Dreams & The end of consciousness?

Dreams & The unconscious mind:

As the theme of this book continues and discussing the unconscious mind opens up, many theories, perspectives of modern and alternative science would snowball. It is not my attempt to align myself with any perspective, but merely look at the vastness potential of the subject. We are mini- universes, and in many ways we are mirrors that reflect the complexities of nature. In that way, we have to look at ourselves as a parallel to nature and our unconscious minds are like the chaos in nature, with vast potential. Our consciousness itself is the order and the element which has evolved throughout our species evolution. Our consciousness is key to us, our survival and our potential. Imagine if we could journey into our unconsciousness using our consciousness as a vehicle, also imagine if the unconscious mind is linked to a greater consciousness, or rather greater unconsciousness. We could retrieve information, communicate with idols, perhaps even play music with pop icons.

In shamanic cultures dreams are considered more relevant then real life, very much in the opposite context to the western approach. Western culture approaches the idea that dreams are a combination of subconscious events created in our minds. If the ancient cultures were at least in part right in contacting spirit guides and using dreams to gain wisdom, then this avenue should be explored, rather than adopting the perspective that if modern science cannot explain it then we should ignore it. On this theme it is worth noting the experiences of someone called the dream detective, Chris Robinson. Chris has predicted events in the future, based on dreams, where symbols are shown to him which can be translated by himself to give key information about events in the future. Often Chris has predicted terrorist attacks, and even the death of princess Diana, with many witness's who can testify to this. But the most compelling work I have read as a researcher was the experiments set up by Gary Schwartz, in which the levels of predictions made by Chris were extremely accurate, down to specific information which upon reading make you wonder. Its easy to be skeptical at first glance, but I would seriously recommend reading the work on the merits.

So where is this information coming from? Is an intelligent element within the infinite consciousness showing Chris these images, is he merely retrieving them himself, or is something else going on?
I spoke earlier about the unconfirmed possibility of an intelligence behind the infinite consciousness, i.e a GOD, well this is obviously a possibility. Also I mentioned the possibility of our potential being far greater than we realise, and in fact Chris without realising it could well be retrieving this information himself. At this stage it is highly unlikely that the information is

getting to Chris by chance, as the events seem to be warnings with specific events with potential consequences, although Chris has some ability to attract certain information such as normal day to day activities like those tested in the G.O.D experiments. I have not got an answer for you but again a series of possibilities for you to contemplate, but what these all share is the strong indication of dreams being connected to something greater, like dowsing this information retrieval seems to be accessible, Chris has refined the process very well and can provide us with an insight into consciousness, and its potential.

Excersize: Lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming is experiencing a dream while being in control, this occurs when the unconscious person can condition them self to realise they are dreaming and literally take control. I have experienced lucid dreaming and upon lucid dreaming you wake up feeling refreshed and vitalised. I Admit have not perfected the technique, but the following excersize may introduce to you the powerful force of lucid dreaming. I will add quickly that purchasing a notebook is essential. Upon waking up, writing down everything you experienced is essential to the experience, for making sense of your unconscious mind, which cultivates the experience .

A degree of conditioning is required to facilitate lucid dreaming. A simple technique is asking yourself many times during the day whether you are dreaming. Each time you ask the question, you should look for evidence proving you are not dreaming. The most reliable test: Read something, look away for a moment, and then read it again. If it reads the same way twice, it is unlikely that you are dreaming. After you have proved to yourself that you are not presently dreaming, visualise yourself doing whatever it is you'd like. Also, tell

yourself that you want to recognise a nighttime dream the next time it occurs. The mechanism at work here is simple; it's much the same as picking up milk at the grocery store after reminding yourself to do so an hour before.

