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Curious things dreams and I do believe they can effect our day to some extent. I thought I would stick this here (just for fun) ; it's part of the film script I wrote about my experience in the film industry - 'Reza' is my Iranian boss. ----------------------- SCENE EXT. BEACH. DAY. [ FX – Dreamscape.] Reza is lying on an idyllic beach. Totally enjoying himself. He goes to sleep. … He wakes up and looks out at the beach but the ocean is gone and he is in a desert. REZA “Where is water? … Must be low tide.” He walks down the beach / sand dunes and sees something in the distance. He squints. [ FX – heat wavered silhouette of a camel train.] CUT TO - Reza staggering through a desert. REZA “I need a drink … it’s been so long since I had a drink … I’m dying of thirst.” He falls to the sand. SCENE INT. BELLYDANCERS TENT. NIGHT. [Dreamscape continues] Reza comes-to in a lavish, exotic mid-eastern style tent. Woman are belly dancing and offering food on trays. One offers a hookah. Another is reading poetry from a book. Reza lays back and enjoys it. [ SFX – Alarm clock ringing.] The woman all look up surprised. BELLYDANCER “What is this strange noise that has intruded into our world?” REZA (Pissed off) “Oh no! Not now!” The Bellydancer comes up to him and mops his brow with her veil. BELLYDANCER “What troubles thee my love?” REZA (Cranky) “I have to go to work.” BELLYDANCER “Work? What is this strange word that has intruded into our world?” REZA “I have to go.” BELLYDANCER “Oh no my love! Do not leave us, stay here with us!” OTHER BELLYDANCERS (Chorus) “Stay … please do not go … stay here with us ... ” (etc.) BELLYDANCER “Do not go to that strange place of harsh noises …” [ SFX – Alarm is still ringing.] Bellydancer covers her ears. “ And strange harsh words … this ‘work’ thing sounds evil … do not go!” REZA “I don’t want to but ….” [ SFX – ringing louder.] SCENE; INT. 'CAMP DEATH' location – REZA’S BEDROOM. PRE-DAWN. Reza slaps the alarm clock and gets out of bed. He goes about his morning preparations very cranky and grumpy. SCENE EXT. LOCATION 1. CATERING AREA. DAWN. Reza is setting the breakfast tables, he is banging things around and is in a bad mood. Massoumeh is making fruit juice at the other table and watching. She brings Reza a juice. MASSOUMEH “What’s up?” REZA “Oh nothing, I don’t know, I’m just in a bad mood. Today, it seems this whole job just isn’t worth it. Why do I bother? …. I go to sleep and , bing! Next instant I have to get up again … or I can’t sleep all night until an hour before I have to get up.” MASSOUMEH “”Did you sleep last night?” REZA “Well, that’s the weird bit, I did sleep pretty good last night. I had some sort of dream about being at the beach, but I can’t quiet remember it. For some reason, from the moment I got out of bed I’ve been really pissed off.”

There is a diabolic quality to many dreams that seem designed to engender the greatest amount of anxiety possible within the context of unfolding circumstances and the choices made within them. There are times in waking life where this relentless quality emerges. Those are really bad times. There is some kind of connection between the two realms. It is hard to get the mind around the idea. What I have found to be most disturbing is when I awake from a dream where I have done something I don't want to have done and find myself asking: Did I actually do that thing? In that moment, the "real" is like an alibi clearing me of a charge made for a crime enacted by me in another life. Doppelganger.

Had it this morning Now I can not even remember what was going on in that state. Something mundane but it was amusing .... outside stimulus seems to disrupt it. Sometimes I can stretch out the 'between space' but its subtle, sorta got to allow it to happen itself, as soon a s I try to stretch it, it snaps and I am awake. In the past I experimented with it but gave up, being in that state I didnt manage to harvest much ... I was constantly on the edge of grasping or something or reading some amazing text that I couldnt quiet read .... it felt like my mind was doing that thing the body can do in a dream ... have the sensation and brain signals that you are running but you cant get traction or something and you are staying still. A bit like the 'meditative effects' of N2 O - the whole system of the Universe and all its energy and manifestations come together in a balanced whole ... all secrets are revealed ... one realises it was all so simple in the first place ! NOW I can ....... ummmmm ..... huh ... what was I just thinking about then ? ? ? So I gave up on it and went to things that delivered the goods better. Although , if you can plant a 'contented/happy seed' when you are in that space it will help to get you out of the 'right side of the bed' in the morning and can make the first part of your day great ...

