I wanted to share some of my ideas on what I believe is the next level in dream work. Over the last 20 years I've seen my lucid dreaming abilities evolve through many stages. The early stages had mainly to do with trying to maintain consciousness during the dream state and then figure out what the symbols and experiences of the dream meant to me. I went through stages of exploring fantasy and eventually tried to solve problems through my dreams. Over the years I found that my ability to express myself improved, as I worked a lot with suppressed emotions both in and out of my dream states.
I do believe that this work leads to greater enlightenment and that enlightenment itself is not a fixed state but in fact a process that continuously grows. The goal of raising the Kundalini in the dream state as a way to greater enlightenment seems to be an interesting way to accelerate the process.
Over the years I've had to deal with the fact that in the lucid dream state I would experience incredible power and freedom (being able to fly, play a musical instrument expertly, or perform a seemingly impossible task with ease or just being able to know things I wouldn't ordinarily know) but when I awakened these powers would not translate into physical experience. The magic, in a sense, was left in the dream. This, of course, is a major frustration with most beginner and advanced lucid dreamers alike. Sometimes it will even cause dreamers to get addicted to the hit of power they get in the lucid dream experience and fixate on that, looking for way to re-create it in the physical. One could get somewhat ungrounded, and as you made the comment before, a lot of new-agers get stuck here (having far out dreams but not being able to balance their checkbooks).
So I feel that the next level of dreaming is being able to use the dream state to actually manifest and that this stage is a necessary step to greater enlightenment for it grounds the powers and abilities inherent in lucid dreaming. For example, one would create a"healing" dream where the dreamer was actually healed while he/she was dreaming, awakening in the morning with the affliction gone.
This could also be applied, I believe, to problem solving and resolution in any area of life. The proof, in a sense, would be in the pudding.
This is my current focus and I've made a lot of progress in this area.
--Daryl, Age 27, Victoria, CANADA
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