At night people usually realise they are dreaming when they experience unusual or bizarre occurrences. For instance, if you find yourself flying with no visible means of support, you should realise that this only happens in dreams and that you must therefore be dreaming. If you awaken from a dream in the middle of the night, it is very helpful to return to the dream immediately, in your imagination. Now envision yourself recognising the dream as such. Tell yourself, "The next time I am dreaming, I want to remember to recognise that I am dreaming." If your intention is strong and clear enough, you may find yourself in a lucid dream when you return to sleep.

An experience I can relate to is the use of flying in the dream, which is a great way to introduce yourself to lucid dreaming. In fact many lucid dreamers report dreams in which they fly unaided, much like Superman. Some lucid dreamers say that flying is a thrilling means of travel; others, that it has helped them return from one of the more harrowing dream experiences --- the endless fall. Why is dream flying so important ? It's a form of dream control that's fairly easy to master. It gives the dreamer an exhilarating sense of freedom. And it's a basic means of travel in the dream world. Perhaps this is the start to lucid dreaming, and facilitates other more in depth experiences.

Lucid Dreaming excersize:

How do you make a dream flight happen at all ? I suggest that
before you retire for bed, you simply repeat these words: "Tonight I
fly !" Then while still awake, imagine that journey. If you find yourself flying, it will be a clear sign that you are in a dream. In any case, when you realise you're dreaming, remember that you want to fly. When you actually feel yourself flying, say, "This is a dream." Make sure that you start modestly, by simply floating above the surface of your dream ground. As you gain confidence, both in the notion that you are dreaming and in your ability to control that experience, you might experiment with flying a bit more. Run, taking big leaps, and then stay aloft for a few seconds so that you resemble an astronaut walking on the moon. Try sustained floating, and then flying at low altitudes. As your confidence increases, so will your flying skills. While asleep, work
on increasing your altitude, maneuverability, and speed. As with
speed sports, you should perfect height and maneuverability before speed. Of course, you couldn't really hurt yourself --- it's only a
dream. But you could get scared. Also remember your mindfulness perceptions, try to experience the dream, try to taste touch and feel the experiences

After you get proficient in dream flying, remember to ask yourself these questions : "How high can I fly ? Can I view the earth from outer space ? Can I travel so fast that I lose awareness of my surroundings and experience the sensation of pure speed ?"

Upon waking up, write down the dream, and everything that happened, include as much information as possible, this is why experiencing the dream in mindfulness is important, as well as remembering the dream in a mindful way. We are creatures ascribed to understanding our position in reality, the world around us, we are capable of observing data relating to this and this in itself will change our position, we will truly understand. I believe this is the key to lucid dreaming, almost creating an anchor within the

subconscious mind or by now what we are referring to the infinite consciousness.

Death, the end of consciousness?

Following up on the research referring to consciousness, I felt it only honest to approach the question of the survival of consciousness after-death. Here the alternative consensus is that when we die our consciousness remains intact for an unknown period of time and is accessible by those with a gift. These are known as mediums. When I grew up I spent several years living in a family in which the mother was a psychic, not specifically a medium – and although I never understood the psychic "thing" I did not ridicule it, as I had witnessed first hand events which didn't comply to science or even the skeptical argument against it. I do not deny that there are conmen, misguided individuals who believe they have special powers where their only gift is perhaps a stunt or trick they learnt years ago, or perhaps some who believe they genuinely have a gift and use associative thinking and nothing more . I enjoy watching Derren Browns shows and they indeed highlight a series of impressive tricks which were used by some victorian mediums, in fact by the recollection of modern reason mediumship seems like a fraud, with cold readers extrapolating information using techniques which unfortunately prey on the vulnerable in a time of family tragedy. An unfortunate series of events, unfortunate however until you witness a true medium event or read about a true medium event. One such example is "The Afterlife Experiments" By Gary Schwartz in which some very strict experiments show that mediums were able to extrapolate very specific information about the deceased relatives and close friends of the subjects. Due to the nature of the experiments the cold reading methods ascribed by modern day skeptics must be ruled out, leaving either the survival of consciousness after death, clever research by the mediums (cheating), or psi power based information retrieval. Obviously the cheating of the mediums seems the most likely, which is why the experiment was refined to include a choice of up to ten subjects, and the medium not allowed to interact with the subject as well as not knowing which subject it was, this meant that the medium would not know when doing the first part of the reading who it was, therefore any pre-empted data retrieval can be ruled out. In addition to this some of the data retrieved was unknown to the subject and upon checking post experiment was in fact reliable data, so this again rules out any telepathic / psi power.