The more ordinary expressions given to the highest reality known as Citta are Tathata, "suchness" or "thusness", Satyata, "the state of being true", Bhutata, "the state of being real", Dharmadhatu, "realm of truth", Nirvana, the Permanent (nitya), Sameness (samata), the One (advaya), Cessation (nirodha), the Formless (animitta), Emptiness (sunyata), etc. From these descriptions it is found natural for Mahayanists psychologically to deny the existence of an ego-soul or ego-substance in the Alaya, and ontologically to insist that the tragedy of life comes from believing in the substantiality or finality of an individual object. The former is technically called the doctrine of Pudgalanairatmya, egolessness of persons,1 and the latter that of Dharmanairatmya, egolessness of things; the one denies the reality of an ego-soul and the other the ultimacy of an individual object. Superficially, this denial of an Atman in persons and individual objects sounds negative and productive of no moral signification. But when one understands what is ultimately meant by Cittamatra (Mind-only) or by Vivikta-dharma (the Solitary), the negations are on the plane of relativity and intellection. The term "the Middle" (madhyama), meaning "the Middle Way'', does not occur in the Lanka proper except in its Sagathakam portion. But the idea that the truth is not found in the dualistic way of interpreting existence, that it is beyond the category of being and non-being, is everywhere emphasised in the Lanka. In fact, we can say that one of the principal theses of the Lanka is to establish the Absolute which makes a world of particulars possible but which is not to be grasped by means of being and non-being (astina-stitva). This Absolute is the Middle Way of the Madhyamaka school. 1 The conception of the Tathagata-garbha is not to be confused with that of a Pudgala or Atman. This going beyond all forms of dualism, however differently it may be expressed, whether as being and non-being, or as oneness and manyness, or as this and that, or as causation and no-causation, or as form and no-form, or as assertion and negation, or as Samsara and Nirvana, or as ignorance and knowledge, or as work and no-work, or as good and evil, or as purity and defilement, or as ego and non-ego, or as worldly and super-worldly, ad infinitum —this going beyond a world of oppositions and contrasts constitutes one of the most significant thoughts of the Mahayana. There is nothing real as long as we remain entangled in the skein of relativity, and our sufferings will never come to an end. We must therefore endeavour to take hold of reality, but this reality is not something altogether solitary. For in this case no one of us will be able to have even a glimpse of it, and if we had, it will turn into something standing in opposition to this world of relativity, which means the loss of solitariness, that is, the solitary now forms part of this world. Thus, according to Buddhist philosophy, reality must be grasped in this world and by this world, for it is that "Beyond which is also Within". The Lankacompares it to the moon in water or a flower in a mirror. It is within and yet outside, it is outside and yet within. This aspect of reality is described as "unobtainable" or "unattainable" (anupalabdha). And just because it is unobtainable in a world of particulars, the latter from the point of view of reality is like a dream, like a mirage, and so on. The subtlest relation of reality to the world is beyond description, it yields its secrets only to him who has actually realised it in himself by means of noble wisdom (aryajnana or prajna). This realisation is also a kind of knowledge though different from what is generally known by this name. Without a theory of cognition, therefore, Mahayana philosophy becomes incomprehensible. The Lanka is quite explicit in assuming two forms of knowledge: the one for grasping the absolute or entering into the realm of Mind-only, and the other for understanding existence in its dualistic aspect in which logic prevails and the Vijnanas are active. The latter is designated Discrimination (vikalpa) in the Lanka and the former transcendental wisdom or knowledge (prajna). To distinguish these two forms of knowledge is most essential in Buddhist philosophy.

