Expansion
of Self,
Consciousness, and Lucidity While Awake or Asleep
by
Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2012
Presentation
for the
Science and Non-duality Conference: “The
Nature of the Self,” San Rafael, CA, October 2012
I see lucidity in the sleeping state as a
microcosm of
self-realization in the waking state, which I study in my
spiritual work. At
this point, I follow the Diamond Approach path of A. H. Almaas
as a member of
the Ridhwan School and Seminary. Almaas, namely Hameed, spoke
here last night
as an invited keynote address.
Today, I will show how lucidity actually
relates to what I
call expansion of self, and what it means to have levels of
lucidity when
asleep or awake.
Beverly
and
Stephen
I did not
know the term lucid
dreaming until the late 1970’s,
when I had the opportunity to do lucid dream research with Dr.
Stephen Laberge at
Stanford University before and after completing my MS degree
that focused on Cognitive
Psychology and my PhD that
involved Artificial
Intelligence.
Just before
this, I discovered
that I my dreams since the age of seven get called lucid dreams.
In one
memorable one, I faced my fears of the scary
witches from my recurring childhood nightmares.
One night, I
looked the
scary witches in the eye and simply said, “Okay, what do you
want? Let’s get
this over with! I have used this experience to enhance my dreams
and my life in
numerous ways ever since.
Lucid dreaming simply means that I know I dream
while I dream. It
does not necessarily imply control of the dream as popular media
often
suggests, although it does involve more than merely having
clarity or
awareness.
I define the term dream
as an experience of an outer world made up of characters,
actions, and an
environment that an expanded self has helped create. I define
the term expanded self
as a collective mind, and
not merely the brain in the head asleep on a pillow.
The waking state fits my definition of a dream, hence my work
gets called Lucid
Dreaming/Lucid Living. I say that
Beverly sleeps while her dream self plays and Beverly plays
while an expanded
self sleeps. In other words, I say I dream in any moment where
a ‘me’ exists to
have an experience.
With lucidity, I see myself as more than
just my body, I
view anything as possible, and I see everyone and everything
as parts of an
expanded self.
I started giving presentations on lucidity
in 1986 for the annual
International Association of the Study of Dreaming
conferences, both in-person
and, in the last decade, online as well. You can find most of
my seventy
publications on one of my websites, for example:
www.wedreamnow.info. You might
wonder why I gave the site the name wedreamnow.
The current state I find myself in serves
as the most important
one for me, and I tend to say that we
dream now in every moment. However, I don’t say we, in
this room, exist in my
dream, but in our dream, which comes from the collective mind
I described
earlier.
By a show of hands, how many people here
feel we might exist
in a dream right now?
CHART
THREE LEVELS
I will refer
to a chart
called Levels of Self or
Consciousness
where I show how my sense of self expands or contracts. This
does not
necessarily occur, however, in a linear fashion, which I will
show for sake of
simplicity.
I feel that
only one
reality exists, and my experience depends upon my level of
lucidity. I do,
however, discuss two states, namely the waking
state and the sleeping
dream state.
I use this time-related distinction because people typically say
they dreamed
in the past or will dream in the future.
Therefore, I have divided the chart
into columns for
the WAKING STATE and the SLEEPING STATE. It describes three
major levels: non-lucidity,
lucidity, and beyond
lucidity. The actions at each level occur in, or relate
to, one of the two
major states.
At different
times in my
life, I may have dreams that I can’t even recall, while in my
waking state I
seem very lucid. The opposite can occur as well. Also, I can
lose and gain
lucidity in a single moment.
At
each level, different methods can encourage such expansion. Only
a few will get
discussed in this rather short presentation.
CHART OF Witch Dialog
In
developing my chart, I
will give some examples of issues with my spouse and my witches.
I summarize
how my levels expanded as a child and beyond in the following
way.
I feel
scared.
The witches
scared me last
night
I see
witches, so maybe I
am dreaming.
Take me in
tomorrow night’s
dream
Witches,
what do you want?
