Lucid Dreaming by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC
Published: 2014-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

A Rude Awakening

My initial lucid dreams were simply glorious—full of light and ecstasy. Admittedly, I was less entranced by lucidity per se than by the brilliant light that often appeared to me in the dreamscape, and which I often experienced inwardly as well. I came to see lucidity not as an end in itself, but rather as a platform upon which I could consciously seek the highest experiences available to the dreamer. Reading Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, I learned that “dream yoga” is considered one of six doctrines of the “path of form,” which offers an accelerated avenue into communing with the Light.28 I also learned in reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead that the Light arises in all of its brilliance at the moment of death, but is usually overlooked by the deceased soul, who presumably remains in a nonlucid swoon both during the moment of death and thereafter until the soul reincarnates.29 The Tibetan texts assert that learning to become conscious and recognize the Light in our dreams is not only an excellent practice for communing with the divine source during our lifetimes, but also the best way to prepare to be awake in the after-death state, thus transcending the need for rebirth.

Upon discovering this connection between dreaming and the afterlife encounter, I set about on a mission—to “pierce the veil” of illusion of my dreams and to commune with the radiance that resided behind the apparent reality of the dream images. However, because some of my early lucid dreams were deeply disturbing, I eventually began to favor a less ambitious, meditative approach to lucid dream induction, realizing that lucidity and the quest for higher consciousness can also awaken unresolved psychodynamic conflicts and powerful archetypal forces. A Jungian analyst voiced this perspective when, after hearing about my ambitious exploits in the lucid state, she said dryly, “I hope you have your circle of fire around you.” I thought that she simply did not understand, but I soon discovered that it was I who did not fully understand. A couple of examples should suffice to convey what began to happen.

The first evidence that my quest for the light would awaken deep psychodynamic conflicts occurred in what I have called my “coming-of-age dream.” About a week before my 21st birthday, I had the following dream:

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