Well last night I had this amazing hour long O at a D session through a wall. I had already been in full-lotus for an hour and then took another hour to convert all the female jing I took in to make sure it didn't turn back into generative fluid during sleep (and instead turn it into chi before sleep). So I go to sleep around 2 a.m. with the Pygmy trance music still going at low volume. I wake up to this amazing flying dream but in fact it was a sled dog dream with my ex-girlfriend who had her birthday yesterday. The friend I talked to yesterday subconsciously reminded me of her. Anyway we were flying with the sled dogs as we had done in Alaska almost 20 years ago but the speed of when we hit the trail was in time with the fast pulsations of the Pymgy 8 per second rhythm. My brain was entrained with the trance music -- even in sleep! So I went back into full-lotus as the jing was still strong and the kidney channels peak around that time in the morning -- I had to convert that throbbing back into chi again. haha.

True enough. I know that I'm not experiencing existence the way another being might, and it's possible that my whole life has been a dream of sorts. But if that's the case, who do I listen to when I want to "wake up"? There are a hundred different theories about it on this forum alone... Perhaps.. I'm still figuring it all out. There may come a time when I see something you've already seen. But what if I spent my life chasing it, and the idea of awakening was the illusion all along?

Yes,...belief that nothing is real, would be right up there with the belief that objects are,...neither the commentaries associated to Lao Tzu (and the speculated authors of the DDJ and HHJ), or Sakyamuni, to my understanding, preached either nothing is real, nor that objects are real. Experience for most goes something like this,...experience born of belief can only be experienced through the condition of that belief. All conditions are a product of sleep. One could say that most of humanity's experience is no more real than a nightly dream. Of course, people often have happy dreams. However, "on the off-chance it turns out to all be an illusion," you will have missed the opportunity to have had a direct experience.

The teacher consciously and energetically opening the student up, but not with what Westerners (as well as Western-minded Asians) understand as "qi" (I think I will act on everyone's nerves if I reiterate once again that "qi" of my understanding is not "energy" but I have to, lest we use the same word but mean totally different phenomena) -- not with a "bolt of energy" but with a "bolt of meaning," "bolt of transformation," "bolt of truth," "bolt of new vision," "onslaught of different-level information" and so on -- yes, THAT is also qi, but it is not the "energy qi" of Western theories, it is the "medium and message of meaningful change" of traditional taoist understanding. Different traditions do it differently. Some will transmit with things like ayahuaska (in taoism, the true purpose of the ingestion of the immortality pill is exactly the same), others will send you on a vision quest to a sacred "transmitting" spot, some will give you an object of power (a talisman) that will act as a "transmitter." Many will transmit in dreams (taoism is prominently prone to this mode of transmission though it is not the only one it uses -- but there's hundreds of classical stories where the teacher-student transmission takes place via the teacher showing up in the student's dream, or else the teacher taking a student because the student happened to show up in the teacher's dream). Some will use the method that is probably the one most often thought of as "the" transmission -- a kind of "charged" touch from the teacher, either physical or "energetic." This is legit, but it's only one way, out of many, and the same student might get a "portion" of the transmission this way and then other portions via other methods. Whole transmissions -- of the teacher's entire spirit, entire being -- are also part of many traditions, these typically only happen when the teacher dies and has selected his or her direct successor. This is a classic shamanic tramsmission, where the shaman is not thought of as an individual at all but rather as a force that comes to manifest via a succession of bodies, all of these bodies are different people living in different times but they are all essentially one and the same shaman, because what's transmitted is not the personality an individual had but the force, power, art, craft, connection, conduit it was quite aside from the individual personality and physical being. That's what I meant. Taoism is transmitted via pretty much "any and all" of these methods and more, but whatever uses none of them isn't taoism, is just a scholarly hobby... Oh, I didn't really study it in any depth, just read a few books. But if you want to study it seriously, seek out a kabbalistically trained rabbi, a few of them might have weekend or evening schools for beginners or can point you in the direction of one.

