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Karim, The Alter Ego
By Karim
Lucid Dreaming Experience Magazine
Vol. 8, No. 2, September 2019
Original Article (pdf)
In my dream group, the dream challenge for the month was to experience the concept of oneness of all life in a way our mind can understand it. Here is the dream I received in response to this incubation.
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I was in an open-air market having a casual conversation with a dream character about some of the items being sold. Suddenly the dream pulled my awareness to a third-person point of view, in the air above the crowd. From there I was observing everything that was happening below and staring down on all the people in the scene, including myself.
The more time I spent in that aerial view, the more I started forgetting that I am Karim. Suddenly I was just an observing awareness: silent, peaceful, still. A thought popped into my head, “You need to get back to your alter ego.”
I thought, “Who’s my alter ego?”
It took me a while to search my mind, but then I had an aha moment. “Here he is. The one down there called Karim is my alter ego!”
With the excitement of having found me, I slammed back into my body fully lucid this time. I was feeling a little confused as to what happened and why. (At this point I did not recollect what I was incubating.)
I asked the larger awareness in the dream about this experience and it responded, “Your deeper awareness has an alter ego, Karim — which is you. Think of it like this: Superman has an alter ego as Clark Kent, and Spiderman has an alter ego as Peter Parker. So does the larger part of you have an alter ego to function in the world.”
For some reason this information pissed me off and I retorted, “I am not something else’s alter ego!” I wasn’t happy to be called that.
I heard a gentle laughter. Then the awareness said, “Well the alter ego is just the outer surface layer of awareness but still part of the entire continuum of the one thing. Think of an amoeba. It has a surface skin. That surface skin is not unlike the alter ego. Essentially you! But it’s still part of the amoeba and not separate from the amoeba at all. You are also awareness!”
Frustrated, we continued our conversation for a while. I don’t recall the middle part of the dream; however, I vividly recall the last part. The awareness was showing me how everything we say, no matter how silly or seemingly unimportant, has a much deeper meaning at the level of the deeper consciousness.
Then, I was having a conversation with someone and I don’t recall exactly what they were saying. It was something about the loveliness of the scene we were watching. We were in an open-air concert with people dancing joyfully and cheering, basically having a good time. I was instantly aware from the comment what was the deeper meaning behind what was said; how it related to something universal and the one consciousness. Everything in that conversation which at the surface seemed to be normal, everyday, random conversation was actually much deeper and much more meaningful. I truly wish I could remember the details of the conversation and the insights behind it to give an example here.
Then I asked the awareness, “This is an amazing level of perception. I can see a few levels deep into the conversation, like the point of view of the deeper awareness when I’m talking or someone else is talking to me. This is totally different than what we think it is at the alter ego state.” (Now I understood why the awareness showed me I’m an alter ego). The awareness said, “Do you actually think you are talking to that lady? Can’t you see it is the one consciousness talking to itself via two alter egos?”
I was totally tripping at that point in the dream! I realized deep inside that this was the truth.
I asked, “Why is it that the one consciousness is not speaking to itself in the void? Why all of this trouble (this creation) to just have a simple conversation?”
The second I finished my question, I felt something instantly grab me and transport me halfway across the universe to arrive at an empty black void. I noticed I was just a floating awareness with no body.
The awareness said, “Do you prefer that we talk here in the emptiness? Or could there be an alternative?”
I was then grabbed again and we started what felt like descending down into the universe. After a while I was noticing galaxies and star systems whizzing by until we arrived at the Milky Way galaxy, then we zoomed down further to our solar system, then to Earth, and we flew all the way down to the ground level.
I suddenly slammed inside my body. I noticed I was sitting in Paris in a coffee shop and a friend was sitting right in front of me having coffee. My friend said, “Or do you prefer this instead? Us here with this amazing background and setting having this tasty coffee while the one consciousness is talking to itself?”
I was a little spooked as my friend was speaking with the voice of the awareness behind the dream.
He then said, “I asked you a question. Do you prefer this?” He raised his hand and clicked his fingers together and all perceptions — lights, sounds, smells, bodily sensations — were gone. We were back in the void again.
The voice proceeded, “Or this?” I heard another finger click and the lights came on and all the sounds, sensations, and perceptions came back on. “Isn’t this a much nicer setting to talk to ourself? I’ll let you ponder this.”
And I woke up.
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In every conversation I’ve been having since then, I’ve been remembering this dream and that nothing anyone says is really unimportant. Everything seems to have a deeper meaning but we need to maintain that level of awareness. As a result, I’m listening better to what people are saying.
Today I had an incident in the waking world. I met a friend of a friend who was telling a mundane story about the first time he ate sushi, which wasn’t too long ago. He told us he ate a big chunk of wasabi, not knowing what it was, and it burned going down his esophagus and how it was hell, and we all laughed at his facial expression.
Suddenly I felt I was pulled back, like in the dream. I realized consciousness was reporting back to consciousness about an experience it had in the waking world when it ate something that was super hot and it felt a burning sensation. It was like almost the feeling of consciousness rejoicing and exhilarated that it had an intense experience in the physical world. Then I was back into my alter ego again, laughing at the story.
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Related Links:
• Lucid Dreaming Notes & Quotes
• Lucid Dreaming Experience Magazine
• Dream Basics
• Lucid Dreaming – Dream Studies Portal (Ryan Hurd)
• Charlie Morley & Lucid Dreaming
• 5 Amazing Spiritual Lucid Dreaming Books You Might Have Missed (Ryan Hurd)
• 3 Must See TED Talks on Lucid Dreaming
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead