|
Research conducted since 1973 at the School of Metaphysics, indicates that the incidences of
lucid dreaming are on the rise. |
 |
 |
THE CRYSTALLINE BODY When is a Dream both a Message and Lucid/ Inner Level Experience? by Dr. Barbara Condron, author of The Dreamer's Dictionary |
|
|
A dreamer sent in the following experience: I had this dream perhaps 6 or 8 times as a child, maybe more, it's hard to say exactly this many years later.. It was always the same dream, hardly a detail changed. I'd say I probably had this from the time I was 4 or 5 years old until I was 9 or 10, it's hard to remember exactly. I still distinctly remember the dream though. I am at my Maternal grandparents place, an old row house in Virginia. They have a basement which is reached from the kitchen by a long flight of stairs, 18 or perhaps even 20 steps. In my mind as a child I always associated that basement with my Grandfather, as his tools, workshop, etc. were down there. Both the kitchen, as well as the rest of the house I associated with my Grandmother, as she ran the domestic affairs of the house. I am standing at the top of the stairs, looking down. I want to jump down the flight of stairs, so I start swinging my arms back and forth, preparing to leap, as with a standing long jump. After a moment of this, I jump forward into the air, and fly all of the way down to the bottom step, in slow motion. In the dream I never, ever land on the basement floor, but instead always land on the last step before the basement floor. But I do not actually land 'on' the step, but instead pass through it, and as I pass through the step I feel myself passing into what I can only describe as another realm of being, as if it were a different dimension. As I pass into this 'place' I feel my body awareness change, so that as my legs move through, then the trunk of my body, my chest, and finally my head, I seem to turn into a crystalline structure, still shaped like my body, but as if I am constructed of a churning latticework of pulsing energy. The step itself is the threshold where this transformation takes place. What is above the step is still my 'normal' body, and what has passed through has transformed. As my head passes through the step, I enter a realm devoid of distinct forms, instead it is also made up of this type of pulsating energetic latticework. All of this happens in slow motion. Once through to this other place, I am able to travel around in there. I don't remember any sort of specific events happening, just sort of swimming around. I say swimming, as it definitely did not seem like flying, much more like traveling through a substance, than floating above anything. I don't actually 'swim' with my limbs, but rather can will myself forward. I spend what seems like a long time in there, though really I don't think time as such is perceived during this dream. The dream was always fun and rewarding, never ever scary or in any way distressing. There was always a strong sense of exploration, of looking about, though not for any specific thing, just to sort of see what is there. What is there is always this undifferentiated energy matrix, just sort of churning away. There is no sense of anyone else being there with me, just myself in this other realm. I got to the point where I would recognize what was ready to happen when I found myself at the top of the basement stairs, and looked forward to the leap. This awareness of what was about to happen is probably as close to 'lucid' dreaming as I have ever come, I was definitely aware of a sense of, "Here I am, and here comes that dream again". The dream always had a sense of profound meaning, though not as if there were any specific message attached. To this day I'd be very pleased to find myself at the top of those stairs, ready to leap, but it hasn't happened since I was a child. Any suggestions of how to get there again would be greatly appreciated, by the way. AS/male Let's start at the beginning and work through this entire dream. AS begins: I had this dream perhaps 6 or 8 times as a child, maybe more, it's hard to say exactly this many years later.. It was always the same dream, hardly a detail changed. I'd say I probably had this from the time I was 4 or 5 years old until I was 9 or 10, it's hard to remember exactly. I still distinctly remember the the dream though. Childhood dreams often linger, remaining a source of inspiration and open mindedness throughout our lives. They can serve as a connecting link to our inner, subconscious mind if continued experiencing in the physical world begins to shut the door to inner awareness. The Universal principle that every dream is about the dreamer and that everyone and everything in the dream applies to all human beings at all ages. I am at my Maternal grandparents place, an old row house in Virginia. They have a basement which is reached from the kitchen by a long flight of stairs, 18 or perhaps even 20 steps. In my mind as a child I always associated that basement with my Grandfather, as his tools, workshop, etc. were down there. Both the kitchen, as well as the rest of the house I associated with my Grandmother, as she ran the domestic affairs of the house. There are two ways this dream needs to be viewed. The first is a a