i dont think its really cluttering up the board and it is probably a lot easier to find a subject you are interested in by having these sub-forums, especially for newcomers to this site. how may great threads have been lost in general discussion over the years, when basically that was where everything went for so long? "We are a loose knit group with varied interests" it helps to have a compass to find a specific interest rather than attempting to find the needle in the hay field and besides, the sub-forums are already here and i doubt they ever become undone, taoists adapt to change, i have heard edit> dream school sounds cool

* Call it a dream. It does not change anything. Ludwig Wittgenstein *

Idiot stumpy wrote 'Other than seeing things, how is this going to liberate you from suffering or finding the the truth' I don't necessarily see it as just seeing images but more a meditative tool to facilitate communication between myself and my unconscious and to then utilise active imagination to communicate with seemingly unconscious aspects of myself / archetypes and or guides. To what end? I guess greater harmony, joy, understanding and love. I am not a great visualiser but the freedom of a lucid dream has and does excite me and this is what draws me to it. Maybe my answer is I am seeking freedom which I guess is liberating but maybe not liberation! And I want to explore and understand my greater self. ∞

What if the universe was to end in 2 weeks, and all who were not awake (truth realized), would pass away like the characters of a dream,...no continuation, no Jesus to save them, no rebirth. So here you are,...two weeks to wake up, or forever end in an instant. What would you do? Most would likely go on as they been going on,...others may go on sex or drug binge,...some would pray or meditate, but what good is that, except to hide.

Sometimes authors make huge mistakes, and actually they call the animal ego as guardian angel. Black magic distorts things and turns them upside down by calling the diabolic intelligence within as divine and giving it a "holy" name. The Gnostic master Samael Aun Weor clarifies: Guardian Angel "The flaming powers of the Guardian Angel are truly extraordinary, marvelous, and extremely divine. I know what the Guardian Angel is from purely Gnostic sources, secretly kept in monasteries of initiation. These bear no resemblance to common pseudo-Christianity and pseudo-occultism which are accessible to the general public." - Samael Aun Weor, The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, and Dream Yoga Guardian of the Threshold "Theurgy is one thing and Necromancy is another... The internal master of the Theurgist is the Intimate. The internal master of the Necromancer is his Guardian of the Threshold to whom they call the guardian of their consciousness, the guardian of the precinct, the guardian of their chamber, the guardian of their sanctum... The Intimate is our Divine Spirit, our Real Being, our Internal Angel. The Guardian of the Threshold is the internal depth of our animal “I.” The Intimate is the ardent flame of Horeb. In accordance with Moses, the Intimate is the Ruach Elohim who sowed the waters in the beginning of the world. He is the Sun King, our Divine Monad, the Alter Ego of Cicerone. The Guardian of the Threshold is our Satan... our internal beast, the source of all of our animal passions and brutal appetites... The Real Being of the Theurgist is the Intimate. The superior “I” of the Necromancer is the Guardian of the Threshold. The powers of the Intimate are divine. The powers of the Guardian of the Threshold are diabolic. The Theurgist worships the Intimate. The Necromancer worships the Guardian of the Threshold. The Theurgist avails himself with the power of his Intimate in order to perform his great works of practical magic. The Necromancer worships the Guardian of the Threshold for his works of black magic." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub

I think there is great value in considering it true and not true. To keep the two considerations like heads and tail of a coin. In the tic toc everyday world it is not true. I am typing what you're reading from a distance. I am not you, I am separate with a long history, as is everyone else. Yet considering the other side of the coin, allows you to take ultimate responsibility for the world. It becomes a Rorschach test reflecting your mindset. You see and interpret it differently. You live a better life, rich in synchronicity. Robert Moss's work is all about seeing'real' life as dream, and taking dreams as seriously as 'real' life. He has some good stuff on the shamanic side of dreamwork.

It may well be that you are just someone else's dream. I'm sure I am. I hope they never wake up.

Well, if this dream is precognitive, there are no ways to make sense of it until the context of the social situation is known. For an example, the upper manager may represent someone I will meet in the future because of some event.. Or his name sounds with Mom or Mont because he is like my mother??? I actually saw his face and could recognize and recall his facial expression. So, an old work place but with people I have never met in my real life. That's odd. Looks like my old work place represents the past while this upper manager represents the future.

