At first I thought that everything looked normal.. since I had stood there and looked across the river often as a child. But then.. I noticed that the village.. called "Polruan" that should be on the other side of the river.. was not there at all. Instead there were open fields of pastureland and trees. This puzzled me because I knew there was a village there....
It was then that I realized that I must have been dreaming... I felt suddenly very conscious of where I REALLY was.
I reached down to touch the low stone wall.. that was just in front of me.. in order to feel whether it was real.. or not ...and as I squeezed my fingers against the hard stone.. I could feel the granite cutting into my fingers... so.. I reasoned... "Maybe there is something hard nearby my bed that I'm touching.. because.. since this is a dream.. the wall can't feel solid.... it's only imaginary after all."
Then it dawned on me the that it was such a beautiful sunny day....I looked up and saw the sun shining above me in the sky ...all the colors of everything were so vivid and bright... the greens of the fields and trees.. the blue of the water... with the sunlight glinting and sparkling on the river as it lazily flowed by.......... Everything was just so beautiful!! .......I was in awe!
I remember thinking something like...."This is great!..........I'm actually fully conscious in this incredible dream state where everything around me seems so perfectly real ."
Then... I thought I'd go for a walk to explore this fantastic place. I started walking along a dirt path towards a low wall with a break in it... where I could see I could pass through.
The only trouble was.. a giant owl about 4 feet tall was standing right in front of me in the gap in the wall.. blocking my way.. so I couldn't get past it easily. I thought: "Well, this is only a dream.. so I can just push past it.... because it's only imaginary after all." ... so I started trying to gently to ease myself past the giant owl... but.. suddenly it started flapping its wings against me....and that woke me up.
The following day I thought about what the dream might signify and came to these conclusions: The bus outside the railway station signified that I was about to make a journey somewhere. Going down to the water meant it was a spiritual journey. My friends leaving.. meant I would undertake it alone. The door I was making was the door that opens onto the inner-worlds of the mind and imagination... and the landscape I saw was a virgin landscape which signified it was some ancient knowledge existing from early times. The sun shining signified illumination...enlightenment. The dirt path was the simple, natural way I should tred......and the owl was my guide... waiting there for me to follow.
However, at the time I didn't understand what was going on and I kind of messed up... by ignoring the owl. The owl symbol is often seen in the alchemists beautifully illustrated books. The alchemist to symbolize the occult. used the owl. because the owl flies... and sees by night... and so it symbolizes lucid dreaming.... our night trips.
I once lived in Mexico. . and in this dream I found myself back there.. walking alone . . through agricultural land. As I walked on further and further.. through the fields.. I came to a hill.. and climbed it.
From the top of the hill.. in the distance.. I could make out the most massive mountain I had ever seen. It just seemed to rise for miles straight up into the sky. I remember feeling both awed and quite anxious by its presence... since it made me feel extremely small. . and insignificant.
I walked on somemore.. and found myself coming right up against its base. I looked up at it... It rose almost straight up into the air... but a view of the top was obscured by clouds in a way that made it look both mysterious and daunting.
I should add this dream is a recurring dream... I have seen the same mountain several times in other dreams too... and it never fails to leave me in awe.
The existence of visions and lucid dreams offers us clues on the possibility of life after death.. since these states demonstrate that the mind can project its own reality.. It's own environment.. completely out of imagination alone. A virtual world going on inside our heads.. intangible.. maybe.. but dreams can feel real.
Reality is a state of polarity and the visions we see in our heads are as real as the world outside.. as any one who has experienced lucid dreaming will testify.
Our own field of consciousness lies at the very core of existence.. not on the periphery. The body and the brain are tools of consciousness.. and when it has finished using the tools they can be discarded. The brain serves to organize and process information.. and makes it possible to relate to the world around us.. but once established in the field of consciousness.. this information begins self organizing creatively.. intuitively forming art.. music.. feelings and ideas………… and out of these arise our dreams.
One night.. while dreaming.. I remember coming through some dark woods..I walked on until I arrived at a clearing.