symbolic message from the inner you to the outer you about the state of your conscious awareness. The second is as it reflects your experiencing in the inner levels of mind. We will address both here. Symbolically The dream is talking about your relationship with your own superconscious mind as symbolized by your grandparents. Your awareness of the receptive quality of superconscious mind is alive in your consciousness whereas your awareness of the aggressive quality has already become unconscious. You might understand it this way, at this age you relied on your connectedness with others, the love you felt with them, perhaps a sense of safety and security you inwardly felt that everything would work out or was okay. Trust was strong in you. You were however losing the ability to perceive. Your inner sense of who you were was changing in ways you were unaware of. Maybe friendships or school was beginning to push you in certain directions without your knowledge or permission. I am standing at the top of the stairs, looking down. I want to jump down the flight of stairs, so I start swinging my arms back and forth, preparing to leap, as with a standing long jump. After a moment of this, I jump forward into the air, and fly all of the way down to the bottom step, in slow motion. In the dream I never, ever land on the basement floor, but instead always land on the last step before the basement floor. But I do not actually land 'on' the step, but instead pass through it, and as I pass through the step I feel myself passing into what I can only describe as another realm of being, as if it were a different dimension. As I pass into this 'place' I feel my body awareness change, so that as my legs move through, then the trunk of my body, my chest, and finally my head, I seem to turn into a crystalline structure, still shaped like my body, but as if I am constructed of a churning latticework of pulsing energy. The step itself is the threshold where this transformation takes place. What is above the step is still my 'normal' body, and what has passed through has transformed. As my head passes through the step, I enter a realm devoid of distinct forms, instead it is also made up of this type of pulsating energetic latticework. All of this happens in slow motion. Symbolically, flying in a dream is a common symbol for astral projection or out of body experience. You were free to express and move on the inner planes of existence at this time in your life. Again this inner reality was being pushed back into the uncconscious part of your mind. Probably catching frogs and making grades and the like were becoming much more important than "imaginary" playmates and reading people's thoughts and daydreaming. The reality of Self beyond the physical is losing its importance to you, and your experience with the structure of the inner mind, how energy moves and why, is moving beyond your grasp. This is why it seems to move in slow motion. You are becoming out of synchronization with the inner mind. Experientially, Describing your body as crystalline in structure is most exciting because this is the future of humanity. The energetic reality of our existence has been explored by yogis, shamans, and mystics for thousands of years. You will perceiving your aura, the energetic pattern that expresess, to your waking mind, as your physical body. The step in your dream symbolizes the point between the 7th Physical Level of Consciousness and the 6th Etheric Level of Consciousness. On one step is what looks like your physical form, on the next is this energetic crystalline form. This is the nature of reality beyond the physical plane. It is actually more exciting to experience than to read about, isn't it? The reason you don't see distinct forms is your newness to this level of experiencing. Just as you learned as a babe how to use your physical eyes to see, and then your brain to store impressions and information so you could identify what you saw, you had just "been born again" into mind. This is also the reason for the slow motion in your dream, your attitude had yet to adjust to the more rapid rate of vibration in the etheric level. This made things appear in slow motion instead of their "real time." Perceiving and interpreting what we see takes time and can be learned by you now, as an adult. You have much more information and reasoning ability at 43 than you did at 8 or 10. This is an incredible asset in exploring consciousness. Once through to this other place, I am able to travel around in there. I don't remember any sort of specific events happening, just sort of swimming around. I say swimming, as it definitely did not seem like flying, much more like traveling through a substance, than floating above anything. I don't actually 'swim' with my limbs, but rather can will myself forward. I spend what seems like a long time in there, though really I don't think time as such is perceived during this dream. Symbolically, Your inner level experiences are becoming vague. With little means, or probably encouragement, to describe these inner level experiences they become cloudy and even distant. You do remember the sensations however, and these are probably what has kept them surfacing in your consciousness all these