Be a Lucid Dreamer and Imagine a World of Good

“Imagine all the people living life in peace, you/ You may say I’m a dreamer/ But I’m not the only one/ I hope some day you’ll join us/ And the world will be as one.” –John Lennon & Yoko Ono

“Imagine” touches our hearts because we all desire a better world free of war, division, fear, greed, and hunger, a world in which we are all brothers and sisters, in which we are all one. This was the composers’ dream, but the current situation is a nightmare.

We are dreaming, but we can wake up within the dream. When we do this at night, it’s called a lucid dream. Lucid, from the Latin lucidus “light, bright, clear,” means “able to be seen through with clarity.” When you have a lucid dream, you realize that it’s just a dream and that the demon that’s chasing you isn’t real. In fact, you can turn around, embrace it, and it will transform into an angel. You can use your imagination in a lucid dream to control it, to change it.

We can do the same with our waking dream using active imagination, a meditation technique developed by Carl Jung. You would use visualization, automatic writing, dance, music, painting, sculpture, crafts, etc. to allow the thoughtforms of the subconscious or inner “self” and the totality of the psyche to act out whatever message they are trying to communicate to the conscious mind. Through active imagination, we can contact the archetypal realm of the collective subconscious that can inspire us with symbols and wisdom. These blogs are a product of active imagination.

Before you can change your world, you first accept that your world is a dream and that what’s happening in your dream is exactly what is meant to happen. You can also think of it as a play or a movie and that everything is scripted. You realize that you’re an actor playing a role and can see yourself objectively (See “Living the Dream” from March 28, “We Are All Actors on a Stage” from April 7, and “Be a Drama Queen or King” from April 17). Finally, you realize that all the actors are you, just as all the characters in a dream are different aspects of you, the dreamer. At this point, you enter the mind of God, become the Dreamer, the Director, and can change the script.

You, as an Awakened One, a Buddha, have the power to imagine a better world, according to God’s will, not only for yourself but also for all concerned. When enough people wake up within their dreams and realize that we are all one, then John and Yoko’s dream will come true.