What Is Reality?

Pure energy like money, its material equivalent, is shaped into matter and experience by thought. It can be used to lift up or smash down, to build character or destroy character, to express love or express hate, to beautify or make ugly. (From: We Create Our Own Reality)

Again, how can anything exist at any level of being or in any form without the presence and interaction of consciousness and energy, awareness and action? Call it Energetic Awareness or Awareized Energy, whichever you prefer, but the ability to perceive and conceive, to see and imagine, must be present for anything (forms and associations) to exist, to become something we can define as reality or life! To see things for what they are is one thing. To see things for what they can be is another. When both of these abilities work together they become the essence of creation and life itself.

Reality, whether we are a single Unit of Consciousness or a complex gestalt of awareness, like a human being, is whatever we perceive in the moment. Whether that perception is “real” or imagined, whether it occurs through the use of our outer senses or inner senses, our outer selves or inner selves, does not matter. What we perceive and interact with in the moment is what matters whether it is “matter” or not. Our most basic creative desires or impulses are to know ourselves in all ways and to create order out of chaos, form out of formlessness, sense out of nonsense. Life, as we know it, takes place between the tension and pull of these two wants or desires.

Why is it important for us to remind ourselves of who we are and what reality is when this knowledge is already an integral part of who we are?

Appreciation: When we lose ourselves in our creations, when we forget to appreciate ourselves for who we are, we need to remind ourselves. This is particularly true when our creation turns against us to the point of threatening human survival by telling us we are basically bad and we can’t trust ourselves, that life is a matter of survival of the fittest; it’s eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. Uncontrolled population growth, destructive wars and mindless greed also tell us we have lost control of our creation and that we are destroying it. What do we do when we have forgotten our basic skills? We go back to the basics. In this case we remind ourselves of who we are and what reality is. Rediscovering the magic and wonder of who we are and what reality is is our road to salvation, the key to human survival. When we can see the magic and wonder of who we are and what reality is hidden within the superficiality, chaos, violence, hate, competition and greed swirling around us, we increase our chances for survival. It is simple math. We need to reconnect with our true spiritual base, not that defined by the intellect of man and matter but that defined by our own experience as beings of consciousness and energy, awareness and action, which is the essence of all being.
The Expansion of Conscious Knowledge: There is a difference between unconscious knowledge and conscious knowledge. How often have you heard the statement, “knowledge is power”? We know much more intuitively than we know intellectually and during times of danger or stress we seek to make unconscious knowledge conscious in an attempt to save the day. This is what we are doing here in the United States and around the world today. They say “necessity is the mother of invention”, and under the pressure of threatening earth changes, overpopulation and economic collapse, we all feel the need to figure a way out of the mess we have helped create through our own activity, passivity or short sightedness. Understanding who we are and how we create our reality is part of the solution. As a matter of fact, we, in our deeper wisdom, may have created these dire circumstances in order to force us to look deeper into ourselves in an age-old process of expanding the human level of consciousness.
Evolution: By expanding our consciousness, we evolve. Evolution is driven by both fear and love. When we become all-aware and all-understanding, we lose fear and become the Energy of Unconditional Love. According to some, the essential self, consciousness or spirit, evolves on a great Cosmic Wheel. When those who evolve to the level of all-knowingness and all-understanding (Unconditional Love) tire of or grow bored with their state, they burst into their most primordial parts, individual units of consciousness, and begin the cycle of creation and evolution all over again, until they become, once again, the Energy of Unconditional Love. This is said to continue in an endless cycle of creation and expansion. We, as complex gestalts (aggregations) of consciousness and energy in human form, are somewhere along this great Cosmic Wheel, trying to find our way back to love. Like a moth to a flame all consciousness is drawn back to the Energy of Unconditional Love.

To understand how consciousness works in creating reality it helps to explore less tangible levels of reality like those we experience in dreams. Because of the increased density and complexity of matter it is more difficult to see the connection between our thoughts and emotions, and the experiences they create. Because creation is as natural and easy as breathing we often overlook the creative nature of mundane, everyday experiences like finding and drinking water when we’re thirsty or finding and eating food when we’re hungry. Educating ourselves or creating a means of making money when we need it is something we do but how often do we define these activities as acts of creation? Perhaps it is because we are forced to do them, not giving us the chance to think for ourselves, to experiment and explore, to see ourselves in action creating our own reality. Society and its institutions tend to reduce life to a set of formulas or stereotypes for behavior, recipes in a cookbook we are encouraged to read and follow. Where is the joy of discovery in this? Self-confidence and positive self-esteem comes from seeing ourselves being ourselves successfully.

