Search the Community

WELL I HAVE ALWAYS HAD AN INTUITTION ABOUT IT AS A CHILD, I USED TO SPANK MINE BABOON FOR HOURS LOCKED INTO A CLOSET IN DA DARK. DA BREAK THRU OCUR WHEN YA TAKE OVER YER DREAM MENTAL ACTIVITY. UNLITL THEN, YA WONT GO TOO FAR BECCAUSE YA'LL END UP EJACULLTATTIN IN YER DREAMS WHEN DA FEMALE SUCCUBI LURE YA INTO SURRENDER. DA BEST MANUAL BE MASTER CHIA'S BOOK. JUST FOLOW IT TO DA LETTER WITH TWO (2) ADDITIONS, VIZ., 1) DA FINGER LOCK TECHNIQUE AINT DESCRIBBED ACURATTELY BY MASTER CHIA, IT BE *VERY* IMPORTANT TO HIT DA RIGHT SPOT WHICH BE CLOSER TO DA BUNGA-HOWL ELSE YA REDDIRRECT YER SEMEN INTO YER BLADER WITH 100% LOSS O CHING. 2) DA DREAM YOGA ASPECT BE NOT MENTIONNED AT ALL. BUT MASTER CHIA'S BOOK WILL LEAD YA FOR DA FIRST 3-6 MONTHS, AFTER WHICH YALL NEED DA DREAM YOGA BREAKTHRU USUALY. BYE NOW RJ

Dream-Bliss, i'm happy that your curious about earthy forms of spiritually. But let me give you one tip (i know you didn't ask for it) that will save you a ton of time and grief. Don't usurp titles like "Shaman", "Palero", "Santero, "Priest"....etc. Go through the labor of self-cultivation and initiation via spirit in order to develop your own authority. Then it will be apparent to others that you have the power and charisma of a practitioner. Versus throwing out a title which may or may not be accurate to your level of skill and potentially offensive to other peoples and cultures. That being said, "The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids" is an organization that you may be interested in. Seem like they got some juice behind there sage. http://www.druidry.org/

You seem like a sane person, and your desires appear reasonable and achievable. Therefore you should have no problem reaching your goal. The real problem I guess is that you don't know what you want to do as a profession. Profession is about exchanging value. If you do something of value for others, you get some value back from society/others. That's all it is. We tend to be good at things we enjoy doing. And if you enjoy doing something that you're not currently good at, you almost always become good at it sooner rather than later. Therefore, the most valuable thing you can do for others is also, very likely, the thing you enjoy doing. This makes it sound like there is one thing, but that's not true. You most likely enjoy many activities. Ultimately being good at something is what matters to others when they want to get value from you, but if you are good at something that you do not enjoy, this puts a constant strain on your life -- this is like going against the grain. It's doable, but most people prefer better options (like being good at something you also enjoy doing). Another reason people will trade is to avoid a boring activity. It is especially fortuitous if what's boring to one is exciting to another. However if some activity is boring to everyone, even though there is value in doing it for others, it is always going to be hard. So you said you like writing. Maybe you should seek employment in that area? Try writing a blog, or a newsletter? Become an English tutor? Cooperate with a budding game designer to write some role playing game copy? Write custom copy for cards (a lot of Hallmark cards are boring... can you do better? Someone might want to pay you for it)? Dream a bit. What other skillful activities do you enjoy doing? Here I was just chasing the writing aspect a bit, but I am sure you have other potentials too. You can chase those to get a lot more variety. Like I said, dream a bit. It seems like your question has 90% of the answer already in it. Why don't you reread your question and see if your answer is not already in it.

