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Dream on... ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Intentional communities usually fall apart after the dream fades and the real work begins. Auroville, Israeli Kibbutzim and The Farm have had success but not without myriad problems, whereas most have fallen apart due to ideological, financial and a host of other problems. A Marxist communal model most likely works well and must be kept to a small scale.

I have two minds about this. One mind is that it would be nice to see something so mind-blasting that your sense of a solid, independent, material world is blown to bits. But then I realize that the basic experience of the world is so mind-blowing, I would be less surprised to see someone walking through a wall. By all accounts, there shouldn't be conscious experience, yet there is. The mind is formless, yet all these forms appear within and as it. There is no qualitative difference between an intense dream and the waking state. How the heck can we mistake our bodies for a self? Why do we take thoughts, which are really nothing but sculptures of light, sound and feeling, so seriously and why do we believe them? One of my favorite spiritual experiences is when I was grappling with the experience of waking and dreams. At the time, I was working through Berkeley's critique of the material world. Not just reading, but actually exploring experience to see if it was the case or not. I walked up to a rock, a la Samuel Johnson, and started stomping on it. Ha ha, it was so solid and real! How could anyone think otherwise? The idea that the world is not material was so obviously ridiculous! And as it turned out, I was actually taking a nap and dreaming. I immediately woke up, and instantly the solid rock in the solid ground vanished without a trace.

I thought you were serious about me. I don't understand why you are deviating away from the subject. I could sense secrecy. I am talking about retention practice, events, and things that come with it, while you are simply talking about pigeons and circumlocution? I have no intention of talking in vague, this experience itself has been such. If I write my heart out and you consider it as vague then I have nothing to add. However, please understand that I am not staying in a state of nonchalance. This energy inside me fuels me a lot. Nobody dies from circumlocution. Have you read Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel? I am inspired by him. However, I have no motive for drawing people towards the wrong line. Also, if a mere self-help knowledge could have satisfied me, I would have googled and stayed in a Youtube. However, thank you for your idea of being silent and just observe, like go with the flow kinda. I will try to understand what this is. Also, nowadays when I keep on putting my tongue there, I feel something in my frontal lobe. It's interesting and sometimes light flicker there when I sleep. However, these things will go once after relapse and will slowly build again. Will try to know about this. I read what you wrote. First I will not write detail about Samaya because my topic is not that. However, Samaya means time as well. With all my knowing and self understanding, it's real meaning has been hidden in tibetean Buddhist context because of its misuse. The other thing, I am not a monk and that is true. A little bit of thing I want to write on 'monk' is that monks believe in lots of wrong views. Praying, eating only vegetable foods, or simply avoiding lust will get us nowhere. Ignoring lust makes the energy stuck, rather embrace it. About energy flow, I have now felt such energy go up in my head as well. I have written about it on my previous post. It happened during 1 am. You said me to stop the practise, but for me it is all about to see what lies beyond. I will not stop and I think I do not need teacher unless I have moral. If death comes then I shall embrace it. There was a moment where I thought I would die as well, like heart palpitation and at one time energy shooting very strongly up once again inside from back of my spine. It's like it needs to be tamed and treat it very carefully and strongly. You also said that my leak won't cause harms to others. Well, that was one idea which I believed. Now 100s of happening has proved me that in fact it does harm others. That is why I came here to ask. Why it is harming others? Else this whole topic should have been only for me. I would never share here. I know that people die all the time, but such thing has not happened or such thing I have not heard in the news on my long streak. It's like I create a field of Aura and nothing enters there. And as soon as I loose my sexual energy, I have to perceive. Maybe such events do not come in my perception when I am in longer streak. This includes, reality, digital world and dream world. But with my relapse, all these world start to suffer, and suffer greatly. If there is something more please let me know. You can reply here or dm me. Thank you. Will look into it. **** Thank you again, for reading.

