From:
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Inner development
If developing one’s inner being is a euphemism for getting closer to one’s inner self and, perhaps, being more in contact with reality, then I’d say that, lucid dreaming develops one’s inner being by giving it some of the exercise it so badly needs in order to stretch its wings and grow. The
term ‘spiritual exercise’ is too vague and generalised to be of much practical use to anyone, but I guess lucid dreaming could certainly fall
in that category together with other practices like meditation and yoga, especially if one were to consider lucid dreaming to be part of one’s meditations and the inner experience gained from such practices.
The simple truth is that, the more one comes in contact with one’s own
inner being the more it becomes available to you. And nothing places you
in direct contact with one’s inner self more than lucid dreaming! Of
course, meditation and yoga have a similar effect, although nothing is as compelling and encouraging as lucid dreaming by comparison. I mean, a
dedicated and disciplined person could meditate for years and hardly see
any noticeable effects beyond, perhaps, the gradual slow strengthening of
their inner character and balanced sense of peace. Like anything really,
it takes discipline to perform meditation every day until it eventually
begins to count. Whereas, with lucid dreaming the results are not only virtually instantaneous but also absolutely staggering as well. The only discipline involved (which is actually quite similar to meditation) is to maintain the correct state of mind that prolongs the experience, something which, of course, takes a little while to learn, but within a very short
period of time it becomes increasingly easy to lucid dream almost at will.
This ‘lucid dreaming on demand’ is key to mastering a more general awareness of how perception actually functions and works in real time,
waking awareness, as well as in dreaming, basically because the inner
cognitive apparatus of perception employed in both instances are literally
one and the same. Thus, whatever your particular purpose is in learning to
do it, be prepared, as your proficiency increases, for lucid dreaming to eventually begin to have potentially far-reaching effects in your daily
waking world and your personal outlook on life in general. Why? Because at
the very basic level there would seem to be two main areas to this lucid dreaming business which you’ll quickly discover.
Firstly, the very personal, and potentially completely self-indulgent,
aspect of the whole thing, one in which any of your strangest and wildest fantasies can easily and quickly be made to come true, albeit it only virtually. A kind of voyeurs’ utopia and personal virtual reality entertainment-centre (think ‘Holodeck’ of Star Trek fame) all rolled into one!
Secondly, a somewhat more sober and objective approach where one explores
the dreaming state as an explorer and observer only. The better perhaps to record events as they unfold more accurately, possibly with a view to
mapping some of the confines of the near unknown, not only for your own
greater understanding of it for yourself, but also for the benefit of
others if you were inclined to consider sharing that information.
Objectively speaking, the only real reason to explore lucid dreaming is to discover hidden aspects of ourselves, where it all possibly leads or
points to, and/or to discover just what it is about the mind that allows
such things as virtual realities, that we can project, inhabit and explore
for prolonged periods of time, to exist.
Another thing I can tell you about lucid dreaming is that the steady
practice of it also eventually causes one to begin re-evaluating one’s own life and life circumstances, in that most people have unwittingly allowed themselves to become almost completely caught up in their workplace and
homes, their families and hobbies. So much so, that there remains very
little room left in their lives with which to explore any of the deeper, perhaps hidden, meanings of life. Most people are so busy and involved in
their current activities that they simply haven’t got the time left over
to explore anything more meaningful, even if it is available to them. In
which case, learning to activate their innate ability to lucid dream can
also offer people a kind of second chance at this, so to speak, and to
take a look at opportunities to do so they may have inadvertently missed.
The fact is that the intelligent and observational approach to lucid
dreaming eventually begins to carry-over into a person’s waking awareness
as well, thus presenting them with countless new opportunities to tweak
the often rigidly fixed values of their waking life in a variety of ways.
A chance they wouldn’t otherwise get under any other circumstances, at
least not until they were very much older, possibly even retired, and had
the spare time in their lives to even consider looking at everything again.
The truth being, that it is probably better for someone to re-evaluate
their life situation while they are still young rather than waiting until
they have fulfilled all or most of their duties to their families, friends
and work in society, before finding themselves with enough free time to be
able to re-examine their lives and the way they live to any meaningful
degree.
So, why learn to lucid dream? Well, possibly because it might just present
a person with what is ultimately the opportunity of a lifetime; a genuine chance to totally re-examine their life and the way they’re living it. And thus an opportunity they might never otherwise get to enrich their lives
beyond measure in terms of the boost to the ‘quality’ of life they will very likely experience from that re-examination. If all you are looking
for is cheap thrills then learning to lucid dream will almost certainly
help you to fulfill that goal in virtually any form you can possibly
imagine. Although, I personally would tend to consider that purpose to be
an unworthy one, an opportunity missed to do more than just adding to your quota of amusements. Lucid dreaming isn’t really just another games
console to add to the growing number of entertainment centres that people
avail themselves of to pass the time. Although, of course, it can indeed
be employed as such if that was all someone was interested in.
Lucid dreaming changes your life! I mean, yes, it can be used solely for
the purpose of entertainment and treated as if it’s just another day out
in some amazing theme park, only there might also be a lot more to the
world of lucid dreaming and the opportunities it offers than these
amusement aspects alone. I guess, in the end, everyone has to decide for themselves what lucid dreaming might personally mean to them and for them. Especially from the DILDs point of view wherein full lucidity and full
waking memory of who you are and what you are supposed to be doing isn’t always as readily available to the dreamer as it is from the WILDs point
of view wherein one generally has access to full lucidity and waking
memories. In fact, this is the only real problem with DILDs, in that dream-initiated lucid dreaming automatically plunges the dreamer into a
deeper level of dreaming than he is likely to be able to cope with. This
is particularly so in the initial stages where the lack of access to full waking memories during a DILD has the tendency to bemuse the dreamer and
cloud his judgement, to the extent that he becomes involuntarily more
involved in the images of his dreams than he would otherwise probably want
to.
There are many, many reasons why learning to lucid dream could be
interesting, the best of which (as it was for me at any rate) is the clear sense of a continually expanding awareness and not just of oneself, but
also of the world around you. In my opinion there is no end to the
potentially unrealised useful applications of lucid dreaming that only
await discovery by experienced and inexperienced practitioners alike.
To be fully conscious and aware in a dreaming state, and to be able to
repeat that experience at will and on demand, is no less than the
equivalent of the opening and exploration of an entirely new frontier.
From: The WILD Way To Lucid Dreaming. :)
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* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)