" Your answer to that question shows how enlightened you are...or aren't; so think it through. It can be a fun debate to get into with your friends, especially if they remember enough of their dreams to know how vivid and tricky they can be. I had this debate with my son, J.C., and started it simply by asking him how he knew he was awake? He rolled his eyes and said, "Mommmmm, of course I'm awake! I'm standing here, aren't I?" "Yes, but how do you know you aren't dreaming that you are standing there?" (flustered) "C'mon, Mom! Here, I'll pinch myself...see, I'm awake!" "How do you know you aren't dreaming that you're pinching yourself?" "BECAUSE I FELT IT!" "Ahh, yes...but how can you prove that you aren't dreaming that you felt it?" By now he's getting really irritated, to my delight. He spent the rest of the night trying to prove to me that he was actually awake and not dreaming, but of course I stood my ground and kept asking him to prove it. Eventually, he grumpily understood that it isn't that easy to prove that one is awake. It's sortof like that old question of whether a tree falling in the forest without anyone around makes a sound or not. If no one can hear it, then how can it be a sound? I tend to lean towards the side that says there are sound waves created by the event, and animals around hear the sound and if they could they would testify to that fact, but there's always somebody around who will argue the flip side effectively, too. It all boils down to being a moot point about perception and reality. Which came first; the chicken or the egg? I really hate that question! Let's move on...

When we are dreaming, we often take the most bizarre images and characters for granted and don't even show suprise. Somehow, the purple giraffe in our living room just belongs there, and we don't clue in to the fact that we are dreaming. Have you ever had your alarm go off, but incorporate it into your dream as a fire alarm buzzer or something like that? My boss didn't quite know what to think about that excuse, but it really was a frequent occurence in my dreams! I finally got to the point in which I had to have a back-up alarm. Our dreaming mind will often take outside noises and incorporate them into dream symbols so we don't wake up, especially if we are abnormally tired and really need the rest. When one wants to start becoming aware within a dream and lucid dream, they have to overcome these tendencies to accept the bizarre as normal waking-life occurences, and see them for the dream images that they really are. It is only then that we can master the lucid dream.

Another way of looking at it is this way: how often have you realized you were dreaming in the middle of a dream, but up until then you were taking it for granted that the dream was actually your reality?

Things that make you go...Hmmmmm...

How observant are you in your reality? Did you notice what the smiley face was doing, above? "

by ZenCyn

Lucid Dreaming - Homepage (click!)

The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once had a realistic dream that he was a butterfly. He lived the life of a butterfly, gathering nectar and flying in an insect's world. In the dream he had no awareness of his waking life, and individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying in his own bed, a person once again. But then he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"