Saint Nikitas Stithatos. "On the Inner Nature of Things and on the Purification of the Intellect: One Hundred Texts". From Philokalia, Vol. 4.
60. Those who have attained spiritual
maturity can also analyze, the impulsions and proclivities of the soul,
and can guide and guard their inner state, on the basis of dreams. For
bodily impulsions and the images in our intellect depend upon our inner
disposition and preoccupations. If your soul hankers after pleasure and
material things, you will dream about acquiring possessions and having
money, about the female figure and sexual intercourse - all of which
leads to the soiling and defilement of soul and body. If you are haunted
by images of greed and avarice, you will see money everywhere, will get
hold of it, and will make more money by lending it out at interest and
storing the proceeds in the bank, and you will be condemned for your
callousness. If you are hottempered and vicious, images of poisonous
snakes and wild beasts will plague you and overwhelm you with terror. If
you are fall of self-esteem, you will dream of popular acclaim and
mass-meetings, government posts and high office; and even when awake you
will imagine that these things, which as yet you lack, are already
yours, or soon will be. If you are proud and pretentious, you will see
yourself being carried along in a splendid coach and even sometimes
airborne, while everyone trembles at your great power. Similarly, if you
are devoted to God, diligent in the practice of the virtues, scrupulous
in the struggle for holiness and with a soul purged of material
preoccupations, you will see in sleep the outcome of events and
awe-inspiring visions will be disclosed to you. When you wake from sleep
you will always find yourself praying with compunction and in a
peaceful state of soul and body, and there will be tears on your cheeks,
and on your lips words addressed to God.