It's almost like the black and violet waters were the void, out of which the forms coalesced. Your time-experience was greatly speeded up, almost as though time were removed from the picture and you were granted the visual confirmation that all forms are similar to fractals in that all form is illusion. Your 3 light thing sounded like the pointer in a Ouija game when I first read it. But do you think it has to do with the trinity (assuming you had a Christian upbringing as I did?); or even the fact that there is a rearrangement of the positions of the lights, which could be an inference that there are any number of combinations (or religious thought, or philosophies, or life conditions) that will take us to freedom or enlightenment and loss of structure? The fact that the combinations would control what was happening below the surface of the depths; as above, so below? What was the name you awoke to? Anything pertinent to you? It didn't sound to me that the abyss was the focal emotional point of your dream, or was it? Your analysis goes beyond my field of understanding, when you refer to Thelma and jAnima Mundi. But what a wonderful dream, to match your imagination - if you're the one that did the fractal-like painting in your avatar. If that was you, I can see where you dream in fractals. Fractals are important to you?

Hello owledge, This is a common experience. I've experienced similar things before, it most often occurs while someone is falling asleep, when there can be confusion regarding whether one is awake or asleep. You obviously experienced that confusion. One method of inducing dream yoga is actually to try to fall asleep while maintaining conscious awareness, the transition results often in one finding themselves within their dream, knowing that they are dreaming. My own tribulations with lucid dreaming is that, even though I know that I'm dreaming, I still can't control the dream world, as in change the landscape and such, but then again, it's more fun when you don't know what's going to happen, isn't it? Long story short, nothing to worry about. If you're practicing dream yoga, then just consider this a step towards improving your awareness of your dream state. Aaron

Great points! If I may, I'd like to offer a little Buddhist tantric perspective on the above, having been reminded of a text (common to both the Guhyasamaja and Kalachakra Tantras) that mentioned the importance of aligning one's practice with the seasons, as well as insights into the merging of the red and white drops. It is said that vital essences (the red and white drops in this case) are subject to daily, monthly, yearly, and life cycles. These cycles influence, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, the physical functions and emotional reactivity of humans. The cycles that most clearly represent the patterns of vital essences are the daily, monthly, and yearly cycles since these correspond to the movements of the sun and moon. Corresponding to the cycle of a day, determined by the rising and setting of the sun, the red vital essence increases with the rising of the sun and decreases with its setting. The opposite is true for the white vital essence. Corresponding to the cycle of a month, determined by the waxing and waning phases of the moon, the white vital essence increases from the first to the fifteenth of the lunar month and then decreases from the sixteenth to the thirtieth, while the red vital essence decreases from the first to the 15th and increases during the waning phase of the moon. In this cycle, the past aspect, when the essence has fully completed its function and has become residual, is said to be the 'dissolved' vital essence. The present aspect, the refined essence (principally the white aspect) currently performing its function, is the 'engaged'. The future aspect, the cause or root of both the refined and the residual, is the 'dominant' vital essence. Corresponding to the cycle of a year, determined by what appears as the movement of the sun toward the north for 6 months and toward the south for 6 months, the white vital essence increases for 6 months beginning from the summer solstice and then decreases as the red vital essence increases for 6 months beginning from the winter solstice. Although both cycles are necessary and complementary, generally speaking the cycle of increase of the white vital essence is one of growth and therefore has a positive influence on the human body and mind complex, while the cycle of increase of the red vital essence is one of decline and has a detrimental influence,, with body and mind becoming susceptible to obstacles. Vital essences are also distinguished as the vital essences of body, speech, mind, and pristine awareness, each of which has its particular location in the body, principally the head, throat, heart, and navel. Imprints that are the source of emotional and cognitive obscurations, accumulated since beginningless time, are present within these essences as a subtle union of wind and mind. Thus, in the ordinary state of unawareness, these 4 types of vital essences give rise to the 4 states of an individual: the waking or ordinary state, deep sleep, dream, and sexual union respectively, together with the delusions and deceptions that are related to these states. In order to purify the 4 vital essences, the practitioner trains in 4 methods, involving the generation of various forms, the creation of sounds, nonconceptual contemplation, and use of sexual bliss. At the time of the path, the experiences from these methods arise as the vision of empty forms, invincible sound, nonceptual consciousness, and immutable bliss, respectively. As the ultimate effects of these methods, the waking state transforms into the various manifestations of awakening (Nirmanakaya), the dream state transforms into the enjoyment dimension (Sambhogakaya), inclusive of all awakened bodies and voices (me: think heavenly angels with trumpet sounds lol); sleep transforms into the nonconceptual dimension of reality (Dharmakaya), awakened mind, free from all limitations imposed by mental constructs, and sexual bliss transforms into the dimension of great immutable bliss (Mahasukhakaya). These vital essences are thus possessed of a double potency: unrefined and unpurified, they bind one to illusion; purified, they grant freedom from illusion. Central to all (Buddhist) tantric methods is the experience of the 'Four Joys'. In the course of practice, the white vital essence situated at the head is intentionally melted in order to experience bliss. This process involves activating the energy of the red vital essence at the navel and causing it to blaze using breath control techniques and other means. Given the light nature of the elemental property of which it is composed (ie fire), the heat energy of the red essence moves upward, warming the cold nature of the white essence, The white essence then melt and drips, a process in which the vital essence becomes increasingly fluid as it reaches the reproductive organs. Given the heavy nature of the elemental properties of which the white essence is composed (ie earth and water), this vital essence moves downward. Since the original vital essences remain at the head and below the navel until death, the blaze of the red essence and the dripping of the white must refer to an accelaration of the energetic process mentioned above, in which the sub-products of these ascend and descend in the body. The descent of the white vital essence is marked by 4 main stages of experience known as 'Joys'. Each of the Four Joys arises in turn as molten white vital essence reaches the channel wheels or centres of energy, along the central channel. According to the Kalachakra system, as the stream of white 'nectar' from the upper part of the head reaches the throat, there occurs the initial joy. As it reaches the heart, there arises the supreme joy. As it reaches the navel, there occurs the special joy, and as it reaches the tip of the sexual organ, there occurs the innate joy. In tantras such as the Hevajra that postulate four channel-wheels (Chakras), this last joy occurs at the navel. The initial joy is a slight experience of bliss. Supreme joy is that first joy increased so that it overcomes the coarse levels of the conceptual mind. The special joy is the experience of bliss and emptiness becoming inseparable. As a result of this, attachment to the joy ceases and the limitation of passion is overcome. The innate joy which follows is the nondeceptive, concept-free realisation of the indivisibility of bliss and emptiness. Innate bliss is the very nature of ordinary consciousness but remains hidden until discovered through the experiences that accrues from these practices. In order to recognise this nature and stabilise one's awareness of it, it is necessary for the tantrika to withhold semen, the base of bliss. For this reason, great emphasis is placed on relative bodhicitta in the tantric path of transformation, and several pledges (samayas) are concerned with not allowing it to be released. From the above, it is quite interesting to note some commonalities between the esoteric approaches of both the Taoist secret arts and Buddhist secret mantra paths.

