A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (23 page)

and create your surroundings. The following two lucid dreams

offer amazing accounts of the potentials of scale, detail, and beauty

within creative lucid dreams.

I wanted to create the perfect home. I made a beautiful forest

of mostly evergreens and created a clearing for a house. I made

a three-story house with many different rooms. Besides the bed-

rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms, I

made an enormous library. I also made a planetarium, labo-

ratory, telescope room, and training room. The telescope room

possessed different telescopes that could see in every spectrum

of electromagnetic radiation. After finishing the house I went

outside. I made it night and made the full moon rise into midsky.

I made sure there were thunderstorms nearby. I made it so that

the wind blew the rain from the nearby storm to the area of

our house. The scenario was of astonishing beauty. I then real-

ized that there was one thing missing. She was not present. And

I would not create some dream manifestation of her, because

it would never be able to measure up to how amazing she is.

I could never do such a thing. The dream faded as I woke up.

—rIchArd V. W.

Can’t imagine creating a whole house with your mind? In this

next example, the dreamer is able to accomplish an even bigger

feat.

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This dream, although I have had many other lucid dreams, was

the most intense, amazing lucid dream I have ever had. . . .

My goal at this point is to create another city, so I fly until I

can’t see anything I recognize, and sure enough I somehow cre-

ated another city, this one was at the edge of a body of water

and had a beachy feel. I fly down to a waterside marketplace.

Around it were weird trees with these odd hanging fruit that

sort of glowed, but I went to the marketplace and looked at

what type of food my brain had created . . . there were tons of

different foods, but the only one I tried was almost like a candy

lettuce, it sounds weird, but it was great tasting and very crisp

and refreshing. —cAMeroN r.

The God Complex

It’s important to note that even though these dreamers have a

high degree of mastery over the dream world, there are many

things not in their control. Richard, despite his detail-oriented

approach, was not in control of every color, texture, and intri-

cacy of the home he was building—his subconscious populated

those details, filling in the many blanks. He was responsible for

the intent (to build a house with specific rooms), but his mind did

the rest.

So if you’re developing a God complex, put down the thunder-

bolts and opt for a slice of humble pie.

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In dreams, we can create anything, but we’re not creating

everything. In the second dream, Cameron’s intent was to create

a city, and he was able to do so. But he did not create each build-

ing and street of the city. He simply put his mind to work. The

dreamer is surprised to find some candy lettuce that “his brain cre-

ated.” An oneironaut may direct the dream, but the subconscious

still does most of the work, slipping in its metaphors and symbols

just as it would in any normal dream. Isn’t that more fun? Even

with complete mastery a lucid dreamer will always be surprised

and enlightened by his nighttime adventures. After all, if the end-

ing were predictable, it wouldn’t be an adventure.

LUCID DREAMING AS ART

As the world evolves and our level of collective consciousness heightens, the day
may come when lucid dreaming itself becomes an art. A place where we craft
stories and ideas into visual representation, where we first create our projects
and dreams (no pun intended) so that we can more easily bring them into
manifestation in the physical world. This is not a new thought. In fact, shamans
of indigenous cultures understood that in order for something to be created in
the physical world (such as that kitchen you’ve been meaning to remodel, or
this book) it must first be constructed in the “imaginal realm.” In other words,
lucid dreaming might be a tool in creating our physical reality.

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Summary

•   The principles of the dream world differ from those of the 

physical world. you can easily create objects, artwork, or entire

landscapes instantly and with vivid accuracy.

•   Creation is most effective with a strong intention or image in the 

mind’s eye, an emotional connection, and by “cheating” the law

of cause and effect.

•   In the dream world, our thoughts and emotions create the world 

around us instantaneously. often what we expect to happen will

happen.

•   We can dream anything into reality. Create your ideal business, 

craft a poem, write a song, skydive off the empire State

Building, conjure up your soul mate, build your dream home,

invent something completely new. experiencing these things as if

they are real will allow you the clarity and confidence to create

them in the waking world.

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13

The Natives

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The natives . . . are generally tall, straight, well built and of singular
proportion; they tread strong and clever, and mostly walk with a lofty chin.

Their language is lofty, yet narrow . . . and I must say that I know not a
language spoken in Europe, that hath words of more sweetness or greatness,
in accent and emphasis, than theirs.

—William Penn,

founder of Pennsylvania, pioneer, friend of the Lenape

Venturing through the dream world, we are met with a sur-

prising realization: we are not alone. There are natives to

this land. Some mosey on by, complete strangers wrapped

up in their own world. Others seem to mimic people we know. The

land is different, but the faces are familiar. It appears that all sorts

of intricate dream characters inhabit this world. Some become our

mentors, bestowing upon us advice and offering answers to our most

pressing questions. This world is their turf after all, so they are

natural guides. But not everyone is welcoming. The natives can

scare the crap out of us, appearing in the form of fearsome crea-

tures who hunt us down as we run for our lives.

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