I was reflecting on the subject of fantasy's effect on attaining lucidity and thought I might share my thoughts here and see if you had thoughts on this too.
I'll start by contextualizing with this:
First, as a kid, I was a daydreamer, daydreaming anytime I could but specifically before sleep. My daydreams mostly were structured in a particular way: I was the protagonist of a Hero's Journey. Over time I lost some interest but it still remained as a -before going to sleep- ritual. Eventually, I noticed different recurring aspects of these daydreams and came to better understand these... fantasies, and to play with them.
It's funny because I do much of the same with dreams. Observe them, analyze them, play with them. But they are different. For example, in my daydreams, there's always a conspicuous reason for my Hero's Journey to be seen publicly, by all of society. I understand this as the fantasy of being seen at my best. Meanwhile, in my dreams, the pattern was for society to pursue me, and me to flee and hide from society. I understood this to be a social anxiety... my reality: a constant fear to be seen at my worse. The antithesis to my fantasy.
Second, I got into dreaming and lucid dreaming because a part of my -fantasized- about magic, about being liberated from physical restraints, transcending my material existence. In fact, as I started to practice lucid dreaming, my daydreams were about... I guess... astral adventures. And as I said, this is kind of my -going to sleep- ritual.
Third, when I started here on Dreamviews, I got a sense that the attitude toward daydreams was negative. Daydreaming at first glance is a failure or at least an obstacle to an alert All-Day-Awareness practitioner. Although I believed in the ADA philosophy, it was difficult, realistically. After all, I was a daydream addict. But also, whenever concentrating on work and on school, it was just not possible. Sure, I could do RCs here and there. I could have moments of self-awareness. But then, you have to focus on what you're learning, what you're doing, not just my own awareness and all the other details I am not paying attention to. Daydreaming was another time where I accepted to sacrifice my self-awareness... except I did allow myself to do RCs within the daydream and have moments where I was aware that I was daydreaming. Also, as I said in my first paragraph, I found value in my daydreams, much like my dreams, because while dreams told me about my reality, daydreams told me about my fantasy. This is why I do not think daydreaming is an obstacle to lucid dreaming because it is an obstacle to self-awareness. I think daydreaming is a tool for self-awareness. However, I do wonder if it is an obstacle to lucid dreaming...
Now, on topic:
I do wonder, however, if it is an obstacle to lucid dreaming anyway, because of the particular daydream about dreams. The astral fantasy. (I'm not saying that astral experiences are fantasies. I am talking about the astral fantasy. the daydream that I transcend material life through lucid dreaming. How is it an obstacle? No, I don't dream about these daydreams. My dreams are not like my daydreams as I've said before. But maybe it affects my expectations of what lucid dreaming will be like. Maybe it affects the goals and intentions I set before sleeping. Maybe, I'm setting the expectation to -perceive the illusion as reality- within the narrative of -I have seen past the illusion.- This could be favoring all the times I use reality-logic within a dream. Maybe, I'm setting all types of goals, all based on the assumption that the dream is reality, is astral, is an adventure, is fantasy. Dreaming is not a fantasy. It's a natural (read: physical, biological, psychological, real) phenomena.
So, if we go back to my fantasy of -being seen at my best.- I can learn from that. I can think of ways this wish is already real, times people have seen me and do see me at my best. I can have a mantra "I am seen." Ways to make me feel more fulfilled. Also, find acceptance and value in being seen at my worse. Integrate the fantasy into consciousness. Now, I'm wondering, 1. what is there to learn or do with the astral fantasy? The desire to transcend natural life? 2. How is this desire affecting my lucidity. How can I play with the desire to create a boundary between my fantasy and my understanding of dreaming? 3. What is dreaming and lucid dreaming, once you are unbiased by fantasy and desire?
I'll start by contextualizing with this:
First, as a kid, I was a daydreamer, daydreaming anytime I could but specifically before sleep. My daydreams mostly were structured in a particular way: I was the protagonist of a Hero's Journey. Over time I lost some interest but it still remained as a -before going to sleep- ritual. Eventually, I noticed different recurring aspects of these daydreams and came to better understand these... fantasies, and to play with them.
It's funny because I do much of the same with dreams. Observe them, analyze them, play with them. But they are different. For example, in my daydreams, there's always a conspicuous reason for my Hero's Journey to be seen publicly, by all of society. I understand this as the fantasy of being seen at my best. Meanwhile, in my dreams, the pattern was for society to pursue me, and me to flee and hide from society. I understood this to be a social anxiety... my reality: a constant fear to be seen at my worse. The antithesis to my fantasy.
Second, I got into dreaming and lucid dreaming because a part of my -fantasized- about magic, about being liberated from physical restraints, transcending my material existence. In fact, as I started to practice lucid dreaming, my daydreams were about... I guess... astral adventures. And as I said, this is kind of my -going to sleep- ritual.
Third, when I started here on Dreamviews, I got a sense that the attitude toward daydreams was negative. Daydreaming at first glance is a failure or at least an obstacle to an alert All-Day-Awareness practitioner. Although I believed in the ADA philosophy, it was difficult, realistically. After all, I was a daydream addict. But also, whenever concentrating on work and on school, it was just not possible. Sure, I could do RCs here and there. I could have moments of self-awareness. But then, you have to focus on what you're learning, what you're doing, not just my own awareness and all the other details I am not paying attention to. Daydreaming was another time where I accepted to sacrifice my self-awareness... except I did allow myself to do RCs within the daydream and have moments where I was aware that I was daydreaming. Also, as I said in my first paragraph, I found value in my daydreams, much like my dreams, because while dreams told me about my reality, daydreams told me about my fantasy. This is why I do not think daydreaming is an obstacle to lucid dreaming because it is an obstacle to self-awareness. I think daydreaming is a tool for self-awareness. However, I do wonder if it is an obstacle to lucid dreaming...
Now, on topic:
I do wonder, however, if it is an obstacle to lucid dreaming anyway, because of the particular daydream about dreams. The astral fantasy. (I'm not saying that astral experiences are fantasies. I am talking about the astral fantasy. the daydream that I transcend material life through lucid dreaming. How is it an obstacle? No, I don't dream about these daydreams. My dreams are not like my daydreams as I've said before. But maybe it affects my expectations of what lucid dreaming will be like. Maybe it affects the goals and intentions I set before sleeping. Maybe, I'm setting the expectation to -perceive the illusion as reality- within the narrative of -I have seen past the illusion.- This could be favoring all the times I use reality-logic within a dream. Maybe, I'm setting all types of goals, all based on the assumption that the dream is reality, is astral, is an adventure, is fantasy. Dreaming is not a fantasy. It's a natural (read: physical, biological, psychological, real) phenomena.
So, if we go back to my fantasy of -being seen at my best.- I can learn from that. I can think of ways this wish is already real, times people have seen me and do see me at my best. I can have a mantra "I am seen." Ways to make me feel more fulfilled. Also, find acceptance and value in being seen at my worse. Integrate the fantasy into consciousness. Now, I'm wondering, 1. what is there to learn or do with the astral fantasy? The desire to transcend natural life? 2. How is this desire affecting my lucidity. How can I play with the desire to create a boundary between my fantasy and my understanding of dreaming? 3. What is dreaming and lucid dreaming, once you are unbiased by fantasy and desire?
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/33DfG2H
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