OK let's expand on this. Take what's written below and add/edit as appropriate. A collective effort is going to be required if this is going to work for the collective good. Code of Conduct: ~ Wisdom is first to be recognized as a determining factor. ~ If someone starts saying they are, and we are Buddhas already, I will take out my sword and chop their heads, all of them, off! In today's world, that is a red light screaming "I am deluded, help!" ... (well at least we have found a job for Lin ) ~ We ourselves maintain as high as possible, levels of conduct, cultivated virtue and attainment of good merits. ~ To maintain clarity of mind and protection from demonic behavior, delusion...that all states are only stepping stones to attain higher levels of concentration which in turn assist one in ending their deluded thinking and eventually attain realization of their Original Nature. Because, truthfully, gaining states leaves potential confusion to manifest..seeking for the states, maintaining in the states, and thus getting stuck there. Convention Concept: ~ 3 days wouldn't be enough at all. I'm thinking an all out explanation of one's methods, which explain details on why they believe it is a good method. After wards, lectures on the methods in a class setting for those who resonate with those teachings. Then a gathering again of the teachers to discuss how to maintain their teachings, in written record, without change. Gathering of those students who attended selected lectures, discussing the states they attained, and have the teachers of those methods explain the ins and outs of those states. ~ It will bring in no profits (agreed but it will require funds, I am ready to help in this regard), and if it did, those profits should only be towards developing further such a place of cultivation and all its expenses...even if it means housing the teachers, and stewards of a place of that magnitude, and their families...haha a place of argriculture to eat wholesome foods and steards of the land to grow the food, cook it... ~ Everyone has a part to play in the upkeep. (Absolutely) ~ This was my dream, in part, of a cultivation school. In such, Jing Xin Yuan would house the Buddhas Teachings...but not closed to anyone else. I alsways had a dream of a cultivation school, where traditions were housed on the same grounds, with their respective places, or temples, and then a meeting ground for those elders to gather discuss the future care-taking of this world and work together in their traditions to empower wisdom, patience, compassion..which results in overall peace and enlightenment. (It would seem the Universal Consciousness is revealling its hand here because I have dreamt this so vividly I have stood in awe in the court yard of such a complex and gazed upon each temple and watched the students going about their day)

This is a good start...a drawing board so to say. Foundation is the most important in such a project. We are gathering people of cultivation. This not only opens the doors to an unusual happening, but opens the doors to demons of all shapes and sizes as well. They will come in as big egos, sharp tongues, cultivated sarcasm and even hold some valuable wisdom which in their hands is twisted to get people hooked. We will need eyes to recognize them, ears to hear for their deviant teachings, and the patience to observe it all, compassion to not get angry and wisdom to once recognized sweep the dust and take out the trash. I am one for strict guidelines in this matter, and during our times I feel it is ever more needed. Conduct is first and foremost when addressing people, welcoming others and showing respect for those who are cultivators regardless of their "level" of cultivation. Of course, wisdom is first to be recognized as a determining factor. But, we have to lay down , first, by what manner one can recognize the wisdom of true teachings... If someone starts saying they are, and we are Buddhas already, I will take out my sword and chop their heads, all of them, off! In today's world, that is a red light screaming "I am deluded, help!" It will take a long time to lay the groundwork, sift through standards and regulations for conduct, or it will just turn out like the modern day martial arts tournaments, and online forums ...bitch fest central with a touch, a big touch, of ego. As people who will be working on such a project, it is at the utmost imperitive that we ourselves maintain as high as possible, levels of conduct, cultivated virtue and attainment of good merits. Without them, we will not have the ability to maintain and host such a meeting... 3 days wouldn't be enough at all. I'm thinking an all out explanation of one's methods, which explain details on why they believe it is a good method. After wards, lectures on the methods in a class setting for those who resonate with those teachings. Then a gathering again of the teachers to discuss how to maintain their teachings, in written record, without change. Gathering of those students who attended selected lectures, discussing the states they attained, and have the teachers of those methods explain the ins and outs of those states. All must agree on one thing thoguh, to maintain clarity of mind and protection from demonic behavior, delusion...that all states are only stepping stones to attain higher levels of concentration which in turn assist one in ending their deluded thinking and eventually attain realization of their Original Nature. Because, truthfully, gaining states leaves potential confusion to manifest..seeking for the states, maintaining in the states, and thus getting stuck there. It is such a thin line we will walk in putting together this kind of thing. I pray to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to guide us in making proper and wise decisions, and bring in their light along this path to further guide us to be protected by Dharma Protectors Unnumbered. This task is not easy to say and not easy to do in our time. It will bring in no profits, and if it did, those profits should only be towards developing further such a place of cultivation and all its expenses...even if it means housing the teachers, and stewards of a place of that magnitude, and their families...haha a place of agriculture to eat wholesome foods and steards of the land to grow the food, cook it... Everyone has a part to play in the upkeep. This was my dream, in part, of a cultivation school. In such, Jing Xin Yuan would house the Buddhas Teachings...but not closed to anyone else. I alsways had a dream of a cultivation school, where traditions were housed on the same grounds, with their respective places, or temples, and then a meeting ground for those elders to gather discuss the future care-taking of this world and work together in their traditions to empower wisdom, patience, compassion..which results in overall peace and enlightenment. So much to work on..little steps to take. Oh, and let's not call it Gathering of the Immortals...it screams brainwashed commercialism, especially in our already "New Agey" mentality...it just reeks of buy me, sell me all over it..lol Yeah, I'm crazy.. But it does sound kewl(cool) though, has a big ring to it, but I'm sure something a bit more..subtle Peace, Lin