I still haven't able to lucid dream effectively, so I'll make an effort to do it again. I've been wanting to do properly for years but it hasn't happened till now. What I wanted to do originally was lucid dream and astral travel at will, whenever I want. That was years ago. Meditation helps with this, I'm certainly sure of it but meditation also makes me completely aloof as I have mentioned before because it dissolves the self very effectively. So being aloof is kind of detrimental right now, you know? I need to work, have goals and do stuff but when I'm meditating, I just want to do the bare minimum and be completely secluded from everyone. Yeah, I've lucid dreamed a few times and astral projected but the problem was excessive ejaculation. That's why I didn't have the motivation to accomplish them. But as of now, I think I can do both if I put in the effort and can have fun. So that's going to be my practice. To lucid dream and then astral projection.

TO ALL THETAOBUMS.COM SUBSCRIBERS, TAI CHI FOR HEALTH FOLLOWERS, AND FLYING PHOENIX CHI KUNG PRACTITIONERS: This new discussion thread dedicated to self-proclaimed "Tai Chi master" and "Zen master" david dorian ross--with the purpose of making him more infamous than he could ever dream of. It is posted as public service, for David Dorian Ross was instrumental in enabling the corrupt business practices of two large corporate purveyors of New Age lifestyle products (including Yoga and Tai Chi videos)--namely, Healing Arts Publishing, Inc. and its successor in interest, Gaiam, Inc.--that had both hired david dorian ross in 1998 and 1999, respectively, to make a bunch of "Chi For Beginners" videos, that were deceptively titled and packaged so as to circumvent an exclusivity provision in a contract that I had with both these companies. My Complaint against this breach of contract is memorialized in a lawsuit styled "Terence Dunn and Interarts Productions, Inc. vs. Gaiam, Inc., a Colorado Corporation, Gaiam Holdings, Inc., a Colorado Corporation, Steve P. and Elizabeth A. Adams Holdings, a California Corporation, Healing Arts Publishing, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company, Steven P. Adams, David Dorian Ross, and John Does 1-100, inclusively" that I filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in January 2000---- Case BC244453. All the video footage mounted on this Youtube Channel is of david dorian ross testifying under oath on August 1, 2001 in a deposition in San Francisco taken by my attorney, William Ford of the Ford Law Firm. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ25_amAVNCszW7r4vI0pRQ/videos In 2000, I sued Gaiam, Inc., et. al. for breach of contract, alleging that Gaiam instead of honoring the exclusivity provision in my Distribution Agreement that prohibited Gaiam from marketing any Tai Chi videos other than my Tai Chi for Health Yang Short Form and Tai Chi For Health Yang Long Form videos, Gaiam hired david dorian ross in 1999 to make three more "Chi" videos (Upper Body Chi, Lower Body Chi, and Energy Chi) after he made "A.M. Chi" for HAPI (CEO Steve Adams) in 1998, which, had Tai Chi as their principal subject matter but which Gaiam effectively disguised as "Qigong" programs by their titling ("Chi For Beginners") and descriptions of the video contents on the packaging, and which Gaiam then sold--in gross violation of the Distribution Agreement--to cannibalize my videos' dominant market share from 1999 through 2003--a market share that was quantified by Nielson Videoscan for those years as accounting for 35% of all barcoded DVD titles sold with the world "Chi" in their titles. The damages I claimed in the lawsuit as propounded by my damages expert, Consor Intellectual Asset Management, totaled approximately $2.4 million. Throughout David Dorian Ross's deposition lasting approximately 5 hours on August 1, 2001, he consistently testified under oath (and in detail) that four (4) "Chi For Beginners" videos distributed by Gaiam that he appears in ("A.M. Chi," "Energy Chi," "Upper Body Chi", and "Lower Body Chi") do not have Tai Chi as their subject matter because he did not have the "internal intent" to do Tai Chi (!!!)