So what could this mean, well it could mean the existence of spirits, souls e.t.c For me the logical conclusion to retain from the experiment was that consciousness can be accessed even after physical existence has been terminated. In one of the experiments the data was retrieved remotely, less successfully but still retrieved, this would imply the latter of those

explanations. We could go on to speculate on how long does this process remain? Can we contact anyone who has died, and are we contacting them or a trace, for instance could I be contacted before I die without knowing it? So many questions and unfortunately I have not the means to investigate, but there are others working in this field. The difficulty is establishing how genuine this data is. As a minimum we can expect that this consciousness is enact somewhere, perhaps in the subjects - the people close to the dead Or perhaps the place they felt close to , or the infinite consciousness itself, a pool of information, which can be accessed by potentially anyone but perfected by the mediums. With the dowsers, such information can be retained also and there are several other ways in which this information can be accessed. The idea that information is stored somewhere is not a new one, and like all other areas contained in this book shows an increasing likelihood of an infinite consciousness.

N.D.E's:

On the subject of data and its genuinity, This paper features collaboration with many scientists and their first hand experiences, and was released by Dr Ken Ring.

"Cardiologist Michael Sabon described a near-death experience that occurred while its experiencer - a woman who was having an unusual surgical procedure for the safe excision and repair of a large basilar artery aneurysm - met all of the accepted criteria for brain death. The unusual medical procedure involved the induction of hypothermic cardiac arrest, in order to insure that the aneurysm at the base of the brain would not rupture during the operation. The patient's body temperature was lowered to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, her heartbeat and breathing ceased, her brain waves flattened, and the blood was completely drained from her head. Her electroencephalogram was totally flat (indicating no cerebral electrical activity) and auditory evoked potentials (normally elicited by clicks presented through moulded earplugs that had been inserted into her ears) ceased (indicating cessation of brainstem functioning). Ordinarily - at regular body temperature - the brain cannot function without its oxygen supply for more than a few minutes. Lowering the body and brain temperature to 60 degrees F. - by chilling the blood in a bypass machine before returning it to the body and brain - however, can reduce cellular metabolism so that the brain can tolerate complete cerebral blood flow for the 45 minutes or so required for the brain operation. The patient later reported that, apparently while under these “brain death” conditions, she had a near-death experience (NDE) in which she was able to observe and hear details of objects and happenings in the operating room with accuracy. She also experienced classic components of the NDE, including a tunnel vortex, a bright light, and different figures in the light (many deceased

family members, including a distant cousin of whose death she had been unaware).

Dr Bruce Greyson documented perhaps one of the most compelling examples of a person who had a NDE and observed events while outside of his body which were later verified by others. The only way that these events could have been observed by the experiencer was if in fact he was outside of his body. Al Sullivan was a 55 year old truck driver who was undergoing triple by-pass surgery when he had a powerful NDE that included an encounter with his deceased mother and brother-in-law, who told Al to go back to his to tell one of his neighbours that their son with lymphoma will be OK. Furthermore, during the NDE, Al accurately noticed that the surgeon operating on him was flapping his arms in an unusual fashion, with his hands in his armpits. When he came back to his body after the surgery was over, the surgeon was startled that Al could describe his own arm flapping, which was his idiosyncratic method of keeping his hands sterile.