Also, as far as carrying on the work while out and about, does reversing the light while doing daily activities resemble dissociation? Some days I feel involuted, as if life is a dream, and I feel a real intense inner presence, as if I am feeding the universe back into my self. My body seems to operate as if from a distance, including social interactions. I have a sense as if I am breathing in Reality, or the Universe, and eating it, directing its energies into my being. I understand that everything that is perceived is actually already within the mind, and not really outside at all. I am wondering about the motor cortex and pre motor cortex and how what we give our energies to creates new growth within the brain...does turning the light around create new growth within the reflexive center itself, as well as the source of consciousness within the heart. I am thinking that it would be useful to study the formation of the human embryo from zygote and seeing what develops first, and then perhaps extrapolating from this the pathways of evolution. The term 'Source progenitor' has always enthralled me...I need to look more into that. I want to know these things both directly and indirectly (analytic/theoretic)... Relaxation seems paramount. The opposing force - doing - sending energy outwards is about trying to change the universe. Here is the exhaustion. It seems that by entering fully into presence, true relaxation, and allowing the universe to change ones own self instead, is how growth and rebirth occurs.

In this book the achieved student spends 8 years in his small town, working and supporting his family like anyone else, hidden and waiting for approval from his teachers to share his lineage. This alone is a great lesson - sometimes it is important to allow things to settle and mature. Principle of the Lake trigram ☱. But during this time, others find themselves healed after short chats with WL, though he acknowledges nothing of this. Later, after he is teaching to the masses, a few students approach him saying they all had the same dream - but he denies having any intentional role, saying this is simply what the energy does naturally due to the circumstances. Those students were able to resonate and perceive, so they were the ones to have the dreams. This was possible due to the massive scale of the seminar and due to the high level of sophistication of WL's skill. In Shen Laoshi's translated blog, he describes his first seminar with WL, where he finds his hands forming a spontaneous mudra - again it is suggested that his energy was able to naturally resonate with what was available to all, rather than WL seeking him out deliberately and making his hands form the mudra. When someone reaches a level of self mastery, they heal others by simply being themselves. The higher their mastery and skill, the more widespread the affect. Zhuangzi speaks much on the trap masters fall into by teaching with words and becoming chained to the needs of others as opposed to the freedom and unhindered potential open to those who radiate their healing invisibly. We don't need to intentionally send out instructions for how others need to heal - that is Inferior Virtue. Superior Virtue is in trusting and allowing all to happen the way it needs to - allowing and trusting the tao to operate at its highest level, not controlling based on our own highest level. The power of wholeness inspires wholeness all around it, and operates on myriad layers at once.

