Thread: Inhibitions in Dreams

Personally, I believe we should act the same way in our dreams as in real life. For example, if you are against murder, you should not murder for pleasure in dreams because that goes against who you are. If you don't do things in your dreams, it's most likely simply because somewhere down inside of you, you know it's wrong to even want to do these things and you are ashamed of yourself. If you really want to do these things, the only way would be to destroy this shame and rationalize why you'd want to cheat on your wife. That's not an alternative I would encourage. But that's just me.

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

Personally, I believe we should act the same way in our dreams as in real life. For example, if you are against murder, you should not murder for pleasure in dreams because that goes against who you are. If you don't do things in your dreams, it's most likely simply because somewhere down inside of you, you know it's wrong to even want to do these things and you are ashamed of yourself. If you really want to do these things, the only way would be to destroy this shame and rationalize why you'd want to cheat on your wife. That's not an alternative I would encourage. But that's just me.

That is a really good point, and one that I have given some thought to. I guess what I would like to see is a more conscious decision making process, where I would make a decision on what to do, and by extension decide what is right and wrong. I really see waking reality as one thing and non-physical reality as another, so I don't really consider waking life to be "real life" and dream life to be something other than real. I gather from your reply that you may think along those lines.

I was thinking about it today and I am going to do some affirmations before sleeping. I also think starting again on regular exercises toward lucid dreaming will help me to be more conscious of my dream actions and choices. I had a life event earlier in the year that pulled me away from that work.

Thanks.

"I gather from your reply that you may think along those lines"
Yes, I do.

"I guess what I would like to see is a more conscious decision making process, where I would make a decision on what to do"
Something that I find impressive is how hard that is to even do when we are awake. I am presently trying to get better at this in waking life so that I can do it in dream life. It's good for waking life too.

An example for people who don't know what I mean. I want to study for university and I like what I am learning and I have to work because I have exams soon but I find it VERY hard to do any work. All I have to do is chose to work but I can't even do that. How am I going to do it in a dream?

Yes. Intention is very devilish for sure. I have fought against it my whole life. I see your point. If it is difficult to muster intention in physical reality, then it is likely more difficult in the non-physical where our consciousness seems problematic at times. At least mine is. Well, mine is problematic in waking life as well.

I'm hoping to work on concentration through working on the samatha jhanas. I think that the difficulty of concentrating the mind has been a problem for me my whole life. I think if I can gain even a fraction more concentration through working on the jhanas, then I will have made a real improvement. And I can't help but think that will have a great effect on both my physical and non-physical lives.

That's quite interesting (the samatha jhanas). I found something about it and I am presently reading it. I'm most likely going to try it.

I am convinced that if the smatha jhanas or anything can help you become more concentrated and increase your self-control, that it will show in the non-physical realm of dreams.

I can't post links yet. I will post some links in a week or so. Mostly just google Daniel Ingram and the Unusually Hardcore Dharma book and the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. He has a book exclusively on the samatha jhanas on amazon. You want to distinguish between the vipassana and samatha jhanas. The vipassana are based on insight. The samatha on concentration.

Just saw that the Knowing and Seeing book (on samatha) is available free online.

paaukforestmonastery.org/books/knowing_and_seeing_rev_ed.pdf