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The Awakened Dreamer: On Human Development and the Transpersonal Dream.

Lee Irwin, July 26, 2011 Amsterdam, Netherlands, International Dream Conference, Contact: Hermine Mensink I. Introduction: Appreciation for invitation to speak, Hermine Men-sink; also opportunity to speak on the topic of dreams with other dream advocates A. Understanding dreamsis like climbing Alps at distance, they seem beautiful and alluring but close up require training and skill to climb (Matterhorn) 1. Dreams are also alluring, but to fully explore and investigate the depths and heights require significant skills, dedication, training and practice a. My view: Dreaming is not about theory as much asencounter and engagement with unknown aspects of self, psyche, and soul b. Terrain of dreams is largely unmapped like old Mappa Mundi, we have very limited schemata to describe a vast unknown territory 2. Maps of dream territorylimited by theories/myths of mapmakers, biased by consensual thinking, by external views (seen from afar / marginal) a. Can we see the world through perspective of the dream, from the peak of a Big Dream (like Matterhorn); see waking life from the dream POV? b. Can we bring dreaming into the waking state? Dissolve the tension between waking +dreaming; sustain a waking-dreaming continuity? B. Over-coming SUBJECTIVE BIAS=>that dreams are only subjective a creation of individual psyche; dreamingis an ancient intersubjective ability 1. Dreams do NOT reflect an internalized others but actual subtle influences based in participation in a dynamic field oflived psychic relationships a. Dreaming is a form of primordial consciousness, an ancient participatory ability to creative engage others, objects, places (1) As in shamanism, the dreaming capacities are linked to visionary modes that access unusual, non-ordinary abilities b. Dreaming is a PRE-RATIONAL ABILITY, integral to human lived experience, manifesting as dreams (sleep) and imagination (waking) (2) We engage the world through a primordial response, a psychic sensitivity that links conscious awareness with dreaming capacities (2) Emancipatory theory = dreams NOT simply reference subjective self-centeredness, but are complex modes of inter-subjective being

2 (3) Dreams are development= the primordial capacity to dream is an primordial ability to encounter the world creatively and interactively (4) Dreams incorporatethe individual subjective self into larger, dynamic,interpersonal-social and global-transpersonal fields 2. The intentional IMPRINT = a response to interaction, alive and dynamically charged, a shaped and shaded response to others a. Think of an image captured on film, then developed dreaming is a developmental process, animated by a primordial human capacity (1) Dreams reveal focal intentions that attract subtle subconscious influences through shared, CO-CREATED, intersubjective field (2) Dreams NOT isolated to the subjective state but AN OPEN ARRAY OF SUBTLE FIELD INFLUENCES stimulates subconscious PSI (a) dream state is the virtual exercise of subtle latent abilities, NOT new, but very old, ancient but lost or artificially denied (3) LOST = rationalism emphasizes conscious thought processes, by denying dream capacities, subverting and marginalizing the dream (a) ICE BERG rational seeks knowledge through the visible, but consciousness is vaster, more dense below the surface (b) Human wholeness INCLUDES the dream capacities and dreaming is an epistemological resource of great depth b. FIELD = information field - psychic influences shared through subconscious processes of subtle interaction (Super-Psi) animal/plant (1) We are not dreaming monads isolated by sleep in an inner fugue state, we are interactive dreamers, dreams = open horizon of being (2) Dreams reflect a non-passive, interactive and intentional response in which the dreamer makes choices / explore in how to respond 3. COLLECTIVE FIELDS = more than personal relationships, sensitivity to collective issues, patterns of belief, action, attitudes, marginal influences a. Dreaming like Ma-tryosh-ka (nesting dolls) individual dream within,shared co-creative, within the larger collective, within the Gaia Field (1) personal subconscious = an intimate field within larger shared psychic constructions, reflecting patterns of human development (2) Historical imprints, multigenerational through collective dreaming, become archetypes corresponding to shared cultural ideals / stages

b. Mass events = strong psychic impact, creating feeling of vulnerability, guilt, anxiety, joy, intentions response collective dreaming processes (1) However, there is no ONE collective only an array of psychic influences mapped to various gestalten, multiple collectives (2) One cultural context hold multiple diverse gestalten, reflecting cultural conflicts, diversity, struggles, psychic tensions (3) Personal intentions create alignment / resistance to cultural influences, rich information reflectingdevelopmental strategies 4. META-PSYCHIC field = hyper-collective, related to ASC, expansive fields of perception, PSI capacities, mystical encounters visionary dreams a. Transpersonal influences: shaped by human potential, latent ancient capacities, emergent / reconstituted properties of consciousness (1) Dreaming is an altered state - can lead to NON-ORDINARY encounter within diverse, multidimensional fields of awareness (2) BIG DREAMS, life-changing dreams reflecting new capacities, latent psychic ability, visionary potential, new horizons of awareness (3) For example: flying dreams, ecstatic dreams, OOBE, telepathic dreaming, clairvoyance, spirit communication, mystical illumination (4) Dreaming contacts deeper Being (gateway) to grow, develop, intrinsic stimulus toward human capacity forself-surpassing b. THUS Dreaming context = imprinting, subconscious intention, psychic field of alignment with others, collect influences, non-ordinary states (1) Dreaming is a vivid relational capacity that allows us to creatively explore possible ways of being-in-the-world (exercise possibility)

