I had what I believe was the my first lucid dream in quite a while. Instead of waking within the dream, I entered the dream from a waking state, using a technique similar to some discussed by Steven LaBerge in his works. I’m pretty sure the *key* was my intention to dream this particular dream, and the mental focus and concentration that I was able to maintain…
As I was starting to relax towards sleep, I imagined myself descending a long, pleasant flight of stairs. Down, down. I noticed the lighting, the intricate nature of the handrails, and walls, and the steps themselves; a rather gothic image. I was descending into the Earth…down, down. I had planned that when I had descended deep enough/become relaxed enough, I would come upon a Golden Door. Upon reaching the door, I would open it with the mantra *Aum*. The more I chanted, the wider it would open. When it opened wide enough, I could pass, and enter a tunnel. The tunnel would descend down, down. It was very dark. Yet, I would proceed…
[Creative commons photo credit at flikr: The Golden Door & Subterranean Library]
By the time I came upon a light, that was the
Library, I believe I was
dreaming, because some elements of the image were within my control, while others were not. I wanted to visit a library that would contain information about all of the world’s cultures. It was well-lit, and huge. The stacks seemed to go up for several stories, and I could not see the end of any of the aisles. I could not understand the organization, so I spoke to a library employee who did not really want to talk to me (he kept brushing me off), and asked about where the
History section was…that was of the United States…that was of the 21st Century (I kept having to clarify). I was then lead to a section containing tens of thousands of books or more. I was surprised to see how large that section was, even though I knew I shouldn’t be…The interesting thing is that I *
could not read* any of the books! They all seemed to contain a series of very strange symbols that I did not recognize, and seemed to be rearranging themselves, swimming on the page. This was very frustrating to me, and more than this, I found it extraordinarily difficult to concentrate on the image of the page, or even to select a book to pull off the shelf. When I did attempt to look at a page, I could only focus for a few seconds before my attention was pulled away; even when I did see the page, it seemed to waiver,
distort, teeter on the edge of my perception, and finally fall away, and I could gain no meaning at all from it. At some point in my struggles to read/understand/see the text, I became exhausted and must have fallen into an
unconscious sleep, because I knew no more until I awoke and remembered the dream…
This was truly a fascinating experience, and I’m definitely going to attempt this dream again. I would like to try to talk more with the library ‘employees’, and inquire about the best way to try to read the books, and learn from them…
