The totality of our consciousness is comprised of three levels: the subconscious, the conscious, and the superconscious. These levels of consciousness represent differing degrees of intensity of awareness.
The first level, the subconscious, is relatively dim in awareness: it is the stuff of which dreams are made. We may think of it as the repository of all remembered experiences, impressions left on the mind by those experiences, and tendencies awakened or reinforced by those impressions. Every experience we've ever had, every thought, every impression of loss or gain, resides in the subconscious mind and determines our patterns of thought and behavior far more than we realize.
The subconscious, being unrestricted by the rigid demands of logic, permits a certain flow of ideas. This flow may border on intuition, but if the ideas are too circumscribed by subjectivity, they won't correspond with the external world around us. When we dream at night, we are mainly operating on the subconscious level.
The subconscious mind can all too easily intrude itself on our conscious awareness, tricking us into thinking we're getting intuitive guidance, when actually we're merely being influenced by past impressions and unfulfilled desires. The subconscious mind is in some ways close to the superconscious, where real intuition resides. Both represent a flow of awareness without logical obstructions. The subconscious is therefore more open to the intuitions of the superconscious, and sometimes receives them, though usually mixed with confusing imagery.
To be really clear in the guidance we receive is difficult, but very important. Calamitous decisions have been make in the belief that one was drawing on higher guidance, when in fact one was responding only to subconscious preconditioning. The next level of consciousness from which we receive guidance is the conscious state, the rational awareness that usually guides our daily decisions.
When we receive input from the senses, analyze the facts, and makes decisions based on this information, we are using this conscious level of guidance. This process is also strongly affected by the opinions of others, which can cloud our ability to draw true guidance. Dividing and separating the world into either/or categories, the conscious level of awareness is problem-oriented. It's difficult to be completely certain of decisions drawn from this level, because the analytical mind can see all the possible solutions.
But ultimately it doesn't have the ability to distinguish which one is best. If we rely exclusively on the conscious mind, we may find ourselves lacking in certainty and slipping into a state of perpetual indecision. Intuition and heightened mental clarity flow from superconscious awareness. The conscious mind is limited by its analytical nature, and therefore sees all things as separate and distinct. We may be puzzled by a certain situation, but because it seems unrelated to other events, it's difficult to draw a clear course of action. By contrast, because the superconscious mind is unitive and sees all things as part of a whole, it can readily draw solutions. In superconsciousness the problem and the solution are seen as one, as though the solution was a natural outgrowth from the problem.
Technique for Tuning in to Higher Guidance
Whenever you need special guidance but find none forthcoming, try following these suggestions: 1) Ask for guidance from superconsciousness at the Spiritual Eye. 2) Wait for a response in the heart center. Be completely impartial. Don't intrude your personal desires into this process. Pray, "Thy will, not mine, be done." 3) If no guidance comes, propose several alternative solutions at the Spiritual Eye.
See if one of them receives special endorsement in the heart. 4) Guidance often comes only after an idea has been made concrete by setting it in motion. If, therefore, you receive no answer in meditation, act in whatever way seems reasonable to you, but continue to listen for guidance in the heart. 5) At a certain point, if your direction is right, you will feel the endorsement you've been seeking.
But if your direction is wrong, suddenly you will know it is wrong. In that case, try something else, until the endorsement comes. 6) To refuse to act until you receive inner guidance is good only if you can keep your level of energy and expectation high. For it is high energy and high expectation that attract guidance. If you must act because you have no other way of maintaining that level of energy, then go ahead and act.
Often, it is better to act, even in error, than not to act at all. 7) Even if you feel inner guidance, never presume on it. That guidance may tell you, metaphorically speaking, to go north, but if you cease listening you may not hear it when, at the next corner, it tells you to turn east. 8) A problem is half solved already once it is stated clearly. In seeking guidance, form a clear mental picture of what it is you need.
Then hold that picture up to superconsciousness at the point between the eyebrows. People often struggle for a long time to find the inspiration they want. No time at all is needed: only sufficient mental clarity, and energy. Never use the claim of inner guidance as an argument for convincing others to listen to you. The flow of superconsciousness is always humble, never boastful. It doesn't cooperate with attitudes that discourage others from seeking their own inner guidance.
To tell a person, "This is what my intuition tells me, so this is what we must all do," is to say, in effect, "God will speak only through me, not through anyone else." Such an attitude sooner or later gets its comeuppance. The divine law does not endorse pride.
