What is a Dream Guide?

[Tolin]

i just realized i dont know what a dream guide is. ive had several lucid dreams, but i dont think ive met one. or at least i dont think i have. is it the same as just any dream character?

[Oneironaut Zero]

Well, yes and no. Any dream character has the potential to become a dream guide, but a dream guide doesn't necessarily solidify itself as a dream guide, in my opinion, unless it shows up in numerous dreams with the intetion on helping you get more out of your dreaming experience. This can come in many forms. It can be someone that you designate to be your dream guide or someone that comes up to you and says "Hey, I'm your dream guide." It can be a person, an object with the ability to communicate, a book that "tells" you what directions to take with your dreams, a picture of something that constantly communicates something of significance that will update itself to guide you to certain concepts within your dream that hold a subconscious significance to you, etc. etc. Basically, it is any part of your subconscious that works in guiding you to further your dream experiences and/or the lessons you can learn from them.

[Tolin]

so its always the same person/thing? and do you think i'll find one if i just ask out loud for a dream guide in my LD?

[Oneironaut Zero]

It's hard to really set anything in black and white, when it comes to dreaming. For instance. If a beautiful woman comes up to you in a dream and says "What's up, I'm your dream guide" that same "entity" (although it's still ultimately your subconscious, as far as we know) may return to you in the form of a 6 foot tall inflatable gorilla with a football helmet on, and say "Hey, whats up. It's me again, your dream guide," in another dream. It's not really the form that matters. Anything that helps you try to further your perception of why certain aspects of your dreams are of significance is a dream guide. They can still be just as unstable as any other part of your dream, or be a static character that shows up in the same form all the time. As far as summoning one, again, it's hard to say. The subconscious mind (or at least my subconscious mind) can be a bit of a trickster at times. You may get someone/thing that's genuinely trying to help your conscious perceive more than it normally would, or you could call up your expectation of what a dream guide would be, which could ultimately prove to be a dud with absolutely nothing to offer. The best thing you can do is carry with you the steadfast intention to find a serious dream guide. Try to intend on really getting in touch with your subconscious and trying to meet with someone/thing that is "willing" to show you your "true self" and walk you through your dreams and what they really mean to you. The most important thing is the ambition to have this be an effective guide. Realistically, it is a gamble, either way. Never lose sight of that. You may be getting what you ask for, or just the opposite. Your intention and your will are most likely the deciding factors between the two. Technically, you are your own dream guide. However you wish to manifest the will to tap into your subconscious and learn more about your dreams, whether it be calling someone on the (dream) phone and saying "yo, I'm looking for a dream guide" or simply asking yourself the questions you'd like to know while lucid dreaming, is going to be your dream guide. It may or may not work the way you like it to, but such is the way of the subconscious mind.

[Tolin]

wow, thanks a lot man. that helps a lot and now i understand. i'll give a little update i guess in my next LD.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Anytime, man. Good luck!

[Burns]

Great advice, O Welcome to the forum, Tolin!

[Merlock]

'Tis foolish to portray the subconscious or any part of one's mind for that matter as a certain character. It means one thinks of it as an independant being and begins depending on it in one way or another. It opens room for hope and dependancy - qualities of the weak and frail. Just because the subconscious acts on many aspects independant of the conscious mind doesn't make it independant of one's own self. The power to achieve all one wants is within that very one being; help is for the weak, guidance - for the confused.

[Oneironaut Zero]

