For some people, engaging the non-visible awareness seems relatively simple—they ask a question and get a visual or verbal response. What happened when you first tried to engage the larger awareness in a lucid dream?

I made my first attempt while trying to dream a target image for the IASD PsiberDreaming Conference a few years ago. I hadn’t planned it ahead of time, but the opportunity presented itself. I figured, why not? I had nothing to lose. Here’s what happened.

Late for Work Shower Quest

(I’m in a small desert town)…I’m now back in town, so I decide just to walk to the shower. Wait, I can’t, because I have no soap or towel. What to do? What time is it? I check my watch. 8:30. Now I’m really late. Wait a minute. I’m well over an hour late for work and need to walk down the middle of a street to get a shower in a mystery town. This is a dream!!!

I’m now lucid. I look up to the sky and ask the Dream Creator, “Can you please show me the group psi target image when I turn around?” I then turn around to face where I came from. I see a narrow street that looks like an old European town with small shops on both sides. It ends at a stone wall with a closed iron gothic arch style gate. I see brown leaves blowing around furiously outside the gate. Just inside the gate on my left (right sidewalk on the street), I see two young Catholic priests. They look to be about 30 years old with short black hair. They are wearing white, puffy vestments over black robes and small maroon square hats. They are each running and carrying an iron gothic arch gate under their left arms. Both gates are about 5 feet high….

The target turned out to be a painting of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As I now know to be typical, the awareness gave me the answer to my request, but I still had to work to figure it out. Of course, the priests were a strong clue, but also the followers in the painting were wearing robes similar in style to my vision.

Did you ever feel like you were having a conversation with a wiser part of yourself? Do you have any lucid dreams, which exemplify that? 

I have conversations with something/someone wiser all the time! I have always assumed it to be an external consciousness, not having considered it could be a higher part of me before. These characters are so much more aware than your average dream character. I guess if you look at it from a spiritual perspective, I feel like we’re all connected to each other and to that larger awareness. That would make these extraordinary characters part of ourselves as well.

Now that I think about it, I do recall a conversation with a character that could easily be an aspect of me. By day, I’m a Mechanical Engineer. A few years ago, we had quoted a project to develop a new pneumatic air preparation system. A few nights later, I had the following encounter.

Lucid College Exploration

… I float over some students to the back of a hall. It curves left to enter a large dance club. A line of students waits to get in. I hear 80’s dance music and can see people dancing inside. The room looks like a dark dive bar. I fly past the line and land on the floor inside the club. I don’t want to dance, so I take a seat in a chair nearby.

So, what should I do now? Should I meditate? I suddenly see a bouncer standing right in front of me in a black leather jacket with his arms crossed. He has long, brown, curly hair and a huge, shaggy beard. He’s wearing a mustard-colored knit cap. He’s looking at me like he wants to kick my butt. Oh, I HAVE to talk to him! He suddenly morphs into a giant golf cart containing his face and beard like a hillside slope. There’s a bench to sit on at the end of his beard (bottom of the slope). Now it’s getting interesting!

I now see him again in human form, sitting at the top of the slope. I walk up and sit next to him. He says, “Ain’t it a bitch how John screwed up?” Huh?!? He goes on in more detail about the disaster and one thing after another going wrong with the job. He gets progressively excited and animated as he talks. His speech is getting faster. I’m struggling to keep up with what he’s saying. John screwed up a big job? I really want to remember all of this for Waking Reality, but I just can’t keep up with him.

Harry stops and looks down, depressed, and says, “It all doesn’t matter. You’ll probably forget about me anyway. You won’t ever look me up.” I quickly reply, “NO WAY!!! I’ll DEFINITELY be Googling you after I wake up!” He turns around to order a beer as it seems we’re now sitting at the bar….

I was confused about this dream until a few weeks later when we received the order to build the new air preparation system. We had two men named John involved in the project. From the start, this project seemed cursed. Neither John caused the problems directly, but we were all involved in mix ups. Either the wrong parts were ordered, or parts arrived weeks late, or parts didn’t fit together as planned. No matter what we did, it seemed the universe had other plans. Somehow it survived to become a regularly built product. But to this day, we are constantly having weird little random issues that make it difficult to fulfill each order. Thanks for the warning, Harry!

Could Harry be a wiser aspect of myself who foresaw the project would be snake-bit? Hard to say. At the time, it seemed like we were quoting just another run-of-the-mill job. A Google search on “Harry Bitch” turned up nothing. Trust me, you don’t want to do it. But Harry does remain one of my all-time favorite dream characters. Harry, I still haven’t forgotten you!

