Papers and Work of Beverly D'Urso

Less is More: Dream Reports that Tune into Events *

Paper for the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) 2016 PsiberDreaming Conference (PDC)
 © by Beverly D’Urso, PhD

What if we worked with dreams the way the Hindu God functions: create, preserve, and destroy? [1] First, we create the dream. Then, to preserve it, we  record it and create a report. Finally, to make use of the dream for a particular purpose, we destroy the parts that relate to different purposes. I will discuss how to best create dream reports to preserve them, as well as demonstrate a technique I call cutting, where I eliminate, or cut, words from a dream report to end up with a report which matches a possible target of a dream contest or other event.

What purposes do dreams serve? Dreams may help our brains work more efficiently by creating and destroying neural associations. They may bring up emotions that we have not yet effectively processed. I discuss dream emotions in several other papers. [2][3] In some societies, dreams diagnose illness or predict the future. [4] In lucid dreams, we resolve conflicts or have exciting adventures. [5] [6] The purpose of dreams seems endless.

For decades, we have had events at IASD conferences, such as dream contests or games, to demonstrate extra-sensory perception, or ‘psi.’ Throughout my life, I have had many psi dreams where I tuned into a future event. I discuss some of these in another paper. [7] Many of them have occurred during IASD conferences where I predicted a target picture. See FIGURE A .

The telepathy contest at the live IASD conference uses four very distinct pictures chosen by an unknown person, usually from an extremely large pool, such as random internet images. These possible pictures get printed and sealed into envelopes. Another person designated as the sender, secretly chooses one of them, called the target, to focus on during the night. In the morning, people drop their written dream report into one of four boxes, each associated with one of the four pictures.

A panel of judges, including the sender, then choose the dreams that they feel best match the sender’s target picture. Of course, judges differ on how and what they see as a match based upon their own background, ways of sensing, and many other factors. In any case, we have had amazing results. One year, I won the telepathy contest with my dream of cats appearing everywhere when the target picture showed a cat!

During online conferences, we have similar events. One called the group game combines and expands such events. In the game, a group of people submit dreams from one night before several possible pictures get chosen. Then, the group must use all of the submitted dreams to predict which of the possible pictures will get randomly chosen as the target the following day. I focus on these possible pictures while I look at the dream reports to determine if picture and a dream might match if I cut some of the words, while not changing their order.

I have been cutting my own dream reports for many years. At last year’s IASD 2015 PDC, I correctly predicted the target of the group game event by cutting my dream reports, as well as the dream reports of the other participants. See FIGURE D for examples of some these. I seemed to influence the group to predict the correct choice as well.

Cutting could also get used apart from such psi events to more effectively understand dreams in general, but I will focus on how I use it during conference events. Think of my cutting technique as uncovering ‘hidden’ messages in dreams. I will describe my technique, but will begin with how I record my dreams and write up my reports to enhance tuning into an event.

I describe what works for me, but others can modify what I do, hopefully sticking with my main intentions. First of all, I record and transcribe only ‘raw’ dream data into a dream report with no embellishment of the dream story after becoming fully awake. Then, when cutting out parts of the report, I imagine that the dream is taking me into the scene of the target picture, and that I might be describing it from different perspectives.

On the night of a dream event, I ‘ask’ myself when I get into bed, and whenever I awaken in the night, to dream of the target picture. I record my intention as the first entry in my recorder. Sometimes I become lucid in my dream, and I ask again in the dream to see or experience the target picture. I may even go search for it. In some cases, the target appears as an actual picture on a wall or as a photo in a drawer. However, I do not need to become lucid in a dream to discover the target. Many of my best event submissions came from non-lucid dreams. Most often, I find myself inside the scene of the target picture.

I use a digital recorder with raised buttons that I can easily press in the dark to record my dreams all night long on event nights. I usually have about six to ten dreams per night. Two or three of them usually point to the dream target, and often refer to each other. I do not use the recorder of my iPhone because it adds light and takes more steps. I want the simplest function that keeps me in the hazy state of the dream. People who do not wake up with dreams in the middle of the night, do not want to use a recorder, or seem more sensitive to sound than light, can write their last dream as soon as they awaken, using as little movement and light as possible.

I do not use paper and pen because they usually involve light and more movement which disturbs my sleep. It also takes more effort to use my hand and fingers than my voice. My husband does not seem sensitive to sound as much as light, so I can occasionally record with him in bed. However, I usually sleep alone for events. I do keep paper and pen nearby that I can grab in the dark for sketches. I do not wake up enough to make great drawings or wait to draw after fully awake. I have done well in contests by submitting simple squiggly line sketches.

My life work involves having lucidity, or presence, as much as possible in every moment whether awake or asleep. In a lucid dream I know I am dreaming while I am dreaming, but I cannot merely record while in that dream. I have to ‘wake up’ enough to end up with words that I can submit. However, I want to stay as close as possible to the state of my last dream when I record. This includes noticing sensations and emotions. I need this presence to best capture the raw dream data. During event nights, I have often recorded too early, while still in a non-lucid part of a dream. This does not work because my words will not appear on my waking state recorder, but it can act as a helpful rehearsal of the recording.

