I-am-I-ness. In its lower aspect, the egoistical and mayavi principle, born of avidya (ignorance), which produces the notion of the personal ego as being different from the universal self. In Sankhya philosophy ahamkara is the third emanation: from prakriti (primal nature or substance) issues mahat (the great), standing for universal mind, which in turn produces ahamkara, selfhood, individuality; from ahamkara come forth the five tanmatras, the subtle forms of the elements or principles and "the two series of sense organs" (Samkhya-Sutra 1:61).

In the Bhagavad-Gita (7:4), prakriti manifests in eight portions -- "earth, water, fire, air, ether (space: kham-akasa), mind (manas), understanding (buddhi) and egoity, self-sense (ahamkara)

" -- all of which relate to the object side, which gives an erroneous sense of identity or egoity.

As universal self-consciousness, ahamkara has "a triple aspect, as also Manas. For this conception of 'I,' or one's Ego, is either sattwa, 'pure quietude,' or appears as rajas, 'active,' or remains tamas, 'stagnant,' in darkness. It belongs to Heaven and Earth, and assumes the properties of either" (SD 1:335n).

(See also: Ahamkara , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dream Interpretation Cushion

Dreaming of a cushion may suggest that you are trying to hide or protect yourself from something unpleasant what you have to face in waking life. On the other hand, if you are simply relaxed in a beautiful cushion, the dream could mean that you feel secure about your personal relationship or in a more material sense. The colour of the cushion may be also significant.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Cushion , Meaning of Dreams about Cushion , Dream Interpretation Cushion )

Muni (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root man to think]

An ascetic, monk, devotee, hermit (especially one who has taken a vow of silence); a person who has attained union with his inner divinity by means of aspiration, so that filled with inspiration as he is, and guided by the inner spiritual monitor, he is said to attain more or less fully the status of an incarnate divinity on earth. With the Sanskrit expression hridayeshu sthitah (abiding in the hearts), the phrase has direct reference to the Silent Watcher of our planetary chain, who is in a sense the spiritual and mystical parent of the higher part of the human constitution.

In the plural, the celestial seven munis, a collective title given to the seven stars of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Here is the reason the marharshis of this constellation play so important a part in archaic Hindu and theosophical esoteric teaching -- the genuinely evolved muni is one who is a true mahatma, one who has evoked into relatively full activity all the seven parts of his constitution.

Muni, however, is frequently used in Hindu writings in a merely complimentary or reverential sense, just as mahatma is, so that not every individual called muni or mahatma is such in the theosophical sense.

(See also: Muni , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kali (Sanskrit) The black; name of the seventh tongue of Agni, the fire god, which was a black fiery flame. Blackness and darkness have always been associated with the pre-cosmic night in its mystical sense, the pralaya preceding the awakening manifestations of life in the present universe. Hence kali represents pre-cosmic wisdom.

By that strange inversion of fact which nature manifests nearly everywhere, the highest is reflected in the lowest as in a mirror, so that in this sense the black fiery flame is the condensed fiery magnetic vitality of the lowest material worlds; therefore in this sense kali often stands for wickedness and evil.

Later, Kali or Kali-devi became a title of the wife of Siva, Parvati, because of her fierce and destructive nature.

(See also: Kali , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Asraya-alambana - the receptacle of love for Krsna, the bhaktas. This is an aspect of vibhava, one of the five essential ingredients of rasa (see vibhava). Although the word asraya also conveys the same meaning as asraya-alambana, it may often be used in the general sense of shelter or support. The word asraya-alambana, however, is specifically used to indicate the receptacle of prema as one of the necessary ingredients of rasa. It is not used in any other sense.

(See also: Asraya-alambana , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Sacrifice The performance of sacred rites, but with the more restricted sense of ceremonies of invocation, communion, or propitiation between man and gods. Scholars, in studying these universal rites, are at a loss to find an essential significance by which to gather them all into one class, and as to which to include and which to exclude from such a class.

Sacrifices may take the form of a meal offered to the gods or shared with them, an oblation of first fruits of the harvest or flocks, or a propitiation or act of atonement. The Romans dedicated a portion of food or a libation to the lares or other deities; the Hebrews offered the first fruits of the harvest or the yearlings of the flock. The word also has the meaning of an act of self-dedication for a noble cause.

Christianity, in addition to a great many so-called pagan ideas, also inherited and adapted Jewish sacrificial ideas, but the word became limited to the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world, and the sacrifice by man of his personal desires to the behests of his divinity. The true origin of the Christian atonement is in the Mysteries, when the hierophant offered his pure and sinless life as a sacrifice for his race to the gods whom he hoped to rejoin (IU 2:42). The general sense in theosophy is that of sacrificing one's temporal interests to a lofty ideal.

(See also: Sacrifice , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

According to ayurvedic philosophy an individual bundle of `spirit’, desirious of expressing itself, uses subjective consciousness or Satwa to manifest sense organs and a mind. Spirit and mind then project themselves into a physical body, created from the five (Pancha) great (maha) eternal elements (bhutas) – together called the Panchamahabhutas – which arise from Tamas. The sense organs then using Rajas to project from the body into the external world to experience their objects. The body becoming the mind’s vehicle, its physical instrument for sense gratification.

The Bhutas combine into "tridoshas" or bioenergetic forces that govern and determine our health or physical condition. While the three gunas (Rajas or activity, Tamas or inertia and Satwa, which balances the first two) or psychic forces determine our mental and spiritual health. Ayurveda is thus a holistic system of health care that teaches us to balance these energies in order to achieve optimum health and well being.

(See also: Principles of Ayurveda , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)