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    FallenAwake

    Higher Self then a Higher Question

    by , 04-22-2011 at 03:06 PM (1886 Views)
    WAKING LIFE DREAMING LUCID
    BOLD IF IT FEELS PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT


    This is a complete but rough draft
    From a couple nights ago



    Spirituality's Just a Clunky Flashlight: Surprise Gratitude

    I wasn’t expecting to have another lucid dream. Not since I did the other night after probably years of not remembering a lucid dream. I wasn’t even particularly focused on it last night, I was more interested in the emotional processing of dreams I’ve been remembering.

    Before falling asleep, I went into the deepest meditation I think I’ve experienced before. During this meditation I was using audio with delta binaural (as well as other aspects) for the first time. I had used the demo before, before falling asleep and having the first lucid dream in this journal. That was the first lucid dream I remembered in a long time and it happened maybe 3 nights before the lucid dream in this journal entry.

    There were many exceptionally vivid visuals that arose during the meditation. I kept coming back to my breath, but sometimes would just give in to the feeling of witnessing instead, feeling like why focus on the breath if that’s not the real point? Being the Witness is. Then I would lose my deeper connection with witnessing and come back to my breath. Cyclic.

    I finished the meditation, rolled on my side, and meditated a bit without audio. I jumped when my name and something else was said in my ear. It seemed like a loud voice because of my stillness, but it was a whisper as if coming from a man, a lover, behind me. It was just so real and audible that it startled me.

    I fell asleep normally, not trying to WILD or whatnot.

    My mom in the living room, then in my room. Us conversing throughout this. Having the sense that I’m both in my living room and in my bed asleep simultaneously. She kind of giggles at me. I wonder if she’s there with me or not, if I’m hallucinating or something. She comes to my room and I’m only there, not in two places at once anymore. My window is open and there is a breeze. I ask her to close it for me; I don’t want to get up. She starts to close just the blinds and I ask her to close the window as well. She does. (Was some man coming toward the window, flying?)

    I thought, this is a dream.

    Darkness, vague sense of my body and no surroundings, as if I had my eyes closed in the dream. A strong, turning slowly in bed sensation. I couldn’t control it. slowly, over, over, tipping the sensation of falling at the same time. The slow shift ended.


    Walking, it is rather dark around me, a kind of muddy and empty yet dense darkness, like mist. Around something, turning, perhaps it was a small gate that I walked around.

    The dream felt very ordinary. Almost disappointing.

    meditated for a few breaths but then

    wanted to experiment with other things


    Asked to see my higher self (I don’t think I reflected on the forum thread specifically, but knew it was something I wanted to do.)

    A muted gray "wheel of fortune" with different faces on it, spinning slowly. alternating panels of dark grey and darker grey. Thought it was a very fitting image for how I conceive of a higher self intellectually.

    blogs/fallenawake/attachments/2144-higher-self-then-higher-question-wheeloffortune.png
    Kinda sorta looked like this

    Seemed somewhat boring, too intellectual.


    I asked to see what I “need to see”. saw a white light in nothing, black background.

    Questioned what I was seeing, like, this? Thought of typical images of god as light.


    blogs/fallenawake/attachments/2147-higher-self-then-higher-question-21.jpg
    After waking I thought of the similarities to Alex Grey’s God sacred mirror painting. Similar colors.

    I looked for depth in the light but it seemed kind of boring. Again, too intellectual perhaps. On reflection, was it the center of that higher self wheel?

    After thinking it was boring, another light moved into my vision as if responding to my thought. I realized it had been there but I hadn’t seen it. It was so bright when I started to focus on it. I questioned that this was really what I needed to see, thought I was just making it up. I reflected on the light being there all along, but I hadn’t seen it next to the dullish moon-like first light. The bright light fell onto the dark ground next to me. It clattered and I saw it was a flashlight.

    I guess I dismissed it, that is the feeling I have after waking, and felt joy at being lucid in the dream world

    I took a moment to feel gratitude and amazement at this lucid experience. I remembered a show I’d seen the other day about dreaming and how the brain comes alive with activity more than at any other time. I saw that clear image of the brain and nervous system pulsing with activity, inside my body. Deep, shimmering, pervasive gratitude hit and filled me.


    Similar to the end of this video.

    I felt grateful for being in this state and a deep appreciation and almost affection for my body for allowing it. It felt like this state was healing me. It was that awed, blissful feeling in dreams that I desire to experience more.


    I looked around and saw a lit up tunnel in the dark distance, like a tunnel for cars. I decided to try to conjure something. What popped into my conscious mind was a baby and I immediately tried to conjure one. (Odd because in waking life I don’t feel much desire to have a baby, though I love to be around them.) The attempt at conjuring was so quick, it seemed to step on the heel of the thought of a baby. I wanted to give it love and feel its love.

    A cat had already been walking up to me. Small, solid, short haired. I concentrated on changing it and a baby’s light transparent image superimposed over the cat for a second but that cat wasn’t going away. I thought about learning more about dream control and gave up on the baby thought.

