Do You Still Believe You Control the Dream?
Based on the book Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda
Lucid Dreaming - Gateway to the inner Self by Robert Waggoner.
Lucid dreamers, particularly beginners, can occasionally behave like “Conquistadors of Consciousness”, and proclaim dominion over a dream that they fail to understand or appreciate.
Control suggests fundamental dominance or authority over. By contrast, lucid dreamers show varying degrees of ability to manipulate themselves within the dreaming.
The lucid dreamer needs to acknowledge that their “control” seems limited to directing their focus, rather they direct their focus within the larger dreaming around them. When unaware of these points, a lucid dreamer stumbles into the philosophical perspective of the lucid solipsist - one who believes that his waking self in the dream is the only reality.
Don Juan cautioned Castaneda that the presumption of control could become a major stumbling block along the path. Since the ego finds security in the feeling of control, it usually occupies those areas deemed under its control.
Like the sailors on the sea or lucid dreamers in the dream, we can only direct our focus within that environment.
The ego is an entity that builds itself at an unconscious level throughout life through the acquisition of knowledge, beliefs, habits and experiences.
The ego is an illusion that tries to project and maintain the idea of separation.
If we feel separate from the Source then we will project this illusion of separation into our entire life experience.
Welcome to the Dream realm.
Sweet dreams.
