If one learns the art of dropping the perceiver and perceiving true intelligence, one can experience it directly, rather than as a concept. This is difficult because we tend to see through concepts. The brain uses thought, and thought is memory. Memory draws upon knowledge, which is limited. This limitation creates conflict. Thought gives us knowledge, but intelligence is a function of the whole.
Knowledge has its place, but intelligence has a profound function. When the brain operates through intelligence, there is cognition; when it operates through thought, there is only recognition. It is intelligence, not knowledge, that brings about transformation in the present moment. Hence, Lord Shiva says, ‘Jnanam bandhanam’ (knowledge is bondage).
We experience the external world through our sense organs and mind in a state of wakefulness. In the dream state, inward experiences are available to us. In the state of deep sleep, there is no desire. But there is a fourth, transcendent state, which is neither outwardly nor inwardly aware but is pure silence.
There is a difference between wakefulness and dreaming. On closer observation, we can understand the real difference between the two, even as we may have observed that a dream seems as real as wakefulness. Dreaming represents a part of our waking experience, and deep sleep is the experience of the end of wakefulness.
Through the practice of deep silence in meditation, one can overcome fears, among several other benefits. Fear is continuity. We do not know how to end this continuity. Deep sleep puts an end to the joys and sorrows of wakefulness. The dream state has the intrinsic power to bring about an ending. We should learn the art of ending. Most of our worries do not end because we tend to carry them with us. Some people carry them into their next birth, too. We get hurt when someone scolds us and carry that hurt for the rest of our lives.
If we remain alert, deep sleep will give us the power to end our fears and worries. When we do not know how to put an end to our fears and worries, our wakefulness becomes stupid.
Mullah Nasiruddin went to his girlfriend and said, “Sweetheart, I had a dream about you. In the dream, I was about to approach you with love letters and express my love. As a dream therapist, how would you decode the dream?” The girlfriend replied, “You are more intelligent in your dream than in the waking state.”
In our waking state, we are rather messed up because we do not understand the power of silence. The dream state contains symptoms of unfulfilled desires in the waking state. Dreams are a good indicator of the chaos in our lives. The dream state appears at this point between dreaming and wakefulness. We can see that both the waking and dream states are transitory. The dream state reveals what is suppressed in wakefulness. We can discover the power to put an end to our suppressions. We can then relate to the world intelligently.
At present, we do not relate intelligently; we relate through infatuation. We are addicted to money, power, name and fame. People sell their souls for money, their lives for fame and sacrifice everything for position. This is how life is cheapened. Infatuation makes us negate the world unintelligently.
Some people feel and enjoy the rain. Others just get wet and feel miserable.