Is life really but a dream? If so, what does it really take to contact the Awareness behind the Dream? Up until recently, I’ve mostly thought that this Awareness could only be contacted during a lucid dream or through deep meditation, but my mind is beginning to change.
This last year I’ve been focusing on the overlap between my night dreams and my daily life. I’ve been playing with the idea that life itself is just a dream. And I’ve been thinking about the boundaries between the two... I mean, when we wake up in the morning, are we just waking up in another dream within the dream?
Recently I’ve been re-reading a classic book from Jane Roberts The Nature of Personal Reality which is channeled material from Seth that speaks of the nature of reality and how we create it. I’m sure most of you are aware of his legacy. Seth spoke extensively on how our beliefs create our reality and all our experiences within it. He also suggested that its possible to adopt 3 beliefs that would help us pierce through our limited perceptions. These 3 beliefs are “The Self is Not Limited”, “There Are No Boundaries or Separations of the Self” and “You Make Your Own Reality”
The concept that intrigues me is that “There Are No Boundaries or Separations of the Self” and according to Seth, that any boundaries we experience are a product of false beliefs. The “Self” he was referring to was our Larger Self (often labeled our Higher Self or OverSoul) which of course includes the ego self that we presently know ourselves to be. What does this all mean? To me it means that maybe our Higher Self (which I believe is the Awareness Behind the Dream) is more accessible than what we normally experience it to be. And maybe we can communicate with it and find the answers we seek without all the preamble....just by changing our beliefs.
Certainly connecting with the Larger Awareness through lucid dreaming is a way of moving past barriers between the Self and this is a big step. But how about connecting with it in our everyday waking life, which may be just another version of the dream we’re experiencing? What possibilities would open to us then?
So I decided to put aside my limiting beliefs and adopt those that would help me with this quest. I first decided that although I may not have a day to day, moment to moment conscious awareness of this Larger Awareness, it didn’t mean it wasn’t present or not aware of me. I decided this lack had more to do with my physical senses being spellbound with physical reality during waking hours.... it was my limitation, not It’s limitation. I also decided that although this Awareness was all powerful and other-worldly, in a way mystical and seemingly incomprehensible ... it didn’t mean it was distant or indifferent to me. I decided to believe that this Awareness loved me and wanted the best for me, yes allowing me the free will to screw up and learn from my mistakes but always available if I would but ask for It’s help.
Then one morning (Jan 6, 2020) I decided to put these ideas to the test. With these supporting beliefs in mind, I decided to do a WBTB and initiate a WILD (wake induced lucid dream). Although most of my lucid dreams are initiated this way, I generally look through my closed eye lids for images to appear and then enter the images by shifting into them. It sounds simple but often takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to actually get to a “free floating state” where images start to appear, allowing me to make the shift. This time I decided that I would do it more gracefully by consciously working with the Larger Awareness before initiating the Dream state.
So although I was fully awake, I laid down, closed my eyes and reminded myself that the Larger Awareness was present, and that together we could make this shift more elegantly. I simply asked this Awareness to help me shift into the inner world and then I relaxed and let go. What happened next caught me completely off guard. Instantly I found myself lying on my side in a dream in a dream bed. It was so instantaneous that for some reason, while laying there, I tried to roll out of my body... I struggled a bit but then actually was able to roll out and stand up in the room. There in a dimly lit room stood a woman, who I didn’t recognize, who was looking at me. I then decided to fly up through the ceiling and was now on the roof, and as I hadn’t pre-planned any action I decided to ask for a healing and was then surrounded by light... I then woke up a few moments later on my physical bed.
Laying on my bed I reviewed my dream and wondered why I tried to “roll out of body” even though I knew I was already in a dream. I decided I did it because it was something I’ve been practicing recently, in conjunction with my “shifting into the images with closed eyes” technique, so it must have just unconsciously spilled over. I then decided to try my new approach again and closed my eyes, asked the Awareness to help me to enter my inner world by gracefully shifting and then again, I just let go. To my surprise, again I INSTANTLY found myself in my dreamworld, only this time standing fully upright. Again with no real goal in mind I flew up through the ceiling and then decided to fly amongst the stars, the sensation lasted for a few moments and then again I awoke on my bed.
Although brief, this experience has profound implications for me. As lucid dreamers we must rely on our own experiences; if we believe something is possible, we must prove it to ourselves through our own experience. This experience has opened a door and for me speaks volumes about the Larger Awareness, if we can but realize how real and available it is to us at all times. Can it be as simple as changing our beliefs and asking for help? I’m guessing it’s for each of us to decide for ourselves. But if we are in a dream right now, it may make sense to start treating it as one ... and begin to wake up in this dream within the dream.
This article was released in issue from
March 2020
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