Through Darkness to Your Soul's Sincere Desire

Last  year, I had to opportunity to travel to the Seychelles off the east coast of Africa to flyfish. While my group was sequestered on the main island of Mahi, we sat together on the evening before the final leg of our journey, sharing dreams, of all things. They had learned that I was a dream analyst, and so the conversation shifted to the "universal language" of dream sharing. As we talked, we discovered that all four of us had experienced the same nighttime phenomenon--awakening around 2-3 am in a state of intense worry. We were astounded that each of us, without exception, had frequently spent a good part of the time weathering the unique bleakness that seems to descend on the human psyche in the middle of the night. One of the men asked, "What is it about 2 am?" That question became a topic of conversation not only that evening, but at various times during our week together.

Oddly enough, when I was a young man, fresh with hope and visions of a glorious future, the same period of the night was a time of deep peace and spiritual centering. It was then that I began to follow the advice of the late, great psychic Edgar Caye when he urged people to meditate during of the middle of the night in order to discover "a peace you've never known." For almost 45 years, the middle of the night meditation has been a wellspring of inspiration and mystical experience. Indeed, it probably accounts for the lucid dreams that gave rise to my book, Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light, as well as my other four books, all of which are filled with experiences that came to me at that darkest hour of the night.

Despite the worry that sometimes afflicts me during that period of the night, the "peace you've never known" is still available if I'm willing to persist in my meditation, and get through the ordeal that often awaits me. Just this last night, in fact, I woke up at 3:30, and decided to meditate, even though I felt the weight of the world, and my own demons hammering at me. I sat up, and commenced praying and meditating for over half an hour before experiencing the relief that comes when my greater self asserts itself once again.

In contrast to the sheer darkness of mood that confronted me upon awakening, the dream that ensued upon my return to sleep was simply glorious. It was a lucid dream that lasted about an hour. During the experience, I found myself in a luminous realm, full of kind people and resplendent scenes. It is too much to recount here, but to give you and example of what transpired there, I encountered an artisan who had created a sculpture made from crystal and stone and precious gems that had the image of the Sphinx on one side of it. I picked it up and held it up to the light, and the colors were iridescent and lit from within. Everywhere around me I could see similar creations, fashioned by master artisans. So much more happened that I cannot adequately describe. But suffice to say that if you want to get through the darkness of your life, consider committing yourself to this kind of practice. I feel confident that if you persist, you will be amply rewarded by your "soul's sincere desire," whatever that may be.