Perugia, Sunday July 5th 2009 16.00
Priori Palace - Piazza IV Novembre 16, Perugia
Lecturer: Marco Ferrini, Founder and President of Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta

Perugia, July 5th “How to make your dreams come true” is the conference theme held by Marco Ferrini at the “Priori Palace in Perugia.
Before entering the topic of dreams, Marco Ferrini – with the support of quotations and remarks inspired by the Vedic literature and by some Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle – explained that emotions, thoughts and desires are  man's main consisting features.  “Man does not live by bread alone”, therefore the sensorial  perception (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) is not to be considered the only source of knowledge and support for the human being. In fact so many  information and experiences exist independently from external phenomena.

According to the Upanishads, for instance, there is not just one single state of consciousness allowing us to experience the material world. There are four states of consciousness: wake,  sleep with dreams, sleep without dreams and a state of super consciousness (turiya). In all of them we   perceive a part of ourselves. In the wake state, body,  mind and intellect are usually active. While sleeping with dreams and even more without dreams, we go through a physiological phase which enables us to regenerate.
While dreaming, all the aspects and multiple personalities settled within our visible personality unfold and we can have access to the remote side of ourselves; as Freud said, in fact, “the subconscious is the symbol of the revelation”.
Eventually,  during the turiya state of consciousness, the most difficult to reach, the human being fcan go beyond  space and time. The four states of consciousness altogether are potentially part of the same personality.
This Upanishad description, according to Marco Ferrini’s explanation, reveals that the living being is much more complex than it may seem to be.
“Dreams can be programmed, taken care of and realized”, says the speaker. In addition to it we can also be active wittnesses or, on the contrary, we can be passive dreamers, “dreaming either with open or shut eyes”. As passive spectators, the tendency is an overwhelming oblio; as active observers instead, dreams carry welness and hope. “Dreaming is a positive project” to look at one’s own life in order to reach  superior levels of consciousness. A lot of time was given to the audience to ask questions, which the speaker answered with the satisfaction of all.