Hi Robert,
Hope all is well with you! I’m currently reading the last chapter of your book “Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the inner self” and I would first like to leave here my heartfelt thanks for writing such an enlightening book on the subject. Reading the book and looking back on my personal experiences, one question came to mind concerning a very energetic and aware dream figure whose presence is recurrent in my dreams. It appears to be very desirable for this figure to have me become lucid in my dreams; at times they will hint at the absurdity of something in the dream to prompt me into becoming lucid, at others they’ll step aside from the dream narrative and observe me as if waiting for me to realize I am dreaming, and sometimes they will take complete control over it and fabricate something nonsensical to aid me in becoming lucid. Yet still, a lot of those times they will fail, and that will lead me to question — if it would be so important to them that I am lucid, why won’t they simply come to me and just say “Hey, you’re dreaming. You get that? Great, come here, let’s talk!”? I don’t remember (and do forgive me if I’ve forgotten!) you having had mentioned in your book any examples in which a particular dream figure tells the dreamer they are dreaming in a direct manner (it only happens the other way around? Dreamers telling dream figures they’re taking part in a dream…), and now I’m wondering why won’t they do that. Do you have any idea what may keep them from doing so?
Many thanks!
Hi Luciana,
Glad that you have enjoyed reading my first book. Congratulations on your lucid dreams!
Regarding your question, many lucid dreamers have reported that the ‘dream’ seemed created in order to help them become lucid. For example, there might be an advertisement on a billboard, asking, “Are you dreaming?”, and they see it as they drive by. Or the person might meet a dream figure, like your’s, who asks them questions about their awareness and tries to push them to become lucid.
Why does it happen? Why don’t they just say, “Hey Luciana, this is a dream! Look, I’m floating. This IS a dream!”??
When you read thousands of lucid dream reports, you see something like an unspoken ‘prime directive’ where dream figures can hint at and suggest ‘This is a dream’ — much like a elementary school teacher can respond to your question by hinting at the answer, but can not tell you the answer since the teacher wants you to learn how to come to the proper conclusion!
Having said that, I have read some dreams where the person argues with the dream figure, and assures the DF that this can not be a dream, since it is “real”. So some dream figures finally get to the point of directly stating, ‘This is a dream’. A person might state that those DF’s symbolically represent or act as the person’s desire to become lucidly aware.
In my books, I note that “All dream figures are not created equal” and that they vary considerably. It’s great to hear that you have one who seeks to help you become lucid, and gain from the experience. 😉