Aristocrates – I feel it is like learning to work with the unconscious Life in you. The feeling of sleep paralysis was probably you working against it. It is almost like getting a clear picture and intention of what you want then let go of it. There is a saying that sums it up. “Man proposes, God disposes.”
I suppose real power comes from the almighty collective mind. It is like what the Naskapi Indians call the Great Man/Woman – Mista’peo. This great being stand behind us unseen most of the time. To quote Marie von Franz, “How far it develops depends on whether or not the ego is willing to listen to the messages of the Self. Just as the Naskapi have noticed that a person who is receptive to the hints of the Great Man gets better and more helpful dreams, we could add that the inborn Great Man becomes more real within the receptive person than in those who neglect him. Such a person also becomes a more complete human being.
So yes you were on the foothills of lucid dreaming, but you will know when you have arrived when you wake up in deep sleep and go with the flow. Fighting harder would not have worked. You are using your conscious will. As it says in
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/ 1. In life and sleep we have two powerful actions working in us. The first is our waking experience based on having a body, its limitations, vulnerabilities and a particular gender. Our second is the power that gave us life and continues to express as dreams.
2. While we sleep our conscious self is largely or totally unconscious, and while we sleep our voluntary muscles are paralysed – so another will or motivating force moves our body. So we have a Conscious Will, and what I will call a Life Will. The first one we have experience of as we can move our arm or speak; but the second will takes over when we sleep.
3. This Life will can move us to speak, to move our body, and in fact do things that we cannot do with our Conscious Will. As Freud pointed out this inner will has full access to our memories. It can do so many other things that are described else where – See ESP in Dreams; Edgar Cayce.
Please also read
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/levels-of-awareness-in-waking-and-dreaming/ It is a real help when you enter the different world of sleep. the rules are completely different.
Tony
