YOUR PHYSICAL REALITY DREAM
Your day-to-day experience in so-called waking reality (your Physical Reality Dream) constitutes a third level of reflective manifestation offered to you by your Inner Self. Thinking about daily experience in this manner requires a radical shift away from the perspective of mass consciousness and toward the perspective of the Inner Self. The perspective of mass consciousness, especially the news media, is obsessed with labeling experience in dualistic terms, especially the “victim” and “perpetrator” roles. From the perspective of the Inner Self, however, you are always a co-creator in the game of life and you are never a victim.
As discussed in the previous page, most Example Dream experiences have an emotional feel and your Inner Self offers the Example Dream experience to you as a reflection of your own dominant thoughts, beliefs and emotions. The same core idea is behind the generation of Physical Reality Dream experiences. These experiences are also offered to you by your Inner Self in response to how you are vibrating. In fact, every event of your life (even so-called “accidents”) is very carefully orchestrated by your Inner Self in cooperation and coordination with the Inner Self of every other participant in the event (your fellow dreamers).
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In the previous page of this website, I introduced some basics of Example Dream interpretation. As a dream yoga practitioner, I also practice examining the people, animals, events and objects of my daily living experience as “dream symbols”. This is not to say that the people and animals in my life are merely dream figures. They are sovereign spiritual beings and we are co-creators. But, we all participate in an intricate dance, coordinated at the soul level, whereby we serve each other as loving mirrors. It would be completely overwhelming to try to evaluate every person, animal, event or object that we encounter in our Physical Reality Dream as a meaningful “dream symbol”. With practice, it becomes easier to identify the “dream symbols” that have significant value to us as guidance from the Inner Self.
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If one’s dreams are clear, but one is not lucid within the Dream State, then with great determination train the mind by thinking “all daytime visions are a dream.” Continually remind yourself that all that you see and all that is done is none other than a dream. . . . If you concentrate a great deal during the day, imagining that you are living a dream, then during the night the dream itself will also seem less real. |
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Relationships as Physical Reality Dream Reflections:
The Hidden Gift in Every Hornet Nest Relationship
One tell-tale aspect of a “dream symbol” relationship is emotional charge. If you have a relationship that is characterized by a very strong emotional charge, then that person is very likely serving you as a loving mirror. For instance, if you find yourself feeling anxious or stressed whenever you are around a particular person, this is a cue for you to evaluate the situation with heightened awareness. Just like a dream figure from one of your Example Dreams, they are exaggerating your own thoughts, beliefs or emotions in a way that makes such otherwise “unconscious” thoughts, beliefs or emotions visible to you. In our Example Dreams, we often encounter absurd, cartoon-like personalities. The “dream figures” of our Physical Reality Dream are typically not quite as absurd, but we have all experienced interactions with unique and sometimes extreme personalities. When we repeatedly encounter such a person, it is a cue for us to ask ourselves questions like these:
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• What beliefs does this extreme person have? Even though less extreme in my case, in what ways do I share these beliefs? Would it serve me to change the beliefs that I share with this person?
• What emotional vibration wells up within me when I interact with this person? Where else in my life am I offering the emotional vibration that I associate with my interactions with this person? Do I feel this way toward myself? Would it serve me to change this vibrational offering? |
To put these ideas into a practical context, let me offer an example of an emotionally charged “dream symbol” relationship from my own life. In 2014, I was having issues with a rental property tenant. When we signed the lease, I agreed to give him some free rent in exchange for him making some interior improvements to the unit. But then he never made the promised improvements. After the free rent period, he was always late paying his rent. He also started storing all kinds of junk on the outside of his unit, including boats that he cleaned as a side business. The area around his unit was becoming a real eyesore and I was receiving complaints from the other tenants. The lease prohibited not only junk storage but also boat storage – and we had discussed the boat prohibition when we signed the lease. I repeatedly called him to remind him of the lease clause, but he never moved the junk and he kept parking boats beside his unit. One day I drove by and saw yet another boat parked next to his unit. This was just a few days after we spoke about the issue over the phone and he had promised to stop parking the boats.
