DJ Comments

I am equally confused. If I knew all the right answers, I wouldn't be searching. This new direction has some appeal to me, so I'm going to follow it. Where it leads, nobody knows.

I'm confused. You go from abusing rules and the creation of conflict to having this absurd desire to be virtuous. Why? You consider that dreaming may be an illusion. You relate life to gaming, linking that to dreaming. I understand you're flushing out your personality, exploring new ways to be--to experience. That's definitely a nice way to change things up. I'm just wanting to understand your motivation to be virtuous. What caused that? It definitely seems more than just boredom for your prior role. Your move for change indicates there's some belief you hold that doesn't think dreaming/choices/actions are illusions.

Ah! You make valid points. Dreaming is too dramatic, so you simplified things. Sometimes the unknown is overwhelming in that regard. Though you don't always have to tidy things up to remove the drama. You could always keep the drama and just understand some mysteries are resolved in their own time. Your desire to understand is dampening your ability to experience (to let go of expectations). Though, if you're changing your focus from wisdom (understanding) to virtue (doing), then you seem to be aware of the concern. That's pretty neat, actually.

Thank you. Your last comment did jolt me into understanding that I do have a fixation for names and the meaning behind them. It's true, my assumptions here are a bit arbitrary. I could have assigned The Goddess's mystery to be anything. That's the point. I've been fixated on the idea that there's a grand conspiracy behind it all and there's some meaning to be found. But that line of thinking has grown stagnant. I was unconsciously building mystery upon mystery for the sake of drama.

Since it is arbitrary, I chose to resolve the mystery thus: The Goddess is a version of me, so her secrets are my secrets.

Those are many assumptions you've made about wisdom, The Goddess, and yourself. It's definitely possible, what you propose for each. Whether or not it's the truth seems like something you're unlikely to receive confirmation about.

Interesting reflection and rationalization regarding your experiences it seems you've resolved your dissonance.

Thanks for reminding me how great daydreams can be

Thank you. You helped me solve the puzzle.

I enjoy your writing and how you experience your dreams. I'm curious, why does a name matter? You already call her The Goddess. Would it make a difference if it were Emily or Sophia? She will still be her no matter the name you provide her... why is that a fixation for you?

You know who else had a name fixation; Hyu. That was interesting too.

(I start to groan, because I used to hate when they appear in my dreams, but it doesn't bother me so much anymore).

I know that feel bro.

Seriously, My family members, (Particularly my father, his parents and my younger cousins) can be some of the most obnoxious and annoying dream characters second to all the cookie-cutter bullies and pricks that populate my dreams. They're never mean like the bullies, just aggravating. I know my DC dad is always passive-aggressive and visibly irritated whenever I become lucid. (He doesn't like my dream guide at all either). Other family members, (My mother, my deceased grandparents) are downright reasonable, and nice character though still act a bit weird. But its a dream...

Thank you for the comment and sharing your synchronicity.

The avatar is indeed from Cowboy Bebop. His name is Spike Spiegel. "Spiegel" is German for "mirror."

I had a dream with a similar plot thread with my dream guide, Manei. (I'm assuming you view Goddess as a sort of dream guide.) Though I couldn't find the dream in my 600+ DJ entries. I wonder why...

I guess where it was different was the fact that there were three kids (two girls and a boy).

I wasn't too fond of the idea of being a the father of a family in a dream. Not so much scared of it as just annoyed, since in the context of the dream, we were simply exploring one of many possible futures we could experience. I remember telling her (In a tone that was no-BS and to the point) that I thought this was a horrible idea. For me, dreams are a place to experience freedom from daily chores and responsibilities, and to go wild. I don't want to be tied down having a family and be perpetually having anxious dream plots centered around caring for children. I guess she saw there was no standing her ground with this one.

I don't know if foregoing your DGs wishes for your own is selfish or not, but she seemed to take this one pretty well.

Just thought I'd share my story, cause it seemed pretty similar to yours.

BTW is your avatar the guy from Cowboy Bebop? (I don't know his name, I haven't seen it yet but its on my watchlist.)