    The cat talked in a witch’s type voice.
    (Funny, now I remember that I had been listening to Ken Wilber the day before this dream and I’d thought about Ken’s voice being grating and nasal, kind of like a witch.)

    The cat seemed sinister.

    I picked it up, being careful not to hurt it. Held it like a baby, then shifted it into a more upright position. I thought of it being like Chaos,
    (my loved and peculiar cat that died a few years ago,) but no, not Chaos.

    The physical sensations in this dream were very obvious. The light breeze, the cat against my chest and under my hands.

    The cat said it wanted a kiss in that same crackling, grinding, deep yet high witch’s voice. I wasn’t sure if it would hurt me or not. I took its face in my hand and held its mouth closed and gave it a kiss.

    blogs/fallenawake/attachments/2146-higher-self-then-higher-question-untitled.png
    I remember its teeth and the feel against my lips.

    I was afraid of being bitten
    (the only times I’ve remembered feeling intense physical pain in dreams was when I was bitten. It has happened twice.)

    It was talking like it wanted to hurt things. I kind of tuned it out while I tried to decide what to do. I thought it was talking about wanting to hurt a baby and other darkness, I could hear it but I was only half-hearing and half-aware. It kept talking on and on.

    At some point I flew low to the ground

    That tunnel, somewhat lit, going into it. On my feet now. The cat still in my arms.
    Did I put it down? I think so.

    Fear and darkness, though I wasn’t completely overcome by the fear. I remember looking down to the other end of the tunnel.

    The dream changed


    Walking slowly through an office
    many people at desks in this main room
    one man I identify with emotionally as I walk by is creative
    he is conjuring a model/landscape of buildings on his desk that rise up slowly and gracefully



    much like the Game of Thrones intro.

    The young man seemed very creatively developed but he felt stuck and repressed.

    I felt myself fading out of the dream slowly, into nothingness. Nothingness for a bit. I hoped I wasn’t coming out of the dream. Heard a sound, realized it was like breathing. I still felt like I was sleeping. Still. Then I tested my breath, tried to change its rhythm slightly and
    felt the change, felt the air going through my nose like when I meditate. damn, I’m awake.

    This dream helped me put my finger on that feeling of bliss that I’ve experienced in dreams many times that is so profound and just expansive and freeing. Gratitude. And appreciation. A deeper love than egoic love, though it is kind of like the feeling of when you first fall in love and everything is vibrant and feels like you’re bursting.

    So this is what gratitude is. Fuck. I want to be grateful more! LOL. I’m grateful for wanting to be grateful, even.

    So strong. I’m going to practice bringing that into my walking life.

    I just felt some gratitude while saying that and it warmed my stomach (where some deep emotional knots are). Gratitude. Wow. God and gratitude seem the same at this moment.

    Reminds me of a woman I know who is so vibrant so much of the time. Gleeful in a grounded and beautifully feminine way. She showed me about being feminine in a positive and not fake way, truly feminine. I’d tended toward being a tom boy before that. Well, I still do but I also appreciate that exuberant feminine side.

    Now I want to love. Everything. (Dammit, bring back that creepy cat!)

    It feels like the gratitude for my body and brain lit up with lucidity was what I “needed to see”. A roundabout answer to a question I wasn’t sure how to ask. Being grateful, I feel in a sense like my higher self, as discussed in the thread.

    Since that dream I’ve researched practices in gratitude. Tonglen and others have appeared. My main focus is bringing it to all of my life (waking, dreaming, lucid, all). Now, can I be grateful while being with that cat or other similar darknesses? Yes, I’ve experienced that to degrees. Experienced gratitude along with protective boundaries simultaneously. I don't want to get stuck in "blank gratitude" – not consciously to the extent that I’d hurt myself with it.

    The emotional tone of the gratitude in the dream and that came with me into waking life is hit on in the tone of this song.

    Nothing In Between by Stuart Davis

    Nothing In Between by Stuart Davis

    Spoiler for Lyrics:

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    Comments

    1. hashmash89's Avatar
      That dream sounds amazing, I would love to try and communicate with the higher self as well as meditate in a dream. Great ideas. Sounds like you experienced something very beautiful, awesome dream. I may have to try meditating with binaural beats before bed, I still have yet to experiment with them at all
    2. FallenAwake's Avatar
      It felt amazing! Thanks for reading and replying. Yeah, so far there seems to be a correlation between using binarual (delta) beats right before sleep and having powerful lucid dreams. "Seems to be" being the operative phrase; I haven't tested it enough. I wonder if there's relevant research out there. A couple of people I know meditate in dreams regularly and recommend it highly, let me know how it turns out if you want!

