In doing research upon the dream premise, the neophyte finds certain discrepancies between the methods recommended by Cayce and those of science. Basically, the scientific approach to research of any kind is thought to be completely unbiased by the personal opinions or feelings of the researcher. The ideal for the man of science is complete detachment; the attitude must be impersonal. On the other hand, the Cayce position is revealed by one key word. That word is "prayerfully" and that makes the Cayce approach very personal indeed!

The lay investigator of psychic research is not overly concerned whether certain phenomena have happened or can happen. What he wants to know is, "Can these things happen to me?" If the results are beneficial he will probably apply them in his daily life. If he cannot use them, he is not particularly interested in merely adding something to the sum total of human knowledge per se. It must be useful in some way to him. It must be practical in his own terms. Ideally, the lay investigator goes to his task on a basis of prayer and meditation, asking not that great shiny miracles happen but that the "right" things happen. There is nothing impersonal about it.

As Gerald Heard once expressed it, "How does the ’fact-and- figures’ man know what the object of his search may think of him and his efforts?"

Without the humility of this attitude, the investigator cannot hope to penetrate very deeply the levels and reaches of the human mind. Unless this point is established early, nothing that follows will make sense.

Ideally, the purpose of analyzing one’s dreams is to make a beginning of bringing into conscious experience all levels of the human mind through knowing their laws of operation and the nature of the contents. Knowing what is in the tool box and how all the tools work, we will agree, would make a fine beginning, but other factors enter the picture—unforeseen factors which are the result of growth.

During the period of fragmentary dream experience encountered by the beginner, the symbols are usually accepted literally, since the average man is used to thinking in that way. Then as symbols appear which are part of group or folk ideograms,  the individual becomes  aware that he  has