THAT DAY

I've always had magical dreams. But they cast a shadow: since I get most of the joys of lucidity for free, I lack the motivation to learn the discipline of lucid dreaming. But lately I've been exploring Mortal Mist, my favorite website for lucid dreamers, in depth--plowing through hundreds of lucid dreams. Most are dull, mere exercises, but today I found three transcendent dreams in which lucidity was the catalyst--they couldn't have been dreamt without it. Can I get up the courage to ask these three dreamers if I can post their work as examples on the World Dream Bank? I feel rather shy with them. Peers. Mentors? Potential friends?

THAT EVENING

I drive my friend Cory to the class she's teaching on chakras--energy centers, auras, healing. (I sense auras, so mock all you like; you're like a tone-deaf guy claiming music is a myth.) In exchange for the ride, I sit in free. Feel shy around strangers though, get an upset stomach. But bizarre, fascinating people, and fun talks coming and going... worth fighting my shyness.

THAT NIGHT

Cold night. A broad, unlit stone plaza. Shivering, I scurry across to the east side, to my friend Rob's apartment. Stone, no windows on the plaza at all--a sunken bunker of a place.

Though Rob invited me over, he seems awkward with me. Then his friend Stefan comes in. He isn't awkward; he frankly announces "We've never gotten along. Let's not try." I'm surprised; we have little in common, but I've always made an effort to be friendly since he's part of Rob's circle.

In a way, it's a relief to hear him say we're not friends. I can just avoid him now. I say so. He's fine with that. Better than trying...

I go out into the night. Brr. My coat has a warm tight fuzzy hood. Not a parka--too thin, and fake fur. I loosen it--hate the tunnel vision, and worse yet, the half-deafness and lack of sonar when it muffles my ears. I navigate a lot by sound, especially at night. Loose is cold but it beats disorientation.

Crossing the black plaza, I'm reminded of lifelong dreams of flight in a coat like this. Stubby cloth deltawings I had to flap hard, at the limit of my strength. Of course this isn't a dream. On the other hand, flapping costs nothing--so why not indulge the whim? I run, leap, beat my pathetic little wings... and hover. And rise. Dreaming all along, and I was sure it wasn't! Logic 1, intuition 0!

Lucid, I rise above the plaza's quad, into a dim blue predawn sky... and wake.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Sunken bunker apartment: nothing like Rob's real flat! It's from the movie Scott Pilgrim Against the World--Scott's grim little shared flat.
• Rob and Stefan: both were in some photos I tweaked for a friend. It's true I have little in common with Stefan.
• Uncomfortable honesty: 1: Scott Pilgrim has to force himself to be honest with two sorta-girlfriends. 2: Just read Catherine Jinks's Genius Squad. The hero, Cadel, is habitually secretive; saved his life as a kid, but now it's a problem.
• What's my dishonesty? I've been hiding my sexual feelings for days, just going around pretending I'm not lonely.
• Cold night walk: walked with my friend Cory after her class, had a fun talk.
• Lucidity: the dream argues I should experiment with lucidity. If I hadn't reality-tested, I wouldn't have flown. Magical dreams don't require lucidity, but it's one more tool. Why avoid it? Test limits! And not just in dreams.
• ACTION: keep going to this class!
• ACTION 2: quit just lurking and really participate in Mortal Mist. You may find friends there.
• ACTION 3: Start explicitly seeking lucid dreams again. But test them my way--don't try to catch the dream in inconsistencies, just try the impossible, day or night. Flap... and fly.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites