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Dreams are tricky. I've been doing lucid dream work for close to 10 years now (had done it on and off as a kid, then I learned it had a name, that's when I really got into it). The past five years I've been keeping serious, daily dream journals. At first hand written, but whet it started taking me nearly three hours to hand write 6-8 pages, I started to type them. And honestly- most dreams are gunk. Crap. Mental junk. Projections, hopes, fears. Most dreams that aren't just crap are only MOSTLY crap. You might get a little bit of "higher" stuff, but it's so mixed in with your hopes and fears and other crap that the message is so distorted that it's useless, and you really don't even recognize it. Dreams that have meaning, I do believe, will smack you in the face. If you have to ask if it has meaning, if you have to ask if you're receiving a message from beyond, then you probably didn't get one. Chances are better that it's just you projecting what you HOPE a message will be. "An angel came down from on high and told me it was my higher self". Uh huh. Sure it did. Every ritual and process from every traditions that's more than 200 years old that I've come across shows such an event as demanding a LIFETIME commitment and a SERIOUS physical/spiritual event, and you think that it just floated down to you? But it helps you sleep at night, so there you are. A tried a stint as a dream interpreter at a couple of forums, but I didn't take all jobs, either because I wasn't feeling anything from it, I couldn't read it well, it was too individual specific, or I just thought it was gunk. Many people focus on the symbols, the visual, when interpreting dreams. I don't like that. Symbols are too individual. Roses mean love? Unless your fiance dropped off roses when they called it off to run off with their local bartender. Roses ain't so rosy. Also, don't be so quick to jump to the past incarnation conclusion. It's far more likely that they are just deeply rooted impressions. For instance, I felt drawn to the military for a long time (still do). A palm reader said I was in the military in a past life. Then my mom discovered some of my old baby pictures. There I was as a two year old dressed as G.I. Joe I noticed a lot of visual imagery in your post. Very descriptive. But really, it's just scenery. I tend to home in on emotions and reactions that people have- they are far more telling about what a dream meant to that individual. When you entered the area- how did you feel? Were you comfortable? Excited? At home? What did you think when you saw the severed head? Repulsed? Intrigued? Indifferent? Were you excited when you read the book? And so on. If nothing jumps out at you, and you just felt neutral, all I've got to say it was a nice dream, I hope you enjoyed it, you really want to get your hands on that sutra. Hope you do and you enjoy it And for the vividness- of course, it's a fond memory. But be careful about remembering "more as the day goes on". I can't tell you how many times I've sat to reread my dream journal thinking "oh, I remember this dream, I jump off the high dive next", only to get to the next paragraph that reads "then my giraffe friend said hi and we ate bananas". Memory DOES get distorted over time. Good and bad. Which is why I highly suggest, if ever you get into a situation which might involve legal troubles or a testimony or having to talk to the cops, write EVERYTHING down AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Thoughts and impressions to. They can and WILL warp, and, God forbid, they can BE WARPED by others.

I like everything Zhongyongdaoist said. Use your intuition, try them. They may well bring you peace. and if they don't. Consider that it might have been the same kind of anxiety dream most people suffer from, only a bit worse but that can be due to the timing of waking up. If the above doesn't work then you may want to see the culprit in this drama is you; maybe your subconscious. In that case- just don't feed it, don't worry about it. It was nothing, a bad dream. Go on with your life, or perhaps to honor the dream, by doing something positive. A practice like fusion or 5 elements.. something that provides an avenue for growth. Sometimes, even when faced by the devil himself, you gotta stick out your finger, and live your life normally.

I don't know what she just ate. I hope it was a poacher. One thing that strikes me as a taoist about wild felines (who've been around for 35 million years -- something we as a brand new and, in evolutionary terms, un-established, experimental species, can only dream of accomplishing) is the ultimate yin-yang interplay. Most of their daily lives are spent in a relaxed, soft, gentle wuwei state, interfering with nothing, being cats, just being. No aimless activity, just aimless inactivity -- like that of the ocean, lazy, sleepy, free of desires, open to play, open to no play... an open, receptive state of mind and no-mind. And then, when necessary and only then -- a powerful burst of sharply focused energy, short and decisive, a kill for food, a quest for procreation -- and again enjoying total contentment, embracing life and play, life as play and pleasure. True yin and true yang. And despite being obligatory carnivores, cats have never driven a single species of animals they hunt for to extinction. They don't take more than they need, and they don't need to take it all.