Realizing that you can engage a larger awareness in the lucid dream causes some people to reevaluate the nature of things, or the nature of reality. How did it affect you and your view of the world?

I think the realization of that greater awareness made me see my dreams were not just my private mental playground. It made me change my entire approach to both dream and waking interactions. It reinforced the notion of our interconnectedness, especially to a higher source or power. I now see the awareness as a spiritual mentor that loves me and knows everything about me (and I mean EVERYTHING!). Like learning from most geniuses, I rarely understand what’s being said at the time, but get the message later when seeing it in action. 

Here’s a great meeting I had three years ago that ended any of my remaining spiritual doubts. I submitted the dream to LDE for the Winter 2016 issue.

Meeting an Ascended Master

… I soon realize I‘m climbing a very high wooden staircase inside an all wood building. Alone at the top, I see ahead a small platform. There sits a man cross-legged in golden robes and turban. He looks to be Indian, in his 40’s with a thick, black, bushy beard. He smiles and seems to be quite coherent, unlike a typical dream character. I recognize him as a wise teacher, an ascended master.

I am instantly in awe and sit on the platform next to him. I ask his name, but don’t quite remember what he says, possibly Nanak. I then ask if he’s the one they have been hunting and he affirms with a big grin. He is quite jovial, and I believe he may be more lucid than me! I ask him if there’s anything I need to know for waking reality. He goes on to tell me X = 5 Ohms and that I must grow towards God one step at a time. I know he means I need to be patient. I ask about the Ohms. Does he mean electrical or in meditation? He just chuckles, and we end up laughing together. For some reason, I keep calling him Maharaji but don’t know why. I can’t help myself. I ask him about reincarnation, but he just smiles and fades away.

I’m suddenly overcome with mourning and cry uncontrollably. All I want is to be with him. My wife arrives and tells me it’s time to go, reaching out her hand. I refuse, wanting to stay with Maharaji. She insists. I give in and take her hand (it feels so realistic, just like waking reality!). We descend back down to the ground. I recite the entire conversation to her, so I can make sure I remember it when I wake up. I can’t contain my excitement….

Upon Googling the name “Nanak,” I came upon Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion. Images of him matched what I saw except they were of an older man with a white beard. The clothing and turban were a perfect match. I’m convinced he was not created by my imagination. If I had subconsciously desired a spiritual meeting, my dream self would have conjured Jesus or Buddha, not a master I never heard of. So, was he the Larger Awareness or the spirit of Guru Nanak or a version of me? My guess is answer D, “All of the Above.”

I’ve also wondered why I kept calling him “Maharaji,” a term I had not previously known. More recently, I have been studying the teachings of Ram Dass. He often talks about his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, whom he affectionately calls Maharaj-ji. That one took me by surprise! I guess it loosely translates to “Wise King.” It seems I’ve come full circle.

Have you ever asked to experience a concept, or tried to use the larger awareness to explore? For example, have you ignored the dream figures and simply looked up and said, ‘Hey, let me experience _____ (some concept like unconditional love, etc.)!’

You know, I really should do this more often. Usually, there’s some specific task I want to work on, or I’m spending all of my energy stabilizing the dream. I did have one instance last summer where I asked the awareness to meet God. He wasn’t at all what I expected!

Lucid Meeting with God in an Airport
… Suddenly, all of the people are gone. I want to engage with someone, but the airport looks empty. I walk into a stairwell. I think I see a woman heading downstairs a few floors down. I hurry down, flying low. The dream is becoming unstable, so I stop on a landing. All is getting fuzzy. I slowly spin around, observing the walls. It’s working! They’re becoming solid. I can now clearly make out the blue paint and texture. Okay.

I walk into the hallway and sit cross-legged. I ask the Awareness to show me God. I suddenly see a giant of an old man sitting cross-legged across from me. He must be 20 feet tall! He’s balding with short, grey hair and a stubble beard. He’s wearing a ratty, old, stained undershirt. He could pass for someone homeless.

We have a nice conversation. I ask him many questions about dreams. Sometimes we burst out laughing. Sometimes he has long pauses with his mouth wide open…. In my dream journal, I wrote, “I can’t believe I remembered all of this dream EXCEPT the actual conversation with God! Is my conscious self not supposed to know this info? I smell a conspiracy….” God went on to show me some images that I recognized as day residue that had made me nervous at the time. His overall message to me was, “It’s all good!”