"First you must realize that you are dreaming. . . This knowledge
automatically changes the dream state into another in which the critical
faculties are aroused and operating. . . You may "awaken" in your house for
example. If so, check your rooms against their normal arrangement. Anything
that does not normally belong there may be an hallucination, part of the
usual dreaming process. If you will such images to disappear, they will,
leaving you with the basic unhallucinated environment."
Jane Roberts (1)
It had been a while since I used the technique to "will away hallucinations"
as suggested by Seth, channeled by author Jane Roberts. I can still remember
the first time, many years ago, when I had come across the suggestion in
Robert's book Seth, Dreams and Projection of Consciousness. I was intrigued
by the idea of the "unhallucinated environment."
What was that exactly? If you are in a dream state, and not projecting
out-of-body into a physical location, then what are you left with if you
will away hallucinations? Is it that empty "grey space" that so many
dreamers have experienced, or is it something more? Is it populated with
symbols and objects of other people's dreams? Or populated with other "real"
entities? Is that possible? According to Seth, it is:
"You may, then, encounter images that are subconsciously formed, quite valid
images, that belong in another dimension; or constructions created by others
in other systems. For any control at all, you must learn to distinguish one
from the other. Again, . . . you must first will it to disappear. If it is a
subconscious construction of your own, it will vanish." (2)
"The basic unhallucinated environment" became one more tantalizing idea that
made lucid dreaming all that more appealing - what was "out there" ("in
there"?) in the dream state to be discovered?
Over the years I played with the technique, always thrilled to notice when
objects or the entire dream scene vanished, but for some odd reason, I
didn't seem to remember to apply the technique very often.
Recently, however, during an ordinary lucid dream, I suddenly remembered to
will away my hallucinations to see what would happen:
I am at the cottage in Alberta. It's dark; the place is dimly lit. It is
very cluttered with furniture and other objects, like boxes and packages. It
is not messy though, everything is tidy, but crowded. I get up from where I
have been sitting and open a door to go into another room, presumably the
washroom. I look around and notice that this room too is very cluttered. I
then see a door that I had never noticed before. I wonder if it was meant to
be hidden, or if I had just never noticed it behind stacked boxes. As I am
about to go back out to the main living room area, I'm noticing more and
more that the place just doesn't look right. I must be dreaming!
I look for something to read, in order to reality-check, and I see a red LCD
display, like on a digital clock, on a shelf. I don't even have to look away
and then re-look to see the numbers change; they change quickly with every
blink of my eyes, proof that I am dreaming. I'm so happy to be lucid!
Then, reaching for the latch handle on the wooden door, I think that I
should try to meet S (as we had planned to do when we would each next get
lucid) but instead (probably due to all the clutter around me) I decide to
try Seth's advice and "will all hallucinations away". I want to see just how
much of the clutter is my own hallucinated imagery and I'm curious to see
what will be left, if anything. I'm very pleased that I've remembered to do
this; I usually don't remember this technique when lucid, even though I
think it is an excellent one.
I open the door and step out into a room that is quite large, almost like a
gymnasium in size. There are a lot of people around, but none are paying me
any attention. I speak loudly, addressing the dream. "Dream, I command all
hallucinations to disappear!" I say this again, phrasing it in a different
way, perhaps twice more, thinking that I should be more clear, or more
commanding. On the third "pronouncement" I think that it would also be
helpful if I spin, thinking that if I take my attention off the room and the
characters there, it will help me to get rid of my own subconscious dream
constructions. I spin counterclockwise, but it feels awkward. I am acutely
aware of the feeling of my toe pushing off the hardwood floor as I spin
around.
I know that I am still too "attached" to the dream. I can still feel my
consciousness tied up, entangled, in this dream scene; it's hard to explain
but it is a tangible feeling. I know that my level of lucidity is not high
or clear enough to produce instant good results, yet I want to keep trying
anyway. I stop spinning, and make my statement again, firmly, then I spin in
the other direction.
When I stop spinning, I am thrilled to see that the room has changed
dramatically. It has become smaller, all white, featureless, and nearly
empty, save for a few boxes and some living room furniture off to my right.
However, I am surprised to see three men, sitting casually on the living
room furniture, watching me. "You three again!" I spontaneously blurt out.
"You were left the last time too!"
