Emotion in Dreaming

 The question came up in my online dream group concerning emotion from the standpoint of co-creative dream theory. I think of emotion as the degree of dissonance between the dream ego/staus quo, and the emergent dream content that may consist of unresolved past memory, current new issues, or future-oriented aspects of our calling. When the dissonance is resolved, then the dream imagery dissolves into light, and the remaining feeling is ineffable, in that it does not derive from dissonance, but from the experience of union. Lakoff and Anderson make the case that dream metaphors always have an embodied component which grounds the abstract dimension. They also conclude, erronenously I believe, that there can be no consciousness truly beyond a body, since all consciousness is metaphor based, and needs an embodied experience to make it conscious. I believe that the feeling that is left once the dissonance is resolved is the nature of the type of feeling beyond the body, and once experienced, it becomes obvious that the emotion that we experience when embodied, based on dissonance, is fundamentally distinct from the feeling that we have once the dissonance is resolved. One can argue that this feeling is still based on what Wilber refers to as “subtle oneness,” which retains a subtle division between self and wholeness. But I think that anyone who has experienced light and ecstasy can say with conviction that the feeling that coiners with the experience of radiance is not related to any previous embodied experience, and is an elixir that is wholly distinct.

More Adventures Beyond the Body

A couple of recent middle-of-the-night post meditation experiences. Please contact me if you want me to mentor you in your own middle-of-the-night meditational/lucid dream practice.

I got up at 2:30 after 5 hours of sleep, and meditated and prayed. By the time I laid back down, I felt at peace, and expectant.

I wasn’t very sleepy, so used the countdown from 100, hoping I’d drift off before reaching “0”. But before I became very drowsy, the gift waves/energy activated. I was fully conscious, and was so awake I knew I could simply open my eyes, and the energy would cease. But I meditated on it, and it grew stronger and flattened out. At that point, I rolled to my left out of my body, and was free. I flew eastward threw walls, and into the sky. Then I turned upward and toward the “portal,” dropped my arms and began to accelerate into the darkness. I flew for some time, feeling especially positive and expectant. I felt that instead of passing through transitional domains, I would arrive in a planetary domain associated with some distant star system. As I flew, I felt someone’s hands supporting me from behind, grasping my legs above the knees. So I reached down, took the hands into my own, and spun around in the darkness to face the guide. Suddenly, things began to appear, and I found myself with a younger man, holding my hands, spinning around in space. Two other men were nearby, flying alongside us.

We came down into a world where there were many other people. The domain had not consolidated fully, so I looked at my hands to fixate on the image of them, and as I did, the world began to light up and become fully physicalized. I found myself with several men, who greeted me, and seemed to know that I was from another world. I told them I was from Earth, but they did not seem to recognize the name. I asked them where we were, and they said their star was 6720, but that it had other sub-specifications for the purposes of interstellar navigation. One man added that the system had an extinguished star, so I gathered that it had once been a binary star system.

I observed the men closely, noticing that they all wore similar clothing—a kilt-like garment with a light plaid or Madras-like pastel print. The waistline was far above their waist. For a shirt, they wore a tunic with a short standup collar that was open in the front.

They offered me a beverage in a bottle similar to a long-neck beer bottle with a white and golden label or covering. I wasn’t sure I could "drink" it in the out-of-body state, since I haven't been able to eat or drink anything in previous experiences (probably a mental block of sorts), but I took it and found it quite cold to the touch. I was surprised that I could presume to drink it. I spent quite a bit of time with them, and eventually finished the beverage. 

Meanwhile, there was a multi-tiered platform that I was standing on at one point. Each level —separated by a foot or so—was covered with iridescent sand, or microscopic jewels. It was a beautiful sight, but I realized that I was standing on it, and needed to get off of it, because a woman was trying to toss an object onto the levels, as if it was a game of sorts. She politely asked me to move so she could toss the object, which I did. I understood that the apparatus had been constructed by the brother of my principal guide.