Chuang Tzu thought for a moment then responded with: The Art Of Nourishing The Spirit There are those who are artificial and moderate in conduct, strange in manners and live apart from society, who indulge in high-sounding talks and sharp criticism of others, all designed to show one’s high-mindedness. These are the recluses of the forests. Those who think that society is wrong love their teachings. There are those who occupy themselves with discussions of humanity and justice, loyalty and honesty, respect, humility and courtesy; teachings designed for self-cultivation. These are the social philosophers. The schoolmen and traveling students love their teachings. Occupied in talks about great service to the country and making a big name, about courtesy between ruler and subjects and order between officials and the people, topics concerned with the administration of the country; these are the courtiers and politicians. Those who wish to help their sovereign make their country become strong and expand and conquer their neighbors’ territory by force love such teachings. To go to a lake and live out in the open and fish at leisure for the object of succeeding in doing nothing; these are the scholars of the rivers and seas. Those who wish to retire from the world and enjoy leisure love such doctrines. To control one’s breathing, expelling the foul air and inhaling the fresh, to stretch like a bear and crane like a bird for the purpose of achieving a long life; these are the believers of mental hygiene. Those who wish to strengthen their bodies and achieve longevity love such teachings. But to be high-minded without artificiality, to cultivate oneself without the teachings of humanity and justice, to believe in governmental order without caring for meritorious service and a high reputation, to have leisure without retiring to the rivers and seas, and to live a long life without the constant practice of mental hygiene, forgetting nothing, and possessing everything, to be detached and infinitely dispassionate and yet to possess all the virtues; this is the Tao of the Universe and the character of the Sage. Therefore it is said that mellowness, calm, passivity and inaction represent the state of repose of the Universe and the substance of Tao and Te. Therefore it is said the Sage takes repose. From repose comes unaffected simplicity and from unaffected simplicity comes mellowness. When one is simple and unaffected and mellow, sorrows and fears cannot disturb him and evil influences cannot affect him. Thereby one’s Character becomes whole and his soul becomes unimpaired. Therefore it is said, the Sage follows Nature in his life and goes back to Nature at his death. In his quietness he shares the same Character with Yin; in his activity the same energy with Yang. He responds only when moved, acts only when he is urged, and rises to action only when he is compelled to do so. He regards his life like a floating dream and regards his death as rest. He does not plan, contrive or calculate. He shines but does not dazzle, is honest but does not rely on observing of contracts. Sleeping without dreams, and waking up without worries, the Spirit is pure and his soul is never tired. Therefore it is said, absolute purity of Character, unchangeable calm and quiet, mellowness and inaction, and activity in accordance with Nature; these are the ways of nourishing the Spirit.