When I finally get out of bed, I have all my dreams on my recorder, but I usually do not remember most of them. I wait until I feel clear and functional to transcribe them to my computer to create my dream report. I feel it best NOT to embellish the dream story. If I add or change even a few words for clarification, I might lose valuable information. In Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, he agrees that we can better understand dreams by not enhancing the dream story. [8]

Therefore, I only use the exact words that I recorded during the night to create my report, not counting meta information, such as times, titles, themes, and emotions that relate to my dreams. Some people believe that such information can enhance the raw data and assist the judging process. I add this information only if I remained with the emotions, feelings, and sensations of my dream while recording them. After completing my report, and attaching any sketches I made in the night, I always highlight in boldface the words or phrases that seem unusual or just ‘feel’ related to the event target. We call these predictions, and judges look for them when rating any potential winning dream reports.

I also predict which dream will best match the target. When two or three of my dreams have related topics, I predict that the clearest of these will match, while the others provide support. Many judges look only for words in dream reports that match elements of the target picture. I prefer a matches to the environment, location, quality, feel, history, or other aspect of a picture or description. These become clear after the cutting process.  FIGURE B shows how I cut predictions in the IASD 2015 PDC contest.

After everyone submits all their dreams for the night of an event, the possible target pictures get posted. I stay with presence when first viewing the pictures. I don’t react to the pictures which I prefer, but notice if any of them remind me of any parts of my dreams. Then, I begin the process of cutting my report.

When cutting any dream report, perspective seems very important. For example, if the target picture showed people getting their photos taken on the White House lawn, in my dream report I might have described the scene from the perspective of the photographer, one of the photographed people looking at the camera, or someone on the side or above the whole scene. For one contest, I described a man dressed in suit walking in a door. The target picture showed a boy not wearing clothes, but the angle and size of him in relation to the whole picture exactly matched the man in my dreams. Without cutting, no one else would see the connection between my dream man and the target boy.

I realize I may use a type of ‘instinctual’ skill or psi ability when cutting. However, I believe any person who has both a simple dream report, made the way I described, and a picture, can easily notice what matches, especially if they imagine that in the dream they were exploring inside the scene of the picture.

In the IASD 2015 PDC group game, I chose picture D, which we called ‘Jesus on the Mount,’ of the four possible pictures because six of the eight dreams of my report seemed to match it after the cutting. See FIGURE E. I also cut twelve other people’s dream reports that seemed to match this picture. Again, see FIGURE D for examples of some the the cut dreams of others. By posting their cut dream reports, I convinced several of them, and others, to choose this picture as the one of the four that would randomly get chosen as the target the next day. When it did get chosen, I felt very excited and knew that I needed to write this paper.

I will not include my full dream report of eight dreams. I will show two of my six dreams that had matches to the eventual target, using strike-through to demonstrate what I cut, and ‘…’ to show where I made cuts. Note that none of the cut nor non-cut words matched the other possible pictures.

Dream Number 4
4:54 am PDT

BEFORE CUTTING:

[I am in] a church. This person, the woman, is a friend of mine. Just before she goes up to talk, I find out that she doesn’t have very long to live. She is hiding this a little from the audience or the congregation. I know it from the end of the dream. I can’t help it and start to cry and trying to participate in this chant she started. I felt kinda desolated and emotionally drained. I guess we had a longer conversation about all of this before this started.

Note that I use ‘…’ to indicate that I cut some letters or words, but do not change their order nor add any other words.

AFTER CUTTING:

[I am in] a church. This person….. Just before he goes up to talk, I find out that .. he doesn’t have very long to live .. he is hiding this a little from the audience or the congregation. I know it from the end of the dream. I can’t help it and start to cry and trying to participate in this chant.. he started. I felt kinda desolated and emotionally drained….

Note that all of the words in Dream Number 4, which I highlighted as predictions before the possible pictures went up, remained after the cutting.

Dream Number 6:
7:32 am PDT

BEFORE CUTTING:

Dreamed that I was at an event. It was this big circular room with maybe a hundred people. It was supposed to be Wayne Dyer talking, but since he died it was more like a memorial. His daughter was there. I introduced myself. Supposedly, I had met her before. Then we started singing. She would lead the phrase and we would all sing it. It was really beautiful. The thing that surprised me the most were the glasses she had on. She was wearing these really thick glasses, the whole thing was thick, not just the lens. The whole thing was thick – almost like goggles.

AFTER CUTTING:

Dreamed that I was at an event. It was this big circular …with maybe a hundred people. It was supposed to be … talking, but since he died it was more like a memorial. … he would lead … It was really beautiful. ….

Note that at the time of Dream Number 6, Wayne Dyer had just died, I was helping my son get glasses, and I was swimming daily with a mask similar to goggles. This demonstrates another reason I cut these parts.

FIGURE C summarizes the matches from my six dreams after cutting them all.

I could use this cutting technique for many other purposes besides matching event targets, such as to see if my dreams match ‘regular’ life events or locations. In these cases, if I didn’t have a picture, I would need some description of the event or location. I could also more easily discover ‘messages’ imbedded in my dreams after I cut parts of my dream report that relate to my recent experiences, such as movies I just watched. I’d love to hear about people’s use of my cutting technique, and how my suggestions of preserving dreams and creating reports may have helped them make better use of their dreams. **

REFERENCES:

[1] Trimurti in http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Trimurti

[2] Emotions, Intentions, and Implications of Knowing I Dream in the Moment in http://wedreamnow.info/?p=394
[3] Lucidity and Self-Realization through Emotional Surrender in http://wedreamnow.info/?p=391
[4] What Purpose Do Dreams Serve? in http://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/dreams/facts-about-dreams/purpose-of-dreams
[5] Amazing Dreamers: Interview with Beverly D’Urso in http://lucidbeverly.com/Dreamtime_Interview.pdf
[6] Lucid Dreaming and Self Realization in  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization
[7] Beyond Space and Time: Personal Experiences with Psi Dreaming in  http://wedreamnow.info/?cat=5
[8]  The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Dreams

FOOTNOTES:
[*] I write without the verb ‘to be’, other than when I need to demonstrate the continuous, as in ‘I am dreaming.’ We call this e-prime and it helps with presence. I used the word ‘is’ in my title because this common phrase: Less is More really seemed to fit!