As I walked around, I came upon three women who were seated, eating. I looked into the eyes of one of them, and she seemed to recognized me on a deep level. I asked her, “Are you the reason I’ve come here?” She nodded. Then she stood up and embraced me for a long time. She thrust her pelvis into me, and I could tell she was aroused. She seemed to grow taller at first, then shorter until we disengaged. She was smiling.

Finally I decided to leave the domain and, instead of simply willing myself back to my body, I flew westward into the darkness, emerging again in a landscape that appeared to be earth or earth-like. After exploring that for a while, I found it rather mundane, so I forced myself back to my sleeping body.

On another recent night, I meditated as usual around 5 AM, Julie was out of town, so I expected to be able to conduct my out of body exploration without any movement around me, unless the cats interrupted me. In my initial passage out of my body I moved around a lot to consolidate my stable identity in the other body state. And I moved into the darkness where I traveled for while meditating. I could see my hands in front of me even though there was some distortion over their size and distance from my present body. That’s been common. I thought to myself that it’s been a while. Since someone had taken my hands or feet as they used to do more often. Suddenly, I saw below me the passage of a landscape or a texture that was mostly blue. I reached down, and found that it was only a couple of feet from me seeming to be the bottom of the pool that I was passing through underwater. I looked Ahead of me and realize that I was just below the surface of about a 3 foot deep pool of clear water, and I was passing quickly through the water or above it. Suddenly I felt someone take my hand and I looked to the side and saw a woman with green hair smiling at me. I seem to recognize her from the past, and I asked her name. She told me, but I have since forgotten the name she spoke. She escorted me into a domain where there were people around and left me there for a while. I have forgotten the details of what happened there, but I do know that I moved on into the darkness again affirming that I would pass to another domain that was more meaningful and deep. After a long while of traveling in the darkness I wanted again if someone was going to guide me to the next locale. Suddenly I felt hands beneath my feet lifting me and pushing me onward. The person appears next to me as a man, and as soon as I saw his face the darkness dissipated, and I found myself in an extraordinarily beautiful, bright scene characterized by terraced gardens and people milling about happily. I was on a hillside and below me I could see white aircraft of a highly advanced technology passing quietly below me and above a valley, which was green and punctuated with buildings. The whole place, Which I believe to be a planet in another star system,was like a paradise of sorts. I spent a considerable time visiting with people, and sharing deeply. There was even one moment where I was sharing with a group of women about one of the ladies’ mothers, who had not been very nurturing to her. I spoke about my work with women who have distant or abusive mothers, and told them that the work of recovery is a very meaningful process for me, and a necessary one for them. At some point someone announced that there was an event occurring eminently, s very special auspicious event that took place in the sky, and seem to happen as a result of some higher consciousness breaking through into this world. We are still looking east, and one man advises me not to get too close as if the event could be harmful if one were to close to it. Suddenly there was a loud roar, and the shape of lightning jaggedly crossed the eastern sky, and opened a window into another world of sorts. The people around me look into it, finding layers of beauty and gifts from whomever was behind this rupture are renting of the veil between the world I was in and some other world. At some point, ask one of my posts what’s the name of this place was. She said, the Garden.

For some reason, I decided to move on, so I said goodbye to the people who embraced me lovingly with the feeling. I headed east and upward into darkness again, until I found myself escorted by another male figure. I came out into a less bright and harmonious place, where the people seemed strange the ominous. They took me aside and they prepared to give me something that look like wine into which a vial of elixir had been poured. Apparently, The liquid would permit me or require me to stay there much longer. I was a bit alarmed, but not really afraid, because I didn’t understand whether this was a good thing or not. So I decided to return my body, and I told him that I wasn’t from there and I would be able to return my own world at will. So I stretch my arms and made a strenuous effort to reconnect with my body. It was difficult at first, as it has been in other deep out of body explorations. But I was able to return to my body within a few seconds after trying.