Humor as a Higher Level of Consciousness
Mystics in most of the major religious traditions refer to different "levels" of consciousness. They don’t all describe them the same way, or provide the same kind of instructions for accessing them. A generation ago, some drugs were touted as non-religious means for achieving extraordinary states of consciousness. For most people, "common sense" might be thought of as the standard state, and other states, however described in glowing terms, are better left alone. Many scientists, even neurologists who concentrate on matters of the brain and nervous system, are reluctant to make sweeping statements about the nature of consciousness.
Writers such as Aldous Huxley, who wrote The Perennial Philosophy back in the 1940s, and Ken Wilber, who is still prolific in his attempts to organize our concepts of reality, describe consciousness as a continuum, beginning perhaps at the bottom of the hierarchy of life forms. (Wilber suggests that there may not even be a "bottom," for even the movement of heavenly bodies could be thought of as reflecting some form of consciousness.)
The upper reaches of the continuum are referred to variously as religious ecstasy, nirvana, or enlightenment. What we refer to as "lower forms of life" could be seen as evidencing less complex awareness of their environment than most humans, with less effective means for organizing their experiences. Some people insist that "consciousness" begins with human beings, who seem uniquely gifted with a sense of "I."
I’ll take as my starting point for the sake of this discussion an assumption that we humans do, indeed, possess consciousness, defined rather vaguely as an awareness of self and not-self. I’ve noticed that many people appear to have "something" in their mental makeup that is beyond my capacity to understand, let alone hope to achieve. They might be called "geniuses," or "saints," or "prophets," or something similar; and to many people they seem to operate at a level beyond us ordinary folk. Their specialness seems not just a matter of degree. They not only understand things we do not, they know things that we cannot even dream of. They may not be in a different world than we, but they obviously see it differently. When I watch my dog Tasha trying desperately to understand me when I’m explaining something to her, something that affects her directly but of which she is totally unaware, I remember listening in awe to the Dalai Lama a few years ago, and feeling just as I imagine Tasha does.
And I’m likely to be gentler with the "poor, dumb animal." Wilber did much to illuminate my thinking about levels of consciousness. We do move up, he said, as we learn to integrate our experiences at different ages. A six-year-old cannot be expected to respond appropriately to, say, sexual situations.
Usually, but not always, there comes a time when he or she understands more of the complex emotional and physical and social aspects of sexuality. This advance in perspective is often taken for granted, but if one thinks about it, it’s pretty remarkable. When a person grows up enough in different areas of experience, they understand more, and their range of responses is greater. At some point, we call it wisdom. "Ah, yes," I’ve said more than once, "I’ve been here before. I’ve felt this tightness in my gut and my sudden desire to escape.
And I know also that I’m really not in danger, and I can control my urge and make the most out of what’s happening right here, right now." Sometimes, I might even make a joke about it all. The ability to laugh at oneself at times is usually considered a desirable trait. If I’m frightened by something that turns out to be benign, and I can laugh about it, I’m not so apt to be at its mercy in the future. If I feel insulted by someone unexpectedly, and then realize that their intentions were not hostile, a little humor can disperse the difficulties in the transaction.
When I suddenly realize that it’s the little kid in me who is responding to a situation, I can choose to act more adult, and at the same time have compassion for that part of me who is still four years old and fearful of abandonment. I’m talking about gentle humor. There’s also another kind, a hurtful kind, expressed in sarcasm and even sadistic glee. Enjoying another person’s suffering is not a higher level of consciousness. But humor—any humor—requires a degree of sophistication to understand. Humor, as a response, is often a matter of seeing some familiar situation and twisting it, creating a paradox or an unexpected result.
The enjoyment of "getting the joke" is in perceiving both ends of the paradox. Relating two things that are usually not thought of as related. My wife thinks "Humor as a higher level of consciousness" is itself funny. Why? I believe it’s because we ordinarily think of humor as a leveler, a folksy thing. I could relate some incidents in which my dog Tasha has fun with me—not playing the way animals often do with each other, exercising abilities that are to be used in very serious ways, such as fighting off intruders or competing to get food, but in a gentle teasing behavior, pretending to give me her ball to toss, then slyly pulling it just out of reach. If I stop reaching for it, she brings it back, and repeats the tease until I manage to grab it, then instantly she lets go and bounds off, looking back at me waiting for the toss.