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I normally avoid confrontation, but an intense feeling of irritation rose up within me. I saw this incident as “the last straw”. I decided to immediately confront him. We talked in the front yard and I expressed my exasperation. He then told me that he wanted to bring something else to my attention. He walked me over to some shrubs and pointed out a large hornet nest. He told me that I needed to take care of removing the hornet nest, as the hornets were becoming a real annoyance to him. Seeing this hornet nest up close, I had an immediate moment of lucidity. I understood very clearly that the hornet nest was a “dream symbol”. I realized that I was responsible for having attracted this tenant’s irritating shenanigans into my life. He was the perfect example of a cartoon-like “dream figure” personality. My confrontational relationship with him was a three-dimensional mirror reflection of the vibration of irritation and annoyance that was emanating from within me. While he was the perfect reflection of this irritation/annoyance vibration, he was not the origin of it. I was the origin of it! And, if I continued to pulse out the vibration, the irritation/annoyance was only going to get worse – the hornet nest!
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Upon further reflection, it was very obvious to me that my overall vibration toward the rental property, and not just toward this one tenant, was one of frustration, annoyance and irritation related to building repairs, property taxes, rent collection issues etc. I also began to recognize that that I was also emanating a similar vibe in other areas of my life. I was essentially unconscious of my offering of this vibration until I saw the hornet nest.
By practicing dream yoga, we develop a heightened sense of awareness in a general way. By doing so, specific areas of unconsciousness (in this case, my irritation vibration) begin to contrast more with our general calm. In this way, areas of unconsciousness become easier to identify against the greater backdrop of conscious awareness. This incident was an absolute gift offered to me by my Inner Self. My relationship with the tenant was also a gift. On the physical level, he was driving me crazy with his pathological lies! On the deeper soul level, however, he was serving me as a loving mirror. The incident provided me with an opportunity to clearly see my own irritation vibration and then choose whether I wanted to make some inner changes.
“Our waking reality . . . is like a nonlucid dream, from which we awake only when we recognize the extent of our participation in the creation of the world we experience.” - B. Allan Wallace, Dreaming Yourself Awake: Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation (2012) |
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Animals as Physical Reality Dream Reflections:
A Starfish Jumps into My Lap
Most of us see dogs, cats and squirrels around our neighborhoods all the time and it would be overwhelming if we analyzed every animal sighting as a dream symbol. So, here are some suggestions for honing in on potential “dream symbol” animal reflections in your life.
As discussed above in the case of human interactions, the existence of an emotional charge points to the likelihood that the animal is serving us as “dream symbol” reflection. I try to pay particular attention to animals that appear in both my Example Dreams and in my Physical Reality Dream. In the previous page, I discussed how gators appear in my Example Dreams as symbols of fear. Thankfully, I’ve never had a gator in my Physical Reality Dream lunge at me like one did in one of my Example Dreams. But, I do see gators in my Physical Reality Dream from time to time – on a golf course or sun bathing beside a neighborhood drainage pond. When I see a gator in my Physical Reality Dream, I know that my Inner Self is offering me a subtle reminder. Have I released the fear that was recently brought to my attention in one of my Example Dreams? Or is that fear still an active part of my belief system?
An animal is more likely to be serving you as a “dream symbol” refection if your encounter with the animal is uncommon or unexpected. For example, I had an unusual and unexpected series of starfish interactions in early 2013. First, I had the following strange Example Dream:
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January 27, 2013
Dream 1 (6:12 AM). . . . I may be sitting. I look down and see a starfish moving toward me. It seems to want attention. “Walking” on two star tips. It wants to jump up to me (like a dog or cat), but I block it from doing so. |
This dream struck me as odd. I could not make any sense of it and I did not devote energy toward interpreting it. A few weeks later, my wife and I were in Grand Cayman for a vacation. One day, we decided to take a guided WaveRunner “safari” tour. Near a mangrove wetlands area, our guide jumped off his WaveRunner into the shallow water and pulled up several giant starfish. He showed us one starfish that appeared to be in the process of regenerating one of its star points, which, he speculated, may have been bitten off by a large fish. He gave each person on the tour a giant starfish to hold. With amusement, I immediately recalled my recent “starfish dream” as I held this giant starfish in my hands. We then released all the starfish back into the water. My wife later suggested to me that a starfish represents “regeneration” or “renewal” since they can regenerate their damaged points. The Grand Cayman vacation was itself an exercise in regeneration and renewal. My starfish interaction was thus a reflection of the relaxed vibe of our vacation and our WaveRunner adventure. In my Example Dream, I blocked such regeneration and renewal from jumping up to me. But, the starfish eventually worked its way into my lap – in my Physical Reality Dream. I’ve also come to interpret starfish as symbols of allowing, grace or “beingness” (feminine energy). Since this event, I’ve developed a greater appreciation for the importance of occasionally taking a “starfish day” to myself, where, like a starfish, I have absolutely no agenda and no “to do” list to accomplish.