The Importance of a Meditative Attitude in the Out-of-Body State

Normally, I meditate every morning for 30-60 minutes, and then in the middle of the night every other day or so. But this past week, I had the flu and so I found it hard to meditate for several days. Not that I didn't try, but my physical condition kept interrupting my progress.

Finally, I felt good enough to get up at 4:00 and meditate for 30 minutes after taking galantamine. I hoped that I could resume my regular out of body adventures, which have often involved apparent journeys to other star systems. To make sure my excursions are not interrupted, I go down the hall to one of our spare bedrooms for the remainder of the night.

I have been able to have a lucid dream/OOBE just about every time if I do everything right--at least 30 minutes of meditation, a sufficiently positive state of mind, and 8 mg of galantamine taken about an hour before my first dream upon returning to bed. On many occasions, I experience a WILD--that is, a "wake-induced lucid dream" without a break in consciousness from waking to dream.

Sure enough I find myself with another man, and I point out to him that we are in a dream. He resists the idea at first, then realizes it is true. I take him by the arm and lift him off the ground to show him that we can fly, and proceed to explore the domain with him. After a while, I decide to leave him and set a course for the stars, which usually means dropping my arms to my side, and orienting myself to a certain part of the eastern sky.

But as I begin to fly upward, it becomes clear that I am losing buoyancy, and I become unable to fly or pass through barriers. Everything is becoming increasingly dense, and I am becoming heavy. The harder I try to counteract the effects of gravity, the heavier I become and the more trapped in form I feel. Suddenly, I know that I need to meditate. So I close my eyes and meditate. Immediately, a brightness fills my closed eyes, and I feel myself floating upward weightlessly. I open my eyes, and find myself with several people, including a woman whom I recognize from somewhere and from whom I feel a timeless, deep love. We continue to visit for a good while in a state of heightened awareness and luminous surroundings.

Meditation is like putting money in a bank. If your account is full, then your experience in the OOBE state will be luminous, refined, subtle and full of love and connection. But if you have been unable to keep your account "full" due to distractions or illness, then you'd be better off not leaving your body, because none of the ineffable properties available to you will manifest in your phenomenal experience. At least that's my experience.

I have heard many people talk about their own lucid dreams and OOBEs, and I've come away thinking that each of us encounters what we have built in our lives. A person who does not meditate will report rather pedestrian OOBEs that mirror the waking state with fair precision. Speaking of the after-death state, Edgar Cayce captured the self-fulfilling, self-mirroring nature of nonphysical reality by once saying, "A dead Presbyterian is a dead Presbyterian." He was saying, I believe, that death alone does not confer any particular release from what we believe, and have built in our lives. In my experience, neither does lucidity/OOBE awareness. I wrote back in the 70s that the so-called OOBE  simply mirrors the observer's own beliefs and paradigm about the world. If one tends to be a "realist," measuring life in empirical terms, then the OOBE state accommodates this believe system by mirroring the physical world, and is often identical (with some variations) to one's waking reality. Does that make the OOBE "true?" Not at all. It's just a mirror of one's paradigm, confirming it in most ways, but often revealing along the edges of the experience a reality that is far greater, and much less ego-centered. It takes meditation, or an attitude of surrender to take us beyond our own reflection in the mirror.

How to Work with Metaphors

My exploration of metaphor construction and analysis through the lens of cocreative dream theory is fairly new, but I have written a paper that I'd like to share with you, titled: Understanding and Working with Dream Metaphors from the Standpoint of Co-Creative Dream Theory. It can be found at my website:

http://dreamanalysistraining.com/offsite/offsite-9/styled-37/page87.html

Let me know what you think about it. I have a feeling that this line of inquiry will continue in my work.

Galantamine Study Results

Hi Friends,

We have just completed a pre-publication draft of our research study, titled "Exploring the Effects of Galantamine Paired with Meditation and Dream Reliving on Recalled Dreams: Toward an Integrated Protocol for Lucid Dream Induction and Nightmare Resolution." It is currently under review by a major journal, so this draft is for personal use only, and not be distributed. I think you will see that the study will probably make a big splash in the dream research community.