[**] Try cutting the following phrase to find the hidden message.: Thinking too much makes Life seem fast while it is going slowly but feeling is delicious but not too much because I must have a dream.  Description = My favorite song!

You can read the interview here:   http://lucidbeverly.com/Dreamtime_Interview.pdf

Leaping Out of Dreams

Paper for the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) 2015 PsiberDreaming Conference (PDC)
 © by Beverly D’Urso, PhD

What if a dream character gets stuck in a dream? Why does a person become frustrated? How does a spiritual seeker reach enlightenment? None of them realize they are dreaming, so what can they do? Becoming aware of internal struggles and allowing all experiences can help, but who really wakes up?

When a human falls asleep, it can have unique experiences as a dream character. We call these experiences dreams. Dreams can have particular value if the dreamer, the one asleep, becomes lucid. The distinction between the dream character and the dreamer seems important to understanding lucidity. In a sense, the “mind” of the dream character expands more into the “mind” of the dreamer. From my perspective, the dreamer, not the dream character, gets lucid to some degree within the dream, and sometimes the dreamer only gets partially lucid.

The dreamer can have profound experiences by falling asleep and entering what can feel like a realistic and three-dimensional world. This allows the dream character to have a life of its own. The lucid dreamer can decide that the dream character will have experiences, such as the feeling of flying to the sun, which do not seem possible when the dreamer is not sleeping.

Design your own dreams [4]

If the dream character naturally has such experiences and recognizes their unique flavor, lucidity increases. When the dream character realizes that it, as well as every element of the dream, exists as a figment of the “mind” of the dreamer, the dream character acts with less fear and treats others differently. This realization can also help the dreamer understand itself, or merely create some interesting dramas.

When a dream character’s attempt to wake up out of a dream fails, the dreamer likely has only partial lucidity. If a character really knew it existed as an element of a dream, it would feel confident that the dreamer will eventually wake up when appropriate. This happens easily when the dream character and the dreamer absolutely know themselves as one and the same, although this process might get overrun by the “truer self” of the dreamer defined below.

With such deep lucidity, a dream character can wake up out of dreams. I learned early in my life, however, not to wake up out of a dream to avoid difficult situations. At the age of seven, I first viewed a recurring nightmare as a dream. In the nightmare, I wanted desperately to change my experience, and I felt powerless to do so. I surrendered to the experience of the dream completely at the same moment that I knew without a doubt that I was dreaming. This resulted in my first lucid dream.

After this, as a lucid dreamer, I often woke myself up out of dreams when it seemed appropriate, although my dreams often got repeated if I woke myself up because of resistance. In any case, I didn’t always have full lucidity. Occasionally, I would dream that I was falling forever. Feeling that I was dreaming, I wanted desperately to wake up. Through the years, I tried many potential solutions. If I still had a body, I might attempt to fall asleep in the dream. Years later, I learned to meditate in the dream instead. When I relaxed, my inner struggle slowed down, and I woke up more easily, usually at the moment that I surrendered completely to my experience.

Waking up out of a dream became more difficult when I dreamed of myself as mere consciousness in a state of endless nothingness without a body, which I have called dreams of the “gray space.” Eventually, I trusted that I would wake up when appropriate. This helped, as long as I didn’t expect to wake up immediately. Understanding that consciousness alternates between deep sleep and dreams, allowed me to calmly wait to wake up into another dream or get to deeper sleep. I later viewed my waking life as just another “dream.”

Stephen LaBerge: The Doctor of Dreams [5]

By the time I began lucid dreaming research at the Stanford sleep lab, waking myself up out of dreams seemed simple. I would consciously fall into a lucid dream and signal with my dream character’s eyes that I knew I was dreaming. Then, my dream character would perform a task and signal that the dreamer planned to wake up shortly, again without losing consciousness. EEG machines with electrodes recorded all this as it happened. They also demonstrated that I was physically sleeping the whole time and that my signals occurred during REM sleep.

Since then, I have taught and presented on lucid dreaming for many decades and have heard from countless lucid dreamers. Many of them write to me about their struggle to control their dream, remain in the dream, or wake themselves up. One person actually attempted suicide as a dream character in order to wake up out of a dream, only to have the frustrating dreams continue night after night. I tell people to trust their current experience and learn to surrender to it as much as possible, without attempting to change it. Only the dreamer can make changes, and only after the dream serves its purpose. The dream character who doesn’t know itself as the dreamer cannot do much.

In recent decades, my interests in lucidity have grown to include not only the sleeping state, but the waking state as well. Since 1990, I have taught and presented on what I call “lucid living,” or viewing life as a lucid dream. This has led me to the study of psychological-based spirituality.

Spiritual seekers often get told that they are sleeping, and that they need to wake themselves up to become enlightened. I view enlightenment as waking up within one’s life. Similar to partially lucid dreamers, spiritual seekers can feel frustrated and struggle to become enlightened. Can humans actually make themselves enlightened or wake themselves up? When they do become enlightened, who really wakes up?

