Is dreaming dangerous? Lucid dreaming? Out-of-body
dreaming? Psychic dreaming? Shamanistic dreaming? Jungian dreaming? At the
beginning of my trek, I would have answered a unilateral "No" to the
question. Now, older and wiser, I would revise my reply to say, "I don't
believe that dreaming is irreparably dangerous, but I have learned there are
certainly approaches that are user- unfriendly to me and now I avoid them."
Human beings are not perfect. We're not all built the same, physiologically and
psychologically. We don't all come to dreams with the same belief frameworks and
personal support systems. We aren't all equal in natural talent and we certainly
aren't equal in the time and effort we've taken to develop our dreaming skills.
What we need to learn and the pace at which we learn it differs, one from
another.
I consider most dreaming to be like playing in a mud pile or wading pool.
Some neophytes to unusual (for them) types of dreaming might dip their faces
into the water, freak out and start sputtering and gasping for air. But this is
a temporary situation, due to lack of experience. As you acclimatize yourself to
the nature of the dream, as your dreaming self practices using her latent
abilities, your reaction to strange dream events will transform from knee-jerk
fear to confidence in your ability to find resolution. And please understand:
courage does not mean that all fear goes away forever. We still need it as a
warning mechanism. Courage means that we face discomfort and don't give it the
power to stop our growth.
If I really stretched my imagination, I could suppose that I could picture
that a few people might engage in substance abuse and wind up face down in the
wading pool water. But they'd have to be awfully drunk to stay there. For the
great majority of us, common sense makes the dreaming experience at least
tolerable and even fun.
Actually, I think most problems don't stem from the nature of the water-dream
itself. A few have roots in the field of dreams. Some of us are allergic to the
grass around the pool (we have different reactions to the ideas in the books we
read). We need to pay attention when strange notions make our dreams hiccup or
sneeze.
It's the other kids in the wading pool who can muddy the water the most. I've
decided to steer totally clear of.
Dream guides who take you on a trip straight into those nightmare worlds of
dream (which they think is a universal reality, rather than endemic to their
personal belief system).
Intruders who poke their nose into your business without asking permission.
Intrusive dream guides might be dreamworkers, psychics, medical doctors,
shamans, sorcerers, channeled entities, the author of the book you just read or
(unfortunately) your dreaming colleague.
And I also find highly problematical, those folks who claim to heal but don't
do the psychic equivalent of washing their hands. I mean, really digging deeply
to dredge up their own shadow-influences, rather than gloss over problems with
the phrase, "I'm a light worker."
Most people with muddy hand or dirty boot "vibes" are simply
ignorant when their influence tracks through your psyche and shows up in your
dreams. It can be uncomfortable, even distressing to have to deal with inner or
outer- generated garbage, but environmental clean-up is part of the dream hero's
journey. (I just wish other people would do their fair share!)
The real question is: Is there safe dreaming? Is there a safe, sane,
comfortable, even pleasurable universe in dreamland? Yes there is, if you want
to affirm, seek and co-create it. There's lots of dreaming-friendly approaches.
I suggest the Jane Roberts/Seth material be one of those you try out. A good
place to start: "Dreams and Projection of Consciousness" by Jane
Roberts (Walpole, New Hampshire: Stillpoint Publishing, 1986).
Then, come visit the Fly-By-Night Club web site and you'll have the
opportunity to practice what you've learned.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm
(Fly-By-Night Club)
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