Not throwing stones in my own glass house here, but I see more and more how conditioned we are by our social upbringing. I have discussed this before in a charming story of how Robert Thurman's Tibetan teacher told him that he did not need to meditate so much because as a pre-programmed westerner, he could never drop his conditioned world view in order to become enlightened. bet that was a real knee slapper for him. I see so many spiritual seekers, and so called "awakened or enlightened" folks who still hold the boolean "all or nothing" , "yes or no", "real, or unreal, world views. If something is not real, like a dream, we call it Illusion, or that it really does not exist. If something is Real, (like my tv remote or smart phone) LOL, then we say that "this is real, material, we can all see it and discuss it". But when I was younger, and had dreams where I did not know I was dreaming, I could sit with a group of people at a table, and we agreed that we were all there, maybe eating food, that I could taste, feel, and that world was as "real" as this world, until I awoke, and saw that it was now, "unreal" or "Just a dream". So my mind was and is preconditioned to believe all or nothing, real/unreal, right/wrong. Can something be both real and unreal at the same time? do the terms "real, unreal" make any sense? for that matter, do the terms, "right/wrong", good/bad make sense as a mental label.? I have seen very bad people do good things, and vice versa. I have seen dreams that I "knew" were real at the time, but then upon awaking, "Knew" that they were unreal. Maybe just letting go of these ideas and beliefs, and just viewing the universe, life, everything as it unfolds without making a mental label for them. doubt we can let go completely, but maybe a little at a time. who knows?

...this one has the tabla . ...love the bass down in the mix. ...miss that... ...very fond of Ed Greene (non pattern-based drumming) Young Enough To Dream - rhythm guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR1wPPTM-9c The Mighty Burner - organ trio guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq579tk1Zko 2.5 hrs Old MacIntosh looping - 9 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHBPkqEGvHQ

Recent discoveries about my craft due to DBs cultivation. All my life I have been training/practicing doings workings within the world of spirits. But I have just recently learned/experienced a new phenomenon to me. What is called the practice of dream viewing/remote viewing, and a master can actually project a dream presents. I have heard of it, and even read a post about masters doing it, but I always thought that it didn't seem like much value was in it for me. And so it would seem that the lesson that I have learned: Recently I have perceived visitors to my domain bubble who have been viewing me from time to time. But not in the usual spirit projection way. These masters are able to remain *unseen by me and only perceived, this is interesting and has taught me that masters can remote view areas within the earthly plane similar to the way that I view areas on the spirit plane. What makes this important is that I can now study this practice without thinking that it is as I was taught of no value to me. *as a child I was damaged in a certain area and I was not able to easily put effort into manifesting and long range viewing of things on the physical plane of existence, and so my spirit guides focused my training, practice, toward being totally focused on the spirit plane/unseen would. In many cultures, the shaman also fulfills the role of the psychopomp. This may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also to help at birth, to introduce the newborn child's soul to the world.[5](p36) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp

I have both of the dream yoga books, and would generally recommend TWR over ChNNR dream yoga book. The reason is that ChNNR is fairly tightly wrapped up with his method of guru yoga, which requires transmission (although this tranmission is fairly freely given). I do think dream yoga generally is tightly wound up with general Buddhist practice. I believe in both cases that dream yoga is a secondary practice. Beyond that, there is also quite a bit of Buddhist symbolism, and this symbolism integrates into a larger practice context. A lot of the symbols get there power through frequent use in different contexts. For example, the Tibetan letter "AH" is very important in certain practices, but may not be as important to someone who doesn't practice in this way. So working with this letter is going to be a different experience depending on one's background.

a dream within a dream. All happens in the mind of the one who is awake

Agreed. We are never not that . In fact nothing ever really happens...but that is just too much for most human minds to comprehend, given that we seem to exist in space and time, and appear to have a beginning and an end. The physical “you” is just an appearance within the non-physical you. In fact, the entire universe also is just an appearance, a mirage, a play of name and form, that we take so seriously. The “you” that really is, is by itself ecstasy and bliss, love and joy, unattached and ever free. There is no question of forgiving. How can there even be? For example if you fall asleep and dream that you are serial killer and responsible for the murder of hundreds of people. When you wake up and remember that dream, would you forgive yourself or just say “wow that was a terrible nightmare”? its the same with the non dual awareness. There is nothing to forgive as there is no culprit