As when I distinguished the dream character from the dreamer, a distinction between what I’ll call a “human” and their “truer nature” seems important. I use the term human as a shortcut for an earthborn person in waking life. In my work, I view this truer nature as part of the Dreamer of life [1]. The spiritual teacher, Almaas, refers to the soul [2] and Living Being [3]. Others call this truer nature an aspect of God.

This truer nature can have interesting experiences by becoming human and entering what can feel like a realistic and three-dimensional world. The process allows the human to have a life of its own. In my work, I view the human’s life as a “dream,” often with unique time/space issues [1]. A human’s truer nature can decide that it will have experiences that don’t seem possible when it is not sleeping. To learn about itself, or for the sake of drama, it might need to experience frustration or judgment as a human, while its truer nature’s natural essence involves power and acceptance.

I learned to use my dreams to improve my life [6]

If the human naturally has such experiences and recognizes their unique flavor, enlightenment increases. When the human realizes that it, as well as every element of its world, exists as a figment of its truer nature, the human acts with less fear and treats others differently. This realization also helps its truer nature understand itself. Therefore, the truer nature of a human becomes enlightened, or wakes up within its life, not the human. Almaas says that “the ‘soul’ wakes up” [2] and that “‘Living Being’ attains enlightenment.” [3]

When a human’s attempt to become enlightened fails, its truer nature probably has only partial enlightenment. If a human really knew it existed as an element of its truer nature, it would feel confident that its truer nature will eventually become enlightened when appropriate. Perhaps spiritual teachers should aim to have the truer nature of a human become lucid, or realize, in a sense, that it is dreaming, instead of asking a human to wake up.

With deep enlightenment, I also believe that a human can wake up out of its life. I compare waking up out of life to death. My sleep experiences lead me to believe that after death a human’s true nature continues a life/waking up cycle. However, it might have an experience similar to my gray space or remain in deep sleep, or total non-experience. In any case, what can a human do but accept its current experience, not struggle to change it, and let its truer nature deal with its death? Most likely, life and death happen most effectively when a human and its truer nature absolutely know themselves as one and the same.

In conclusion, becoming aware of internal struggles and allowing all experiences can lead both dream characters and humans to act with less fear, treat others differently, and have valuable insights. Becoming lucid involves waking up within a dream. With enough lucidity, easily waking up out of a dream can happen. Becoming enlightened involves waking up within life. With enough enlightenment, easily dying, or waking up out of life, seems possible as well. With a dualistic perspective, I have distinguished the dream character from the dreamer and a human from its true nature in order to better understand lucidity and enlightenment. However, when the dream character fully knows itself as the dreamer and the human fully knows itself as its truer nature, the dualistic perspective becomes non-dual.

References

[1] Lucid Dreaming-Lucid Living: Papers and Work of Beverly D’Urso, 1982 – 2015. http://wedreamnow.info/
[2]  Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality. A. H. Almaas, Shambhala Publications, December 11, 2012. http://www.ahalmaas.com/books/inner- journey-home
[3]  Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery. A.H.Almaas, Shambhala, October 21, 2014. http://ahalmaas.com/books/runaway-realization
[4]  “Design your own dreams,” about Beverly Kedzierski (D’Urso), Omni Magazine, March, 1982.
[5]  “Stephen LaBerge: The Doctor of Dreams,” about Beverly Kedzierski (D’Urso), LIFE Magazine, November, 1986.
[6]  “I learned to use my dreams to improve my life,” about Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso, First for Women Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 26, June 24, 1996.

Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso, Ph.D.
September 30, 2013

A lucid dreamer all her life, Beverly has presented at conferences and workshops for four decades. She researched lucid dreaming with Dr. Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University while completing her MS degree, involving Cognitive Psychology, and her PhD., focussing on Artificial Intelligence. Before her careers as a researcher, consultant, college instructor, and speaker/writer, she created several start-up companies. Beverly has published over seventy papers, and many books and documentaries have featured her work. She currently serves as a member of the Diamond Approach Ridhwan School and Seminary of A. H. Almaas and maintains the websites:

http://durso.org/beverly/ and    http://wedreamnow.info/

In ten words or less how would you define/creatively encapsulate what lucid dreaming is/can be?

Lucidity expands one’s sense of self and potential in life

At what point in your life did you discover this practice, and how did its implications affect your life, both waking and dreaming?

I first ‘knew I dreamed while dreaming’ at the age of seven when I surrendered to a recurring nightmare. At age twenty-five, I discovered that people call this lucid dreaming. I served as the main subject for lucid dreaming research at Stanford University during the 1980s. Since then, I have presented on what I call Lucid Living, which means to live life as a lucid dream. Lucid living serves as a type of spiritual self-actualization. It has allowed me to understand my connection with everyone, including what some call God, to know unlimited potential in life, and to live with less fear.

Do you think there exists a direct correlation between lucid dreaming and stimulating one’s creativity?

Lucid dreaming stimulates creativity directly. I can play in my own three-dimensional world and try out anything imaginable.

Can lucid dreams be used to heal the human body?

I practice ‘healing’ in lucid dreams all the time because I learned from my laboratory research and my own experience that what I happens in my dreams, especially my lucid dreams, affects my physical body.

