On Clear (Lucid?) Dreaming
By Ion Saliu, Dreamer At-Large
Dreaming is a fascinating experience. No wonder dream interpretation is as old as speech. It must be older than history. I have no space or time to analyze dream interpretation. That is, how others have interpreted dreaming. Nor can I present here my theory on dreaming. It suffices to say now that dreaming is a specialized function of the FearSurvival system. Probably the animals dream, too. It's dreaming when we resemble our ancestors most. Our nocturnal images are most of the time as uncorrelated, incoherent, illogical, and mindless as the nocturnal images the quadrupeds probably experience.
Humans possess an extraordinary device: a mental operating system (MOS). Even during sleeping there is a sub-kernel of the MOS still active. Those (humans) with a special interest in dreaming can turn on a larger portion of the MOS kernel during sleep. Such persons experience more coherent dreams. They "live" the dreams. Some call the phenomenon "lucid dreaming". It is more accurate to call the experience "clear dreaming". The dreams are not lucid, they are clearer than usually. I am a person with a special interest in dreams. Indeed, I frequently experience ("I live") clear dreaming. Since many of my dreams are vivid, clear, mindful, I remember many of them. I remember them the same way I remember many events of my awaken life.
How can I forget a dream like this one in 1984(!)? It led to a dramatic event in my life. I even came up with a song during that dream. The lyrics are incoherent at the first analysis. They seemed to sound Serbian, but a deeper analysis revealed to me a message in my native Romanian language. I was living in Romania and I had applied for a passport some seven years earlier. There was virtually no hope I would be allowed to go outside the country (under communism, at that time). On the contrary, there was a good chance I would get into serious trouble.
I had this dream, set during Middle Ages Yugoslavia (sic!). The king was marching his troops (myself amongst them) to the battlefield. The battle was to take place at the border town named Zazhala-Za-Stayalo. We were singing a march that I still sing today. I sang the march quite often at my workplace, too. I told the dream only to very few, trusted friends. In a few months I would flee Romania, crossing the border to Yugoslavia. I will not say that my dream was prophetic. There is no such a thing as prophecy. Prophecy has been one of the most enduring human illusions. (You guessed it again: Prophecy has to be an element of the FS – FearSurvival.) The dream presented one of my then-current concerns or important life issues. Without a doubt, it was intimately connected to my FearSurvival system. The dream was clear. It resembled a type of analysis I would usually do in my awaken time. In my open-eyed time I would analyze with my ex-wife our situation. We would express our hopes and our fears. I would also analyze action choices. My dream did almost the same thing, albeit in a more convoluted way. To me, the dream delivered a very clear message, nevertheless. Despite the danger (symbolized by the war), my best action would be crossing the border. There was only one border that would have allowed me be to do so: to Yugoslavia. I did it and, luckily, I was successful…
I have had lots and lots more clear dreams. It is November 1999 now. Two more clear dreams stick on my mind. I dreamed them this month.
In the first dream, I am offered a special assignment in Saudi Arabia. I get ready for the flight. I am reminded that it will be a very long and exhausting journey. I arrive in Saudi Arabia after a trip around the world. I meet the prince who is going to be my employer. He shows me my office: a luxurious room, with mirrors and many computers. I will be the computer expert. The prince warns me that they have many restrictions. I am warned to take them seriously. Then he shows me the bright side: The prince promises that he will lift sometimes the restrictions. I only needed to ask him for the favor. In my awaken life, Saudi Arabia would not be a place I would choose to work or live. Some restrictions over there are real, as far as I am concerned. I would not abide by them.
Again, the dream reflects current daily life issues of importance to me. It was suggested to me that I should seek funding for my projects. Somebody even offered his services in that direction. Meanwhile, I am aware that my ideas have generated some interest. Universities, government agencies, and some big corporations constantly visit my Web site. There are also foundations visiting my pages. The visits from some domains are recurrent. The dream speaks of my need for more resources to dedicate a lot more time to my projects. Funding would be helpful. Meanwhile, the key point of the dream is a strong warning: Restrictions. Funding may put limits to my freedom of thinking. Also, the mirrors imply I could falsify my ideas. I had noticed quite frequent visits from a company whose business is related to oil. Say oil, say Saudi Arabia…
Then this clear dream dealing directly with one of the topics of my site: Gambling. Here I am outdoors, trying to play with my daughter. She is little, like she was when we played outdoors last time. It was in 1984, in Romania, a few days before I crossed the border. There is an old man who swears he is an avid follower of my lottery programs. He doesn't let me go until I make him understand my gambling formula. I am incredibly patient. Then he wants me to give him winning lottery numbers. I am incredibly patient again and I do give him a list of numbers. In the next sequence, the old man wins two million dollars. I couldn't be happier! Am I ready to play now? Think again! The old man asks me to go over the gambling formula one more time. He says he wants to win the jackpot again. He gives me fifty dollars (!) but I sincerely refuse the money. All smiling, I assure him that I didn't do it for money (sic!). Meanwhile, my daughter is sad that I don't play with her. The old man says that maybe he'll give my daughter fifty dollars as well…
That dream raises some issues. I started to think more seriously about them. The old man may be connected to the dominant age of the users of my software. In general, they are seniors. Many are retired and have a lot of time on hand. They are less skilled with computers and in general ask for more technical support. Also, the old man may symbolize that I will get old while neglecting important parts of my life. Then, there might be futility in some of my actions. Or, maybe my goals are not set properly. Get it? I spend a lot of time presenting my gambling formula, the old man wins two million, but I can get no more than fifty dollars. Actually, I get nothing: I refuse the money! Also, some time ago, I received some payment for my roulette system. I declined the payment while sending parts of the system to some players. I thought I did an experiment. Now, I will analyze everything from a new perspective. I may have to make some changes…
If you want to interpret your dreams, take my word on it. Nobody but nobody can interpret your dreams. It's only you who has the key to all those strange symbols. Put your dreams in the perspective of your own FearSurvival system. Think a little more about dreaming before falling asleep. It can make your dreams clearer. You will remember them better. When you remember a clearer dream, try to interpret it. In general, the meaning reflects neglecting elements of our FearSurvival BIOS (concerns, goals, hopes, duties, etc.). A clearer dream does not care too much about our accomplishments. If there is success and accomplishment in a clear dream, they belong to other characters. I will never forget a clear dream I had with "The Beatles". It was so clear, as if I was listening to a CD in my awaken life. They were playing "Let It Be". I was so joyful, so happy! Nevertheless, the great accomplishment did not belong to me. The dream reminded me that I had nothing comparable to show to "The Fab Four"…
Read Ion Saliu's first book in print: Probability Theory, Live!
~ Discover profound philosophical implications of the Formula of TheEverything.
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