since i created this topic, i have had 2 nightmares lol i dont know what has happened, its like i am consistently getting nightmares it has just started happening from 1,2 months ago first dream i had was where i was on my bike in a rainy night, and a bus past me, someone in that bus was showing me his hand, as a sign of five after that my bike stooped near a black lady, she was young but she looked like a begger and she was trying to frighten me and my bike was not starting at that point lol and last night i saw a skeleton actually my house is quite old and there is a possibility of treasure here, but i dont want that treasure, i have no intereset so last night i saw that my aunt was saying to me that the treasure of this house slipped out of our hands, and i said i dont want this treasure pls dont even try, whoever is the owner of this treasure probably dont want us to take this but she still opened a hole on the wall of my house, and there was a well made place on the wall , like a closet to hide something and inside that closet was a skeleton in the dream we were saying that it could be of the king or someone else actually i had this treasure related dream quite a few time i have mentioned that i had a dream about my room which scared the hell out of me i saw a lady getting so angry over me , because i was trying to make a hole on the wall of my room and get the treasure her eyes were red, and she was also wearing red

I am only interested in your psychic power induced insights into the current crisis. If you have some, let's share them. Well, I have 2 dream visions of the event. Whenever I dream about "fish tanks," they mean that something big is happening in the geopolitical stage. It happens every single time. On the first dream, I saw a very large fish tank. It was like a public aquarium. On the front, it looks like it was divided into 3 sections, 3 separated tanks. However, in reality, they were all connected with 1 body of sea water. Within each section, you only see one specie of fish in there. Normally, fish swim around all together. They don't deliberately segregating themselves. This is obviously a metaphor for the current Greece crisis. Greece may be the first country to default on the IMF loans but it won't be the last. There may be 2 more countries after Greece. Did Greece exit? In this vision, not exactly. Maybe partially exited??? There were no senses of chaos in this vision. Everything was calm. Next dream....this morning actually. I have 5 fish tanks at home and they were all connected with a single water pump. That all the water from all the tanks were being circulated by a single pump. Now, the water pump was having problems getting water to reach to one of the tanks. As a result, I have water being spilled all over the floor. To fix this problem, I had to disconnect the main valve and the water pipe. By doing so, I ended up spilling more water on the floor. The water here represented liquidity, the Euros. Greece is currently having problems with enough liquidity in their banking sector. Does it mean that the outcome of the Greece crisis would create some sorts of fundamental issues with the Euros? By cutting off Greece the liquidity they need, it would further undermine the fundamentals of the Euros? I am not a financial expert and can not translate these metaphors into some technical, financial terms.....

~ Trungpa Rinpoche ~ There are seasons in your life in the same way as there are seasons in nature. There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally, of course, there are times that are cold and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. These rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.

Marble, it's very interesting to me how you're able to so easily and smoothly ignore opposing arguments by ignoring and discarding them and swiftly re-asserting your view without even giving any argument as to why. You're a nice guy, but it's odd that you're here participating in such discussions. This isn't afternoon tea chat, most members here actually care about truth. You stand out to me since it seems you're just making small talk here and truly don't care about figuring things out, evolving, by questioning yourself and your assertions. Maybe you're not on a path and this is all good fun for you, and that's fine, but if you participate in such discussions then participate, truly participate, or else it's a complete waste for you and everyone else. At least put a disclaimer at the end of your post "I don't really care what's happening here but I'll chime in with my opinion anyway" Everything that you have said in response to me, such as the world being proved to exist by your own experience and through science, still does not answer my questions. Science is not some super method, it's used by people relying on their intellect and senses, all of which are limited and finite. How can true knowledge be based on limited senses and thinking ability? You cite your own experience but I think it's obvious to anyone who's on a spiritual path that its our own obvious experience that must bear the most weight in questioning, since what is obvious is usually ~99.9% wrong. Obvious to an ant, is strange to us, but obvious to us is true, how? Are we omniscient beings? "There are scientific processes for testing the validity of a theory" Tell me, who tests these theories? Is it not people themselves? Also you talk about something being true if its relatively true. Imagine you're dreaming, this dream world is completely illusory but it appears before you and you act oblivious to this. for you then, everything that appears before you is true, getting out of bed, going through the motions of life, and you would have the same beliefs because you can rely on them; you would read scientific reports in your dream paper and you would feel totally happy with everything. But, as stated, this is a dream world so all of your beliefs are wrong. So even though your beliefs are true, relative to the dream, in an actual sense they are wrong because they depend on ignorance and illusion. If you were to wake up in this dream world, realize that it's all illusory, would you still act the same? I'd think yes you would still get out of bed and go through all the motions, but would you have the same beliefs? No. what we are talking about here is dismantling the dream by questioning the very foundation of the dream, the foundation which all dream beliefs depend on. these foundations are: the existence of an objective world filled with objects and things, and the existence of a subjective self separate from this world. The first step is questioning how you have come to know what you know and what evidence you have for that knowledge, and the assumptions that you have which that knowledge depends on. The crux of this is the belief that we, the human collective brain, have accurate and sufficient means to judge, make sense of, and form conclusions about reality. All of science depends upon this assumption, and all of your conclusions about your own experience, whatever is obvious to you, likewise depend upon this assumption. Even if you discard science you will undoubtedly fall back on your own experience as something undeniable, the fact of which is so obvious that its unquestionable simply because its before you. The beauty of human existence is not in our ability to know truth but in our ability to realize the futility of this search.