Have you heard about the NovaDreamer, developed by the Lucidity Institute, a mask meant to light up during REM sleep and cue the dreamer that he or she is dreaming? If so what are your thoughts on this?

I helped create the original NovaDreamer as well the Lucidity Institute that sold them. I have had profound lucid dreams using it, although I naturally have lucid dreams on a regular basis since childhood. The NovaDreamer acts a a cue to ask: “Am I dreaming right now?” Even without any induction device, if I ask this question often enough, I will naturally ask it in a dream. Then, if I have enough awareness or presence when I ask it, I will know that I am dreaming in the moment.

Is there the potential for lucid dreaming to become dangerous for someone?

Non-lucid dreamers think that they are not dreaming when they are dreaming. Lucid dreamers know when they are dreaming. I experience many levels of lucidity. With only partial lucidity, I have occasionally felt frustrated, but not nearly as much as I have from non-lucid dreams. I often advise others, “If you want to jump off a cliff, try floating first!”

Tell me briefly about one of the most interesting lucid dreams you have had or heard about, or one of the most interesting things you have discovered about lucid dreaming.

I discovered that lucid dreaming acts as a metaphor for spiritual self-realization in the waking state.

My First Lucid Dream

I dreamed of gruesome witches who would sneak out of my closet and come after me. Just before they would devour me, I’d wake up. After years of this recurring dream, I’d find myself pleading with the witches hovering over me, “Please, spare me tonight. You can have me in tomorrow night’s dream!” At that point, they’d stop their attack and I’d wake up.

I would often lie in bed and tell myself that the witches only came in my dreams. I tried to get myself to remember this the next time they appeared. In one dream, at the age of seven, those horrifying witches caught up to me. The instant before I started to plead with them, the thought flashed through my mind, “If I ask them to take me in tomorrow night’s dream, then I must be dreaming right now!”

I completely faced my fear, knowing I was dreaming. I looked the witches, who still looked very scary, straight in the eye and said, “What do you want?”  They gave me a disgusting look, but I felt safe in my dream, and I continued, “Take me now. Let’s get this over with!”  I watched with amazement, as they quickly disappeared into the night.

Some lucid dreamers may have turned the witches into something less scary. I believe that my choice of surrendering to my fear and controlling only my reaction served as an excellent choice for my first lucid dream.

I never had the witch nightmare in this form again. However, I later had new episodes with the witches in my dreams, using them as my creative power. I learned to surrender to similar witch scenarios in my waking life, and much later, I understood that my original nightmare likely resulted from an accident I had at eighteen months.

I will give you the list of my top ten sleep state lucid dreams:

Beverly D’Urso’s “Top 10” Lucid Dreaming Experiences

1. I met myself at a much younger age and she told me that, “Everything is perfect as it is!” and I finally believed it.
2. I got my childhood nightmare ‘witches,’ now seen as my creative power, to help me get pregnant.
3. I walked inside my uterus while pregnant and found twins, later verified by ultrasound.
4. I overcame writer’s block by writing my Ph.D. proposal and soon finished my degree.
5. I gave a ‘healing’ to a friend’s child and he got better.
6. I nursed my ‘baby-self’ when I felt sad when my mom had to stay in the hospital.
7. I made love to the guru, whose ashram I escaped from out of fear.
8. I introduced my husband to my deceased father, who had died before my husband and I met.
9. I intentionally looked for the contents of target pictures and won first place in a number of dream contests.
10. I flew to ‘infinity and beyond’ using a mathematical method that I didn’t know about.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in beginning to practice lucid dreaming?

Don’t ever assume that you are not dreaming. Record your dreams and discuss them. Pick a simple task that you can try in a lucid dream. Look for clues, such as meeting someone whom you remember has ‘died’ or feeling yourself floating in air. Ask yourself often, “Am I dreaming right now?” Remain open to the possibility without acting upon it until you know for sure that you are dreaming.

What are the biggest benefits of lucid dreaming, and do you think the practice can help people who deal with depression or night terrors?

As my first lucid dream demonstrates, lucid dreaming can definitely help with nightmares or night terrors. You can have amazing adventures. Most important of all, you can experience a world where anything can happen, where you have no fear, and where you understand that you and all others represent aspects of your truer self. Then, you can take it to the next level and experience your waking state this way as well.

Expansion of Self, Consciousness, and Lucidity While Awake or Asleep

by
Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso, Ph.D.   Copyright  © 2012

http://www.durso.org/beverly/

http://wedreamnow.info/

Presentation for the Science and Non-duality Conference: “The Nature of the Self,” San Rafael, CA, October 2012

Spiritual teachers talk about “Being in the Present Moment.” For me, this appropriately describes the point of becoming lucid in a dream. I believe that lucid dreaming can help even non-dreamers better understand self-realization.

I see lucidity in the sleeping state as a microcosm of self-realization in the waking state, which I study in my spiritual work. At this point, I follow the Diamond Approach path of A. H. Almaas as a member of the Ridhwan School and Seminary. Almaas, namely Hameed, spoke here last night as an invited keynote address.

Today, I will show how lucidity actually relates to what I call expansion of self, and what it means to have levels of lucidity when asleep or awake.

Beverly and Stephen

I did not know the term lucid dreaming until the late 1970’s, when I had the opportunity to do lucid dream research with Dr. Stephen Laberge at Stanford University before and after completing my MS degree that focused on Cognitive Psychology and my PhD that involved Artificial Intelligence.