years. Your will to move, to sense this world was present and therefore what you sensed, what sensations you experienced, were impressed in your conscious memory which is accessible to you even now decades later. Experientially, Once you enter the etheric level, you can move at will. Will is our mental muscle. It enables us to think about work or dinner or living on Mars, all in about 3 seconds. Will is an amazing part of the development of consciousness and as such forms the basis for Self Discipline. The altered sense of time is the way you interpret the difference in vibratory rate between the etheric and physical levels. The physical, being more dense and furthest from the Source, is the slowest manifestation of consciousness. Time here is measured by the rising and setting of the sun, by the experiences you can create in a day. Time in the inner levels is measured by the understandings gleaned from those experiences. The kinds of experiences you describe here occur for people with very strong subconscious minds. Typically these people are independent and open minded, curious and discerning, highly intelligent and attentive. These early experiences laid the foundation for them to value the inner mind, what Eastern scriptures often call the Real Self, as much as they value the things of the temporal world. When responded to, these experiences become a beacon lighting the way for the person's soul growth. Disciplines such as concentation, meditation, and visualization are skills to be developed and employed in the construction of thought. Dreams are to be valued and explored by people with a strong inner urge toward spiritual progression. This dream definitely reflects such a person. What have you been doing with your life since age 10? The dream was always fun and rewarding, never ever scary or in any way distressing. There was always a strong sense of exploration, of looking about, though not for any specific thing, just to sort of see what is there. What is there is always this undifferentiated energy matrix, just sort of churning away. There is no sense of anyone else being there with me, just myself in this other realm. I got to the point where I would recognize what was ready to happen when I found myself at the top of the basement stairs, and looked forward to the leap. This awareness of what was about to happen is probably as close to 'lucid' dreaming as I have ever come, I was definitely aware of a sense of, "Here I am, and here comes that dream again". The dream always had a sense of profound meaning, though not as if there were any specific message attached. To this day I'd be very pleased to find myself at the top of those stairs, ready to leap, but it hasn't happened since I was a child. Any suggestions of how to get there again would be greatly appreciated, by the way. You were experiencing your etheric body, the electromagnetic field of the physical body. This is the energy matrix you speak of. [Artist Alex Grey (we think this is his name we seem to have misplaced our library copy of his amazing book) tries to illustrate this field through his paintings. You might check them out] It can be understood and harnessed for healing self and others. It is the prana or chi or ki spoken of in all pranayama, martial arts, yoga, and inner mind explorations. You can learn how to "get there again". The experience was produced by you several times during your childhood. These spontaneous experiences just seemed to happen. Most intuitive experiences fall into this realm, so do most reasoning experiences, like remembering and imagining. Such mental abilities seemingly just happen. You either have a good memory or you don't. You are creative or you aren't. You have a keen inner radar sense or you don't. This is the commonly accepted idea of consciousness. The School of Metaphysics teaches the essential life skills necessary to develop and live your full potential as a reasoning/intuitive being. We teach the mechanics of how mind works, from concentration to listening, from memory recall to entraining the inner and outer minds. It all begins with Self Respect – the ability to see Self from every perspective, again and again, at will. This course is all about you. What you learn will be applied at your desire for the purposes you determine. As you develop intuition, one of the skills, you will hone your conscious ability for becoming aware of inner level experience, the lucid dreaming you describe. A preliminary exercise to develop this conscious skill is to concentrate upon the tip of your finger for ten minutes every day for 30 days. When you have successfully completed this, email us with your confirmation and we will give you the next step. What is most important to know is that you can learn all these things right now. You can choose conscious awareness and enlightenment. Our classes are offered in 14 midwest cities and through correspondence study. Classes give you the priceless opportunity to experience, learn, and grow with others who are also invested in Self growth and transformation. People of all ages, from all walks of life take our course. To find out more, click here. |
| 1997-2007 ©School of Metaphysics a not-for-profit 501(c)3 educational institute of higher learning. | Home |