--despite the fact that: (A) he names the exercises on the videos using classical Tai Chi names that have no meaning in any other art or context and (B ) despite the fact that each of Ross's postures in question taken from video frames are visually identical to: (1) still photos of Tai Chi postures bearing the same Tai Chi names excerpted from ten popular Tai Chi books and to (2) still frames of my postures excerpted from my Tai Chi For Health DVDs. that were placed in front of him in side-by-side, frame-by-frame comparisons by my lawyer. However, Gaiam Inc.'s very own designated Tai Chi expert, Master Mao Xing Ni (son of Ni Hua Ching)--in a surprising turn during his deposition that flummox'd Gaiam's lawyers-- testified that the subject matter of 3 of the 4 ross videos (Energy Chi, Lower Body Chi, Upper Body Chi) was indeed Tai Chi-- thus flatly contradicting the bulk of ross's 5 hours of testimony under oath, making him out to be a determined and shameless liar. Attached here are Master Ni's notes on the subject matter of the Ross "Chi" videos: Thus fourteen years after david dorian ross's deposition, as a public service here and with a Youtube channel (link below) aptly named "Honey Badger Does Not Care; fajing your ass", I am now exposing this full day of blatant lying under oath that is obviously fundamental to his character and therefore also his manifested teaching persona, which I consider to be awful and unctuously disgusting in general. Based on my observation of his Tai Chi performances on video products over the past sixteen years (many here on Youtube), I consider Ross's skill level to be mediocre and nothing close to the "mastery" that he claims. That Ross has given himself the titles of "Tai Chi master" and "Zen master" as seen here is ludicrous-- --and are insults to the Tai Chi art, to Chinese martial arts culture, and to the 2,000 year old Chan Buddhist (Zen) tradition in particular. In my opinion, this self-proclaimed "master" of Tai Chi and Zen Buddhism, who is demonstrably capable of lying for almost five hours under oath and in front of a video camera, represents one of the most noxious and insidious viruses plaguing the world of unsuspecting, beginning-level enthusiasts in Tai Chi, Qigong, and meditative arts in general and of Zen Meditation and Zen practice in particular----especially given his temporal influence through the media, as he has been long promoted by Gaiam, Inc. as their Tai Chi poster boy. I believe that he is a danger as a retarding obstacle to the physical and spiritual progress of all unsuspecting beginning enthusiasts in Tai Chi and Qigong, and to practitioners of Zen Buddhism. There is an ancient Chinese maxim that extends beyond the realm of martial arts that says: "When the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way." It is my opinion that this self-proclaimed "Tai Chi and Zen master", David Dorian Ross, lends perfect creedence to this maxim. I therefore ask everyone who seeks and respects truth and is interested in the cultivation of physical, emotional, and spiritual health--i.e., the fruits of correct and ethical practice of authentic Chinese martial, yogic, healing and spiritual traditions, and all things the honorable in the Chinese martial arts to: (1) share the link to this discussion/expose´and (2) carefully consider the material presented in this thread and on this new Youtube channel, and then (3) BOYCOTT and advocate to others the BOYCOTTING of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that this person has put his name to. Yours Truly, Sifu Terence Dunn (Kung Fu and Qigong master) my bona fides: http://www.taichimania.com/tdbio.html http://thedaobums.com/topic/12639-flying-phoenix-chi-kung/… https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ25_amAVNCszW7r4vI0pRQ/videos