Just before this, I discovered that I my dreams since the age of seven get called lucid dreams. In one memorable one, I faced my fears of the scary witches from my recurring childhood nightmares.

One night, I looked the scary witches in the eye and simply said, “Okay, what do you want? Let’s get this over with! I have used this experience to enhance my dreams and my life in numerous ways ever since.

Lucid dreaming simply means that I know I dream while I dream. It does not necessarily imply control of the dream as popular media often suggests, although it does involve more than merely having clarity or awareness.

Dream World Picture

I define the term dream as an experience of an outer world made up of characters, actions, and an environment that an expanded self has helped create. I define the term expanded self as a collective mind, and not merely the brain in the head asleep on a pillow.

The waking state fits my definition of a dream, hence my work gets called Lucid Dreaming/Lucid Living. I say that Beverly sleeps while her dream self plays and Beverly plays while an expanded self sleeps. In other words, I say I dream in any moment where a ‘me’ exists to have an experience.

With lucidity, I see myself as more than just my body, I view anything as possible, and I see everyone and everything as parts of an expanded self.

Beverly’s   website

I started giving presentations on lucidity in 1986 for the annual International Association of the Study of Dreaming conferences, both in-person and, in the last decade, online as well. You can find most of my seventy publications on one of my websites, for example: www.wedreamnow.info. You might wonder why I gave the site the name wedreamnow.

The current state I find myself in serves as the most important one for me, and I tend to say that we dream now in every moment. However, I don’t say we, in this room, exist in my dream, but in our dream, which comes from the collective mind I described earlier.

By a show of hands, how many people here feel we might exist in a dream right now?

CHART THREE LEVELS

I will refer to a chart called Levels of Self or Consciousness where I show how my sense of self expands or contracts. This does not necessarily occur, however, in a linear fashion, which I will show for sake of simplicity.

I feel that only one reality exists, and my experience depends upon my level of lucidity. I do, however, discuss two states, namely the waking state and the sleeping dream state. I use this time-related distinction because people typically say they dreamed in the past or will dream in the future.

Therefore, I have divided the chart into columns for the WAKING STATE and the SLEEPING STATE. It describes three major levels: non-lucidity, lucidity, and beyond lucidity. The actions at each level occur in, or relate to, one of the two major states.

At different times in my life, I may have dreams that I can’t even recall, while in my waking state I seem very lucid. The opposite can occur as well. Also, I can lose and gain lucidity in a single moment.  At each level, different methods can encourage such expansion. Only a few will get discussed in this rather short presentation.

CHART OF Witch Dialog

In developing my chart, I will give some examples of issues with my spouse and my witches. I summarize how my levels expanded as a child and beyond in the following way.

I feel scared.

The witches scared me last night

I see witches, so maybe I am dreaming.

Take me in tomorrow night’s dream

Witches, what do you want?

Witches, come help me

Thanks for serving as my creative power, witches!

Note that I discovered much later in life that the witch dream scenario almost perfectly matched a terrible accident I had at eighteen months old when I broke my collar-bone.
CHART EACH LEVEL

I label the first two levels non-lucidity because at these levels, I don’t have much awareness in the moment. I call the first one the contracted level. At this level, I do not reflect (11) upon what I do. When I act at this level in either state, I may blame, suffer, laugh, or just simply not pay attention.

In the sleeping state, I may have what we typically call dreams, but I do not recall them, let alone recognize them in the moment.

In either state, when I notice after the fact that I have acted, for example, in hurtful ways, I call this the level of reflection. I have not expanded enough to notice or change my actions in the moment, but I can recall life issues, or dreams from my past, and learn from them.

At this level, I remember sleep state dreams only after they happen, and therefore they get called non-lucid dreams.
For example, to reduce my tendency to always blame others in the waking state, I may seek therapy.  To learn from my dreams, I may join a dream group. At this reflection level, I likely feel limited, and I view my world as unchangeable.

At this level in the waking state, I might yell at my spouse and blame him for my hurt feelings. In the sleeping state, I might try to run away from scary witches that chase me.

After the fact, I might try to figure out ways in which I can deal with my feelings concerning my spouse or the witches the next time I face them.  Before I went to sleep as a child, I did, in fact, begin to think about how the witches only came in dreams.
The next levels I label lucidity. Whether in the waking state or the sleeping state, when I really pay attention to my environment and my body, and I inquiry into my assumptions, my level expands.

The first level of lucidity I call semi-lucid. At this level, in the previous examples, I might notice in the moment that the source of my hurtful experience does not come from my spouse. In the case of the witches, I might question if I am dreaming.

The mere act of inquiring brings me to this semi-lucid level, even if I do not know for certain that I dream in the moment. As a young child, I remember asking the witches to “Spare me tonight, and take me in tomorrow night’s dreams.”
The next level I call lucid. I often experience expanded potential and more awareness. In the waking state, with even partial lucidity, I find that small frustrations disappear quickly, and I experience more presence. I focus on the present moment, and feelings of ambition or regret don’t come up. Time tends to disappear. I see my life as a dream.

When I know I dream while I dream in the sleep state, my fear decreases and my mind clears. I do not have to ‘do’ anything, but merely realize that I dream while I dream.

If I question my assumptions, especially when I do not feel positive about what I am experiencing, it can help me respond in more appropriate and creative ways. I call this level more lucid.

My response to what happens comes from an expanded self. I can accept what happens in the moment and easily surrender to, and fully face, painful or scary situations.