This little game is fun for her and fun for me, and we both know it and appreciate the humor. It’s a delicate dance, what James Carse calls an "infinite game," played for the fun of playing and not to have a winner and a loser. That’s humor, too, the "good" kind. Laughing at oneself is not destructive. On the contrary, it helps to bond people (and animals). What I’m enjoying when Tasha plays her little game with me, is my own limitation—my dog outwitting me! If I were truly embarrassed or humiliated, my responses would not encourage her to repeat the game.
It wouldn’t be fun for either of us. Since I’ve become aware of all this, I’ve begun to pay more attention to my own humor, checking now and then to see whether it’s destructive or constructive to the relationship. Laughing at another person can be either. It’s a fine line to walk, requiring sensitivity and skill—and a lot of knowledge about the other person.
Psychologists tell us that humor at someone else’s expense is always a hostile act. The important word there is "expense." If I’m aware of my own forgetfulness, for example, and make jokes about it, someone I trust can also kid me about it—a little. To gauge the word "little," I guess it would be less than I do. If I can laugh at myself, it indicates an acceptance of my own shortcoming, a level of comfort. A perspective. In perhaps only a small way, I have "risen above" myself and my ego. About other personal topics, such as my deteriorating physical condition, I’m not so sanguine. I can’t readily joke about it, and I can be easily hurt if someone else jokes about it.
My level of consciousness related to that is rather stuck. My ego reigns. So, perhaps it’s clearer to say that humor can be an indicator of higher consciousness, rather than the state itself. When it reflects that ever-important perspective, or that bit of insight, humor might be thought of as one characteristic of wisdom. Logically, the next question is: does God have a sense of humor? Personally, I have no doubt.
Lucid Dreams
A lucid dream, also known as conscious dream, is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that they are dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, they can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream. A lucid dream can begin in one of three ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that they are dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness.
A mnemonic initiated lucid dream (MILD) can happen when the dreamer intentionally affirms him/herself that they will become lucid that night. This can sometimes happen due to dream-signs or spontaneously upon remembrance. The first technique is to overcome fear. Realizing that you are in a dream provides a unique opportunity to actually seek fearful situations and overcome them. If you are haunted by nightmares you can heal yourself with lucidity. I had a recurring dream where I was cornered by a vicious rabid dog. Usually I woke up with my heart pounding.
But one time I became lucid and I calmed myself and said to myself "this is just a dream." The dog sensed that I wasn't afraid and he became friendly. I never had that dream again. I know a someone who suffered trauma from something that occurred to her in the past and had recurring nightmares. She healed the trauma with the power of lucid dreaming and moved on with her life. If you are afraid of "evil" take a trip to Hell and meet the Devil. You may be pleasantly surprised when you overcome this fear. You may also gain some very interesting philosophical insights. Remember even interesting philosophical insights are dreamlike also.
One time I had a dream where I was on a very narrow dock far out into the ocean. There were sharks trying to bite my feet off. I became lucid and I said "I must transform". So I transformed the sharks into dolphins! This brings us to our next task: transformation. To help realize the illusory nature of existence we practice transforming things. Transform sharks into dolphins, mountains into puddles, castles into trees, rocks into cupcakes, etc. You can transform anything into anything.
Transform big things into small things. Transform someone into someone else. Make things disappear. You get the idea. Our next task is to transform our dream bodies to help us realize that we are not our bodies. Shape shift into a cat, dog, bird, or a deity. Multiply yourself into twenty. Make yourself disappear. Walk through walls. Walk through a mirror. Turn yourself into a cabbage. Have fun.
The idea is to free your mind and your conception of yourself. Another practice is to summon deities. This is always fun. You can identify with the deity and therefore take on enlightened attributes the deity represents. This goes with the shape shifting practice also. Summon Buddhas. Become them. Ask to meet your spirit guides. Ask to meet a famous guru. Ask to meet Aliens. Ask to meet Albert Einstein. Learn to play a musical instrument. Learn Kung Fu. Do yogic practices or Qi Gong. Activate your kundalini. Travel to the higher dimensions. The best mode of transportation in the dream world is to fly. If you walk you are very likely to get distracted and forget your mission. Fly to the light, fly to where there is more light. Or... fly to the darkness.
Fly into outer-space. When you get very "high" in the dream you may have some very interesting sensations. You may feel like you are actually leaving your body and you are traveling astrally. You may be flooded by intense exalted feelings of universal love. You may have visions of emptiness.
The point of all this is to have first-hand experience of the dreamlike nature of existence. You should contemplate during waking life also how everything is ultimately like a dream. This does not mean you should jump off a building to try to fly. If you think you can fly, start from the ground. Contemplate how when you lay yourself down to fall asleep and pass into dreaming, you are going from one dream into another.
