Ever had a disturbing dream/nightmare?

Have you ever woke up after having some weird nightmare, where you indulged in irrational sinful actions, only to think, "why the hell did i do that?". Well, Plato might shed some light on those involuntary sins.

In Plato's Republic, Socrates says that there are in every man, unlawful pleasures and appetites that bestir themselves in sleep when, "during the slumbers of that other part of the soul, which is rational and tamed and master of the former, the wild animal part, sated with meat or drink, becomes rampant, and, pushing sleep away, endeavours to set out after the gratification of its own proper character.".

He continues saying, "in such moments there is nothing that it dares not do, released and delivered as it is from any sense of shame and reflection. It does not shrink from attempting in fancy unholy intercourse with a mother, or with any man or deity or animal whatever ; and it does not hesitate to commit the foulest murder, or to indulge itself in the most defiling meats. In one word, there is no limit either to its folly or its audacity." Those who remember their dreams well know the truth in this statement.

However, he quickly gives a remedy to this folly, stating as follows: "But, I imagine, whenever a man’s personal habit is healthful and temperate, and when before betaking himself to rest, he has stimulated the rational part of him, and feasted it on beautiful discussions and high inquiries, by means of close and inward reflection; while, on the other hand, he has neither stinted nor gorged the appetitive part, in order that it may sleep, instead of troubling with its joys or its griefs that highest part, which may thus be permitted to pursue its studies in purity and independence, and to strain forward till it perceives something till then unknown, either past, present, or future ; and when, in like manner, he has calmed the spirited element by avoiding every hurst of passion, which would send him to sleep with his spirit stirred, when, I say, he proceeds to rest, with two elements out of the three quieted, and the third, wherein wisdom resides, aroused, you are aware that, at such moments, he is best able to apprehend truth, and that the visions, which present themselves in his dreams, are then anything but unlawful."

Last Edited by AllisOneisAll on 03/24/2018 03:16 PM