I have done this in the waking state, for example when a doctor told me I needed a certain procedure that at first I refused due to fear. When I noticed several personal lucidity clues. I became more lucid. The whole procedure lost much of its fear element and made sense.

In a similar way, in my sleeping state at the age of seven, I faced up to the witches while they still appeared scary, instead of running away or first turning them into something more acceptable.

At what I call very lucid level, I feel that I can realize interesting dramas in my both my sleeping state and the waking state. Some experiences I have had in my sleeping dreams also seemed to enhance my waking life, and vice versa. For example, we actually showed in the lab that we affect, to some degree, our physical bodies in our dreams.

I believe that the powers I get at a very lucid level in the sleeping state, such as the ability to fly, relate to the aspects of essence studied in the Diamond Approach, such as strength or peace.

However, I have noticed that many people unrealistically expect to get to this very lucid level the first time they attempt to have a lucid dream in their sleeping state.

Through the years, I have attempted to teach people how to have a lucid dream. I even helped develop the first versions of lucidity induction devices, those computerized sleep masks you may have seen.

Still, for me, the process has always seemed very natural. Lately, I have created workshops to help people fully experience their emotions in any state, as a way to gain lucidity.

In the waking state, I feel that lucidity has helped me realize many lifelong, heart-felt desires, such as finishing my Ph.D., finding a life-long mate, having a child, dealing with grief, and healing my body.

I did all these with an attitude of intention, presence, and acceptance, and not with what gets typically gets called ‘will power.’ I discuss all this in several of my lucid living and surrender publications on wedreamnow.info.

At a very lucid level in my sleeping state, I can do things, such as fly through walls, heal, talk to quote ‘people who have died,’ get valuable information, and much, much more.

In my final level of lucidity, I still experience a dualist world, but really know all parts as ‘One.’ I call this the level of most lucidity. Many spiritual teachers describe this state of no separation, but rather a connection with everything they experience.

At this most lucid level, I listen carefully to what others have to say to me. I may try to find ways to show I agree with them, instead of just defending myself, as I would when acting from more contracted levels, because I know us both as parts of an expanded self.
Many years ago, in a sleeping state lucid dream, I was giving a presentation at a conference similar to this one. Suddenly I stopped when I became what I felt as most lucid. I assumed that all the people in the audience existed only in Beverly’s mind, so I felt I had no need to continue presenting.

Now, I refer to others, as well as Beverly, as all parts of an expanded self that flourishes as all of its parts expand. In the style of a bodhisattva, I say that I won’t experience complete lucidity, as long as I see those around me as not experiencing lucidity as well.

Remember, each level I describe builds upon the earlier ones, and I can act from any of these levels at any moment, while awake or asleep. I do still sometimes jump among them depending upon the situation, but I don’t feel pressure to get to any particular level. I merely practice noticing my level in the moment.

The last level I will describe I call beyond lucidity. I have experienced this level in my sleeping dreams, but despite the energy received, I do not strive for it, as a master on a ‘mountain top’ might do.

At this level, I no longer seem to have a body nor an environment. You might say that I merge into what one might call vibration, sound, and light, and then into nothingness, or what I also call everythingness.

From my current perspective, I could describe this as expansion or awakening into ‘Being,’ or ‘Source’ or ‘God.’ I prefer the term ‘Dreamer,’ with a capital ‘D’.

Any questions or comments?

END SLIDE

I have copies of this presentation and cards to give to out after this session. I will also put this presentation on my websites next week.  Thank you again.

LEVELS OF SELF OR CONSCIOUSNESS

Non-lucidity

I feel scared

The witches scared me last night.
Lucidity

I see witches, so maybe I am dreaming.

Take me in tomorrow night’s dream, witches.

Witches, what do you want?

Witches, come help me.

Thanks for serving as my creative power, witches.

LEVELS OF SELF OR CONSCIOUSNESS

WAKING                        SLEEPING

Non-lucidity

Contraction

No reflection                        No dream recall
Reflection

Recall past issues                        Recall non-lucid dreams

Study your life                        Study your dreams

Lucidity

Semi-lucid

Question assumptions             Question if dreaming
Lucid

Experience Presence            Know you are dreaming

More lucid

Respond not react in life            Respond not react in dreams

Very lucid

Realize desires in life            Realize desires in dream

Most lucid

View all in life as ONE            View all in dream as ONE

Beyond lucidity

Non-duality
BIOGRAPHY

A lucid dreamer all her life, Beverly has presented at conferences and workshops for four decades. While at Stanford University, she did research with Dr. Stephen LaBerge. Prior to careers as a researcher, consultant, college instructor, and speaker/writer, she created several start-up companies. She has over seventy publications and serves as a member of the Diamond Approach Ridhwan School and Seminary of A. H. Almaas.     http://wedreamnow.info/

Emotions, Intentions, and Implications of

Knowing I Dream in the Moment

Workshop for the 2012

International Association for the Study of Dreams PsiberDreaming Conference

© Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso, Ph.D

I have learned through my involvement in Lucid Dreaming/Lucid Living [1], as well as through my spiritual school and seminary [2], that becoming lucid, or knowing I dream while I dream, allows me to expand into the dreamer of the dream in the same way that self-realization allows masters to expand into Beingness. In other words, expanding into the dreamer in the sleeping dream state serves as a microcosm of expanding into Beingness in the waking state.

