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Maybe he means exactly what he wrote. That in dreams, we're us and not us in balance.
For example, when we dream, we're not exactly ourselves. We act differently. We experience the world in a different way than the way we live in real life. I had many dreams where I was completely different. Like a dream where I was a sea bird and the thing I loved most was my nest in my ocean ship crossroad metal construction. But then, I was curious as to where the ships went and embarked on an adventure to see where the ships went. I've been old women, I have done things I would never do, like give orders to my captain in a spaceship (very impolite).
Maybe, a part of what makes us change in dreams, is the fact that dreams give us the opportunity to experience the world in a different way, with a different personality, in a different context. It allows us to live a life that does not belong to us, so we can learn different things than the things we learn in waking life. It's a complement to waking life that makes us grow.
Good point! Ah, I was to fast to dissmiss the point he could have ment with that statement.. But good example Occipitalred. I do recognize that, that I sometimes tend to act in a very unusual way in dreams. I do belive though, that dreams are expressing our deepest feelings, maybe feelings that we dont actually dare to reflect to much over in our daily life.
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To this I'd like to add another variable that I feel it's crucial to "evolving": self-perception.
The same way it's better to be a master of physical experience in order to make general experience more effective, we also need to be masters of self-perception, so the "self/ego" that receives that experience can take it better. If your self-perception is far away from reallity, you will find it hard to grow. But if you are humble and honest to yourself, if you can see your own strenghts and weaknesses, you will be able to overcome them.
So, lacking self-perception is to experience like... like vitamin-C to iron: Your body needs vitamin-C to assimilate iron-rich foods better. Mastery of physical experience is like the stomach: a healthier stomach will digest experience better, the same as mastery of physical experience (full awareness, I think) will take better advantage of all we experience.
Dreams are like the intentines, that take all that proccesed experience and use it to give us nourishments, to make us grow.
But if we don't have Vitamin-C (self-perception), then it doesn't matters how neatly our stomach digest those iron-rich foods, it will not serve us.
And that's why it seems Frank is progressing so slowly. He may be a very experienced person who knows what he's talking about, but he's having a hard time when it comes to look at his own flaws.
Totally agree that self-perception is probably the most important aspect of oneself to understand. With a twisted self-perception, one tend to live a twisted life for the better or worse.