You are awake, you are concentrating your attention to reading, and you are aware of your environment as well. You can see the furniture of your room, you can hear the call of the birds from the nearby forest. You are also aware of your thoughts and emotions. How can anyone claim that you are asleep at this very moment?
Naturally, you – just like everyone else – sleeps at night. Yes, sometimes you see dreams while you sleep, but right now it is daytime, you are awake. So how could you see dreams?
You Imagine a Whole World Around Yourself
I believe that you do not only sleep at night, but also during the daytime. I believe that in your present state of consciousness, your greatest illusion is that you think you are awake. I believe that in your present existence, your greatest illusion is when you think that you are alert. What I see is that in your present state of consciousness you are asleep, and at present you are dreaming, and what you see and hear are all parts of your dream.
Your nighttime sleep is only different from your daytime sleep in that in the night your dreams are less active. During the day, you imagine a whole world around you, and you play an active role in that dream. Your personal history takes place in that world, and identifying with that world shapes your personal identity.
At present, you are dreaming that as a part of your personal history you are reading these lines while identifying with the role of the spiritual seeker, and you are outraged by what you are actually reading.
The question may arise, ‘why do I claim that you are asleep and dreaming now?’. Well, from the state of consciousness I call Alertness, I can see that you are asleep, you believe yourself to be a separate self, you are a captive of the works of your mind.
You are not Present
What is the evidence for me to say that you are now asleep and, as a citizen of a dreamland, you are dreaming that you are awake?
It is because you are not present. To be present means that you are fully alert, attentive, and conscious in the present moment. Whatever you do, you do that fully consciously, you focus your entire attention on that particular activity.
Do you feel free to declare that you are present in every moment of your life?
What does it mean to be awake? It has happened to all of us that we have come under the spell of a moment, at some time during our life. A beautiful landscape, a sunset, a beautiful piece of art, the rhythm of music enchanted us. It may even happen that we are just lost in the silence of a peaceful moment. The identification with the forms and shapes loosens a little bit for a short while, and in that instant, we may experience an entirely different state of Consciousness.
You Live in a Separate World
How deep you sleep may depend on how realistic you find your dreams, how much you identify with your identity embedded in your personal history. The less alert you are, and the deeper you submerge into your dreams, the more isolated, solitary and individualistic you will become.
Every sleeper –including you– has a separate world, only those who exist in the state of Conscious Alertness (the true Lucid Dreaming) have a common, shared reality. All those different and separate worlds are created by the mind, which generates the state of separateness: the Ego, which appears as the focus of our identification with our thoughts and emotions. Thus everybody has a separate identity, personal history, individual world view and methods of action.
Sometimes suffering alarms you from your sleep, but then you hasten to return to it, and start a new dream, a new objective in life, new ideals, passion, ambition that confirms your connection with your identity, rooted in your personal history.
The Reasons of Your Sleep
The reason of you sleeping is that you are not alert, only awake. Only one dimension of Alertness is present in you. Although you are able to focus your attention on your internal emotions and your environment, in your present state of Consciousness you are still powerfully identified with your mind and its functions.
You are therefore drifting on the stormy ocean of your thoughts and emotions day by day, and the space necessary for the emergence of a contemplating Witness is missing from you. You still identify with your thoughts and emotions. These generate the dreams of the Mind, in which you live as a separate self, and try to find the ways of safely navigating your life on the stormy sea.
Longing for Freedom
In this separate state of Consciousness, the lack of Alertness may appear as a desire for freedom. This desire emerges from your real self, as your mind remembers its origins. This atavistic memory of the ancient past is the quiet attraction that will eventually take you back to Silence.
This deep desire will only cease if you become alert again, that is, you will not be awake but also alert. Then the Consciousness awakens to its own existence in the human form you at present call yourself.
Only giving up the struggle with the thoughts and emotions and the recognition of the futility of insisting on them will bring you the real freedom, The freedom of independence of the functions of the mind.
Alertness, the awakened Consciousness, the world of internal silence are all beyond the functions of the mind. If you wish to reach beyond the identification with your thoughts and emotions, if you recognize the functions of the mind and the intensity of your identification with them loosens, you may become alert again, in the quiet, pure space of Consciousness.
In this way, the third dimension of Alertness, that is, the contemplating Consciousness, appears in your life. This the original state of our existence, the pure Consciousness, the state of the witnessing Presence.
(C) Frank M. Wanderer, 2013-2018
You can republish our articles for free, but please include the author’s name and a link to our homepage (www.frankmwanderer.com)
~From the book: Frank M. Wanderer:
(This book is an anthology, a collection from his most interesting writings.)
CONTENTS
I. THE AWAKENING
Are you Awake?
The Signs of Spiritual Awakening
The Suffering as Wake-Up Call
3 Turning Points During Awakening
3 Gift of the Mindfulness
Be Mindful and Conscious!
The Age of Spiritual Awakening Has Really Begun – New Research Confirms
II. THE SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Who am I Beyond my Personal History?
You are an Immortal Being, Who is Lost in a Separate World
The Secrets of the Spiritual Journey
The Last Chapter of our Personal History
The First Step of the Journey
Are You a Mature Soul?
4 Levels of the Spiritual Growth
The Three Birth of the Human Spirit
Take this Simple Step to Know Your True Self
The Magical Power of the Real Self-Knowledge
Negative Thoughts as a Teacher
The Shadow of Spiritual Growth: the Guilt
Bad Karma–Obstacle or Challenge on the Spiritual Path?
Transform Your Life with the Power of Acceptance
5 Powerful Steps to Emotional Healing
III. THE MIND
Forgotten Purpose of the Mind
The Power of the Conditioned Mind
The Deepest Unconscious Condtionings of the Mind
The Secret of the Constructive Energy
4 Potent Ways of Accessing the Most Creative Forces of Your Mind
Meditation - an Effective Remedy for the Overburdened Mind
Jump into Unknown!
IV. THE EGO
The Ego – Friend or Obstacle?
The Rise and Fall of the Ego
The Tricks of the Spiritual Ego
Is the Ego the World's Biggest Illusion?
Listen to the Message Beyond All Fear and Anger
Tear off Your Mask
The Secrets of The Embrace
V. THE MATRIX
The Spiritual Seeking – Only a Program in the Matrix?
Does Positive Thinking Free Us From the Matrix?
How to Exit the Matrix in 6 Simple Steps?
The Law of Attraction vs. The Law of Oneness
VI.THE CONSCIOUSNESS
The Revolution of Consciousness
How to Live in the Flow of Life
How the Higher Levels of Consciousness may Appear in our Life?
Where is Your Soul on the Path of Consciousness Evolution?
The Power of Solitude
The Lover of the Silence
Magical Power of the Real Meditation
The Secret to Enlightenment: Be Yourself!
About the author:
Frank M. Wanderer Ph.D is a professor of psychology, a consciousness researcher and writer.
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Frank is also the author of the following books:
- The Revolution of Consciousness — Deconditioning the Programmed Mind
- The Chant of the Heart: Enjoy the Nectar of Being
- The Flames of Alertness: Discover the Power of Consciousness!
- The Biggest Obstacle to Enlightenment: How to Escape from the Prison of Mind Games?
- and several other books on consciousness and enlightenment.
You can follow Frank online at:
He has contributed to a few different spiritual websites including
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