Yes, dreams do sometimes provide clues to the subconscious mind, the ones that are not lucid. Not all of my dreams are lucid, but as awareness and the calm increased in the waking state, I noticed some increase in the dream state also, though certainly not proportionally. I don't normally spend time reflecting on the details of dreams, but I do observe the emotions in the dreams and reflect from time to time. This is where they are valuable in my opinion. For instance a person might think they have overcome anger based on not becoming angry in the waking state. If anger still shows up on dreams, then that is a clear indicator to me that there is still more work to be done. It is natural to pray or seek help in the times of deep distress. Were you surprised you prayed or because of the choice of the prayer in the dream?

Regarding lucid dreams, I have had many. Usually the trigger (what 'wakes me up') is observing something written. For example, a street sign, a shop sign, or maybe even a book. I will read the words then turn away. When I return the words are never the same. When I see that, it's like a sign post saying 'Hey, you are dreaming!'. Waking up in a lucid dream is always a fun experience. Usually I start to fly, or jump really (and I mean really) high. This was not a lucid dream though. I'm grateful for that, since it helped expose aspects of my core being: love, curiosity, and faith. I had not realized the extent to which Christianity affects me, but since the Lord's prayer was my go-to last-thought-on-earth prayer that must mean something.

Hahahahahahah...my dear Karl...hahahahahaha...in my past life, one of my immediate past lives, I was from the WWII period. I dream of the rise of the Nazi regime. I was in the Holocaust. I dream of Mao and the Chinese revolution. Only recently, I witnessed and experienced the Israeli existential threat.....and closely associated with the Holocaust. Part of my fate is tied to the Israelis and the Jews. I witnessed myself as Aaron, Moses's brother. Of course, forgot to mention that the dream led me to experience the MCO was seeing myself as a Han warrior/scholar standing in front of my 2 Han brothers. You do know that that the Han Chinese culture and the dynasty dated back more than 2000 years ago. The past is me. I am the past, the past is I. The world you are living in now....it has been the result of these monumental historical events. Logically, you would have been living in caves and hunting for food to survive if it wasn't for history. You think you exist in isolation of history???? Hahahahahaha...surely you jested.

ok i am off but i think it is fine, i think it is brain what colors, does those things. Mind is what body isn't but is dependable still on body, like recalling the path to person x home, we reflect momentarily at least once to the forehead region and even eyes usually point that direction of brain, can be verified by watching person who thinks meanwhile when explaining a route or what happened in the past, recreating a past footage of a scene. A mind what doesn't depend on creating or forming manually a picture from a real life event anymore is after we get a feeling: the feeling originally is gotten through a dream and then in waking reality can recall that feeling. So that feeling doesn't rise from a world where body is in, but now it will be seen as a sensation from a belly instead. Its also how it is annoying when a person starts explain a scenery, while i already got a feeling i know i know i say to him, and just get to the point already, skip the politics and manners. The feeling gotten so hard because its what we avoid, because its the thing we keep in closet hidden and we get a feeling what rises when the closet is discovered and opened, that feeling of nakedness. If to do it faster we need participate in circumstances what support that opening towards being having less and less things in closet, but its actually a certain feeling what we can't face yet, but when we get the feeling through a dream then we can because we see it is not real world it is in body and ours.

