Dreaming
January 18th, 2012 § 7 Comments
You are confused by the words. When sorcerers speak of dreaming and awakening, the terms don’t have anything to do with the physical states you know. I don’t have any choice but to use your language, because otherwise you would not understand me at all. But if you don’t do your part, and put aside everyday meanings and try to penetrate the meaning of what I’m telling you, you will never get out of this state of mistrust. ~ Don Juan speaking to Carlos
Dreaming is so misunderstood. It is not a state that is separate from wakefulness. Dreaming is about having the energy that is necessary to function in a state of 360 degree total awareness which ultimately transcends both the states of dreaming and wakefulness, the pinnacle of awakening! I have always believed that the word dreaming was inaccurate but then again, most of Castaneda’s nomenclature is designed to present a constant state of misinterpretation to lead adherents through the arduous maze of complete understanding. Absolute brilliance on his part!
Yeah, there are dreaming practices like trying to find your hands and speaking to others in dream but what are these exercises other than to hone awareness in all states of being? Total 360 degree awareness in each and every moment. Not just waking moments, all moments.
So what words can replace dreaming? Well, to put it most simply let’s just say meditation. No, not the lotus seating style with thumb and forefinger touching while resting the wrists on your knees and chanting Om Mani Padme Om. Yeah, that could work but it’s a huge distraction stemming from someone else’s vision. As warriors we can’t afford to copy others and align ourselves with their intent. That would cause a fixation of our assemblage point onto their fixated location. So what is the goal? Connecting with silent knowledge. Aligning with intent! And when we are aligned with intent we are dreaming all the time.
Some of the dreamers I know have embarked on meditation. And then they tell me that since they began meditating they are no longer able to enter the state of “dreaming” as they were able to in the past. I explain that this is because through meditation they have connected directly with silent knowledge which provides for them the opportunity to be in a state of dream all the time thereby making the “dream state” indistinguishable from meditation because they have integrated their ability to be in the state of dream all the time. 360 degree total awareness.
Dreaming isn’t a task, it is a state of being. We have all, for the most part, done the recapitulation, erased personal history, broken free of the mold of man, made death an advisor and as a result have access to tons of usable energy allowing us to shift our assemblage points at will and constantly perceive a multitude of states of being while aligning with intent. We are just being in a constant state of creation as the constant state of creation unfolds all around us in each and every moment. 360 degree total awareness. Happy dreaming!
Dreaming happens when we achieve a certain balance in our daily life, and only after silencing the internal dialogue. The term ‘dreaming’ is not the most appropriate to describe an exercise of awareness which has nothing to do with the content of the mind. I use it out of respect for the tradition of my lineage, but the ancient seers called it something else. ~ Carlos Castaneda
There is no separation.
Here we are…
Oh cool I love this explanation! I am someone who has felt challenged with reconciling dreaming and meditation. However, the challenge has felt to be one of stability versus flow. In meditation, life feels acutely stable, aware, witnessing. In dream, it feels fluid, moving, sometimes blissful. There seems to be a fulcrum of energy where stability and flow balance effortlessly. When experiencing that life feels the most alive, the most free.
question: if you have the answer…
He says: “I use it out of respect for the tradition of my lineage, but the ancient seers called it something else”
How did they call it?
Words , at times, are strong pointers, when they are consistent with the object they point to.
PS I found that Focusing by Eugene Gendlin is a nice tool in helping people to shift (and stay) out of the first attention into a wider, broader and more body oriented (meditation like) kind of awareness
“As warriors we can’t afford to copy others and align ourselves with their intent. ”
So, when I often feel “wrong” (as in, “this is wrong for me somehow, or too limiting”) when faced with someone else’s practice or way being suggested upon me, that feeling is something in me rising up and reminding me gently of the warrior within?
Gasp. Guess I’m not merely being contrary…
Excellent! You made the connection. Other people’s visions are not wrong yet, they are not our own. Connect with intent and follow your heart. Open to your own vision and dance it alive as it unfolds!
Words truly never can encapsulate that perception, one where you are alive and allow the world to unfold as it is, going along with the flow, taking heed to the communication from all of life in any moment. such wakefullness is the battle in today’s day, against inertia, the sleeping and repetitious drone of the internal dialogue.
to dream true is to follow one’s heart, for when listening to our heart and allowing that guidance, we merge and align with intent.
In the case of Carlos and don Juan, do not think it was always a point of brilliance from Carlos to hint towards misunderstanding; in the end, it is clear that he misunderstood what Juan was imparting to him.
If you recall Don Juan speaking of the shift of the assemblage point, which is technically what we mean by the term dreaming, in all the stories used to relay this point it is the Spirit which makes Itself manifest or apparent in some way to DJ then he merely is impeccable, or awake, to allow dreaming to take place, for the Spirit to shift the assemblage point.
This is vastly different from going out with the motive or intent to shift the assemblage point, such as, I am gonna meditate with the purpose of having the power to dream alternate worlds, versus, As a Warrior my battle is for survival and survival entails freedom of perception lest I die the living death which some mistakenly take for peace.
I love the design of this site.
Cheers.
“…in all the stories used to relay this point it is the Spirit which makes Itself manifest or apparent in some way to DJ then he merely is impeccable, or awake, to allow dreaming to take place, for the Spirit to shift the assemblage point.”
Well said. Thank you.