The fact that he was looking for guidance tells me, yes, he was obviously a little confused, but that's an...interesting perspective you have on the act of 'seeking help,' Merlock. I guess I gotta ask what point in your life you decided that looking for help or guidance was a sign of weakness, and worthy of ridicule? No one was suggesting he portray his subconscious (in whole) as a different character. To delegate a character as a guide to help you explore your subconscious mind, although the philosophy is apparently unappealing to you, can be a good stepping stone in figuring out how to rely on yourself, and is only open to dependency if one loses sight of the fact that the subscious and conscious mind are, ultimately, one. (and I think I covered that.) That still doesn't contradict that subconscious information (especially for beginners) often channels itself into the conscious more readily, involuntarily. That is; without conscious effort by the dreamer. The dream itself is a mosaic of puzzles and subliminal conceptual relationships that is more than willing to lay out all kinds of subsconscious information for you to decypher. If you ask me, creating a dream guide is no different than utilizing the subconscious/conscious mind relationship to manifest a figurehead to help put answers to those (often consciously unnoticable) puzzles and conceptual relationships. You're only as dependant on anything as you allow yourself to be. Tolin Despite what any would- or would-not-be elitists may say, there is nothing wrong with seeking help and/or guidance from anyone. It is those who are unafraid to seek help and/or guidance to understand what it is they do not that often excell passed those who plateau to the credit of arrogance and stubborness (usually for the security of not feeling "weak," or inadequate).

[Merlock]

Logical words, very logical, too bad it is that very logic that dooms you and so many others to the lives allotted within this world. Society is a crumbling tower ready to fall. Pulling knowledge from its depths is one thing; seeking...help is another. Only those who perform the former disregarding the need for the latter gain true power for their own goals and throw away any and all illusions of the realm about. It remains a simple choice: act or be acted upon; any alternatives are in vain.

[Oneironaut Zero]

(Sorry, this ran a lot longer than I meant it to, but if you'd like, we can move it to Philosophy and continue, because I think it would make a great discussion. Also, didn't have time to edit it, so it may or may not be a little fragmented, but it's 5:00 and I'm about to clock out! Haha. I'll check it again when I get home.) I see where you’re coming from. I simply disagree. Part of the reason society is so “ready to fall,” which I more or less do agree upon, is because a large number of people are so adamant about reducing everything to “self,” and “separate.” The exact philosophy that you describe is, in my opinion, what causes society to scratch and claw at one another for the sake of “looking out for number one” – the Self. Before going any further, so we’re on the same page, I do agree with you that the ability to be self-sufficient is absolutely important. No dispute there. Although I think that this trait, like countless others, are best kept in moderation. A main strength of being self-sufficient and not acknowledging the need for help, is that it causes one to work out problems and dead-ends on their own, forcing them to bend their thinking to get what they perceive to be the most out of their knowledge seeking experience. If a problem becomes difficult to solve, it is important to try to assess the problem on your own. In this way, you get a more complete understanding of the problem at hand. Very true. However, that “complete understanding” is still limited to your own conscious perception, which could prove to be the very “illusion” that you mention trying to stay away from, when it comes to reality. Seeking guidance when faced with a problem gives you the advantage of seeing possibilities that may have been completely out of the scope of your own conscious perception of the problem. You are conceding to the fact that your way of seeing a problem/solution is not the only correct and/or logical way of seeing it. If you say to yourself “I want to learn Kung-Fu,” are you going to step up into a dojo and dismiss your sensai and say “Nah, man. I don’t want lessons. I just want to watch so I can teach myself.”? As satisfying to the ego as this may be, you are trading an even More complete understanding of the sought knowledge for the gratification of being “self-taught.” The only reason being self-taught (although it is an Excellent trait to have) seems to be more powerful toward your own goals is because you aren’t allowing any other perspectives from which to see the task at hand. You have no reason to doubt your methods because you have no one’s guidance to present to you what could possibly be a more complete perspective on the problem. A man gets lost while driving in the city and winds up about 14 miles away from the road that he knows takes him back home. Having “self-sufficiency” engraved in his mind, he decides to drive around on his own, from block to block, until he finds the road and ends up circling the area for close to an hour before finding the road, missing any and all appointments, but gaining the satisfaction of doing it himself and seeing many avenues he’s never seen before. Another man is in the same situation and, after driving around for 25 minutes, seeing a few roads and sights he’s never seen, he decides to stop and ask for directions. The man he speaks to not only knows the quickest way back to the road that takes him home, but being the nice guy he is, he says “Man, why would you want to take that road? There are like six other ways back to where you’re going, three of them are shorter than the one you took. Two of them, I know are longer, but one is popular because of the scenery, if you’re into that sort of thing. It outlines a canyon that has the best view around thousands of miles. The other one has this great restaurant that you should definitely check out. You said you’re going back to your wife, right? Hell, if you don’t go that way now, you should take her out there, sometime.” THAT is the glue that bonds society together: the desire to treat one another as an extension of “the Self,” and share any and all knowledge we posses with one another. It’s only an integration of many different perspective that leads to the “most complete” understanding of any one problem/task/situation. Trusting only in what you perceive consciously is likely, almost certainly to leave you with the illusion that your perception is the most complete. Interacting with the subconscious can be very similar in that, many things that are simply outside of your conscious perception, even when dealing with the Self, are mapped out in many different ways in your subconscious mind. It can truly be like talking to another person, and can show you things about your self that you either have completely forgotten, or never consciously knew in the first place.