Hey Everything, I can relate to this. I've had some pretty cool experiences with sponanteous composition in dreams. The music was still only as good as what I put behind it, but the chord structures were good foundations nontheless. Do you improvise? I've noticed that a lot of piano players are not comfortable improvising as they were classically trained. This might be essential to being able to wake up and continue on in the same groove, figure out the chord foundations, and get the feel of it. Recording is generally better than writing for this, imo, but recording can also disturb the flow sometimes, so just record the basic and then put more feeling into it when you jam it out so to speak. Again, the melodies are usually phrases that you would naturally put over certain chord structures, so if you can figure out the underlying transitions then the melodies might be revealed and then some. However, doing this consistently is something else entirely if you want to get into that. When I was playing a lot I would dream more like this. One simple practice to have a sort of dream dialogue is to hold an unresolved feeling almost as a question to your subconscious as you're about to fall asleep. Sometimes dreams will turn it into images and scenarios which illuminate the issue and hopefully provide some solutions upon analysis of them. If you have a feeling, and you've been playing a lot, you might dream up a melody.. My dream interpretation skills are usually not too bad, so feel free to PM me if you want a second or third opinion. Also, the deeper the sleep the more memorable the dreams usually. There is a tea by Algonquin Tea called Lucid Dreaming which has sweet-gale, used by Native Americans for lucid dreaming. I suspect it gives a deeper sleep, at least that's what I seemed to notice. http://www.algonquintea.com/content/teas/lucid-dream-tea.shtml

"Never show your power level to normies unless you can manage it. Almost made same mistake myself. You can't instantly redpill a normie, it takes time." -- an anonymous /pol/ user Totally aligned with what the Protopope Avvacum told me in a dream-vision I had in my 20s. "It's no sin to speak about some affairs eloquently. About others, let's keep silent, for God gave us a discerning mind not toward many words but toward many omissions."

A couple of articles which may point you in some sort of general direction, after which you might be inspired enough to explore further: http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma7/dreams.html https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.alanwallace.org/awakendream.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=true "Cultivating the Way is very difficult for people. When you're very clear and aware (during the day), you say, 'I see everything as empty. I've put everything down. No problems, nothing matters to me'. You can become very nonchalant. But when you dream, its difficult to put things down. You have to dream, and then it isn't so easy to say nothing matters. A woman comes, and you lust for her; A man comes, it stirs up desires from deep inside you; wine comes, and you like it; things appear, and you want to possess or steal them; drugs come and you want to take them. And you think in your dream, 'Oh, not bad at all!' You find it hard to keep in control." - - Ven Master Hsuan Hua "Doing the practice of lucid dreaming, a practitioner learns to steer dreams from worse to better; a practitioner learns to turn bad dreams into positive dreams... One way to look at dream yoga is to trust that it is a practice that actually brings your wake-awareness into sleep-awareness. It is in your own interest to learn this. Going to sleep with a positive attitude by thinking of good people and Noble Beings is very important and is a way of practicing dream yoga." - - Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Hello my name is maske and I'm a young man who is interested in cultivation i have always loved the feeling of meditation and just finding your own spiritual self. And I really love the idea that a human having the ability to use QI wich excites me because I always had a feeling that the human race has more potential and now that I have found out about this feels like the best thing that has happened in my life. But I don't really know how to start what do I do? Or am I doing it right sometimes I feel warmth in my hands and I once listened to monk music once and and closed my eyes while listening very closely to every single sound and I felt my soul being outside my body I felt it over my left shoulder but the second I noticed I went back into my body those were the only things that gave me hope to keep going but know I want to really know i want to do this. It's my dream to become good at cultivation and I want to learn more about daoism. And so I want to ask you all as my seniors if they could share or even show me how to cultivate. Thanks

