Dreams and the Dreamer

“Perchance to dream,” he said, and then drifted on those words as if trying to bridge the gap between the two worlds. But what is a dream save the mind adrift upon its own currents, guided at times by faceless gestures and wordless musings of unknown origins. Waking and dream consciousness seem so far apart yet all that separates the two is the state of our mind.

When we fall asleep the conscious mind is mostly silenced, and it’s a good thing. Our mind is comprised of energy and does not get tired in the same way our bodies do. Nonetheless, it too needs a break, and it is from reacting to the constant stream of experiences AND integrating them. It handles massive amounts of information and integrates many hundreds of thousands of thoughts every day. When we say to ourselves, as I am sure most of do on occasion, “I am still trying to get my head around this.” we are acknowledging that we are consciously struggling with integrating the experience we had.

Cornerstones

"Honesty ... is not some measure against some absolute truth; we measure it against our awareness of our truths..." (1)

"The principle of responsibility, like that of personal honesty, is of paramount importance in the world of personal and spiritual growth. This is not a rule of man, but one of nature and that rule is our actions have consequences." (2)

There are certainly a number of skills and awareness's one needs develop to help them become more in tune with the world, resolve our issues, see through the illusion created by our ego/mind, follow a deeply spiritual path or to simply find more balance in their lives. I've written about many of them and while not discounting or making any superior to any other there are certain foundation elements among them that stand out. The two quotes above speak to the ones I believe are absolutely essential if one is to make any real progress, and they are honesty and accepting responsibility.

Between Moments

We have all heard phrases such as “be in the moment”, “there is only now”, “it’s a matter of being rather than doing” and “reality is an illusion” and so on. You have likely also heard or read about getting beyond the idea of duality or that reality is an illusion yet for all we hear and read about such things being in the now is very difficult. The difficulty lays not in the effort itself, it is getting past the barrier we have created within ourselves.

The illusion is pervasive and seems all encompassing to us. We can spend our whole lives searching for the elusive now. We can consider it, think about it and continue try to find our way in between the moments our minds define for us, but it is not there. All of these are for not and while such effort are not a waste of time they will likely be fruitless because we cannot find the now by any of these means. The only way to do so is to discard thinking about or hunting for it, we must even let go of our desire to find it.

The Dew is Thick on the Grass

The room is quiet and still. There is no motion visible save that of the flickering light of a candle that darts about with abandon as it holds off the darkness. I sit at my desk with the urge to work on a composition but my hands remain in my lap as, at the moment, the topic eludes me. This happens, on occasion, when I am preparing to do any creative writing that requires less left brain and more of the right - as in less thinking and more of the allowing of intuitive thoughts to rise unabated.

When I do such writings one of two things occurs. One is I find myself writing without having to think about it, sometimes before I even realize it and all I need to do is get out of my own way. The other happens when I have been busy and have set aside or carved out time in which case I must “do” something to make or find my way into the piece rather than trying to force it. In this composition I will describe the process I go through with the thought of demystifying it and perhaps stir the same awareness in others.