In dreams it’s easier to see the connections between our thoughts, emotions and experience because in dream realities we have to rely on our own resources and dream realities are much less dense. Change in response to our thoughts in dreams often happens instantaneously. In waking reality, change in response to our thoughts usually takes time to happen because of conflicts between opposing ideas, limiting beliefs and external conditions. For example, from the time I knew I wanted to give and receive unconditional love, it took two years to align conditions in the waking world that would produce that experience. Conditions had to be just right for me to experience this energy the way I did. (Read the last few paragraphs of: Encounter With the Energy of Unconditional Love.)

Occasionally, in waking reality, we experience “being in the zone”. We define “being in the zone” as everything going right for us in the moment. Unfortunately, this experience doesn’t happen very often. More often, for example, we might see the connection between our thoughts and waking reality by remembering that we dreamed of being famous or important when we were young and then found ourselves famous or important later in life. More often than not other aspects of life get in the way of our dreams, making them fizzle and die before they give birth or grow into full maturity. Many popular cultural and family beliefs stand between us and the understanding that we are not only the products of creation but creation itself. If we find that to be the case in our lives then it’s something we have to do for ourselves. Below is a series of dreams that give us greater insight into how we create our own reality.

Creation Dreams

The secrets of the universe are hidden in the details of our experience. – Pete

Dreams come in many forms and deal with many issues. One class of dreams can be called “Creation” dreams because in these we can observe and explore the elusive act of creation itself. I choose the word elusive because the outer ego portion of the self tends to strongly identify with the “official” beliefs of waking reality. In doing so it fails to see or appreciate its own creative nature. Through religion we tell ourselves we are the creation of God and through science we tell ourselves we are an accident of nature. Whether from denial, timidity or fear we fail to see that if we are “God’s Children” then we must have God’s abilities, or at least, be gods in the making. And even if we are the result of a cosmic accident, as science likes to surmise, surely you would think we could see the creative nature of life as plants grown from seeds bare fruit and provide the world with food and beauty. Plants also breathe in the air we breathe out (carbon dioxide) and breathe out the air we breathe in (oxygen). Surely you would think we could see that as human beings we grow up to live complex lives that include the invention of new technologies to make life more comfortable, like houses, electric lighting, telephones, refrigeration, automobiles, airplanes and computers, inventions grown out of our ability to imagine and fabricate (create) something different from what we have. Every thought, every choice we make is an act of creation!

Lucid/Creation Dream # 1.

Genesis Dream

This lucid dream is unique because it is literally a dream about genesis or the creation of life. It serves as a testament to the nature of consciousness and the power of imagination.

I awaken in utter darkness. My body is human and I’m standing on dry, lifeless ground, naked. Moving forward, I inch my way along with bare feet until my right foot touches water. It’s warm and inviting so I enter and swim from the shore, feeling my way with every movement. The water, too, feels dead and I wonder, where are the fish? Suddenly fry, or baby fish, begin nibbling curiously at my skin. Then I wonder, where’s the light?, and dawn breaks.

As darkness turns to light, I wonder, where are the dangerous water creatures?, and poisonous snakes appear, swimming on top of the water in every direction. Below the surface large, toothy fish flash by. Some slow to study me (to size me up?) then swim away. Sensing danger, my next thoughts are spontaneous and crystal clear. I wish you no harm and I want no harm. Be at peace.

Near the opposite shore, I wonder where the plants are, and they magically appear as if they were there all along. Standing up to walk ashore, I wonder where the dangerous animals are and a ferocious Komodo Dragon appears on top of the grassy knoll a short distance from me. Fearing I turned the “danger knob” up too high again, I wonder why this Komodo Dragon can’t be different, why it can’t be friendly. Suddenly it becomes playful, awkwardly wagging its long tail as it looks at me, no longer drooling in hungry anticipation. Like a puppy, it gambols happily at my feet waiting to be petted.

(To learn more about Komodo Dragons visit: http://www.arkive.org/komodo-dragon/varanus-komodoensis/images.html)

In the dream, The Ball of Light, I had a similar experience with creativity. I created other people in other times and places to observe how different beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations played out in their lives. By not paying attention to our dreams and imaginative experiences what creative opportunities do we miss? I remember years ago questioning myself about making the effort to remember my dreams. I thought, Oh my God, think about all the extra work, all the sleep lost. Will it be worth it? I know it is now but I didn’t know then. How important is it to you to understand the nature of your own inner self and being? Is it worth some extra effort?

Every thought we think is creative but very difficult to identify in its outward manifestation, which is why we often fail to see ourselves as creative beings. When we think about the sheer number of thoughts we process every minute, say “yes, no” and “maybe” to, it’s no wonder we fail to see the connection between our thoughts and experiences. This makes it a good time to ask ourselves: What are thoughts? Where do they come from and where do they go? What’s reality? Where does each moment come from and where does it go? It’s like looking at the nighttime sky. You see countless stars. Some are brighter than others while some are dim and hard to see. We also know there are countless stars and galaxies we cannot see with the naked eye. Why is it so hard to believe that much of what we think and feel is invisible to the waking mind, the waking self, yet still very much a part of who we are and what we do?

