This deal applies to Dream Leaf, Mugwort, Mystic Mushrooms, and Twilune
The Thin Little Line Between Life and Dreams
Over the years, I’ve attempted to thin the line between waking life and the dreamscape by attaining consciousness during sleep. And I’ve come to realize that there are some fascinating connections between the life we experience each day and the one we enter during sleep.
In a way, we have two homes – one here, and one there. We enter into one as we close our eyes at night, and we enter into the other when we open them back up in the morning.
In Genesis, Moses spoke of two lights that God created. He told of the “lesser light” and the “greater light”, which is kind of how I like to look at the thin little line between dreaming and waking life, and their connection to consciousness.
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.”
Genesis 1:16
Although consciousness is much more difficult to attain while dreaming, it’s also not always easy to remain fully conscious during waking life. After all, we each behave unconsciously at times. Have you ever been driving during a road trip without paying any attention to the fact that you’re steering the wheel? I know I have. And I’ve definitely driven next to people who have done the same. ;)
The thing that I’ve learned from lucid dreaming is that consciousness exists where we choose to place it. And this applies both to dreaming as well as the life we choose to live.
“Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?”
-Havelock Ellis
Just because someone is awake doesn’t necessarily mean that they are conscious. And just because someone is asleep, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are unconscious. Some form of consciousness permeates into both realms of life. Lucid dreaming is evidence of this.
What we control in our dreams is dependent on the level of consciousness we develop, and its really quite the same in waking life. Have you ever felt like something was out of your control and then realized later that really it wasn’t and that all you really needed to do was place more conscious attention to that thing?
I experienced this with my desire to travel internationally. I always wanted to travel but I felt like it was something that was out of my control or that my finances would not allow. I became unconscious to the fact that, in reality, I could have been traveling for years. I just didn’t allow myself the right to enjoy that part of life until I made a conscious effort to make that happen. I allowed fear to control my perspective, rather than confidence. It became my reality.
We sometimes give into illusions like this and believe certain things are real, when really they are not. Have you ever been inside a dream with a scary monster chasing you? I will admit that I've had such dreams even into adulthood. Similarly, have you ever feared something in life, which was actually not real at all? Have you ever felt like there was no hope, when really there was?
Perhaps the greatest lesson I’ve learned from my lucid dreaming experiences is that although we cannot control everything, consciousness is a choice and our lives are enhanced when we choose to live more consciously.