Check it out at http://dreamanalysistraining.com/offsite/offsite-11/styled-36/page74.html

A Dream Following a 4 am Meditation

This dream has stayed with me for a few days, and I thought it might stir something within you, too. Dreams are meant for sharing. We are one another, and the "quarries" of our lives are conjoined.

I am driving up or climbing a very steep road, and wonder how I can succeed, since it’s almost a vertical slope. As I reach the top, I’m in a large dark interior space, like a projection room above a theater. A latino man is there, and he shows me around. He feels like a wise man, a guru of sorts. He tells me that in order to help people in psychotherapy that I need to “explore the quarries.” Then I see against a far wall in the darkness, probably 100 feet away, a giant mandala that is lit up, and begins to pulse with light from the center. A woman stands beneath it, holding a white pod-like object, about three feet long, wide in the middle and pointed on both ends. I has a clear circular window in the middle through which I can see white light. She is singing a beautiful song as the light builds within the pod As the light reaches a certain intensity within the pod, she projects it outward. The only word I discern in her song is the word “river.” When I woke up, the tune was on my mind, and I thought to myself, “I’d better record this into my Iphone,” but thought I’d remember it later. Of course, I didn’t!

A Life Changing Discovery

I have studied dreams, and pursued lucid dreaming all of my life. But about 10 years ago, I began having lower back pain about 5 hours into the sleep cycle. Suddenly, I was uncomfortable and restless during the "prime time" for dreaming--from 4 hours until awakening. Consequently, my practice of early morning meditation as a catalyst for lucid dreaming suffered: It was hard to get out of bed, and it was hard to go back to sleep, as well. My lower back pain became chronic about a year ago, and I honestly thought I was going to need surgery before much longer. Then I discovered that the solution was already at hand.

Almost 40 years ago, I purchased a "Ma Roller," a back massage tool that you place on the floor and lie upon. I've used it almost nightly for years without realizing that it would become the breakthrough solution for my lower back. I don't have any commercial interest in this item, so please don't think I'm trying to sell you something. But I am so impressed with the total recovery I experienced using the roller that I thought it could work for others, too.

You might ask, why did it take me so long to realize that the Ma Roller would work? And why wasn't it working all along to prevent the lower back problem? Because I wasn't using it to its full advantage!  I got the clue about how to use it while talking to my brother-in-law, Jim Peabody, who had been to see a physical therapist, who had told him that he could treat his lower back pain by leaning backward against a kitchen table or a similar edge that would force his spine to bend backward rather than forward. I tried that, without much success, but then I thought, "Heck, the Ma Roller can do better than that." So I did what I'd been avoiding for years--lowering my lumbar area fully onto the roller, such that my hips and my shoulders were both touching the floor. It hurt like hell, and it felt like it was making it worse. That's why I'd never allowed my full weight to rest upon the roller. It just didn't feel right. But if you've ever been to a physical therapist, you'll know that they often ask you to do things that hurt, but that actually make the problem better. So I decided to suffer the pain, thinking that maybe it could make the difference.

The next day, there was a dramatic improvement! I didn't have any lower back pain through the day! So I did it again before bed (and it hurt like hell again!), and I went to bed. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS, I SLEPT FOR OVER 8 HOURS WITHOUT ANY BACK PAIN!

That was four months ago, and since then, I do the same exercise twice a day. My back pain during the day and at night has completely disappeared, and I literally feel ten years younger. Indeed, I'd thought of giving up guiding flyfishers, but now that I feel strong again, I'm planning to give it another couple of years.

If you or anyone you know has lower back pain, please share this with them.  The original Ma Roller is no longer made, but  a company called Earthlite and a few other vendors make the same design, and you can get one for $25-40 on Amazon. I bought a second one recently, just so I could loan it to family and friends. They will last 100 years, so it's the last one you'll need to buy. Of course, run this by your doctor if you have serious back problems, and everyone's different. But I am so thankful that I was willing to suffer the initial discomfort to discover a profoundly effective remedy.