This is called "bardo" by Tibetans. This is also my view of death. However I am different in that I say waking and dreaming are cyclical. In other words, it's not the case that energy simply fades. Every fade is also a rebirth in process. It's like kinetic energy converting into potential, back to kinetic and so on. Since this process is a process of consciousness, and not a physical process, there is no such thing as friction or loss of energy. It just continues ad infinitum. Soon, new memories appear, and a new person is born. Waking is a kind of dream, and dreaming is another dream and so is death. Tibetans would say, "it's all bardo". There is no state that's not a bardo state of some kind. In other words, folks, you are all dead right now. A-yup. Dead. Yes sirr-ee. You don't think you are dead now, right? Of course not. So when you really die and your new dream begins, you won't think you are dead then either. This is how you go on being ignorant forever, just being reborn forever. Floating from one dream to another and never realizing it's a dream. See, memory is empty. This is why memory can appear. The past can appear. The past doesn't have to be "from the past." When you start dreaming, suddenly there is a coherent, detailed and believable past. You can ask any dream character about the past, and you'll hear a good, coherent, believable story. And all it took was to just close your eyes in bed and relax for a second for all those colorful, vivid, believable stories to appear. So memory appears just like that, together with the visions of the past. This is how time-perception appears. It can disappear and re-appear again. You can change your past, because memory is not solid. The past is not solid. The past is a mind construct. Sometimes it changes by itself due to some traumatic or other events. At other times you can change it consciously. Or you can just be oblivious and float around forever, like ghosts. Just forever floating around, convinced you're all having real life experience. The key to this floating is to never ever question anything. If you begin to question, the dream starts to look less real and more like a dream.