Witches,
come help me
Thanks for
serving as my
creative power, witches!
Note that I
discovered much
later in life that the witch dream scenario almost perfectly
matched a terrible
accident I had at eighteen months old when I broke my
collar-bone.
CHART EACH LEVEL
I label
the first two
levels non-lucidity
because at
these levels, I don’t have much awareness in the moment. I
call the first one
the contracted
level. At this
level, I do not reflect (11) upon what I do. When I
act at this level in
either state, I may blame, suffer, laugh, or just simply not
pay attention.
In the
sleeping state, I
may have what we typically call dreams,
but I do not recall them, let alone recognize them in the
moment.
In
either state, when I
notice after the fact that I have acted, for example, in
hurtful ways, I call
this the level of reflection.
I
have not expanded enough to notice or change my actions in
the moment, but I
can recall life issues, or dreams from my past, and
learn from them.
At this level, I remember sleep state
dreams only after they
happen, and therefore they get called non-lucid
dreams.
For example, to reduce my tendency to always blame others in
the waking state,
I may seek therapy. To learn from my dreams, I may join
a dream group.
At this reflection level,
I likely
feel limited, and I view my world as unchangeable.
At this
level in the waking
state, I might yell at my spouse and blame him for my hurt
feelings. In the sleeping
state, I might try to run away from scary witches that chase
me.
After
the fact, I might try
to figure out ways in which I can deal with my feelings
concerning my spouse or
the witches the next time I face them.
Before I went to sleep as a child, I did, in fact,
begin to think about
how the witches only came in dreams.
The next levels I label lucidity.
Whether in the waking state or the sleeping state, when I
really pay attention
to my environment and my body, and I inquiry into my
assumptions, my level
expands.
The first level of lucidity
I call semi-lucid.
At this
level, in the previous examples, I might notice in the moment
that the source
of my hurtful experience does not come from my spouse. In the
case of the witches,
I might question if I am dreaming.
The mere act of inquiring brings me to this
semi-lucid level,
even if I do not know
for certain that I dream in the moment. As a young child, I
remember asking the
witches to “Spare me tonight, and take me in tomorrow night’s
dreams.”
The next level I call lucid.
I
often experience expanded potential and more awareness. In the
waking state,
with even partial lucidity, I find that small frustrations
disappear quickly,
and I experience more presence. I focus on the present
moment, and
feelings of ambition or regret don’t come up. Time tends to
disappear. I see my
life as a dream.
When I know I dream while I dream in the sleep state, my fear
decreases and my
mind clears. I do not have to ‘do’ anything, but merely
realize that I dream while
I dream.
If I question my assumptions, especially when I do not feel
positive about what
I am experiencing, it can help me respond in more appropriate
and creative ways.
I call this level more
lucid.
My response to what happens comes
from an expanded
self. I can accept what happens in the moment and easily
surrender to, and
fully face, painful or scary situations.
I have done this in the waking state, for
example when a
doctor told me I needed a certain procedure that at first I
refused due to fear.
When I noticed several personal lucidity clues. I became more lucid. The whole procedure lost much of its
fear element and
made sense.
In a similar way, in my sleeping state at
the age of seven, I
faced up to the witches while they still appeared scary,
instead of running
away or first turning them into something more acceptable.
At what I call very
lucid level,
I feel that I can
realize interesting dramas in my both my sleeping state
and the waking
state. Some experiences I have had in my sleeping dreams also
seemed to enhance
my waking life, and vice versa. For example, we actually
showed in the lab that
we affect, to some degree, our physical bodies in our dreams.
I believe that the powers I get at a very lucid level in the sleeping state, such as
the ability to fly,
relate to the aspects of essence studied in the Diamond
Approach, such as
strength or peace.
However, I have noticed that many people
unrealistically
expect to get to this very
lucid level
the first time they attempt to have a lucid dream in their
sleeping state.
Through
the years, I have
attempted to teach people how to have a lucid dream. I even
helped develop the
first versions of lucidity induction devices, those
computerized sleep masks
you may have seen.