Just curious to see what others think. I feel myself drawn to what I guess could be called the "Green Way." I consider myself to already be a Shaman. I feel this to be true, despite the fact I don't hold any sort of degree from professional training, because I have interacted with what I am fairly certain were spirit animals. That is how I feel I should refer to them. But the terms animal totems and power animals may also apply. Now I find myself drawn to Druidry and having a strange desire to talk to plants. I also feel drawn to return to my Shamanic practices. I stopped out of fear, which should be ridiculous, because when my first spirit animal came to me it was in a Dream Re-entry and I was still new to all of this dream stuff. I was still a Christian. You don't expect a fox t come out of the forest in a dream you have actually re-entered, a fox that was not there before, and furthermore you don't expect to be able to communicate with it. At least not if you are a Christian. So I was certainly surprised, but not afraid, and I enjoyed my adventures with a fox, dolphin, and briefly, a wolf, bear and a Native American in full, I think, shamanic dress. Then the whole tulpa thing happened, which also took place through my mind's eye, and I guess I just avoided all of it. Hardly have done much visualizing since, with the exception of my time spent using self-hypnosis. Maybe I am afraid that I can't trust myself, the validity or “reality” of what I am seeing? Or maybe I am afraid of pain? Or maybe there are just too many painful memories associated with seeing through the inner eye? Well it is time to work through the fear. Admit, Allow and Accept. Release and Let Go. That is the process. Exploring Druidry, pursuing my interest in communicating with plants. But wondering what the differences and similarities are between Druidism and Shamanism. Wondering if it will work out for me to be both. Also a follower of the Law of Attraction. Which, strangely enough, fits in very well with such Druidic and Shamanic teachings as I have encountered. Also wondering if there are any others walking the Green Way, on singular or multiple paths. Any other Druids, Shamans, or Druidic Shamans, or Shamanic Druids around here? Reading, “The Path of Druidry” by Penny Billington right now, and listening to Shamanic Visioning by Sandra Ingerman. Always open to other recommendations.

Sheng Zhen, I appreciate your pointing out that somebody else practices Dream Yoga in a way similar to mine. Although I am not familiar with Dr. Dillard and his work, it sounds as though he follows Carl Jung's methods to some extent. I believe you are quite right about the most interesting aspect of the practice of Dream Yoga being identifying with the source of the dreaming consciousness, or Dream Being. Indeed, once you are awake enough in the dream to recognize it as a creation of the dreamer's mind, it presents an opportunity to unify the creator and the creation, or simply recognizing that the creator is one with the entire world of dreaming. Such dissolution of the dichotomy between the seeming subject and object of the dream is very much akin to enlightenment, or becoming one with the Dao. There is definitely no need for playing with the symbolism of the dream images or their assumed meanings, because the dreamer unconsciously knows what they mean and what lessons they offer; however, those lessons are still to be learned consciously. That is how the Dream Being, or the Dao if you will, is constantly being enlightened by us learning the lessons it keeps dreaming up. As far as I am concerned, it is the greatest game in the universe! Aloha

Is not the "waking up" within a dream, a figment of the dream itself? Mind is the host of ghosts, a graveyard of ideas. When sleep is deep, without dreaming, where has this mind gone? From where does it arise?

Aside from OBEs and Lucid Dreams, I am also often aware that I am dreaming. Sometimes I am aware that the world is a dream; sometimes I am also aware that 'this' world is also a dream; sometimes I am aware that all worlds are dreams. RC

Chuang Tzu, Translation by Lin Yutang, Chapter 2 On Leveling All Things "Those who dream of the banquet, wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those who dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join the hunt. While they dream, they do not know that they are dreaming. Some will even interpret the very dream they are dreaming; and only when they awake do they know it was a dream. ..."

I have a number of dream catchers presented to me by the Lakota as a token of thanks for supporting an organization that look after disadvantaged kids. The dream catchers work.

I think one should look at the reason behind why you have a fascination as mentioned in the quote above. Is it an energetic imprint from a past experience? Try and think back to the earliest memory when you remember having this fascination. If you dream about the fascination, good, look for clues. There is nothing wrong with it, however, instead of this fascination leading you, find out why it wants to lead you in this direction.