Those are all good questions and serve well as a catalyst for discussion. Based on my direct experiences and/or readings and/or meetings with extraordinary beings, here are my takes on each of your questions. Feel free to comment, question, or provide information refuting my current positions on these subjects. 1. Having practiced meditation for years under various spiritual mentors and also having studied clinical psychology in a postgraduate program at NYU, one becomes painfully aware that there are some people who are out of touch in varying degrees to both thoughts and feelings. For such people, no explanation regarding the pure-thought-free awareness is possible. For the others, no explanation should be necessary. Since the thought-free state is virtually impossible to describe in words because words (in most cases) proceed from thoughts and feelings, I am not quite sure how to express the inexpressible in words. Edward Salim Michael, however, aptly notes that, when "one redirects his gaze inwardly to dwell in the silence of his true abode, he will at that moment begin to experience a state of pure uninvolved impersonal awareness". It is alert but uninvolved. That should suffice for now. 2. Thought-free awareness initially can be lost very easily. When one has mastered the four-step thought-observation meditations (observation, extinguishing thoughts, creating a thought and watching mental associations, and the mind-jerk to clear the mind completely), one realizes that certain tendencies/urges will trigger mental associations and, from that root, the mental tree grows which eventually can manifest as action. The key is to cut that metaphorical tree at the root as soon as the initial thought/urge arises. One by one, one eliminates the personal separatist urges and , as that progresses, the lapses out of pure thought-free awareness become less and less frequent. Initially, however, one falls out of the thought-free awareness very quickly and quite frequently. Eventually, however, the thought-free awareness becomes more and more continuous. 3. The origin of intelligence is something that I have long pondered and, even recently, have changed my position. I would welcome your comments on what I am writing next. The sage Gaudapada, who was a preceptor of Shankaracharya and who wrote a commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, cogently argues that the unity in apparent multiplicity as well as the inherent intelligence is "the very nature of the Effulgent Being". He scoffs at speculative creative theories as mere placebos to satisfy the masses. I am leaning towards his position on that subject --- that intelligence is "the very nature of the Effulgent Being". At first, I thought that this was a great "cop out" (LOL) but, as I meditate on it more and more, I am leaning towards that conclusion and have realized that there are other sages who have similarly come to the same conclusion. I would welcome your comments on this subject as it has raised questions for me many times in the past. 4. You seem to have hinted at your position when you refer to "all experiencers seemingly have a physical body ". With your implied position, I agree completely. It is my position that the body is actually a mental projection just as dream-bodies in a dream are a mental projection. Various sages point to this but my direct experiences have supported this position, and I will mention a couple of supporting experiences here in my response to your questions. When I was in my early 20s, I had a near death experience (NDE) during which I emerged from a 3-day "Irreversible Coma" completely symptom-free. (Details of what transpired during the NDE can be discussed at another time, as it was a life-transforming experience.) My parents were told to make the funeral arrangements as there was absolutely no hope whatsoever and, even if I did miraculously come out of the coma, they predicted extensive brain and organ damage. During the NDE, it became clear to me that it was not yet time to leave the physical body behind and that it would be well to return. I was aware of my consciousness slowly returning to the physical form "below" (that which was viewed previously from above) and I sat straight up SYMPTOM-FREE to the amazement of the entire medical staff at the hospital. That convinced me that the mind can change ANYTHING related to the body and that is consistent with the mental-projection point of view. In addition, you may or may not be familiar with the following well-documented multiple-personality-disorder (dissociative disorder nowadays) during which one personality has a serious dis-ease such as diabetes whereas another personality has no trace of the dis-ease. The dis-ease comes and goes instantaneously depending on the mental state (personality) of the person. I could give other examples to support my position on this subject but this should suffice for now. 5. It has been my experience that , in thought-free awareness, one drops body consciousness. To answer your question, therefore, I don't find it "localized in any part of the body". 6. You ask if objects actually exist. I think that the best answer to this question lies in the apparently paradoxical syllogism of Shankaracharya that is often quoted. When I first read them, they made no sense to me but they now appear to me to be brilliantly eloquent. "The Universe is unreal. Brahman is real. But Brahman is the Universe". Syllogistically speaking, this translates is the real is the unreal which presents an apparent paradox. What I believe that Shankaracharya is saying is that the Universe is unreal when one views it as an independent entity. With that perspective, objects are not "real". However, when one realizes that the Universe is a projection of the underlying Reality, one sees objects in a very different light and, in that sense, they are very real. To get back to Gaudapada's position mentioned previously, all is real if one views all as the "very nature of the Effulgent Being". Now, as I mentioned before, feel free to comment, question, challenge, and/or present refuting evidence. These are very deep subjects and I welcome your input and your input might trigger a change in my position. I want to thank you again for serving as a catalyst to a very thought-provoking, illuminating dialogue. Thank you !

yes. same here. I had lucid dreams as a lad, but not many in young adult hood, later after sitting every day for a few years, the lucid dreams returned, and most of my dreams are lucid, semi lucid, (where one is playing the part of the dream, but can change it at any time), and what I call "wise dreams' which are very deep, educational, and profound. I can be out hiking in our hills and I feel like I am in a lucid dream. not real, not un-real. weird fun stuff