I have a regular problem of falling asleep when meditating if I am sitting or laying down. I can usually meditate for 10-15 minutes without a problem but whenever I go any longer there is a good chance that i will fade into sleep. Through my Taiji practice I have been able to accomplish effective standing meditation without dozing off to dream land but when sitting or laying I find myself falling asleep while meditating on a regular basis. I have a good diet. I exercise regularly. I sleep a solid 8 hours a night (usually 930pm-530am). I never meditate after a large meal or in the evening when i am tired. Granted, i am fairly new to meditating and some advice i have read on other forums is that this problem will pass with time and practice but i thought that you guys would have a few helpful things to say. Any help would be appreciated.

as I bask in the field of hops, slowly drifting drifting away... I dream of fermenting; soaked in the love making of clear mountain streams, river rocks, moss, particles of gold, geodes radiating spiritual messages from deep below, now permeating into my petals and leaves.... awakened by a gentle breeze softly whisking away that fading warmth of horizon kissed starlight even as twinkles appear to greet my now homeward bound feet.

any rate an independent scotland is all just a faded pipe dream now. it would be refreshing however if there were at least some romantic rather than all practical in this world. at least there is iceland and ireland to admire

It could be a vision of one your past lives (most likely), which explains why you are involved in this path in this lifetime, or possibly a vision of the future (in this or a future life). No arhant...arhants are no longer reborn in the human plane They either reach parinirvana after passing or reborn in one of the higher planes from where they reach nirvana. "In the Jatakas, the stories about the Buddha's former existences, it is reported that the Buddha-to-be and Moggallana had lived together quite often. In no less than thirty-one lives the Buddha and Moggallana had met, and in thirty of them Moggallana and Sariputta had lived together. So strong was the bond that already in previous lives had connected these three. To be sure, the thirty-one which have been recorded, is a very small number compared with the infinity of lives through which every being in Samsara has passed." (Maha-Moggallana sutra). We indeed are trapped in Samsara, the eternal dream.

Well, yes, the cold-blooded ones. I'm not sure what species they are exactly, they have never behaved as members of the human race toward fellow humans, so anything is possible -- it's more important what they "do" than what they "are" -- like in all other cases, actually -- and David Icke is so damn good at explaining and documenting what they "do" that what he thinks about what they "are" is almost irrelevant. Though Al Gore does look a lot like a large lizard, doesn't he? Honestly? And Icke thinks he's full of shit. I dunno... I've never paid much attention because it's not my imprint to notice something like this -- they often say "energy follows attention" but you can bet your life on the opposite being true first -- "attention follows energy." Imprinted energy patterns will dictate where your attention will go, what you will resonate with, what, out of the information soup you're swimming in on a daily basis, you will navigate toward. Have you ever seen Magritt's painting titled "Personal Things?" I'll try to look it up online and post it to illustrate what I mean if I find it. Global warming may or may not be the number one threat, but there's so many others competing for the spot... you can't really "educate" people about what they should fear the most when the whole scene is turning so damn scary, so utterly fubar... (I know, I know... some would disagree, and I usually say to them -- you haven't been paying attention! ) So for me... on the immediate emotional-response level, you can't really fear a warming scenario too much if you spent your early age in Siberia. If it was the next Ice Age they were concerned about, I would be way more focused on the issue... where I lived we used to get minus seventy-five -- with government-supplied, and unreliable, and occasionally nonexistent, central heating. You talk to someone like me about "warming" and my spontaneous emotional response is, "yeah! Bring it on! " I don't want to question the accuracy of your information, what I'm trying to say is, my attention naturally gravitates toward some altogether different dangers to ponder and try to do something to avert. If I don't forget, I'll post an account of a dream I had that accurately reflects my own premonitions and anticipations. I call it The Dream of the Red Suitcase...