this is an interesting topic. So when I was studying Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and IMmortality recently - I realized that the Cavity of Pre-Natal Vitality as the pineal gland is what accesses Emptiness via "immutable thought." And so when the Yuan Shen is "turned around" - this is your ego spirit consciousness emanating from the heart and out of the prefrontal cortex - you turn that around to unite it with the Yuan Qi that emanates out of the heart into the pineal gland. So increasing the Yuan qi energy by focusing on the Emptiness via immutable thought (aka japa or vichara in the non-dual tradition) then also increases the yuan shen spirit light energy. In other words it is the Yuan Qi emptiness connection that actually creates the Yuan Shen consciousness light energy (as ego consciousness). Sri Aurobindo called this the three in one paradox as found also in quantum physics but Ramana Maharshi called in the "three in one unity." So for example the qigong master I studied with shared how his heart stopped for over 2 hours and yet he was walking around just fine. Now we know that for Ramana Maharshi when he heart stopped for over ten minutes he still maintained awareness and then a shot of qi energy shot from the right side of his heart to the left side, and re-started his heart. So we know from Taoist Yoga that the left side of the heart is the origin of yuan shen and the right side is the origin of yuan qi. We also know from the nondualist mind yoga jnana practice that you focus on the right side of the heart - again using logical inference as vichara. This is the left-side, left brain logical inference that, via the left side vagus nerve, is the deep reptilian vagus nerve to the right side of the heart and it can stop the heart when over-stimulated. But doing so willingly via meditation then enables transcendence of death while maintaining awareness as the "immutable thought" that goes into the Emptiness. And so we can think of immutable thought as actually yuan qi energy - what Ramana Maharshi called kundalini - and so this is what drives the spleen qi energy also. And so then this is a trance energy as immutable thought - it is pure Emptiness intention as pure qi energy-action and so as Emptiness-action it is the three in one unity via complementary opposites. Just as you can not see the formless awareness - the Yuan Qi bends spacetime and by doing so then creates the Yuan Shen as the ego spirit consciousness that also reincarnates or is reborn, and has past lives, etc. When the unification of yuan qi and yuan shen is strong enough then it creates more yuan jing - this is the secret of the White Tiger and Green Dragon copulation - and so this is also the three in one unity. I first read Dr. David Loy's book on Nonduality philosophy - his Ph.D. thesis - 15 years ago. So at first I thought of the Emptiness as a static realm that can be experienced - and since the Emptiness is in everything like manure, etc. then I thought once the Emptiness is achieved via Nirvikalpa Samadhi - then that it is - you have experienced the Emptiness and you know the Emptiness is equally in everything. this is actually a kind of nihilist view and I held onto that for several years as a kind of tantric view - there is just as much Emptiness in crap as in gold, etc. But in reality to experience the Emptiness is actually an eternal process of energy creation via the complementary opposites as harmonic resonance or purification of energy. And so this is why real Emptiness training requires full body transformation also via nirvikalpa samadhi - or as Master Nan, Huai-chin says unless you can sit in full lotus in ease for a long time - like 2 hours - not moving - then you have not obtained the Emptiness. Of course via mahayana Buddhism - there are different levels of emptiness as the complementary opposite of different levels of consciousness. And so our consciousness as yuan shen is also turning around - subconsciously - back into our subconscious intention as the Emptiness of yuan qi energy - or rather the Emptiness is that process of complementary opposites. So for example I have the experience - several times like this morning - when the very first conscious awareness I have at waking up - that very first thought - is actually the experience of my spirit light rising up from my lower body (my liver) to fill my brain and to cast light out of my eyes, as my "experience" of then waking up and looking out of my eyes! So then I know that conscious thinking and perceptions are very much dependent on this otherwise subconscious spirit light that is in the liver while dreaming but rises to the heart to emit out of the eyes while awake. And in fact, as taught in nondualism, this light projects out of a camera (our mind) but that the camera itself is like an empty box, a machine, our mind, or conceptual thought as it's said in mahayana Buddhism, and so from where does this light arise? This is of course very much the same teaching as Plato's metaphor of the Cave. We can not see formless awareness but we can listen to it. So the right brain that is aware of the spirit light has to be, and is very much, silent. This is proven by science even. Ramana Maharshi called it "sahaja samadhi." The qigong master told me, last time I saw him, that he had found out this secret that if he wanted to know the real meaning of anything then all he had to do was turn the thought around - to literally reverse the qi energy that the thought was based on - and this would create like a 180 degree spacetime black hole into the Emptiness that re-emerges 180 degrees differently back into conscious awareness as a white hole - light spirit awareness with the answer to the question! Of course we experience this day to day by when wanting an answer to remember something - we have to "let go" and stop trying and let it sink into our holographic subconscious spirit energy which stores all information and is "nondual." And so after we wake up from a blissful dreamless sleep state - then voila! The answer is waiting for us! I have seen the qigong master do this where he says, "let me go into the Emptiness" to check my aura. And so he uses his intention as his qi energy to go into the Emptiness - to turn his spirit light around 180 degrees as literally a spacetime vortex and then the qi energy increases his yuan shen energy reading of the aura light. So he had already picked up the aura light - just by the normal interaction. This is just as with quantum physics - once two photons interact then they already have non-dual signalling - superliminal, faster-than-light communication - but science has to test this "after the fact" by measuring it. So in meditation when we go into the Emptiness even the qigong master says you don't experience your own ego awareness - it is just like in deep dreamless sleep - only you have consciously chosen to travel into the Emptiness! And then the Emptiness guides you by harmonizing, instantly, the information it received, and providing the answer back! This is literally called the Law of Phase Harmony in quantum physics - by Louis de Broglie - and it really does prove there is faster-than-light information signalling that inherently is based on complementary opposites - in other words the nondual formless awareness guides the light signal - this guiding is called the "pilot wave." Scientists have thought this was just "theoretical" and in reality it's just a false construct of the mathematics. That is, until recently, when an experiment was set up that officially "disproved" Einstein scoffing at the notion of real non-dual awareness guiding information at a faster then light speed. Indeed by going into the Emptiness we can then get information from the future - but the only way to do this (and again this is how Kurt Godel, the logician, proved time travel is possible, is that it is not YOU that is traveling into the future, you can not have any desires to travel into the future, in other words. Only the impersonal yuan qi energy can travel into the future. And so if the heart has truly been