Here’s an example of how creativity works in waking reality. You’ve undoubtedly had similar experiences in your life.

My entire life I’ve been immune to poison ivy and poison oak. My daughter, Crystal, is immune too. We have a photo of her standing in the middle of a patch of poison ivy on Basket Island in Casco Bay, off Falmouth Foreside, near Portland, Maine. She was two or three at the time and didn’t get poison ivy that day nor has she has ever had a case of poison ivy or poison oak. For my wife Sandra and son Evan, though, the story is different. Both of them have had poison ivy or poison oak numerous times.

One Spring day, while hiking along Santa Rosa Creek near home, Sandra worried about getting poison oak because it was everywhere and she usually got it at least once every year. Knowing she was worried about it, I “wondered” what it would be like to have it. That was a big mistake because the next day we both broke out with poison oak rash on our skin. Knowing I brought it on myself, I spent the next three years mentally re-immunizing myself to it. It was a subject of open discussion so both Sandra and Evan knew what I was doing. They joined me in affirming their own immunity to poison oak and it seems to have worked because none of us have had it since. Of course, there’s always the chance we just got better at avoiding it.

Lucud/Creation Dream # 2.

Mule Team Dream (1/11/1991 – 4:10 AM)

This dream differs in some ways from the original version I described in 1991. Memories of events change over time as we relive them. New dreams and new recollections reshape the memory of our past as if trying to flesh them out and refine them. What you read here is the fleshed out, refined version of the lucid dream I had January 11, 1991. Enjoy it and take from it what you will.

I wake up behind the steering wheel of a car driving at high speed down an empty highway. An arched concrete bridge looms ahead, which is littered with tall weeds growing out of dirt and gravel accumulated from years of disuse. Anxious to reach my destination, wherever that may be, I continue driving at high speed. When I notice ducks foraging for food in the dirt and weeds on the bridge, an alarm goes off. Slamming on the brakes, I come to a screeching halt in a cloud of exploding dust and squawking ducks. Leaving the car parked sideways, I walk to the top of the bridge. A large section in the middle is missing. If I had kept going, I would have driven off the edge and crashed into the water and concrete below. Looking into the distance, I see my destination. It’s a lone farmhouse several miles down the road.

Determined to complete my journey, I leave the bridge and walk to the edge of the sheer cliff above the waterway. The creek or river bank is thirty to forty feet below. Short of jumping, I don’t see any way down. Desperate, I resort to wishful thinking and long for a way down the cliff – a tree, a rope, a ladder, anything will do. Suddenly, there it is, a tree is standing right in front of me! It’s just the right size and type to climb down. Reverting back to non-magical, earthbound thinking, I wonder how I could have missed it? Jumping across a small gap to a sturdy limb, I climb down the tree, thinking: I know this wasn’t here before or I would have seen it!

The water is dirty, muddy and smelly giving me second thoughts about wading or swimming to the other side. Resorting to magical thinking again, I long for another way to cross, one that will keep me clean and dry. As this wishful thought fades, I behold another “miracle”. Two mules are standing in the water right in front of me where none had stood before. One is white and the other black. They look like the two mules I pass every day in my bus on Starr Road in Windsor. Thrilled by such good fortune, I strip and bundle my clothes to keep them dry. Turning around in the water, the mules make it easier for me to mount them. To stay dry, I straddle the backs of both mules, stomach down, with an arm around each neck and a leg thrown over each broad back.

Walking side by side, belly to belly, the two mules carry me across the stream as I hug them in appreciation. On the other side, I jump down and hug them both again, still thinking they’re the same two mules I pass every day on Starr Road. After dressing, I say my goodbyes and leave for the farmhouse.

Just before I end the dream, I feel compelled to turn around. There, floating in the air a few feet away, is a magnificent framed portrait of the white mule’s head. It shows his left profile, ears pricked up as he thoughtfully looks into the distance. Suddenly, his head comes to life and he turns to face me. After giving me a big conspiratorial wink, he becomes a still life portrait once again. He looked so real, I found myself looking for the rest of his body beyond the frame, but to no avail. Such magic!

Driving north through Windsor the following day, I can’t wait to see the two mules on Starr Road. Usually they’re grazing peacefully, seemingly unaware of each other and their surroundings. But today, they stare at me intently and stand belly to belly, just as they did in my dream!

What a profound spiritual moment! Could these two mules have actually been in my dream with me? Is it possible for such real connections to exist between dreams and waking reality? Their behavior now says, yes! Wow, the memory of this experience still sends chills through me after all these years.

Lucid/Creation Dream # 3.

Snake Dream

This lucid creation dream involves my son, Evan. It occurred when he was still trying to kick his dependence on methamphetamine, which he did eventually with great success. He had joined the Army National Guard and just left for Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, when the dream occurred.