The Farewell And now it was evening. And Almitra the seeress said, "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken." And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Was I not also a listener? Then he descended the steps of the Temple and all the people followed him. And he reached his ship and stood upon the deck. And facing the people again, he raised his voice and said: People of Orphalese, the wind bids me leave you. Less hasty am I than the wind, yet I must go. We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps we travel. We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered. Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken. But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again, And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak. Yea, I shall return with the tide, And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding. And not in vain will I seek. If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts. I go with the wind, people of Orphalese, but not down into emptiness; And if this day is not a fulfillment of your needs and my love, then let it be a promise till another day. Know therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return. The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain. And not unlike the mist have I been. In the stillness of the night I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses, And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all. Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams. And oftentimes I was among you a lake among the mountains. I mirrored the summits in you and the bending slopes, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and your desires. And to my silence came the laughter of your children in streams, and the longing of your youths in rivers. And when they reached my depth the streams and the rivers ceased not yet to sing. But sweeter still than laughter and greater than longing came to me. It was boundless in you; The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews; He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing. It is in the vast man that you are vast, And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you. For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere? What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight? Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you. His mind binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless. You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam. To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency. Ay, you are like an ocean, And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides. And like the seasons you are also, And though in your winter you deny your spring, Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended. Think not I say these things in order that you may say the one to the other, "He praised us well. He saw but the good in us." I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought. And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge? Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays, And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself, And of nights when earth was upwrought with confusion, Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom: And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom. It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself, While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days. It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave. There are no graves here. These mountains and plains are a cradle and a stepping-stone. Whenever you pass by the field where you have laid your ancestors look well thereupon, and you shall see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand. Verily you often make merry without knowing. Others have come to you to whom for golden promises made unto your faith you have given but riches and power and glory. Less than a promise have I given, and yet more generous have you been to me. You have given me deeper thirsting after life. Surely there is no greater gift to a man than that which turns all his aims into parching lips and all life into a fountain. And in this lies my honour and my reward, - That whenever I come to the fountain to drink I find the living water itself thirsty; And it drinks me while I drink it. Some of you have deemed me proud and over-shy to receive gifts. To proud indeed am I to receive wages, but not gifts. And though I have eaten berries among the hill when you would have had me sit at your board, And slept in the portico of the temple where you would gladly have sheltered me, Yet was it not your loving mindfulness of my days and my nights that made food sweet to my mouth and girdled my sleep with visions? For this I bless you most: You give much and know not that you give at all. Verily the kindness that gazes upon itself in a mirror turns to stone, And a good deed that calls itself by tender names becomes the parent to a curse. And some of you have called me aloof, and drunk with my own aloneness, And you have said, "He holds council with the trees of the forest, but not with men. He sits alone on hill-tops and looks down upon our city." True it is that I have climbed the hills and walked in remote places. How could I have seen you save from a great height or a great distance? How can one be indeed near unless he be far? And others among you called unto me, not in words, and they said, Stranger, stranger, lover of unreachable heights, why dwell you among the summits where eagles build their nests? Why seek you the unattainable? What storms would you trap in your net, And what vaporous birds do you hunt in the sky? Come and be one of us. Descend and appease your hunger with our bread and quench your thirst with our wine." In the solitude of their souls they said these things; But were their solitude deeper they would have known that I sought but the secret of your joy and your pain, And I hunted only your larger selves that walk the sky. But the hunter was also the hunted: For many of my arrows left my bow only to seek my own breast. And the flier was also the creeper; For when my wings were spread in the sun their shadow upon the earth was a turtle. And I the believer was also the doubter; For often have I put my finger in my own wound that I might have the greater belief in you and the greater knowledge of you. And it is with this belief and this knowledge that I say, You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields. That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind. It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety, But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether. If this be vague words, then seek not to clear them. Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things, but not their end, And I fain would have you remember me as a beginning. Life, and all that lives, is conceived in the mist and not in the crystal. And who knows but a crystal is mist in decay? This would I have you remember in remembering me: That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined. Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones? And is it not a dream which none of you remember having dreamt that building your city and fashioned all there is in it? Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else, And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound. But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well. The veil that clouds your eyes shall be lifted by the hands that wove it, And the clay that fills your ears shall be pierced by those fingers that kneaded it. And you shall see And you shall hear. Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf. For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things, And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light. After saying these things he looked about him, and he saw the pilot of his ship standing by the helm and gazing now at the full sails and now at the distance. And he said: Patient, over-patient, is the captain of my ship. The wind blows, and restless are the sails; Even the rudder begs direction; Yet quietly my captain awaits my silence. And these my mariners, who have heard the choir of the greater sea, they too have heard me patiently. Now they shall wait no longer. I am ready. The stream has reached the sea, and once more the great mother holds her son against her breast. Fare you well, people of Orphalese. This day has ended. It is closing upon us even as the water-lily upon its own tomorrow. What was given us here we shall keep, And if it suffices not, then again must we come together and together stretch our hands unto the giver. Forget not that I shall come back to you. A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me. Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you. It was but yesterday we met in a dream. You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky. But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn. The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part. If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song. And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky. So saying he made a signal to the seamen, and straightaway they weighed anchor and cast the ship loose from its moorings, and they moved eastward. And a cry came from the people as from a single heart, and it rose the dusk and was carried out over the sea like a great trumpeting. Only Almitra was silent, gazing after the ship until it had vanished into the mist. And when all the people were dispersed she still stood alone upon the sea-wall, remembering in her heart his saying, A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."