The first level, the subconscious, is relatively dim in awareness: it is the stuff of which dreams are made. We may think of it as the repository of all remembered experiences, impressions left on the mind by those experiences, and tendencies awakened or reinforced by those impressions. Every experience we've ever had, every thought, every impression of loss or gain, resides in the subconscious mind and determines our patterns of thought and behavior far more than we realize.
The subconscious, being unrestricted by the rigid demands of logic, permits a certain flow of ideas. This flow may border on intuition, but if the ideas are too circumscribed by subjectivity, they won't correspond with the external world around us. When we dream at night, we are mainly operating on the subconscious level.
The subconscious mind can all too easily intrude itself on our conscious awareness, tricking us into thinking we're getting intuitive guidance, when actually we're merely being influenced by past impressions and unfulfilled desires. The subconscious mind is in some ways close to the superconscious, where real intuition resides. Both represent a flow of awareness without logical obstructions. The subconscious is therefore more open to the intuitions of the superconscious, and sometimes receives them, though usually mixed with confusing imagery.
To be really clear in the guidance we receive is difficult, but very important. Calamitous decisions have been make in the belief that one was drawing on higher guidance, when in fact one was responding only to subconscious preconditioning. The next level of consciousness from which we receive guidance is the conscious state, the rational awareness that usually guides our daily decisions.
When we receive input from the senses, analyze the facts, and makes decisions based on this information, we are using this conscious level of guidance. This process is also strongly affected by the opinions of others, which can cloud our ability to draw true guidance. Dividing and separating the world into either/or categories, the conscious level of awareness is problem-oriented. It's difficult to be completely certain of decisions drawn from this level, because the analytical mind can see all the possible solutions.
But ultimately it doesn't have the ability to distinguish which one is best. If we rely exclusively on the conscious mind, we may find ourselves lacking in certainty and slipping into a state of perpetual indecision. Intuition and heightened mental clarity flow from superconscious awareness. The conscious mind is limited by its analytical nature, and therefore sees all things as separate and distinct. We may be puzzled by a certain situation, but because it seems unrelated to other events, it's difficult to draw a clear course of action. By contrast, because the superconscious mind is unitive and sees all things as part of a whole, it can readily draw solutions. In superconsciousness the problem and the solution are seen as one, as though the solution was a natural outgrowth from the problem.
Technique for Tuning in to Higher Guidance
Whenever you need special guidance but find none forthcoming, try following these suggestions: 1) Ask for guidance from superconsciousness at the Spiritual Eye. 2) Wait for a response in the heart center. Be completely impartial. Don't intrude your personal desires into this process. Pray, "Thy will, not mine, be done." 3) If no guidance comes, propose several alternative solutions at the Spiritual Eye.
See if one of them receives special endorsement in the heart. 4) Guidance often comes only after an idea has been made concrete by setting it in motion. If, therefore, you receive no answer in meditation, act in whatever way seems reasonable to you, but continue to listen for guidance in the heart. 5) At a certain point, if your direction is right, you will feel the endorsement you've been seeking.
But if your direction is wrong, suddenly you will know it is wrong. In that case, try something else, until the endorsement comes. 6) To refuse to act until you receive inner guidance is good only if you can keep your level of energy and expectation high. For it is high energy and high expectation that attract guidance. If you must act because you have no other way of maintaining that level of energy, then go ahead and act.
Often, it is better to act, even in error, than not to act at all. 7) Even if you feel inner guidance, never presume on it. That guidance may tell you, metaphorically speaking, to go north, but if you cease listening you may not hear it when, at the next corner, it tells you to turn east. 8) A problem is half solved already once it is stated clearly. In seeking guidance, form a clear mental picture of what it is you need.
Then hold that picture up to superconsciousness at the point between the eyebrows. People often struggle for a long time to find the inspiration they want. No time at all is needed: only sufficient mental clarity, and energy. Never use the claim of inner guidance as an argument for convincing others to listen to you. The flow of superconsciousness is always humble, never boastful. It doesn't cooperate with attitudes that discourage others from seeking their own inner guidance.
To tell a person, "This is what my intuition tells me, so this is what we must all do," is to say, in effect, "God will speak only through me, not through anyone else." Such an attitude sooner or later gets its comeuppance. The divine law does not endorse pride.
