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RE: How Shadow People From My Dreams Taught Me The Power of Fear and Improved My Writing
I enjoyed your story of transforming a scary dream with monsters into... Well... Something else. I don't think I ever managed to exert this kind of influence on any of the lucid dreams that I have had.
Every time I start lucidly dreaming, I just have to try to fly. It is too much fun, and the temptation is nearly overwhelming. It is not exactly flying, but more like hugely exaggerated jumping like in the film "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."
I first began to pursue it as a youth after reading Castaneda. After some time, I put much less weight on it as a tool for concretely affecting my everday, waking life.
I still think it could be a very interesting tool for writers to explore the furthest bounds of their imagination.
I used to think that dreams had a lot more significance than they actually do. I think they're interesting to explore now but not much more beyond that. The things you learn from dreams can only come from within yourself, which can be a serious barrier to learning.
I disagree with you. The greatest understandings of wisdom come from within, not out. We hold the Universe inside of ourselves.
That's totally fine to disagree. I do agree that wisdom is knowing yourself, but within the context of knowing how it interacts with the greater universe.
What techniques did you use for lucid dreaming? Does Castaneda discuss them in his books? Thanks.
It has been a LONG time since I read Castaneda, but as a first step, he stressed executing a simple command, specifically, looking at your hands. As a second step, he emphasized identifying an anomalous object in a dream, focusing on it, and then transitioning to a new dream while retaining lucidity.
I do not want this to seem like I am endorsing Castaneda. There were a lot of things about him that were very sketchy.
Castaneda's descriptions of further steps in lucid dreaming get VERY far out, and it is far from clear that what he was describing corresponded either to his actual experiences or to what is the actual potential as lucid dreaming as some kind of tool.
For me, lucidly dreaming regularly came about from what you mentioned already: regular reminders throughout the day by asking, "Am I dreaming?"
I do not pursue lucid dreaming at the moment.
Thank you for the detailed response. I have heard good and bad about Castaneda so I understand. I have not read his material. I have never managed to lucid dream so I was curious. I will try the technique mentioned, see what happens :)
Sorry to be a downer... I do NOT strongly suggest seeking lucid dreaming unless you are strongly aware of why you are doing so. I do not mean that in a condescending way. It is more that I have met more than a few people who seek something like that as some kind clear path to... Well... To what?
I do not want to seem like I am endorsing that as some kind of concrete direction for fulfilling some kind of goal.
Buyer beware!!!
I hear you. I would have looked into it further before attempting anything. But thanks for the heads up. It goes on the list of curios, but I would need to read up more indepth before I went any further with it. Thanks again.