The Secret To Lucid Dreaming

One of my life-long aspirations has been become a proficient improviser. In other words, I want to be able to play jazz. It isn't so much that I want to BE a jazz musician, but that jazz encompasses the most lofty ideal of music as language. That's the way I want to play - the same way I talk.

So I've spent the past 25 years or so looking for the secret to jazz. I've always "known" that if I could just learn that one secret scale, figure out that one secret relationship that brings it all together or learn that one secret chord form or technique that would allow me to mindlessly and effortlessly grab any conceivable chord alteration or embellishment, I'd be home free.

This mindset seems ubiquitous to human experience. Aspiring lucid dreamers seek the one perfect technique that always works and is easy. Aspiring entrepreneurs look for the secret to success. The out of shape and obese look for the secret to being strong and healthy, to losing weight and keeping it off. From alchemists to inventors to gamblers, humans have always sought the secret to wealth. Every elusive discipline and state of being that humans aspire to has its contingent of secret-seekers, a market that is enthusiastically exploited by those who know the secret.

What is the secret? I know it. I know it through lucid dreaming, business, music, art and life in general. After forty six years of seeking, I have found the secret - not just to jazz or lucid dreaming, but to just about everything.

Shall I spoil it for you? Stop reading here if you want to find out for yourself, which is probably the only way it will ever really mean anything to you anyway. I've been told the secret repeatedly throughout my life. I never wanted to believe it.

You've been warned.

The secret is: There is no secret.

Period.

That's a secret that the secret brokers don't want you to know. There is no secret. It is human nature to assume or hope that people who achieve great things have just learned some incredible secret which they then protect to keep others from crowding the stage. The true masters tend to make this assumption seem all the more plausible by how comfortable and easy their mastery seems to be. It is incredibly compelling to believe that easy achievement is just a matter of learning some esoteric secret. Too bad it's a fantasy.

Just about everything worth pursuing in life requires persistence, discipline and work, from lucid dreaming to the arts to health to business success to spiritual awareness.

There is great news in recognizing this secret; nothing is hidden or being kept from you. You are entirely capable of achieving anything you set your mind to and are willing to practice the discipline to accomplish.

There is no secret. That is the secret that will set you free to do anything you dare to dream - if you are willing and able to grasp the secret.

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Originally Posted by pj

Just about everything worth pursuing in life requires persistence, discipline and work, from lucid dreaming to the arts to health to business success to spiritual awareness.

There is great news in recognizing this secret; nothing is hidden or being kept from you. You are entirely capable of achieving anything you set your mind to and are willing to practice the discipline to accomplish.

There is no secret. That is the secret that will set you free to do anything you dare to dream - if you are willing and able to grasp the secret.[/b]

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pj,

If what you just wrote doesn't inspire someone here that reads it, I don't know what will. It's what I've been telling my children all their life. As you've said, sometimes they have to find it out for themselves before it will ever mean anything to them. But it won't stop me from continuing to tell them, "cause it just might sink in and hit them while they are still young. Thanks for your words of inspiration. :)

octoberchild

Persistence, discipline and work are necessary, but are not necessarily sufficient.
For example, social interaction is also necessary: In amost all cases, one cannot achieve anything without any help from others.

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Originally Posted by dodobird

Persistence, discipline and work are necessary, but are not necessarily sufficient.
For example, social interaction is also necessary: In amost all cases, one cannot achieve anything without any help from others.[/b]

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Social interaction is a discipline in itself. There is no secret to that either. Your business isn't going to be a success if you aren't treating your customers respectfully and well. Your music won't sell if you aren't writing and producing material that others like. You aren't likely to build a skyscraper or theme park without help, obviously. Effective human interaction comes about through persistence, discipline and work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pj

Social interaction is a discipline in itself. There is no secret to that either. Your business isn't going to be a success if you aren't treating your customers respectfully and well. Your music won't sell if you aren't writing and producing material that others like. You aren't likely to build a skyscraper or theme park without help, obviously. Effective human interaction comes about through persistence, discipline and work.[/b]

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True, but that may not be obvious. Someone can work extremly hard on something, and fail because of insisting to do it alone.