Neil Templar's Dream Journal

[Alaskans]

You never had 'monster' dreams Oliver?

I don't believe fighting your own mind is a really good way to go. It's like beating aspects of you into submission that had a reason to be there. I believe acceptance is the key.

Hehe thats what I originally thought, but you havent seen anything like my monsters. Have you ever tried giving a hug to a 80ft demon covered in 2 foot thorns? (who wouldnt listen to me btw, even though I was lucid, an outsider had to take controll of the dream) You try talking to a 40ft evil Goofy throwing walls of fire, lightning and black bugs with such furocity you couldnt imagine. Or sitting down to reason with an invading legion of thousands lead by a warlock who is running 80mph straight to you, hell bent on your assasination (was symbolic of a real attack). I've spent a whole dream trying to reason with an undead that was like jason, freddy, and gacy rolled into one, and he just ran rampant, thats when I finally resorted to violence, and the ones I beat havent come back. I think we have to fight sometimes to realise our own power and that these things are much smaller than us. If you are lucid enough to turn a 80ft monster a 2 inch monster, then thats wonderfull, but sometimes defensive magic and words dont work and you have to resort to fighting.

[Korpo]

One thing is as unreal as the other. You basically said. Why fight then?

The Senoi, a people for whom dreams have a special significance, have a special trick when becoming lucid. They approach the dream character and demand it gives them something back. IIRC they don't fight it. They just demand. They insist until they get a token they take back into the waking world - an idea, a song, whatever. I always liked that idea.

Just because something hasn't come back does not mean its underlying source is gone. All of the dream characters of my life have never reoccurred as far as I can remember. Does that mean I have no past problems?

Oliver

[Korpo]

PS - Excellent imagination at work within you. If your subconscious wants to get your attention that badly, maybe there's a better way than beating it up to find out what's behind it. That's always the most useful piece of information IMO - what is *behind* it.

Oliver

[CFTraveler]

This topic sparked my interest because even though I don't have monster dreams I do have 'repetitive' dweller experiences- which lead me to believe that the answer always depends.
In other words, if we can set aside the negs that are not self-aspects, then we can look at what these aspects represent and which ones need to be beat down and which ones are better 'tamed with love'. All the mods saw the one where he kept coming back and I kept changing the strategic defense from: a feeling of powerlessness, to anger and aggression, to reluctant love and acceptance.
Yet I've had others that I couldn't process that way- the ones that laugh at me and belittle my faith I have not yet figured out how to defeat. Perhaps there is a way that doesn't involve fighting- I'm not sure what it is yet.

[Alaskans]

PS - Excellent imagination at work within you. If your subconscious wants to get your attention that badly, maybe there's a better way than beating it up to find out what's behind it. That's always the most useful piece of information IMO - what is *behind* it.

Oliver

I need a really high level of lucidity for that. Lucidity is one of my weakest skills. Im good at flying and doing supernatural stuff in dreams but I just think it is something totally natural, I dont usually realize im actually in a dream. Sometimes I wake up thinking the dream was real and the 'reality' I woke up into is the dream I wish it was, its pretty aggravating having to hide who we are from normal people.

[CFTraveler]

I need a really high level of lucidity for that. Lucidity is one of my weakest skills. Im good at flying and doing supernatural stuff in dreams but I just think it is something totally natural, I dont usually realize im actually in a dream.

Me too. 'Unreal' is so accepted by me that it's no longer a marker for lucidity. In fact, lucidity happens, but a different kind of lucidity. Like knowing that you're not the same as usual, but not really thinking you're dreaming. Awareness of a different state, but equally real.
Of course, I have come to adopt the idea that none of it is real. So it helps with coping (or at least it seems so) but not so much as to realizing I'm dreaming.
I'm sure any psychologist would be raising his/her eyebrows at what I'm saying here.

[Korpo]

I wish it was, its pretty aggravating having to hide who we are from normal people.

I told two co-workers I meditate and they rolled their eyes. *shrug*

People are so stuck in their belief systems ... I often wish I weren't so stuck in mine as well. This would be a very different society if it allowed for less ingrained beliefs.

Oliver

[Fish]

I wish it was, its pretty aggravating having to hide who we are from normal people.

I told two co-workers I meditate and they rolled their eyes. *shrug*

People are so stuck in their belief systems ... I often wish I weren't so stuck in mine as well. This would be a very different society if it allowed for less ingrained beliefs.

Oliver

Yes it would be! Completely.

[Alaskans]

I wish it was, its pretty aggravating having to hide who we are from normal people.

I told two co-workers I meditate and they rolled their eyes. *shrug*

People are so stuck in their belief systems ... I often wish I weren't so stuck in mine as well. This would be a very different society if it allowed for less ingrained beliefs.

Oliver

I'm not disagreeing. We do need our beliefs to be a little ingrained. I used to practice totally liquid belief in everything, was great for awhile, but with nothing solid you will begin to loose your mind. Besides, some things showed they were true so many times I figured I may as well partly solidify them.

Oh yea, dreams..
The other day, I was with 3 others (why am I always with someone?). We knew that we were about to go into battle, we were discussing our strategy and contemplating asking for outside help. "It's only a rank 10 ice demon, its easy" one guy said. I didnt write it down when I woke up, I was really tired and didnt really care, even though intuition was telling me to write it down. I really wish I had because when I fell back to sleep we were facing a monster made of ice that was (of course) a skyscraper. It made the town look like a playground. He could see us a mile off if we werent hiding. We knew he was close when ice started covering everything. he had this aura about 1200ft thick around him that brought the temperature down to around -60, freezing everything, including us, then dread insued and we would run for it. Thats about the extent of our valiant duel. I was at a disadvantage because my conciousness was almost totally gone. Still, we would have done a lot better if I had written it down, because then i would have realized I was about to face something and I would have prepared myself. I attempted to understand what its all about, but all I can think of is napalm missile launcher. I guess I could have offered him a mug of hot cocoa, he was probably just cold from sledding all day... if I could get that close without becoming a popsicle. (hmmmmm...... )

[Korpo]

"Level 10 ice demon"?

Say, you wouldn't do some computer or console gaming from time to time, would you?

Oliver