Thanks for the warm privet into the thread! My waking self and my dream self are also similar, the way the map and the territory are similar... The waking self thinks about stuff and observes and muses and, more often than not, decides against any action. The dream self doesn't think -- she acts. The waking self sees the dust settle after the fact, when the dream self is done and gone. And thinks, "wow, did I do that? I wouldn't.. I wouldn't dare... wasn't me..." Lots and lots of indigenous peoples have always believed that events of the waking world are arranged and planned in the dreamtime. In my case it's not a uniform spread -- some things my dream self does not intervene in at all. My waking self is supposed to work them out without any "supernatural" help, probably because they are things, events and entities of the artificial world, as un-anchored and random as the rest of the non-magical, civilized human stuff which has no roots in the miraculous and therefore is blown about with no rhyme or reason. But the dream self has her pet peeves, things that she will never let slide into the wasteland of the random and meaningless. On those, she acts close to one hundred percent of the time -- with repercussions in the waking world.

A thought usually pulls me back to the body , either immediatley or through the dream which often involves using transport or flying back home. It has happened on occasions to end up in some unknown room/house(which are seen very clearly) and sometimes taking a while to realise that this is not my room . This undrestanding in itself brings me back to body. I ask myself if I am dreaming in the dream too -- this is usually triggered by noticing something unusual in the dream or just by doing routine check (done regardless of waking or dreaming state) on being present. By asking dream figures if they are part of my dream and looking at the cause of this state of being - the dream ended up just disentregrating few times , showing itself to be like a film on the screen of life. Which results in entering interconnected state of being, which gave much understanding about life. This guy is cool - Robert Waggoner on seeking the source of dreaming:

It seems like a Catch 22 to me. Are the monks in the huts trying to 'earn' something? By staying in no-mind, this is comforting. To know that this is a dream within a dream is comforting. I just read in Vispashta's Yoga yesterday that the cosmic consciousness 'dreams' objects perceptible in this life as we dream objects in our dreams at night. All I know, is that by remembering that we are all individual whirlpools in the same ocean, that we are all the same stuff and it is illusive that we are actually separate, that I can love my brother as myself much easier. To know that person that I originally am making a momentary judgment on is 'me', in fact. That seems to me to be a worthy mind state to strive for - the universal reality and sameness of one and all, from the largest character to the smallest blade of grass. To spend one's life concentrating on doing virtuous acts for the purpose of earning something seems to be feeding the jiva again - it's still motivated by ego (or our own little illusive whirlpool, which is only temporary movement in the sea of beingness) That's the Catch 22 of it as well. Earning for 'self', which isn't the point either. All I know is I don't know. I just know that I love the connection and the warmth of the heart when I remember daily that 'I am' every other person (or animal) walking around. I can actually feel my heart soften. and to treat them accordingly, with the same kindness I would offer myself. Which brings up a whole other subject for those of us who are not used to treating ourselves kindly, for those of us who feel unworthy. We too are the eternal, and we must remember that daily. Be kind and love. and remember who you are at all times.

Admittedly, when operating from the ‘True Self Mind’ there might be a different concept of ‘Self’, I don’t know, I can only speak at the moment from the perspective of my current self. In a dream I had of this process there was a cumbersome vine that had to be slowly detached from its supporting structure, and when it finally split apart from the structure and toppled over and vanished, I saw a new fresh vine was growing in its place, though this time not restricted by a structure. This new vine is to me the True Self’s Mind, it is the same in some respects as the old mind, they’re both vines after all, but the new one is not limited.

Apparently the Buddha never had the benefit of Laura’s insight, because to early Buddhists awakening “indicates that normal experience is a dream from which Gotama has awoken. Gotama thus sees things as they actually are and, from this awakened perspective, realises that ideas such as ‘world’, ‘self’ or ‘soul’ are not ultimately real.” Very much in his mind I think, and not overly concerned with the body.