In the centre of the clearing their was a deep pool of water.. with a huge.. and very old.. beech tree growing out from the center of it..... There was no island of land there.. just the solitary giant tree.. rising grandly out of the water.
I walked down to the side of the pond and looked down into the deep crystal clear water. Below I could make out the vast roots of this ancient tree.. descending into the depths. As I was gazing into the still water I felt overcome by a sense of peace.. and was moved so much by the beauty of what I saw.. it gave me a sensation of something magical...... something, hard to put into words.
Again.. I remember I once dreamed I was walking along a path.. and there was a high white wall to my right.. running along side of me. Spray from the sea kept coming across the high wall and I could feel it.... it felt refreshingly cool as it splashed over the top of my head.
The next thing I knew.........I found myself in the middle of a raging sea ...among waves as high as a house... and they were all around me. I was concerned at first that I was in danger.. and I would be overcome by the storm Then... the waves moved apart beneath me and my feet came down safely and firmly on a very large and solid rock. When this occurred, I experienced a feeling of overwhelming ecstasy and felt like a great rush of power flowing through me. . like a flash of cosmic consciousness flowing through my being.
Then.. the next thing I knew... I was back standing safely on a sandy beach... looking out to sea. In the distance I could see a huge tidal wave... something like a hundred foot high.....heading towards me. As it reached the beach it exploded... and billions of droplets of water rose high into the air above me......... Then.. the gentle droplets of water fell slowly downwards like small brightly colored lights raining down from the sky... all around me.
Then I woke up.
Another dream I still remember vividly is. . . after falling asleep.. I had this lucid dream were I found myself holding an old fashioned scythe... I was standing in an overgrown garden.. sharpening it with a stone. I worked at it until it shone like silver.. as the light from the sun reflected on its gleaming blade.
The dream moved on and I found myself in this ancient crypt... full of statutes of saints... kind of Catholic relics.. I guess. I remember that I was busy.. trying to loosen a white marble pebble.. set firmly in the base of one of the statues. It was all very dusty everywhere. Eventually.. the stone came free... and behind it was concealed a piece of metal piping... about 1 inch in diameter. I poked my finger into the hole and felt around inside it. I could feel something inside the pipe... and at last managed to pull out a small.. brown paper.. package. When I opened it.. it contained a few small sparkling diamonds that twinkled magically in my palm as they caught the light.
William Blake letter To Rev. Dr Trusler
I am really sorry that you have fallen out with the spiritual world. I have therefore proved your reasoning ill proportioned, which you can never prove my figures to be; they are those of Michael Angelo, Rafael & the antique, and of the best living models. I perceive that your eye is perverted by caricature prints, which ought not to abound as much as they do.
I feel that a man may be happy in this world. And I know that this world is a world of imagination and vision. I see everything I paint in this world, but everybody does not see alike. To the eyes of a miser a gold coin is far more beautiful than the sun. and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way.
Some see nature all ridicule and deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. As man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers. You certainly are mistaken when you say the visions of fancy are not to be found in this world. To me, this world is all one continued vision of fantacy or imagination and I feel flattered when I am told so.
William Blake
One of the strangest dreams I've ever had.. again after a long period of meditation.. was when I found myself sitting in a bus.. outside a old railway station... and behind the station
I could see the early morning sun rising. . . putting the most beautiful dawn colours into the sky.... deep violets.. pinks.. reds.. and dark and light blues.
The next thing I remember was being back in Fowey ...An old 12th century town.. built on a natural harbor in Cornwall... ( I lived there for a few years when I was a kid) In my dream I was walking down towards where the ferryboat from Polruan came in. I was with some friends. We were standing together on a small beach.. just looking across the river. Then.. suddenly.. I realized my friends had gone ...so I went back towards the town to look for them....... I looked up and down the street but they had completely vanished.
The next thing I knew I was inside a small wooden cabin.. doing some carpentry.. I was making a door and fitting it. Then.. again.. the scene changed...and I was outside once more..... standing in front of a low granite wall...... looking across the river.. to the other side.