Humor as a Higher Level of Consciousness
Mystics in most of the major religious traditions refer to different "levels" of consciousness. They don’t all describe them the same way, or provide the same kind of instructions for accessing them. A generation ago, some drugs were touted as non-religious means for achieving extraordinary states of consciousness. For most people, "common sense" might be thought of as the standard state, and other states, however described in glowing terms, are better left alone. Many scientists, even neurologists who concentrate on matters of the brain and nervous system, are reluctant to make sweeping statements about the nature of consciousness.
Writers such as Aldous Huxley, who wrote The Perennial Philosophy back in the 1940s, and Ken Wilber, who is still prolific in his attempts to organize our concepts of reality, describe consciousness as a continuum, beginning perhaps at the bottom of the hierarchy of life forms. (Wilber suggests that there may not even be a "bottom," for even the movement of heavenly bodies could be thought of as reflecting some form of consciousness.)
The upper reaches of the continuum are referred to variously as religious ecstasy, nirvana, or enlightenment. What we refer to as "lower forms of life" could be seen as evidencing less complex awareness of their environment than most humans, with less effective means for organizing their experiences. Some people insist that "consciousness" begins with human beings, who seem uniquely gifted with a sense of "I."
I’ll take as my starting point for the sake of this discussion an assumption that we humans do, indeed, possess consciousness, defined rather vaguely as an awareness of self and not-self. I’ve noticed that many people appear to have "something" in their mental makeup that is beyond my capacity to understand, let alone hope to achieve. They might be called "geniuses," or "saints," or "prophets," or something similar; and to many people they seem to operate at a level beyond us ordinary folk. Their specialness seems not just a matter of degree. They not only understand things we do not, they know things that we cannot even dream of. They may not be in a different world than we, but they obviously see it differently. When I watch my dog Tasha trying desperately to understand me when I’m explaining something to her, something that affects her directly but of which she is totally unaware, I remember listening in awe to the Dalai Lama a few years ago, and feeling just as I imagine Tasha does.
And I’m likely to be gentler with the "poor, dumb animal." Wilber did much to illuminate my thinking about levels of consciousness. We do move up, he said, as we learn to integrate our experiences at different ages. A six-year-old cannot be expected to respond appropriately to, say, sexual situations.
Usually, but not always, there comes a time when he or she understands more of the complex emotional and physical and social aspects of sexuality. This advance in perspective is often taken for granted, but if one thinks about it, it’s pretty remarkable. When a person grows up enough in different areas of experience, they understand more, and their range of responses is greater. At some point, we call it wisdom. "Ah, yes," I’ve said more than once, "I’ve been here before. I’ve felt this tightness in my gut and my sudden desire to escape.
And I know also that I’m really not in danger, and I can control my urge and make the most out of what’s happening right here, right now." Sometimes, I might even make a joke about it all. The ability to laugh at oneself at times is usually considered a desirable trait. If I’m frightened by something that turns out to be benign, and I can laugh about it, I’m not so apt to be at its mercy in the future. If I feel insulted by someone unexpectedly, and then realize that their intentions were not hostile, a little humor can disperse the difficulties in the transaction.
When I suddenly realize that it’s the little kid in me who is responding to a situation, I can choose to act more adult, and at the same time have compassion for that part of me who is still four years old and fearful of abandonment. I’m talking about gentle humor. There’s also another kind, a hurtful kind, expressed in sarcasm and even sadistic glee. Enjoying another person’s suffering is not a higher level of consciousness. But humor—any humor—requires a degree of sophistication to understand. Humor, as a response, is often a matter of seeing some familiar situation and twisting it, creating a paradox or an unexpected result.
The enjoyment of "getting the joke" is in perceiving both ends of the paradox. Relating two things that are usually not thought of as related. My wife thinks "Humor as a higher level of consciousness" is itself funny. Why? I believe it’s because we ordinarily think of humor as a leveler, a folksy thing. I could relate some incidents in which my dog Tasha has fun with me—not playing the way animals often do with each other, exercising abilities that are to be used in very serious ways, such as fighting off intruders or competing to get food, but in a gentle teasing behavior, pretending to give me her ball to toss, then slyly pulling it just out of reach. If I stop reaching for it, she brings it back, and repeats the tease until I manage to grab it, then instantly she lets go and bounds off, looking back at me waiting for the toss.
This little game is fun for her and fun for me, and we both know it and appreciate the humor. It’s a delicate dance, what James Carse calls an "infinite game," played for the fun of playing and not to have a winner and a loser. That’s humor, too, the "good" kind. Laughing at oneself is not destructive. On the contrary, it helps to bond people (and animals). What I’m enjoying when Tasha plays her little game with me, is my own limitation—my dog outwitting me! If I were truly embarrassed or humiliated, my responses would not encourage her to repeat the game.