Do you get those "I am so blessed posts" on your FB page?? Hahahahaha...people talking about how blessed they are because all the nice things are happening to them...yes, to them ONLY??? Here is my "I am so blessed post." Hahahahahaha....a bit different. About 5 months ago, I had 2 dream visions, back to back. In my first dream vision, I saw a nurse directing me or trying to get my attentions while I was driving and my father was with me. On the next night, I saw another nurse. This time, she was in my parent's living room. She wanted me to baby sit her 2 kids and to call her for help. And she was apparently my next door neighborhood. She was a black nurse. In reality, no, I have no neighbors like that. What happened was that few days after my first vision, my father was diagnosed with a mild stage of prostate cancer. He got his biopsy report. When I heard the news, it hit me and suddenly I realized what I must do. I didn't panic but I knew it has to happen. The dream vision was not horrifying but with a very neutral sentiment. For the first 3 weeks, I accompanied my father for his radiology appointments. I enjoyed the experience because I felt I was being a good son. Knowing that I was being guided and watched by angels, I just reacted as events unfolded. After 9 weeks of treatment, he is ok now. So far so good except that he experienced a bit of mild side effects from the treatment. He has insurance and his medical expenses were fully covered. Then, about 2 months ago, my mother was diagnosed with a sudden congestive heart failure. Pretty much a beginning of a heart attack. She was away at my sister's house babysitting her grand daughter. The first thing I asked myself was that should I have known about it???? I always praised myself for knowing the future dealing with geopolitical events around the world. Sometimes, I get signs about my own future although it may not be accurate. I looked into my second nurse dream but it was difficult to connect since she made no reference to my mother. She was in my parent's living room and my mother has been being nursed back to a stable condition in the living room (the first 7 days she had to sleep on the couch because she was still having too much fluid in her lungs). Anyway, my sister drove her back to the city and saw her local cardiologists. She was prescribed with several heart and blood pressure medications. I was very nervous the first few days because her condition didn't get stabilized until a week later. And her health insurance wasn't in order for some reasons. I got several visions about her conditions but none of them were threatening. Few of them seems to indicate a very favorable outcome. I saw some numbers dealing with either 88 or 86. Apparently, the house number of the local cardiologist is 833. The cost of the doctor' visits was still affordable and the medications aren't expensive. I just put my trust in my karma and my mother's, as well knowing that I am being watched over by my spirit guides and higher beings. I don't think they would want me to suffer emotionally because something happens to my parents. It has been 2 months since her first diagnose and she is doing fine. She is checking her blood pressure daily. In fact, her blood pressure is too low now and I have to tell her to cut down her medication dosages a bit. I did a lot of online researches on blood pressure medications and their side effects. I think I came up with a miracle find. I am having her to take co-enzyme 10 (coq10). It is supposed to strengthen her heart muscle. I guess I am blessed because the people I care about aren't suffering because I failed to do my parts. It would be a bitch if you think you are blessed but people you should care the most are suffering and dying..... I guess I am blessed because the local cardiologists didn't charge us an arm and a leg for the treatment cost. BTW, my sister lived too far away and always busy with her life. I was the one who have been with my parents and helping them to deal with their conditions and doctor's appointments...

The sutta says that these powers may be developed if "the monk directs and inclines it." In fact, the supreme siddhi is always enlightenment, as in this sutta. And the Buddha came down hard when asked to demonstrate siddhis to gain followers: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/DN/DN11.html But consider this. A person is stuck in a literal nightmare. They are being attacked by demons, let's say. And somehow, a teacher appears to that person. Now which would be the better solution: teaching the person to fly and fight the demons, or teaching the person that it is just a dream? Once you get a handle on the dreamlike nature, the siddhis really don't seem that impressive. And the siddhis are karmic anyway. Not everyone develops the same ones or in the same way-- look at the Buddha's disciples and their various siddhis. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is sometimes said "if you gain the ability to fly, don't fly over a large body of water." If you are a layperson, with limited time, you like to have sex and mingle with the stressors of the world, then focusing on the supreme siddhi probably makes more sense than focusing on the mundane siddhis. And you can tell if the teaching is sound due to the diminishment of suffering. You can't really fake your way out of that one.

A short practice years ago with 108 mala OM AH HUM BENZA GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUM I would say 108 x 2-3 the mind becomes still, once experiencing myself somewhat removed watching the space inside me spinning around? I recall asking here what that was, none seemed to know *shrugs* Also saying this mantra combined with candle gazing, after 2 nights a lucid dream Oct 02 2015 - 15 minutes fire gazing with Padmasambhava Mantra playing in background + afternoon sun-gazing. Dream:@ high-school rugby practice, later going to the locker room, I opened my locker and it was full of different pictures of foxes I turned around and a teacher/ presence appeared (not from the school) wearing a type of robe, brief discussion I recall 'you should meditate for 2 hours a day' and turned around and seemed to glide away, 2 others standing each side of the teacher... thinking/feeling maybe a fox deity, unsure. ~~~ My practice has to become more serious ha ... I start and get sidetracked I think it can lead to enlightenment, If you want enlightenment you will find it sooner or later. I think everything is desire. There are healthy and unhealthy desires, some earthly and some divine. Say I wanted to lucid dream, I read some things on it, practiced it, experienced it and started to develop it