      I think the most beautiful thing about the dream was that that feeling of gratitude has persisted into waking life. Experiencing it in the dream and identifying it has allowed me to remember it and embody it. I hope it doesn't fade too much, but deep gratitude will always be something I can recall in certain times.
      Updated 04-22-2011 at 07:04 PM by FallenAwake
    3. hashmash89's Avatar
      Yeah I had to check it out with a title about the higher self. Thats awesome you have been able to maintain that feeling. I'm sure it wont fade, if anything you can always give yourself the experience again through some deep meditation or hopefully even another lucid. I definitely plan to work with some delta binaural before bed and if I can pull off meditating in a dream i'll let you know how it went
      FallenAwake likes this.
    4. Novise's Avatar
      Wow, that is a life-changing dream. I know what you mean about the bliss-feeling in dreams. I have been wanting to make my days more like this carefree feeling. This is one of the best examples of spirituality coming out in a dream that I've ever come across. A lot of it kind of affirms some things I have felt in dreams and what I connect them with as far as spirituality goes. It's like the dream can show us what is possible and can have a spiritual-realm feeling to it. I don't know, hard to explain but there is something there. I think when you are at peace IRL, or you get past some things that are bothering you, dreams will naturally be more blissful. When your mind isn't filled with the "bad" stuff - anxieties, worries, fears, all that's left to come out naturally is the good stuff - gratitude/bliss. And what Buddha would perhaps have said is our natural state when we take care of our minds - happiness. These feelings seem to always be fleeting however.
    5. FallenAwake's Avatar
      It did feel life-changing, in that that feeling makes much more sense to me and feels not only like a key to happiness, but also a key to understanding. It brings compassion to a new qualitative level.

      I'd be interested to know more about the things you mentioned kind of affirm things for you.

      Yeah, the fleetingness of feelings can also grow to a hum of understanding that is pretty much constant, though, I think. It seems like that is how growth goes.
    6. Novise's Avatar
      I'll just talk freely because these subjects are not always easy. I think what is affirming about it is the way you approached it and how you had that sort of spiritual experience. I have read two of Ken Wilber's books and so I just assumed our approach to spirituality had things in common. Sometimes people just have a dream where a dream guide or something tells them what to do, but it doesn't have that mood to it that makes the dreamer know something meaningful happened. But here you have a dream that is all about feeling. It's that feeling of bliss and just comfort with what is arising. I have had both, I've had some where a DC might have said something interesting, but there is nothing to it to really affirm it. I've had some accompanied by the positive feeling, and those are the ones that really get your attention.

      The only time I ever think I met anything close to my spirit guide, it was a fleeting moment and the guide didn't try to tell me anything. It just sort of held calm conversation, with a great attitude, sort of leading me by example (guiding, not teaching). I have had dreams that I think are spiritual in nature, where the feeling inside of the dream was that of a heavenly, spiritual-realm. Anyone, any DC, can say anything. Maybe what affirms these things are the way they come across and the feelings you get.

      I just had this thought, sort of on a tangent to your dream but I'll share: As our view of God changes, maybe our view of Dream Guides should change as well? If you can see God in everything, then why not see your Dream Guide in the same way? You sort of did this with the wheel of fortune wheel and the way's the guide was a changing embodiment or manifestation - answering you without hesitation, flowing like water. When not in that form, obviously in front of you, it could be seen as a sort of Holy-Ghost, spirit, that embraces everything in your dream world. And in a way, every single part of your dream can be your guide, in the same way that everything in the world can teach you. I guess something is lost there, when approaching God in that fashion, but something is gained in time as we approach these things from different angles and listen to our true selves - a certainty that there is no need to fear all those questions you had before, everything is going to be alright. Only you can't explain why you were so certain, you only know that you were. And that feeling too, is fleeting.

      But I agree, with growth states can be made into more permanent stages (I just haven't really experienced it yet and I think for most of us, we just get glimpses).
    7. FallenAwake's Avatar
      I agree, the feeling tends to mean so much more than the events themselves. The feeling, in a somewhat paradoxical sense, has great practical application. It can readily transfer into waking life and provide meaningful motivation.

      Yes, the guide was basically existence. Or I suppose that was my intention. I like the way you put it, "a changing embodiment". Basically, the dream as a whole is a guide, like life. That distills it down too much, as you touched on, but is a part of it. Significance itself is more to the point. Recognizing what is significant to you in the moment naturally leads to deeper understanding of the "next step". Then it comes back to exploring the self to transform and drop the self.

      There was a kind of "certainty that there is no need to fear", as you say. I would describe it more like the fear might be there, but simultaneously this depth of gratitude and connection could be there as well. Be me as well. That happened to an extent with the cat.

      I think you have experienced it in other ways, though I imagine what you meant are these higher-feeling states. I've experienced it with skepticism, for example. Specifically, I used to be less aware of perspectives and become identified with an author of whatever I was reading. Then I differentiated from the author and saw the pieces of wisdom as well as the pieces of bullcrap with more clarity. That differentiation would occur more and more often, then it became second nature. Though it was second nature, it didn't occur 100% of the time, but probably 95% or so. That example is oversimplified, but it is generally one of the ways I've experienced growth from a state to a stage. I suppose that was going from green to yellow on an interpersonal cognitive line, to put it in Wilberese.