It wouldn’t be fun for either of us. Since I’ve become aware of all this, I’ve begun to pay more attention to my own humor, checking now and then to see whether it’s destructive or constructive to the relationship. Laughing at another person can be either. It’s a fine line to walk, requiring sensitivity and skill—and a lot of knowledge about the other person.
Psychologists tell us that humor at someone else’s expense is always a hostile act. The important word there is "expense." If I’m aware of my own forgetfulness, for example, and make jokes about it, someone I trust can also kid me about it—a little. To gauge the word "little," I guess it would be less than I do. If I can laugh at myself, it indicates an acceptance of my own shortcoming, a level of comfort. A perspective. In perhaps only a small way, I have "risen above" myself and my ego. About other personal topics, such as my deteriorating physical condition, I’m not so sanguine. I can’t readily joke about it, and I can be easily hurt if someone else jokes about it.
My level of consciousness related to that is rather stuck. My ego reigns. So, perhaps it’s clearer to say that humor can be an indicator of higher consciousness, rather than the state itself. When it reflects that ever-important perspective, or that bit of insight, humor might be thought of as one characteristic of wisdom. Logically, the next question is: does God have a sense of humor? Personally, I have no doubt.
Lucid Dreams
A lucid dream, also known as conscious dream, is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that they are dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, they can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream. A lucid dream can begin in one of three ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that they are dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness.
A mnemonic initiated lucid dream (MILD) can happen when the dreamer intentionally affirms him/herself that they will become lucid that night. This can sometimes happen due to dream-signs or spontaneously upon remembrance. The first technique is to overcome fear. Realizing that you are in a dream provides a unique opportunity to actually seek fearful situations and overcome them. If you are haunted by nightmares you can heal yourself with lucidity. I had a recurring dream where I was cornered by a vicious rabid dog. Usually I woke up with my heart pounding.
But one time I became lucid and I calmed myself and said to myself "this is just a dream." The dog sensed that I wasn't afraid and he became friendly. I never had that dream again. I know a someone who suffered trauma from something that occurred to her in the past and had recurring nightmares. She healed the trauma with the power of lucid dreaming and moved on with her life. If you are afraid of "evil" take a trip to Hell and meet the Devil. You may be pleasantly surprised when you overcome this fear. You may also gain some very interesting philosophical insights. Remember even interesting philosophical insights are dreamlike also.
One time I had a dream where I was on a very narrow dock far out into the ocean. There were sharks trying to bite my feet off. I became lucid and I said "I must transform". So I transformed the sharks into dolphins! This brings us to our next task: transformation. To help realize the illusory nature of existence we practice transforming things. Transform sharks into dolphins, mountains into puddles, castles into trees, rocks into cupcakes, etc. You can transform anything into anything.
Transform big things into small things. Transform someone into someone else. Make things disappear. You get the idea. Our next task is to transform our dream bodies to help us realize that we are not our bodies. Shape shift into a cat, dog, bird, or a deity. Multiply yourself into twenty. Make yourself disappear. Walk through walls. Walk through a mirror. Turn yourself into a cabbage. Have fun.
The idea is to free your mind and your conception of yourself. Another practice is to summon deities. This is always fun. You can identify with the deity and therefore take on enlightened attributes the deity represents. This goes with the shape shifting practice also. Summon Buddhas. Become them. Ask to meet your spirit guides. Ask to meet a famous guru. Ask to meet Aliens. Ask to meet Albert Einstein. Learn to play a musical instrument. Learn Kung Fu. Do yogic practices or Qi Gong. Activate your kundalini. Travel to the higher dimensions. The best mode of transportation in the dream world is to fly. If you walk you are very likely to get distracted and forget your mission. Fly to the light, fly to where there is more light. Or... fly to the darkness.
Fly into outer-space. When you get very "high" in the dream you may have some very interesting sensations. You may feel like you are actually leaving your body and you are traveling astrally. You may be flooded by intense exalted feelings of universal love. You may have visions of emptiness.
The point of all this is to have first-hand experience of the dreamlike nature of existence. You should contemplate during waking life also how everything is ultimately like a dream. This does not mean you should jump off a building to try to fly. If you think you can fly, start from the ground. Contemplate how when you lay yourself down to fall asleep and pass into dreaming, you are going from one dream into another.
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