Still, for
me, the process
has always seemed very natural. Lately, I have created
workshops to help people
fully experience their emotions in any state, as a way to gain
lucidity.
In the waking state, I feel that lucidity has helped me
realize many lifelong,
heart-felt desires, such as finishing my Ph.D., finding a
life-long mate,
having a child, dealing with grief, and healing my body.
I did all these with an attitude of
intention, presence, and
acceptance, and not with what gets typically gets called ‘will
power.’ I
discuss all this in several of my lucid
living and surrender
publications
on wedreamnow.info.
At
a very lucid level
in my sleeping state, I
can do things, such as fly through walls, heal, talk to quote
‘people who have
died,’ get valuable information, and much, much more.
In my final level of lucidity,
I still experience a dualist world, but really know all parts
as ‘One.’ I call
this the level of most
lucidity.
Many spiritual teachers describe this state of no
separation, but rather
a connection with everything they experience.
At this most lucid
level, I listen carefully to what others have to say to me. I
may try to find
ways to show I agree with them, instead of just defending
myself, as I would
when acting from more contracted levels, because I know us
both as parts of an
expanded self.
Many years ago, in a sleeping state lucid dream, I was giving
a presentation at
a conference similar to this one. Suddenly I stopped when I
became what I felt
as most lucid. I
assumed that all the
people in the audience existed only in Beverly’s mind, so I
felt I had no need
to continue presenting.
Now, I refer to others, as well as Beverly,
as all parts of an
expanded self that flourishes as all of its parts expand.
In the style of
a bodhisattva, I say that I won’t experience complete
lucidity, as long as I
see those around me as not experiencing lucidity
as well.
Remember, each level I describe builds upon
the earlier
ones, and I can act from any of these levels at any moment,
while awake or
asleep. I do still sometimes jump among them depending upon
the situation, but I
don’t feel pressure to get to any particular level. I merely
practice noticing
my level in the moment.
The last level I will describe I call beyond lucidity. I have experienced this
level in my
sleeping dreams, but despite the energy received, I do not
strive for it, as a
master on a ‘mountain top’ might do.
At this level, I no longer seem to have a
body nor an
environment. You might say that I merge into what one might
call vibration,
sound, and light, and then into nothingness, or what I also
call everythingness.
From my current perspective, I could
describe this as
expansion or awakening into ‘Being,’ or ‘Source’ or ‘God.’ I
prefer the term
‘Dreamer,’ with a capital ‘D’.
Any questions or comments?
END SLIDE
I have copies of this presentation and
cards to give to out
after this session. I will also put this presentation on my
websites next
week. Thank you
again.
LEVELS OF SELF OR CONSCIOUSNESS
Non-lucidity
I
feel scared
The
witches scared me last night.
Lucidity
I
see witches, so maybe I am dreaming.
Take
me in tomorrow night’s dream, witches.
Witches,
what do you want?
Witches,
come help me.
Thanks
for serving as my creative power, witches.
LEVELS OF
SELF OR CONSCIOUSNESS
WAKING
SLEEPING
Non-lucidity
Contraction
No
reflection
No
dream recall
Reflection
Recall
past issues
Recall
non-lucid dreams
Study
your life
Study
your dreams
Lucidity
Semi-lucid
Question
assumptions
Question
if dreaming
Lucid
Experience
Presence
Know
you are dreaming
More
lucid
Respond
not react in life
Respond
not react in dreams
Very
lucid
Realize
desires in life
Realize desires in dream
Most
lucid
View
all in life as ONE
View
all in dream as ONE
Beyond
lucidity
Non-duality
BIOGRAPHY
A lucid dreamer all her life, Beverly has presented at conferences and workshops for four decades. While at Stanford University, she did research with Dr. Stephen LaBerge. Prior to careers as a researcher, consultant, college instructor, and speaker/writer, she created several start-up companies. She has over seventy publications and serves as a member of the Diamond Approach Ridhwan School and Seminary of A. H. Almaas. http://wedreamnow.info/