Patanjali's four sleep states.

[Urmila Anna Samson]

Jagruti - Wakefulness.

Svapna - Dream state.

Shushupti - We become one with consciousness, God. Every one of us, every night!

Turiya - Enlightened state - no boundary between wakefulness and sleep.

One of my children has mischievously photographed me while sleeping, and made it my screen saver while the computer is idle. I thought it was a good opening to discuss dreams, sleep, rest, idleness, meaninglessness...

In the modern world, meaninglessness is perceived as leading to depression, violence, even suicide. In the ancient east, meaninglessness is seen as the starting point in an individual's search for meaning, purpose, search for higher and ever higher states of being, glimpses of humankind's infinite potential.

Idleness is not necessarily the devil's workshop...Rest should be prescribed for the wicked...Dreams give us numerous clues from our unconsious minds, to know ourselves better, and sleep takes us every night on a journey that makes us One.

[Laura Weldon]

The photo looks as if you are having a delicious dream Urmila!

I have gained so much from listening to my own dreams. They speak in a language of heightened meaning.
I also love talking to others about their dreams. I especially enjoyed asking my children to share glimpses of the dreamworld when they were just waking up. There's a between-the-world quality when you snuggle with little ones as they drift in and out of sleep.

Your words about meaningless are so true. Struggle and despair are so often the causative factor in new clarity and greater consciousness. The shadows have to be lived in order to cherish the light. In my own life and the lives of my loved ones I have seen many times that a crisis forces us to grow or constrict. Here in the west there's little respect given to idle time, or time for reflection, since we're expected to push ever onward but I think a greater respect for this as well as for sleep (which westerners are known to be deficient in as well) could do our inner lives a world of good.

I hope that our homeschooling life continues to demonstrate to my children that all states of mind have value. Since my kids sleep in quite late I guess they have shown how much they appreciate sleep....

[Urmila Anna Samson]

I found myself getting very defensive about my children's sleep habits. My middle son Rayn had a sleep cycle twice last year where he went round the clock, sleeping and waking an hour later each day/night. I had to set an alarm to get his meal timings right. By the second time round the clock he has become very particular about going to bed within a certain limit even if he can't get sleep - which is a big relief for me! (He still sleeps and wakes rather late by anyone's standards. But he loves the nocturnal solitude, and since the age of 2, his main academic learning has always taken place after midnight. Self taught, luckily!)

[Laura Weldon]

I hear lots of homeschoolers admit that their kids sleep odd hours. Interesting to contemplate what our freely chosen sleep cycles might be and how creative our energies might be if we allowed our own rhythms to establish themselves. Rayn is a lucky chap.