When I get lucid, I can draw from the powers, also called aspects of essence, of my expanded self that exist beyond my sleeping-dream-self or even my waking-personality-self. These powers allow me to, for example, experience unusual magic in my sleeping state or amazing strength in my waking state.

I view the implications of lucidity, a way of understanding self-realization, as more valuable than the adventures I had when I first began having lucid dreams, or at least more important to this period of my life. The implications of lucidity, such as knowing that I exist as more than just my body, help me better understand how I define myself, my potential, and my world.

To understand what I mean by implications, it helps to have had a lucid dream. In order to become lucid, I regularly question whether I might be dreaming in the present moment. I do this in my sleeping state or my waking state because I view any state as a dream if I experience a body and/or an environment [3]. I also sense, look, and listen for clues, such as unusual situations in my environment and my body.

Two of my favorite ways to become lucid involve: (1) fully experiencing my strong, difficult emotions, such as the fear of facing the scary witches of my recurring childhood nightmare [4], and (2) clearly knowing my heart-felt intentions, such as my deep desire to get married, raise a child, and experience connection. Note that my heart-felt intentions seem to get realized not by control, but merely by my expansion into Beingness, or what I call the Dreamer of life, when I do not resist the process.

In this workshop, you will come up with ways that you block your emotions and intentions, as well as discover your own implications of knowing that you dream in the moment. I have created an exercise that requires spontaneous answers to specific questions. I modeled this exercise after the exercises of the Diamond Approach spiritual path [5]. In the Appendix, I’ll give some sample answers to the exercise questions. You may want to try the exercise both before and after you read the sample answers.

The exercise works best when done with a partner. You can pick someone from this conference as a partner and set up a Skype session or phone call. This will help both of you get to know each other better, as well. Alternatively, you can choose a friend or family member as a partner. You might both benefit from recording the exercise.

If you do not want to work with a partner, you will have to both ask and answer the questions yourself. You can speak them into an audio recorder, write them down on paper, or type them up.

The exercise attempts to access your subconscious ideas and beliefs, so try to respond as spontaneously as possible. Do not spend time ‘thinking.’ Just say whatever comes to mind. With a partner, the exercises should take about half an hour, or if you work alone, about fifteen minutes.

I will present a series of three questions. Each partner will take a total of five minutes to answer the question over and over again during his or her turn. This amounts to ten minutes per question or thirty minutes for the entire exercise. A timer helps, or at least a clock.

The exercise works like this:

Partner A asks partner B the question, exactly as it appears, for B’s turn at answering. B responds with a quick answer of a few words or a few sentences for approximately ten or twenty seconds.

After B answers, A says “Thank you,” and asks the same question again. B responds with a new answer to the same question, and A says “Thank you” again.

If B says nothing after about twenty seconds, A merely says “Thank you,” and then asks the same question again. Use common sense for the timing, and let the exercise flow in a natural manner. A must not say anything but the question, exactly as it appears, and “Thank you” during B’s turn.

This process of A always asking the same question over and over again, and B always answering, goes on for five minutes.

Then, the partners switch, where B asks and A answers, in the same manner as above, again for five minutes.

After both partners work with the first question, they move on to the second question for five minutes each. Finally, they both work with the third question.

Questions:

1.) Tell me a way you avoid experiencing your feelings.

2.) Tell me how you get in the way of fulfilling your intentions.

3.) What does it say about you and reality when you know you are dreaming?

In conclusion, you can become lucid by fully experiencing your difficult emotions, especially the strong ones that occur often. Remaining conscious of your heart-felt intentions in the moment can help them come true through the power of your expanded self. Finally, the implications of knowing you dream in the moment, or becoming lucid, can assist you in better understanding how you define yourself, your potential, and your world.

After you complete the exercise and reflect upon your results, post your comments and answers to share with others if you wish.

Appendix:

Sample answers:

Question 1: Tell me a way you avoid experiencing your feelings.

I don’t stay in the present moment.

I justify them.

I discharge them, for example by yelling.

I see myself as too mature to have them.

I numb myself with too much food, etc.

I wake myself up.

Question 2: Tell me how you get in the way of fulfilling your intentions.

I don’t believe I can fulfill them.

I think I must do so in a certain way.

I focus on something going wrong.

I get caught up in activities.

I don’t make my intentions clear.

I think that I don’t have enough time.

Question 3: What does it say about you and reality when you know you are dreaming?

I can take risks.

I don’t need to struggle nor worry.

I view all that I experience as part of my expanded self.

I see unlimited possibilities.

I know that I exist as more than just the body that I currently experience.

I recognize a different reality in which I sleep.

References

[1]             Lucid Dreaming-Lucid Living: Papers and Work of Beverly D’Urso.

http://wedreamnow.info/

[2]             The Ridhwan Foundation. The nonprofit spiritual organization established to support and preserve the integrity of the Diamond Approach teaching.

http://www.ridhwan.org/

[3]             Could You Be Dreaming Now? D’Urso. D’Urso, Beverly (Kedzierski Heart).

Workshop Presented at the IASD PsiberDreaming Conference, September 2011.

http://wedreamnow.info/?p=294

[4]             Lucidity and Self-Realization through Emotional Surrender. D’Urso, Beverly (Kedzierski Heart). Paper Presented at the IASD 29^th Annual Dream Conference, Berkeley, CA., June 2012.

http://wedreamnow.info/?p=384

[5]             The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence. Almaas, A.H., Shambhala, June 2008.

http://ahalmaas.com/Books/unfolding_now.html