I’ve also had the interesting experience of a Physical Reality Dream animal interaction being presented to me as a juxtaposition to an Example Dream animal interaction. From my journal:
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May 21, 2014
Dream 4 (7:00 AM). I’m walking on a path toward a beach. Some people walking ahead of me start to pick up their pace, wanting to join a crowd that has gathered ahead. I also start to hurry to see what is going on. There is a shark in the water. The shark is moving down the coast. There is a swimmer in the water that seems unaware of the shark and is swimming toward the shark. The people in the crowd start to shout to get the swimmer’s attention and then there is a collective gasp reaction as the shark apparently attacks the swimmer. This attack is in the distance ahead of me I don’t see anything graphic. COMMENT: I decided to go for a walk on Sullivan’s Island after work (same day as this dream). Some odd splashing action in the water caught my attention. It took some time for me to identity two small dolphins in the water. They were small and their activity was subtle. One lady ahead of me had her camera out, but no one else seemed to notice them. . . . I think this “waking reality” dolphin sighting is a very interesting juxtaposition to the shark sighting in the dream. The dream had a mass-conscious fear vibration to it, whereas the “waking reality” event had a subtle and playful vibe to it. This may connect with the idea that I view my “unconscious” nocturnal life in a more fearful way than I view my “waking” life experience. |
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For some more intriguing examples of animal interactions as symbolic reflections, I recommend Susan Reintjes’ excellent book, Third Eye Open (2003).
“The knowledge that you form your dream also gives you the confidence to realize that you form your daily reality. As your awareness grows, you will learn to change your dream events. To step in and say: ‘This is my dream. I do not like what is happening and will change it.’ And that confidence can then be followed through in physical reality so that you change events. The dream state, therefore, is a great educational venture, and a joyful one, if you use it as such.” - Seth (Jane Roberts), Seth Audio Collection, Disc 23.
Getting Animated About Inanimate Objects
Our physical environment is loaded up with physical objects. How do we know when one might be an important “dream symbol” in our Physical Reality Dream?
Even within our Example Dreams, not every physical object in the dream has significant meaning. I don’t usually focus upon physical objects in my Example Dreams unless they are unusual, out of place, used in an unexpected manner, or part of a recurring pattern. Generally, I apply the same discernment in identifying “dream symbol” physical objects in my Physical Reality Dream. For example, I once had a recurring pattern of car battery problems, followed by problems with other kinds of batteries in household devices. The repeating nature of this “battery problem” finally caught my attention and I realized that it was a signal that I was running too hard and not sufficiently “recharging” myself with sleep, meditation etc.
In some cases, I simply experience an Intuitive knowing that an object has important symbolic meaning for me. Intuition is a spontaneous connection with inner knowing. I’ve already given one example this: the 1,000+ foot communications tower near my home that I came to understand to be a physical representation of my Inner Self (see my discussion in the Emotional Guidance section of this website). I simply knew that it was being presented to me as a “dream symbol”.
As with personal relationships and animals, the existence of an emotional charge suggests the possibility that a physical object is a “dream symbol” for you. Also, objects that are highly unusual are better prospects for having “dream symbol” meaning as compared to ordinary objects.
“You can tell where your dominant vibration is and you can tell by the way it feels . . . . Now you can also tell by the way things are manifesting. In other words, that’s a really true reader because no one is living anything that is not a perfect vibrational match to what their vibrational offering is. But we want to help you to recognize at earlier, pre-manifestation stages, what your dominant vibration is because it is so much easier to shift a vibration while it’s in your dream state or while it’s still in your emotional state before it is manifested into that which you would call ‘my life experience’. - Abraham (Esther Hicks), El Paso, TX workshop held on March 28, 2002.