In my dream reality, I silently walked ten or fifteen feet behind Evan along a narrow dirt path enclosed on both sides by tall, vibrant green grass. It was taller than either of us so we could only see the path ahead and behind us. It was as if there was only enough consciousness in Evan’s body to keep it upright and walking, which is why I felt the need to watch over him. I wanted him to wake up and take control of himself. Suddenly, he turned right and disappeared. A second later I heard a splash. At the spot where he disappeared, a wide hole opened in the grass wall to reveal a large pond. I Evan was swimming under water, ten to twelve feet from the bank. As I watched in horror, four large black water moccasins swam out from the bank under my feet and followed him. Frightened for his safety, I dove into the water behind the snakes. As I swam I noticed a wooden raft about twenty feet out from the bank on the other side of the pond and hoped Evan could reach it before the snakes caught up to him, if that was their intent. With relief, I watched as he pulled himself up onto the raft, seemingly oblivious to the fact he had been followed.

Concerned with my own safety as I neared the raft, I took the time to make it clear in my mind that I did not want, or think I deserved, to be attacked or bitten by these snakes. I reached the raft without being attacked and climbed out of the water. As soon as I was seated next to Evan in the middle of the raft the four snakes slithered out of the water and coiled themselves at each corner of the raft. They effectively blocked any escape. Evan seemed oblivious to the danger we faced and sat there mindlessly. Worried, I waited to see what would happen next. Soon it grew dark and I decided it would be even more dangerous to leave the raft at night so Evan and I curled up and went to sleep. I hoped the snakes would give up and go away.. When I awoke the next morning I was disappointed because the snakes were still there. What did they want?, I wondered. They didn’t attack us when we were in the water or asleep on the raft.

I looked at the snake closest to me and wondered why it and its companions chose to become a part of our experience? What was the point? It rose up so its face was level with my face. As we observed one another, I began to think there must be some reason why we have come together, something I had yet to understand. Snakes, especially poisonous ones, represent a death threat to many of us. My mother had an irrational fear of snakes, which rubbed off on me. Whenever she saw a snake, even on television, she would cover her eyes and wish it to be killed or somehow made to go away. Feeling it was time to face my fear of snakes, I opened my mouth to give the snake access, knowing that if it chose to strike my tongue, I would die quickly because it’s suffused with more blood than most other parts of the body.

Since I was afraid the snake would strike my tongue, that’s exactly what it was in the process of doing before I stopped the action out of panic. It was time to rethink our situation. It was then I realized we were dealing with a trust issue. I had to trust the peaceful intent of the snake as much as it had to trust my peaceful intent. Not only could the snake bite me, I could bite it. Once I understood this, I replaced my fear with love and the snake once again put its head back in my mouth. After a moment and it was remove, my tongue unbitten. It quietly faced me with a calm look in its eyes and glancing around, I saw that all four snakes were standing on their tails watching us.

The snakes were not here for Evan, they were here for me! They were helping me learn to see things for what they are in the moment and not depend on old stereotypes or automatic responses to control my actions. I was learning how to change my beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations when they needed to be changed. I was learning how to consciously create my reality.

With this new understanding, I stood up feeling safe among friends, not enemies. As I bent down to wake Evan up all four snakes dove off the raft, heading to the nearest shore. We dove in behind them. When we stood up to walk onto the shore, we passed them as they waited for us in shallow water, two on each side to form a path for us. When we reached dry land, I turned and bowed to them in gratitude for the role they played in teaching me the difference between fear and trust. In return, they bowed to me as if to say, “You’re welcome.”

Evan’s role in this experience was important too. That he needed my support made me take risks I might not have taken otherwise. Is the universe a great teacher? To me it’s the best! I couldn’t have learned these lessons by reading about them in a book, and experiencing them in biological terms is too risky. I can die or be seriously injured in a dream and get up and walk away but experience these same things in waking reality and they become permanent consequences relative to this life.

Think about the number of times you change gears in the middle of an active experience. Sometimes you react automatically, but at other times you think about what you’re about to do. You have intuitions. It is this process of thinking, feeling, imagining and changing that is at the heart of our being. It is the essential self that knows no bounds, that has no limits except those we impose on ourselves through belief. Consciousness and energy, awareness and action, is the god within. We think as easily and naturally as we breathe. Creation is so much a part of our nature we often fail to see ourselves creating “reality” on the fly.

Depending on what we choose to believe about ourselves and the world around us, the attitudes, values and expectations we develop or adopt, we shape energy into matter and experience. By our thoughts and actions we lift life up or smash it down, we build character or destroy character, we express love or express hate, we beautify or make ugly. The choices are always ours to make because we create our own reality.

Responsibility (personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival!

Peace,

Pete, http://realtalkworld.com