opened up then this connection is made all the time - Ramana Maharshi called it the eternal I-I energy of the heart. So again that would be the Yuan Qi emanating out of the right side of the heart-mind soul and then connecting to the Yuan Shen as our personal ego spirit awareness and that process goes on eternally. And so as an internal process - the more we focus on it then the more Yuan Jing physical transformations occur. But on the other hand "we" are our yuan shen personal spirit consciousness don't need to focus on it at all if we have already achieved what Ramana Maharshi called "Mouna Samadhi" or silence samadhi, the highest samadhi. So there is no personal spirit ego intention at all - only the intention of listening to the source of energy itself - the Yuan Qi emanating as eternal energy transformation. Of course the Mahayana Buddhists say this is not far enough because the body needs to be transformed for real Supreme Complete Enlightenment - and so we can say that the full lotus body position enables a deep level of Emptiness while at the same time creates motion of energy that inherently resonates as complementary opposites energy - it inherently is transforming the holographic interaction of the body with the universe for the new creation of Yuan Jing energy. And hence the numerous physical transformation bodies are possible and mass healings around the world and around the universe even - and finally the dissolving of the personal physical body itself as the Yuan Jing essentially goes into like a black hole of the whole universe - and merges into the formless awareness itself of the Yuan Qi energy that will again create eternal transformation. So can we "function" in such a state? In reality the more shakti or energy transformations that are experienced, the less of "You" that is experiencing it! this is the true paradox of nondual training. It is the Emptiness itself that is manifesting through you and so you become an "empty" container of the energy. Of course this requires deep harmonization or purification training- the Emptiness is not some static state that is equally found in all things. No it is a process of harmonic resonance training - and so it is a fine tuning of energy that is very difficult to achieve and yet it is possible. So it is said only a half dozen people on Earth at any time have achieved this state of functioning while in the nondual reality - which means they have achieved the state of having their heart-mind permanently resonating into the Emptiness beyond death - with every breath they take! The problem with this is that the nondual philosophy is actually still based on the Vedic symmetric logic - for example I mentioned Ramana Maharshi saying it is the "I-I" awareness resonating out from the heart-mind. This is itself a symmetric analysis - I-I is like "one-One." And so there is already a built in axiomatic logic, like with Brahman defined as "I Am that I Am." The "that" being the formless awareness while "I" is your Yuan Shen intentional awareness and the "Am" is the yin/yang energy as complementary opposites (jing/qi) in this case). Another example of this is Mahayana Buddhism tells us the OHM sound naturally emanates out of the heart when the jing energy is converting to qi as the shen energy opens up - of the 2nd chakra. I have experienced this myself - hearing suddenly a loud OHM sound emanating from my heart while I was in a rainbow astral vortex of holographic energy - a nondual state. And so that is the "AM of the "I Am that I Am" axiom. The AM is the OHM - as the jing converting to qi or yin converting to yang energy. So the I-I state is the eternal state of Sattva spirit light emanating out of the yuan qi from the right side of the heart - and so the yuan qi connects a person from a post death reality back to the personal spirit ego of the yuan shen on the left side of the heart. Again if this is consciously focused on as the philosophy then more Yuan Jing energy is created - but if it is achieved as a real Mouna Samadhi state then it will also keep going on without any conscious focus on the energy. Mahayana Buddhism makes this distinction as an important one. For example you could create multiple yang shen (physical bodies) at the same time, as H.W.L. Poonja did for his birthday. As many people invited him to their houses and he didn't want to disappoint them. ONly he wasn't consciously aware that he had done this - he only found out after the fact! Now he was from the nondual advaita tradition which says that ONLY the Emptiness is real and so the fact that he personally, his Yuan Shen, was not aware of it - didn't matter that the Yuan Qi had been focused enough to create enough Yuan Jing for his multiple physical bodies. But in Mahayana Buddhism you need to be consciously aware of this action via a harmonization of consciousness (Yuan Shen) and Emptiness (yuan qi). And so for example as described in the Theraveda Buddhist monk biography of Phra Achran Mun - his meditation partner was levitating up in the air but as soon as he became consciously aware of it - then he would collapse back to the ground. So he had to train to maintain the nirvikalpa samadhi state while also being personally aware of the Emptiness energy - to harmonize his Yuan Shen so it did a 180 degree turn back into the Yuan Qi for this Yuan Jing transformation - and at the same time he could maintain awareness of this yuan shen transformation. So I would say - yes it is possible to maintain personal yuan shen awareness for the nondual reality but that it takes training and that is not necessarily needed - a good book that discusses this from a personal perspective is the book "Transcendent Dreaming" wherein a kungfu qigong student has physical transformations of other people, etc. via her dream state that goes beyond a lucid dreaming state and beyond even precognitive visions - she actually wakes up with physical jing transformations on her body still. Ramana Maharshi says we must use the mind (yuan shen) to kill the mind (yuan shen) and so it is through a sattva light experience that we then go into the Emptiness (yuan qi) even though we can not see the Emptiness and yet the Emptiness does create the light energy. And so what does this mean? It is referring - not too clearly - to the complementary opposites 180 degree transformation of what happens when we "turn the light" around back into the Emptiness - a kind of holographic mirror reality that turns things inside out and reveals their true secrets to us. It is not "us" revealing the secrets though - it is what some called God or Brahman or the Emptiness, etc. that reveals the secret. And so what is the formless awareness? It is precisely this eternal listening trance transformation of complementary opposites energy - a three in one unity of yuan shen into yuan qi into yuan jing. Or more precisely via Taoist Yoga alchemy training - yin jing into yang jing (yin qi) into yang qi (yin shen) into yang shen (yin jing). And so the nondual energy infinitely cycles like that. Ok so the spirit goes down to our liver when we close our eyes. the liver is the "green dragon" which means it transforms the yin jing energy into yin qi energy which then rises up into the lungs as steam vapor (yin qi) energy which then causes the heart (via the pineal gland and yuan shen out of the brain, via the sinus cavities and the tongue connecting the upper and lower front channels - the heart then has the "white tiger" descend into the lower tan tien - whereby the saliva of the white tiger, containing the green dragon energy (the yuan qi and yuan shen energy) thereby creates a yuan jing transformation which in turn increases the yuan qi energy of the spleen and the cycle continues. So it is said the True Intention of the Spleen is the secret of the training - and this is the intention of the Emptiness itself - the Yuan Qi energy manifestation so that it drives all the transformations - it is the root key energy that is the nondual awareness itself and yet to be aware of it requires the eternal three in one process of transformation.