Over the years here at Daobums, I've interacted with a lot of people. All good people (even those who have argued with me most vehemently, and I with them). I've had what many would call an "awakening", but it is really a non-event really as there's no separate entity who wakes up. It is just a shift of perspective. This doesn't really make me a "special" individual, rather it makes it clear to me that I am nobody...nothing. The "I" that lived in the material world just dropped it's hold on my attention. And then I realized that I was never not that which supposedly was "realized" in this so-called "Waking up". It was an apparent waking up, like one wakes up from a dream into waking state. Similarly, we seemingly wake up from a waking state into an "awakened" state. But really, all these states are that "awakened" state, just as all the masters and texts state. It is just that the states of "dream and waking" lose their hold...suddenly things fall into "perspective" -- that all the things that we apparently experience are just happenings and have no hold on us, the root of our consciousness is free, empty (of objective nature), non-spatial and atemporal (i.e. space and time don't have any meaning for it). Call it "Atma jnana", Self-realization or realizing the Emptiness of the Self. There are many many insights that arise from this, for the mind-body complex to navigate the complex and suffering-ridden world. Wisdom (Jnana) that arises by just staying with the presence, that is the root of our consciousness. In the Advaita Vedanta tradition, we say that "the knowledge of the Self or Atma Jnana" and the realization of Oneness (Atman is Brahman or Brahma Jnana) are two distinct phases. There is the non-realization of emptiness of mind-body (staying in the ever-present now) and there is the expansion of the Self to everything-ness. We are taught that the "oneness" is a matter of grace, and eventually we get there, when the time is right. @Jeff and I started interacting a while back (a few years maybe) and our perspectives didn't match wrt. what the "end-game" is. I couldn't understand how what he terms "residing in non-local mind" and "expansion of mind beyond non-local" was any different from just the mind just seeing more objects. What I failed to understand that time is that the expansion that Jeff was referring to, is outside the domain of the local mind. Do I know that now? Yes. How do I know? By taking the plunge (sic. dive) and actually trusting the process and the individuals (all kind, loving and wonderful people). I will try to explain how the non-local mind expansion differs from the local-mind experience. The Local mind is very powerful. But it's primary function is to bind a series of stimuli from the sensory apparatus into a "story"...one that the individual seemingly experiences. The story is the story of our lives, that we are "born into" -- with a body, an ego, a sense of individuality and one that experiences pains and pleasures, emotions, thoughts, is inspired to create wonderful things, is driven to do things - good or bad. In a single word, "samsara". Towards this, I'm going to construct sentences that will imply some sort of "special" doing, but as I have explained before, it is not really "doing" in the sense that the local-mind/body is "doing" something. So, kindly bear with me as I elaborate... When we get to the root of consciousness (the ever-present Nowness aka pure Awareness), we realize that all the happenings of samsara (life as we normally refer to it) happens on its own. It has no bearing on any kind of "doing". Until we get to the root of consciousness, there is doing and there is causality (karma). But after, it is just happenings. Like a few here have expressed before, the old habits and patterns start to lose steam and eventually just stop. If you come from a Hindu (or Buddhist) background like myself, you might have encountered a colorful multi-verse that we pass off as mythology (Westerners seem to study this sort of thing with mild amusement in the form of Greek Mythology). In this mythology are references to gods (devas) and goddesses (devis) aka deities, their realms, different realms (lokas), different rules for different worlds, etc. Most of us modern people scoff at these as over-active imaginations of our relatively primitive superstititous ancestors. I am happy to inform you that, such an idea is abjectly untrue. These beings, realms indeed do exist, and there exist "higher" planes. These are accessible when consciousness expands beyond the "local mind" level. There are many things to learn from these planes and our work in these planes inform us in the local-mind state. It is not the emptiness of Self, but an expansion that starts to encompass many things, including things beyond this mundane samsaric existence of the local mind-body. This is the expansion of the mind from local-mind to Universal mind, to get to the "all is one" knowing. How do I know that these states are beyond the "local-mind"? It is because as the mind/consciousness expands, each of these "planes" are accessible simultaneously, while being rooted in the ever-present now. I will halt my post here. I welcome your thoughts and comments. P.S. -- I'm not the person Jeff was referring to in the post about levels of conscious mind residing BTW.