Yes, my dreams are often like films, and also literature, theater, and games. These are all fiction: they are "unreal" but nonetheless interesting places in which to play and feel. So I borrow the language and idioms of those fields and mash them up into whatever seems most appropriate to me.

Regarding emotions and meditation, my interpretation was as catharsis, which is a term from the study of fiction, especially theater and tragedy. In this session, the specific way that I experienced catharsis was probably influenced by a style of Buddhist meditation called tonglen.

Nice. : ) It really does spice up your dream journal entry and thanks for explaining what you were doing to me. Never heard of Catharsis before but I learned something new so that's great. ^^

Yes, my dreams are often like films, and also literature, theater, and games. These are all fiction: they are "unreal" but nonetheless interesting places in which to play and feel. So I borrow the language and idioms of those fields and mash them up into whatever seems most appropriate to me.

Regarding emotions and meditation, my interpretation was as catharsis, which is a term from the study of fiction, especially theater and tragedy. In this session, the specific way that I experienced catharsis was probably influenced by a style of Buddhist meditation called tonglen.

I noticed you used film terms in here. That's helpful for picturing the scene. Too bad I forgot what a B roll was though
^^" Something else that grabbed my attention was the way you dismissed your emotions. Sounds like a form of meditation.

Yes - I think I am getting where you are coming from and I like the thinking. Rich with symbology cirtainly is how I see my dreams ... So to constantly bear this info in mind while dreaming and more specifically lucid dreaming where our consciousness is clearly thinking ( hopefully) seems very very productive - I am inspired to make this my goal and will give it more thought

Thank you for the comment. I didn't think anyone would read the whole thing. I think what's interesting about this dream and my recall of it is that I strive to accept interpretation without committing to it. So, my sister and my mother might mean this, and the orange and the airport might mean that. And as a whole, maybe the dream is about hypocrisy, or about cultivating compassion or acceptance, or about escape to a refuge. All these characters, objects, and scenes are loaded with symbolism and possibility. All those possibilities are in play, but I prefer not to favor one over the other.

Yes much of a sprawling blizzardness to it - I am looking forward to having more long Lucids/semi's like this and experiencing the confidence of making decisions like you do here ...however trivial they might seem

Sure, I think there's 3 notable elements.

The first part is transition. Mostly by chance, I found that I was getting consistent success transitioning into WILD by falling through the bed. So I started re-using the idiom of falling for any scene transition. I always enter a dream by falling and I can always change the scene by falling. In this way, I'm not concerned how I get to where I want. I have just one technique that becomes more reliable through repetition. (Though, as in this entry, I chose to build The Beach instead of fall there. But that was a choice for the sake of a challenge.)

The second part is archetypes for stock scenes. All those scenes are places I entered by chance in past dreams, but liked them so much that I wanted to revisit them. So, again through repetition, I stripped down the details a bit and focused on a more archetypal representation. That's why I call it, for example, The Field instead of a field. Same with The Beach, The Moon, The Void, The Goddess. I don't sweat the details too much. If some things are out of place, I don't worry about it. I'm just invoking a sparse, minimal archetype on top of which to build meaning. That makes it repeatable. (Although, as in this entry, you can see I got a little too sidetracked with forming the hills and the palm trees.)

The last part is customizing a scene for a particular purpose, and this comes from doing some planning ahead. I have a plan: dunk a basketball. What will I need? A basketball hoop. So, before dreaming, I visualize what that might look like, borrowing from past dreams or real experiences. As with the above, keep it simple. Just one or two props that you expect to be in the scene so that you can accomplish your goal.

So, when I am about to enter a scene, I do my usual technique: falling. And while doing that, I recall the other key elements: the archetype, the plan, and the visualization of prop or character that ought to be there.

Hi Sisyphus I would like to incubate a few different scenes to choose from while lucid. Can you tell me how you started out with the incubation of scene and the main things that helped you go on to to succeed - cheers

Boredom is a common theme of my dreams (and waking life too). Particularly when I don't have a plan, dreams scenes will tend to have this empty, featureless quality.