But for your mind to become quiet and calm, you have to be in a meditative state. This can happen either in your sleep or in meditation. Not when you are taking a bath or playing your favorite video games. Besides, have you experienced any forms of samadhi yet? Any spiritual signs, nimitta, that you are accomplishing what you think you are trying to achieve? If not, how do you know if you know what you yourself are talking about? For the records, I have my kundalini energy rising experience when I was 18. I am in my late 30s. I am way passed that blissful feeling you get from it. I am experiencing the Clear Light Mind, rigpa, every morning. Sometimes, I would see the rigpa in my dream, in my sleep.

Is not the meditation leading to enlightenment or rigpa. Is realizing samadhi, one leve after another. This can happen in meditation or in your sleep and dream. However, having the ability to become mindful of (concentrating on one point) is required to calm your mind...to quiet the mind. How do you reach samadhi without being in a meditative state??? Don't talk about enlightenment or the rigpa or the nature of non-duality if you haven't realized even the first stage of samadhi. There are supposedly either 4 or 9 levels....in each samadhi, you are to acquire transcendental wisdom of the dharma and the nature of your mind.

If I really stick to my dream context, which was the impetus for this thread after all, bliss arose after absolute emotional clarity had been first realised, and then transcended.

ok, thanks. In my initial post I referred in the quote to bliss beyond freedom and peace, to 'absolute bliss consciousness'. This is not my experience, but seems to capture the sense of joy that I felt in my dream. I imagine this bliss to be an abiding bliss, certainly not a more temporal orgasmic like energy flow, or a momentary meditation induced state.

Actuallly, Marblehead, I spoke basic spanish when I was in my 20s since I was around many spanish speaking people at that time. Later, I started learning Chinese and now I speak Chinese much, much better than I ever could Spanish (oh, I also took a college course in Spanish way back then). So, the dream is valid. Now, however, I have difficulty remembering Spanish because I've concentrated so much on Chinese in the last 8 years or so. What I was saying was in the dream Spanish came out freely but while awake, Chinese was dominant.

Re: ----- "I'm of the school of thought that says true awakening is about becoming more capable and useful in the world. There should be more clarity of mind, not forgetting to do important things, being apathetic, etc." ----- Yes. The quote in the OP reads not so much like "enlightenment" so much as "disillusionment" in things that had previous been followed or believed. So looking more like coming to grips with the fake culture, the brainwashing, and just stopping from assumed motivations. As if someone see through the modern fantasy, and let the modern fantasy just fall away. And it look like the pause just after that, before reality start to become apparent. Before the true dream of one's life starts to become obvious after the modern junk is rendered unbelievable. Life is play, not work. Normal thing like raising children shows that our Play is not in vain, but our "works" can easily be, and win/lose is just a game. -VonKrankenhaus