B. WAKING LIFE:not simply dreaming but waking = a constant process of negotiation of subtle influences, collective mass events, imprinting, and so on 1. AND Waking Life also incorporates dreaming influences, images, feelings, and dream capacity -> day-dreaming active imagination a. The AWAKENED DREAMER is one who is lucid in waking life, able to discern subtle psychic influences and to exercise dreaming capacities (1) Consciousness = more than visible (ice berg), constant dynamic flow, subtle sub-conscious + conscious + hyper-conscious currents

4 b. Non-attentive dreamer denies significance of dreams, never truly engages dreaming as a source of knowledge (seen from a distance) (1) For the inattentive dreamer, the DREAM FUNCTION is insignificant, dismisses superficial, archaic, imaginary, irrational, etc. c. Semi-awakened dreamer catches glimpses of subtle psychic influence, is shaken & enticed, but does not practice lucid discipline and exercise (2) Often day-dreamers with vivid fantasies, deeply felt imaginal perceptions, but has not integrated dreaming function in waking 2. AWKENED DREAMER catches the fleeing image, the subtle impression, the subconscious influence of the moment, giving it real (psychic) attention a. DREAM FUNCTION: a capacity to create an experiential encounter, a participatory dramatization, to explore potentials for embodiment (1) Dreaming allows us to TEST OR EXPLORE ontological alternatives, synthesize experience, and develop greater perceptual capacities (2) Individuation = waking up to the dream is not simply through interpretation, but through EXERCISE of dreaming capacities b. Awakened Dreamers cross the dream threshold of lucidity to access higher perceptions revealed in dreaming, then embodied (1) Must exercise the dreaming function (this conference) AND assimilate the knowledge revealed in sleeping states (2) Above all, REMEMBERING and ATTENDING to perceptions (catch fleeing impressions) like in a dream bring it into waking life (3) But NOT through conscious mental control, but through the practice of RELAXATION, by cultivating QUIET MIND / ALLOWING (4) To access the dream function requires lucid attention in a CALM, clear state that allows for SPONTANEOUS arising (meditation) c. The WORLDVIEW of individual is crucial in process of awakening to the dream beliefs influence dreaming but dreams also challenge beliefs (1) A conventional, material, psychological, esoteric, or religious worldview can shape the dreaming function (2) Thus the metaphysics of dreaming requires an open horizon of belief for the emergence of the not-yet seen or embodied C. AWAKENED DREAMER seeks to maximize human development through engaging dream capacities in a PARTICIPATORY MODEL OF SPIRITUALITY

5 1. If dreaming is co-creative, thenpractice is relational,an exploration of partnership working toward shared lucidity and new modes of Being a. By participatory I mean a capacity for self-surpassing that requires authentic engagement in dreaming in both sleeping AND waking (1) There is NO ONE TEMPLATE for this development a very wide spectrum of possible pathways, diverse ways to greater lucidity (2) But these pathways require authentic, existential commitment to an enhanced way of perception and action b. To heal suffering, tragedy, guilt within collective, we must engage in dreaming AS resource for change, LUCIDITY united with COMPASSION (1) Intuitiveknowledge through deep participatory dreaming reflects emergent capacities, BUT application requires MORAL CLARITY (2) Moral claritybased inshared obligations, many paths, integrated into an ethical, caring, life supporting actualization (animals/ecol) c. To dream the world forward, to overcome brokenness in world, means working in partnership AND caring about the dreams of others (1) Dreaming as INTERSUBJECTIVErequires genuine concern for the well-being of others, to facilitate dreaming abilities in all (children) b. Finally, this awakening will inevitably engage our capacities for visionary knowledge, latent PSI, and authentic engagement with Being (1) Thus engaging the dream as Awakened Dreamers means engaging the life process of personal AND collective transformational (2) It means exploring our imaginal, creative capacities for artistic, scientific, ecological, psychic, and spiritual discovery (3) It means finding new ways to live in a broken world for its possible improvement, for a more grounded, lucid commitment to healing (4) It means developing our ancient capacities for visionary knowledge and higher modes of non-ordinary perceptions (5) And it means celebrating our implicit, yet-to-be-discovered capacities for self-surpassing, for more complex metaphysics in which dreams are a path to mature human development and not simply an abstraction reducible to only a therapeutic application. I thank youfor your attention and look forward to personal conversation, questions, and shared insights.