Sleep, including dreams, is an unfathomable necessity for human life. This is true not only for humans but also for animals, but in this case, I will hold my explanation only to humans alone.
During World War II, hundreds of soldiers in the U.S. were tested for sleep, and the results showed that many of them were mentally afflicted, even though there was nothing physically wrong with them.
This shows that there is a deep relationship between sleep and brain activity.
The University of Tokyo experiment also showed that when people were woken up in a state of paradoxical sleep (REM sleep), they were dreaming 100% at the time of waking up. Some scholars say that if this is true, then most people are dreaming for 2 or 3 hours every night because it is normal to have 2 or 3 hours of paradoxical sleep every night. A closer examination of the brain waves of paradoxical sleep shows that brain waves from the area of the brain known as the hippocampal sulcus are prominent.
In other words, this area is in an active state. Interestingly, the hippocampal sulcus is said to be a “memory site” and is related to past events. Researchers say that this may provide a clue to the mechanism by which dreams come about, which are said to be the reproduction of images from the past.
Without dreams, mankind would have perished.
As I wrote in my book, God and Man, I am keenly aware that without sleep and dreams, the human race would have perished long ago. When we regard human beings as physical human beings, dreams are not something that you can have on your own. They are a process where your Shugo-rei and Shugo-jin* are purifying and erasing, in the world of dreams, the thought vibrations accumulated in the past.
Notes:
Shugo-rei and Shugo-jin: The guardian spirits and guardian divinity who always protect and guide a person for his or her salvation. Goi Sensei teaches us that your main Shugo-rei, or guardian spirit, is your spiritual parent and an awakened spirit of your ancestor and that Shugo-jin are guardian divinities, branched out from Choku-rei, or the Direct Spirit, to cooperate with Shugo-rei to develop the person’s Hon-shin, or true mind.
When you sleep, it seems as if you do so in your own way, but when you really think about it, sleeping is something that is done very naturally and without effort or tension.
If you try to sleep on your own, you will not be able to sleep unless you take sleeping pills. Just as you wake up naturally, you sleep naturally.
No one breathes consciously. You breathe naturally without realizing it. If you are preoccupied with your breathing, your breathing will be disturbed, and you will have difficulty breathing.
The heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and all other organs of the human body are all active regardless of human consciousness. So, when you start to worry about a part or its function, it is a sign that the part is malfunctioning.
Thus, when we look at the inner workings of the body, the importance of doing in Mu-i*, or without intention or artifice, and the necessity of Zen-taku*, or complete entrustment, which are used in religious terms, seem to be quite reasonable teachings.
Notes:
Mu-i: It means to be spontaneous and let nature(life) take its course.
Zentaku: Complete entrustment where you entrust all to your Guardian Deities and Guardian Spirits.
It is only those people who have fully developed their spirituality, who know that they are branch spirits of God, and whose thoughts always emanate from their true mind that can truly say they live their life. For those who live as a physical human being, it is the true mindset that they are being kept alive by something.
As I always say, it is the fact that the sun, the air, the earth, and all the other natural elements are all provided for the survival of physical human beings by the power of someone of great love itself. So, whether we call it God or Mother Nature, we cannot help being thankful every single day.
Sleep and dreams, likewise, are absolutely necessary for human existence. If we do not sleep, we will be worn out in much less time than we endure a fast. The importance of sleep can be seen in this one example.
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