This sounds like it is spoken in anger, which makes it seem likely that you are still depressed? That is OK. I love and accept you as you are, depressed or not, and do not require you to behave in any particular manner. If you are depressed, you may also feel powerless. You are not. You can choose how you respond to this time in your life. You can choose to dwell upon it or not. The choice is, and will always be, yours. Believe it or not, you actually chose to be depressed! Nobody made you that way, even if you don't agree with me, when you are ready you will see the truth of what I am saying. I have said before that if we are constantly looking back as we walk the path of our life we can't see where we are going and will fall flat on our faces. The same if we stare straight ahead. Better to deal with this moment, right now. What is happening in this moment, right now? Is there anything in this moment, right now, to be depressed about? To be angry about? What are you feeling right now? Bring your awareness to it. Just gently be aware of whatever it is you are feeling, right now, in this moment, without criticism or judgment. Whenever your feelings begin to overwhelm you, just come back to this simple exercise. Bring awareness to what you are feeling. Maybe write down what you are feeling and anything else that comes to mind. If you need someone to listen, I am here and you can PM me. You will get through this. If you have already gotten through this, awesome! There is still anger, maybe some bitterness about it, which is understandable. But there will come a time, when you are ready, when you will glance back and see the value in your experiences. But just a glance mind you. I look back at when I was depressed, and I have a lot of regrets. I wish I had done more, experienced more. I seem to have arrived ta this time in my life without accomplishing anything of any real meaning or value. I still struggle with figuring out my dream. Only recently found a purpose for myself. Thoughts of its too late, I waited too long or I missed out keep wanting to play over and over in my mind. I contemplate ending my life, although not recently. But if I had not gotten depressed and began to doubt my Christian faith I would still be trapped in it. My former faith was making me depressed. It must have been my dissatisfaction with it and the way my parents chose to live that brought my depression on. It is what caused me to glance at that shelf at the library and try that first book on a subject I knew nothing about at the time, Lucid Dreaming. It is what allowed me to say, "To hell with it!" and try shrooms. Everything that happened to me brought me to this point in my life, was necessary for me to arrive here. So I have no anger or bitterness about my time of depression. I have forgiven my former religion and my parents, who converted me to it and did things that hurt me without being aware of the damage they caused. I have come to see that they did not know any better. They still don't. I can't change them, and shouldn't try. I need to love them unconditionally, that is the practice, this is how I am to be with others, To love and accept them as they are. No conditions. You will find your way, if you haven't already. Even if you don't, that is perfectly OK. There is no right or wrong choice. There are only actions and consequences, the choices we make and what happens as a result. You will receive no criticism or judgment from me. But I did notice your anger and so pointed it out. You will get awareness and noticing out of me...

So Nungali, would you recommend his book? I have heard of Findhorn. They have a bursar there, unlike the other spiritual communities I have heard about. I think I would like to visit there one day. Always wanted to see Ireland and Scotland anyway, and then I have a certain friend over in that direction too... I would like to hear more about this commune where you live. Is there any information about it out there? Is this it: http://www.communities.org.au/projects/homeland-community Thank you for all the info! All Else I will do as you have suggested. I have sat under a tree, not sure what kind it is, but I love the sound of its leaves in the slightest breeze. It is one of my meditation spaces. Maybe, instead of tuning into the sound of the wind in the leaves or my breath I should tune it to the tree, in the same way you tune in when you are going to listen to a person who is talking to you. Just have that assumption, that the tree will speak and I just need to listen. Think that will work? I used to have a silver leaf maple. I loved that tree, transplanted it where we used to live. Not even sure if it is still alive. Always intended to go back there and get another seedling. I have an ancient silver leaf living outside of what I call my special place, a mental place I had in my mind. This one was my Dream Tree, per Robert Moss's instructions. I wonder if I would have a greater connection with one of these trees?

Far out! This stimulated me to go a search with some names and Michael and Treenie Roads, and I got a hit, with them mentioned in it, a womans story about her journey of communing with nature and a photo of our place before I was here .... https://elizabethinsightsandencounters.wordpress.com/making-friends-with-plants-and-becoming-at-home-with-nature/my-return-to-the-city-and-an-introduction-to-natural-healing/ Commune ? Psssh !, its just a ramshackle hippy caravan settlement . HA! The community got built a bit after that ... and not by people that went on to be new age book sellers and channellers , a few that did come from here back then. But some people DID GET THE REALITY of that dream ( commune and live with and in nature ) actually manifested ( after the Aquarian visionaries ran off to be 'successful' in various types of 'new age marketing' and left their untogether mess behind ) ( Ohhhh, the things I know about all of that ! )

This is a good passage. I have died more than once in my dreams (and I know we are only talking dreams here....but) and still, on the very moment of actual "death", there was only ever non-existance. Words cannot describe the feeling...only, the sheer opposite of excitement I guess. Pure lifelessness. Just a dream anyway, but reflective of Jung's opinion.

