To Live The Dream, We Have To Be Asleep

It’s quite a shock when we realise that, although people appear to be awake, they are merely going through the motions, functioning at a basic level of predictable repetition, day after day. And yes, unfortunately, this can also apply to those on spiritual paths; for this reason, the Buddha said, “Don’t take my word for it …”

Meditation isn’t about repetition. It is taking stock of what we are doing and letting go, detaching from our dreams and waking up.

Our dream is a projection on the wall of our mind that we assume to be our reality. Everyone believes the dream, so we did too. We all fall for it and, in this way, we all live the dream.

It started when consciousness looked at these projections and thought, “That is what I am!” This a massive illusion – so massive that, for thousands of years, billions of humans on this planet have lived and died believing whatever they are told. We learn from birth to join the queue to be programmed, and die not knowing anything. That is shocking.

We shouldn’t assume that we know the whole programme because, in our present state, we are the result of programming, and just part of the production line. Who are the programmers? Anyone who wants us to stay programmed.

It’s a tremendous revelation when we realise that this is in action every day. All around us, people are just sleep walking and sleep talking in a made-up reality. Which reality is real, and which is the dream?

We can actually catch ourselves in auto-pilot, asleep while going about our daily routines. We may look awake, but not to those who are awake. As long as we all say the usual things in our group, we can continue to doze away happily – “Oo, look! There’s a so-and-so, and that’s a … ” It’s what four year olds do! Unfortunately, we enable other dreamers so as not to embarrass them, and that’s how we get caught up in the collective dream.

Saying something out of the blue may stir someone, or may make them feel uncomfortable, depending on the individual. They will either pull the comfort blanket back over their heads or get angry … or perhaps stay stirred a little longer, and become curious. That is when a meeting of minds can occur, but such an opportunity doesn’t last long.

Sleep talking can take place in spiritual groups; we tick off all the things we hear from the person with the unusual name, and add more decoration to our dream.

If a spiritual teacher tells us to stay calm in a traffic jam, we melt into adoring worshipfulness. Why do we do this? This statement is common sense; we already know it, but we want to give up our natural intelligence and be lulled back into dependency. That is the spiritual dream-state, adding yet more decoration to our dream-life.

Whatever we see is not the real thing.
Being truly awake is the seeing,
and the dreamer awakens in that moment.

A shock in life can wake us up
because we come out of our ‘normal’.
The trick is staying out!
“We are free in the moment of seeing.”

It’s possible to follow spiritual paths for years – even decades – and still live in a dream. We wake up when we stop following and believing, and just see for ourselves. And surprise! Waking up is recognising that pure seeing is taking place. That’s all!

Knowing is spontaneous wakefulness.
That which is known is back in the dream.

“Look what I know!”
is just our memory bank that holds the dream together.

How do we know when we are awake?
Ask, “Am I dreaming?”
To ask that question, we have to be awake!