“Who are you? Who are you?”
At the time, it seemed a simple question, which I posed to the young woman in the lucid dream. But this simple question led to profound lessons in lucidity, and taught me much about the nature of transformation in dreams, lucid dreams and waking.
In the dream, I found myself in a farmhouse kitchen in the South. The farm wife cooked on the stove and I sat at the kitchen table with my oldest brother and someone else. When the farm wife placed a pile of cooked beans on my plate, it all struck me as too strange. Suddenly it hit me, ‘This is a lucid dream!’
Immediately, I knew someone stood behind me, since I could feel the energy. Realizing that the ‘Shadow’ (or the denied, ignored or repressed aspects of the self according to Carl Jung) often remained behind the person, I turned and discovered an attractive, young black woman there. Picking her up, I brought her directly in front of me, and asked, “Who are you? Who are you?” She returned my gaze, and replied, “I am a discarded aspect of yourself.”
How do you respond to “a discarded aspect of yourself?” What does “a discarded aspect of yourself” even want? For a moment, these questions bounced around my mind. And then I just knew – a discarded aspect wants acceptance — complete, heartfelt acceptance. From my heart came complete and total acceptance for this dream figure, this discarded aspect of myself.
After that, something magically unexpected happened. As I sent complete and total acceptance onto this “discarded aspect”, she began to shrink towards her center point, and then transformed into wisps of colored light that headed straight towards my torso, and entered me with an energetic jolt!
Accepting a Dream Figure Transforms It
Upon waking, I knew the ‘light’ energy had changed me somehow. A week later, the answer became clear: Ever since this lucid dream, I thought daily about trying to write a book on lucid dreams – a project I started two years earlier, but discarded. Now it made sense! The energy of the “discarded aspect” or discarded book project had now re-integrated with me, through my complete acceptance of the dream figure. Moreover, that energy propelled me forward to write my first book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.
So what ‘lessons in lucidity’ emerged from this brief lucid dream? Here, you can see a few:
When you think about ‘transformations’ in lucid dreams, you often think about transforming yourself into something – a bird, a rock, a tree.
But lucid dreaming shows you that if you transform yourself or your response, then the lucid dream (or the figures in it) may change dramatically. This change can serve to transform your waking experience, helping you to live more lucidly and more compassionately.
Respond lucidly; respond with compassion.
Have you ever dreamt of a deceased friend or relative? Did you wonder upon waking if you experienced a possible visitation or just a dream symbol? How can you tell?
read moreAs a sports science student in Germany, Mark Hettmanczyk, knew he had only modest skills as a swimmer. Well, even that statement might seem too generous. According to Mark, his swimming coach told him, ‘Mr. Hettmanczyk, you are a stone. You will never be a good swimmer.’ But Mark had one skill the swimming coach did not realize: he had frequent lucid dreams.
read moreIn dreams, the idea of ‘time’ becomes much more fluid. We may find ourselves sitting in our kindergarten classroom with our current co-workers, talking to a spaceman from the future. Here, various decades of experience occupy the same space, and the past, present, and future merrily co-mingle.
read moreTo contact Robert about media requests or presenting at a workshop, conference or university, please complete the Contact Form.
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