Latest dream of the Dalai Lama, on a opposite hotel balcony, jumping off and flying away! lol.

Does anyone have any input of the meaning behind people appearing to you in your dreams unexpectedly? I have a love interest who I thought I had gotten over, but seem to be repeatably teased in my dreams by them appearing unexpectedly. This seems to bring up the issue for me again. Any input greatly appreciated or if you can share similar stories about those occurrences when people appear to you in the dream state.

Well ... look what is going on in Ojai .... 'Dream Bliss' !!! http://greenlotuswellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bliss-Sisters-Retreat-Ojai_May9-11-6.pdf

Well this got deeper.. I don't think any of us are really 'qualified' to interpret dreams, especially one like that...so I would agree with Stosh. Forget about it. The fact that it shook you up so much means you clearly aren't seriously considering such an action, so it'd be silly to spend time worrying. Maybe you just had some bad cheese with your macaroni, or something... Moving on? Though I think we might have worn this whole butterfly dream conversation out for now...

In my opinion, enlightenment cannot be discussed, it needs to be experienced. How can you experience what happens outside a dream when you are dreaming? Since this small fraction of the universe we are all stuck in is an illusion, a dream-state like many others which make up what Buddhism calls Samsara.

Good thing it was just a dream. Good to that when you awoke you were still yourself and not a butterfly. Yes, some things we do in life are terminal (didn't want to use the word final). Once done they cannot be undone and the results can never be changed.

Pain day sky beauty die black joy love empty day life die pain passion joy black day hate beauty die life joy ache empty day pain die love passion joy black light And if God is dead what am I, a fleck of dirt on the wing of a fly hurtling to earth through a hole in the sky And if Warhol's a genius, what am I, a speck of lint on the penis of an alien buried in gelatin beneath the sands of Venus Time sun hurt trust peace dark rage sad white rain sun anger hurt soft trust night rage rain white hope dark sacred sun time trust hurt rage anger rain white light And if a bird can speak, who once was a dinosaur, and a dog can dream; should it be implausible that a man might supervise the construction of light the construction of light Pain day sky beauty die black joy love empty time sun hurt trust peace dark rage sad white rain hate anger hope sacred passion life night ache soft light

This is a common Western Dilemma, where the I is given so much importance, defined by personal identity for the sake of striving for the materialist dream and putting "me" out there in order to "get" that dream! In the East of course the I... until recent Western influence, was more defined by family and culture, religion, etc. Not that the Western mode of strong egoism is not a good and healthy balance, but it needs to be less stern I think and not so brick. Really, what the wisdom paths are getting at is just being flexible... when we hold on to a stiff definition of "I", we loose our flexibility to learn and re-evaluate ourself depending upon the situation at hand. We are to be more like water with this "I", formless and evolving, not stagnant, "This is who I am and damnit I ain't changin' for nobody!" We don't have to change for anybody but if we wish to evolve, we need to realize the our I originates dependent upon causes and conditions and if we reflect more the causes and conditions of the now, then we are more appropriate within the now, more in line with it, merged into the moment sort of speak and less contracted about being open to new and exciting challenges in life that will help us evolve and also please us, as life is really to be enjoyed. Being stagnant like a pond cut off from the ever evolving currents of the ocean is really boring. That's all... it doesn't mean not having an I per say, just being more flexible in handling ourselves is all.

Now it is the time of night That the graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide: And we fairies, that do run By the triple Hecate's team, From the presence of the sun, Following darkness like a dream, Now are frolic: not a mouse Shall disturb this hallow'd house: I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door. ... aha!

He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash." Luke 10:18 Doesn't sound like water. But the comet and water idea. ... " so Wallenganda , the Milky Way, the big black snake in the sky, felt sorry for Ungud the earth snake, all alone down there on the earth. So she spat some of her water down onto Ungud. He gathered it together and dived through the ground ... taking it down and leaving a big sand hill where he went through the earth " He took the water underground ... curled up in it and went to sleep .... and then he began to dream .... "