Thread: Newbie question

Originally posted by mushroom_ff
Hello. I have a question I want to ask about the point of view dreams are in. Most of the dreams I remember haveing was kinda in a different view. Instead of looking out of my eyes I just \"watch\" myself in my dream, almost like t.v. Does most people dream like this, and does this affect how I try to enter a lucid dream?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Uh oh.

You got a problem. It seems you have the witness '3rd Person (he she it) perspective in your dreams. You are not a volitional actor in your own dreams. From where you are you are not in a position to make any of the decisions toward advancing or effecting any of the actions in your dream. Not a good thing.

Now, sometimes, the Higher Dream Mind will put even an experienced Dreamer into the Witness Mode -- the 3rd Person Perspective -- for the very purpose of assuring that the Dreamer does not interfer with what he is only meant to see and experience. Messages are often given to the Dreamer from this Mode. But in night to night dreaming, and for Lucid Dreaming it is indispensable and necessary for the Dreamer to be in the First Person (the 'I') and in control of his actions and in possession of himself.

Now, being always in the Third Person indicates that even in your day to day waking life you are perhaps passive. You go where you are supposed to go and do what you are supposed to do. You are always following other people's leads. What you need to break out of this Mode is a hobby. You need to find some area in your life where you can be entirely self-directed and manifest and actualize your Active Self. Yes, I know that in the Spiritual Disciplines, Ego and Independence are the worst of things -- I myself am endlessly preaching against selfishness. But everything, even individuality, has its place in balance and moderation. Without a realized sense of Active Individuality one can do just as much harm as somebody who is utterly selfish, and this is because it beomes to easy for one to become the tool of these other people. When one is endlessly following the lead of other people, one is entirely at their mercy. If you are with good people, then it may be good, but with bad people, the consequences can be horrible. In either case one is not really morally responsible. As an aside, I've always thought that our Legal System should try to evaluate somehow whether Offenders are Morally Responsible or not. With some people it is almost ridiculous to treat them as though they are morally responsible, when they've never really made a decision of their own in their entire lives, always having gone along with whatever Alpha Personality had taken charge of the gang or cliche.

You, with your Third Person Dreams, would be just that kind of person whom I would exonerate on the grounds that you are not morally responsible for your actions. It is as though you don't even really exist yet.

You need to make a person out of yourself. Again, find a hobby. Find something that no friend or relative will 'help' you with. Find something where you will be the only expert or authority available, so that you will not be made to follow any body else's lead. When I was young I did this with Aviation. I became a pilot. It was a wonderful assertion of character. Find something like that.

i have dreamt like this off and on. last month i had a spell of a week or so when it seemed every dream was 'observational'.

it definitely makes lucid dreaming quite difficult, although perhaps you could use it to your benefit. i have had one dream where i was viewing the scene as a disembodied awareness, without my 'physical' body. i managed to possess a girl, and use her to shift my awareness into a body, from which i walked around the room for a few minutes before awakening.

there is probably some truth to what leo said. i am naturally a very easy-going person, who goes with the flow unless it runs counter to my value-judgements. and particularly when i am apathetic, or just plain don't give a f**k, my dreams seem to be in the third person much more often.

i would suggest to maybe use a modified reality check. along with others you may use. ask yourself throughout the day "am i watching a movie/television show right now, or is this a dream". personally, that is the closet thing i can relate those third person dreams to, and is why i accept them as normal. i just allow myself to passively watch the scene without wondering what my personal role within it might be...

and if you happen to be particularly apathetic, depressed, or hopeless right now, that could have some bearing on why your dreams are like this. i'm afraid i don't really know how to help you if that is the case.

good luck.
namaste...