My curiosity piqued, I approach the men and ask, "Who are you? Where do you
come from?"
Unfortunately, I don't know what their response, if any, was. Next thing I
knew, I was awake.
My first thought upon waking was one of triumph. I had remembered to will
away hallucinations and it had been successful, despite it not occurring as
soon as I had commanded. Though it took me a few tries, I was happy that I
had been aware of the reason - that I had been too consciously attached to
the dreaming process and I could actually "feel" what that was like, while
it was happening, even if I couldn't later describe it in any adequate or
even articulate way.
My next thought though, was one of disappointment. I didn't get answers to
my questions! Or if I had, I didn't consciously remember them.
As I scribbled down the dream in my journal, I was struck by how surprised I
had been in the dream to see those three men. I remembered how I immediately
blurted out "You three again!" In that moment I had recognized them, and I
knew, or my dreaming self knew, that the last time I had banished my
hallucinations, those three individuals had been left behind.
But that memory was one confined to the dream state. I had no waking memory
of previously willing away hallucinations in a dream and being left with
these three people. Or had I done it earlier in that dream, but did not
recall it when awake? It made me wonder how memory "worked" in the dream
state and why waking memory and dreaming memory were sometimes cut off from
each other.
The feeling of recognizing the men was difficult to describe too. It wasn't
a recognition based on physical appearances; their faces were not familiar
to me in any way at all. It was a recognition based on a different
sensation, a feeling that in some way had a thickness or density to it, as
though it was alive or in motion somehow. Very hard to describe, and I could
only borrow Seth's term "feeling-tone" to come close to labeling it.
But those three men. My waking memory did recall other dreams where three
strangers appeared together. Usually all male, but I knew that, on at least
one occasion, one was female. I didn't think that the female was a
different...character...(if I can use the term), but was a different guise
used by one of the three individuals.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I dug out old dream journals, and in
going through a few of them, discovered that I had had many dreams of "three
strangers" or "three men" over the last couple of years. Some dreams were
non-lucid, but mostly the triad showed up when I was aware I was dreaming.
They rarely spoke, when I was lucid. Usually they just observed me, or
listened to what I had to say. Oddly, they were more animate when I was
non-lucid, participating in my dream scenarios like actors playing their
roles. But when I became lucid, aware of my dreaming condition, they became
my silent audience, their attention then turned to me.
Now I had to wonder. Were these three recurring "characters" simply symbolic
of something? Aspects of my own dreaming psyche? Personified dream symbols?
Or were they something more? They did remain after I willed away my
hallucinations - were they somehow part of the "unhallucinated dream
environment"? And if so, what did that make them? Dream constructions
belonging to someone else? "Real" individuals able to travel through dream
worlds? Denizens of the afterlife? (Some may argue that by spinning I simply
created another dream scene, conjuring up more dream hallucinations or
subconscious imagery, but as I spun, I maintained the intent that
hallucinations vanish, with no specific anticipated outcome.)
Because they had remained after I banished hallucinations, because they had
a distinctive and somehow familiar "feeling-tone", and because of their
behaviour in previous dreams I began to wonder if the three men really could
be more than just inanimate dream symbols.
I remembered what Jane Roberts had said about the dream state changing when
one became lucid. I remembered also that Seth had talked about the
transitions from one state of consciousness to another:
"There are indeed others who can help you in such experiences, and who often
do while you are in the dream state, whether or not you know it. They can be
of great assistance as guides." (3)
Could my three men be dream guides? Do they show up in my dreams to assist
me with my "inner education"? Or are they old pals from another lifetime,
checking in on me to see how I'm doing? Will I ever know?
How I love all the questions that lucid dreaming evokes! Each one like a
stepping stone leading me deeper, onwards and inwards, into the dreaming
mind - my own dreaming mind. It is as though each question is a challenge,
or a reason, to get lucid again and again, to experience inner senses that
differ from waking perception, to meet and greet dream "characters" (who- or
what- ever they may be), to explore inner environments, - whether
hallucinated or not! And so very much more.
"Hallucinations begone!" Give it a try the next time you become lucid. You
may be quite surprised at what vanishes....and at what - or who - remains!
References:
- (1), (2) Roberts, Jane, Seth, Dreams and Projection of Consciousness
- (3) Roberts, Jane, The Early Sessions Book 6, Session 261
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