[Tolin]

i just wanted to know what a dream guide was, but if you guys wanna debate about seeking help and pulling knowledge from the self, thats cool with me.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Haha. That's how it is around here sometimes, man. That's why I asked if he wanted to move the conversation somewhere else so that it wouldn't bog down this thread that wasn't intended for it. The point is that asking stuff like "What is a dream guide?" is actually asking a multi-dimensional question, and ends up turning into great conversations about peoples' different perspectives on it that are usually a lot deeper than the initial answer(s). You can either open yourself up to those different perspectives or shut them out. That's up to you.

[Aeo]

Originally posted by Merlock It remains a simple choice: act or be acted upon; any alternatives are in vain. Those are deep words man. I love it! I feel that dream guides can be quite helpful, for they are merely a manifest of yourself. Your subconscious is trying to communicate to you through the only means that you understand: story's. If we let our minds tell us story's that help us gain more insight to our minds, than I think we should listen.

[PhilipJFry]

There's this one friend of mine who shows up in almost every dream... In one dream he even told me I'm dreaming, resulting in a nice LD. I haven't really thought about this, he is a good friend and that explains why I have dreams involving him. Could he be my dream guide? ...cos that would be awesome. My brother occurs very often, too. But it's very rare that both the friend and my brother show up at the same time.

[PenguinLord13]

finally, I know what a dream guide is. Now to get lucid and find it... An interesting idea. i wonder if I get lucid and find it, if I can get it to come and make me be lucid. Now that would be nice

[Dsouza]

this thread has gone really deep! From asking a simple question about Dream Guides to questioning the whole concept of help and self sufficiency using some real deep philosophy. Well I'd just like to say that being able to work things out for yourslef is good because it requires you to actually think for yourself, but why would you want to know only half of something because you were to afraid of the idea of yourself asking the help and knowledge of someone with a broader veiw of the subject

[Merlock]

Stop reviving ancient threads! My dark side is vibrant in this one, gah! On a side note: just recently I've realised the full importance of the subconscious. Yes, it's part of us, never a separate character, even considering the mechanism with which we use it (sending a conceptual signal, receiving an answer or effect) but it's important to keep "on friendly terms" with the subconscious. In that sense of being honest with oneself and not drowning in the conscious (ego).

[Super Duck]

Merlock, it doesn't help to post back saying "Stop reviving ancient threads!" as this helps the thread to float on the very top line of the forum thread list for longer. Tut-tut.

[Wavefunction]

Merlock, it doesn't help to post back saying "Stop reviving ancient threads!" as this helps the thread to float on the very top line of the forum thread list for longer. Tut-tut. Yes, but his post had other content, not just complaining about the revival.

[G0MPgomp]

Basicly, yes.. It is a DC that actually know that you are dreaming, and often got some insight you would really love to learn.. Ask around in your dream.. I often meet them as childs, and there is this one "mom" of mine that seems to know more ...

[dreamscaper22]

Im trying to find my dream guide, no success yet....I hope he can give me answers why I get so depressed sometimes..