Addressing the frequent rejoinder that such events can be accounted for as hallucinations, Dr. Greyson notes that if NDEs are hallucinations, then how is it that such incredibly accurate and verifiable information is resulting from the NDEs? People on drugs who have NDEs see fewer deceased relatives when they travel out of body. This suggests that people who do see relatives are clear-minded, not hallucinating. In some cases of children, they see dead relatives whom they had never met or seen pictures of. This begs the following question: How could they hallucinate accurately the visual images of someone they have never met? When assessing the surmounting data as a whole, Greyson said that the survival hypothesis is the most parsimonious explanation for the growing database of NDEs.

The author Maggie Callanan in her 1993 book, Final Gifts, wrote about an elderly Chinese woman who had an NDE in which she saw her deceased husband and her sister. She was puzzled since her sister wasn't dead, or so she thought. In actuality, her family had hid her sister's recent death from her for fear of upsetting her already fragile health.

On Dec. 9, 2001, Ananova News reported: "Study Proves the Soul Exists" concerning the NDE study by Dr. Pim van Lommel published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet providing verified evidence of out- of-body perception. Then on Jan. 8, 2002, ABC News reported "Brushes With Death: Scientists Validate Near-Death Experiences" about the same study. Dr. Michael Sabom, an Atlanta cardiologist, found that 43% of cardiac arrest patients had NDEs. Patients with long complicated resuscitations were more likely to have NDEs. He also found that patients who had NDEs frequently

could accurately describe their own resuscitation in detail. In contrast, control group of patients who had cardiac arrests but no NDEs could not describe their own resuscitation with any accuracy

Dr. Kenneth Ring and Sharon Cooper completed a two-year study into the NDEs of the blind. They published their findings in a book entitled "Mindsight" in which they documented the solid evidence of 31 cases in which blind people report visually accurate information obtained during an NDE. Perhaps the best example in his study is that of a forty-five year old blind woman by the name of Vicki Umipeg. Vicki was born blind, her optic nerve having been completely destroyed at birth because of an excess of oxygen she received in the incubator. Yet, she appears to have been able to see during her NDE. Her story is a particularly clear instance of how NDEs of the congenitally blind can unfold in precisely the same way as do those of sighted persons"

These are snap stories from the scientific paper, but if you research there is much more including pod casts by skeptiko, which are worth listening to. Much of the time in the fields discussed in this book scientists pursue an alternative field, much to the disgust of the mainstream. Credit should be given to these scientists who risk great ridicule in the pursuit of the truth

Excersize:

Whereas this subject is tricky to approach and I have left it at the end for personal reasons which will be explained in the finale of the book, "my personal experiences" if does pose questions about our consciousness, and what happens to us when we die, as well as the ones we have loved who have passed before us, it makes you wonder what they feel about our actions since this point and the power of a real message from beyond the veil. Whereas I do not know enough about training you in this area, I think it wouldn't hurt to send a little intentional thought their way.

Get into a meditation position and Envision in your mind a loved one that passed over recently or a while ago one that you hold dear to you, perhaps there were unfinished words or bad feelings, perhaps you done something recently after they passed which you are not proud of. Acknowledge this and send them a message, you forgive them, you are sorry, that you love them, and wish them all the best.

Do this with all of your mindfulness training in mind, try to envision a large white ball of your energy, you know now this energy is love and makes up most of the universe, it is the energy which is dowsed at churches and flows through everything, it is the very essence of life itself, and its this essence you wish to share with them. Try to envision a positive memorable moment

you shared with them. Tell them that you will always love them and remember the time that they had together and that they may go if they wish, they may go to the light with all their other loved ones and that you will be there when the time is right.

When they feel like they're gone slowly try to bring yourself out of the meditation, and envision energy coming through yourself revitalising you, thank the infinite consciousness for allowing you to do this and smile and when you feel ready come out of it.

Note what occurred, and that if nothing else you feel stronger and have resolved a loss from the past, at most you have extended your love to a dear loved one or friend helping them to continue.