Hypnagogic Hallucinations: Had Any Lately?

[Sounder]

Yes Derek, I like how you say your thing. That makes sense to connect responsibility with deeper connection to the dream world (potential). Maybe you can help me out then.

I never considered my hypnagogic experience to be of the class of dreams. That is, the things I saw and heard had a tangible expression rather than symbolical content as in dreams.

I made my 'request' for two reasons that I can remember. I had the idealistic notion that discarding the social and intellectual constructs of others may open one to better approaches to true reality. By having a more direct connection (to reality) I hoped to be able to live a better life. Also I did not want to live my life as a naive realist and yet I had no interest in occult games.

As a young person I observed that this world would chew most people up and spit them out. I thought that many people caused their problems because of misguided efforts at maintaining pretences to protect a contrived self-image. To me, this is the cutting off of the connection of consciousness(A) from consciousness(B). See I do not remember my dreams for the most part, yet experience seems to be speaking to me all the time, and when paid attention to properly it seems to tell me my next move with excellent reliability. It's like the tangible is being used as the symbolical. My wife said this morning that I do not remember dreams because my life is a dream. Indeed it does seem that way, surreal and absurd and yet it works and I am constantly entertained. I still love the dream business and a current favorite writer for me is Paul Levy found at: http://www.awakeninthedream.com/

Thought for the day is 'mirroring', Thanks TKL.

Many blessings to all for this New Year.

[theeKultleeder]

^^^Huh? You're welcome, I guess.

I think I've taken a different approach from you in connecting to "reality," I try to employ symbols to put a "handle" on ephemeral phenomena. I use imaginary objects to get a grip on "B" things in the "A" state.

One can generate any symbolical form in the astral as a proxy of self. And that form will resonate with certain things in the collective unconscious. I think an interesting "god-form" is a sort of featureless asexual crystal being with a glowing heart core. It's the basis of my personal self-generation, and like me, anyone who chooses to use this "blank" can add any sort of symbols or accouterments to it for any particular purpose.

Of course this is all provisional, and in actual reality there is no need for self-generation in any sort of astral form because the energetic matrix which supports your current form body was generated when your mother conceived. And in the end, even this passing form will dissolve and all that will be left is a formless consciousness principle, and the forms and visions which spring from that very subtle consciousness will determine your next rebirth while you are in the bardo.

So yeah, dream training is an essential part of refining the self.

[Derek]

Hey Sounder,

I know that feeling you described as "the tangible being used as the symbolical." It starts creeping up on me whenever my dreams are unable to get their messages across, for whatever reason. Real life then starts throwing synchronistic, symbolic communiqués my way, too obvious to be ignored. I'll relate just one brief story to illustrate:

A little over a year ago, right after I'd finished the manuscript for Crash Gordon and the Mysteries of Kingsburg, a business acquaintance of mine—an elegant red-headed Englishman—offered to take the manuscript to his best friend, a high-powered New York literary agent. I should have jumped at the opportunity, but something at the back of my mind made me hold off on accepting the offer. I told him I wanted to sleep on it. That night, as I was coming home from work, I saw a red-headed man standing in front of my apartment building with a large package in his arms. He looked amazingly similar to my red-headed Englishman friend, so much so that I almost called out his name—but then I drew closer and realized it wasn't him. I happen to live in a high security doorman building, and we're not supposed to let in strangers, but the man seemed so familiar to me that I allowed him to follow behind me as I was buzzed in. The doorman on duty asked the red-headed man where he was going, but the man didn't answer—he just headed up the marble staircase to the left of the elevators as if he knew what he was doing. He was met by a locked door. He started cursing in a low voice—and the cursing came out with a very distinct British accent. The doorman went up the stairs after him and I hung around to see what would happen next. As the two of them came down the stairs, I saw that the package the red-headed man was carrying was in actuality a big, reeking pile of garbage. I have no explanation for why I didn't see this earlier—it baffles me still. The red-headed man was obviously half-crazed and likely homeless. The doorman tossed him out of the building without too much trouble and that was that.

For reasons that seem obvious to me (and probably to you, too, Sounder, judging by your last post), I chose not to follow up on my red-headed business acquaintance's offer to hook me up with a literary agent. And things ended up working out well enough without one.

I'm firmly of the opinion that our psychic reality is sometimes mirrored by external reality through synchronicity and prophetic dreams.

Last night after watching the New Year's Eve fireworks display with my family and friends in Central Park, I dreamt I saw a tower falling (a bit like the Eiffel Tower), creating chaos and havoc at an outdoor fair. I took it to mean that I should look at The Tower card in the Tarot deck as my life's theme for 2008.

It may be a rough year....