I was not going to write this, but...

[jay.validus]

I sometimes record my dreams, but not always.  Tonight was one of those nights I did and now I will share it.

Lately my dreams have been getting clearer. It is amazing how the mind's eye is much more clear than physical vision, but not at the same time!  This morning I was having some of the 'classic' experiences for me -- sitting at the infinite darkness as I call it.   I was experiencing it for a couple weeks a few months ago for the first time, but since then have had lots of fear over the experience; been trying to get back there and deal with the fear slowly.

Tonight, I was sitting with the infinite darkness and observing my subconscious. It felt like quite a while in that timeless sense.  It was not as quiet as it had been previous.... actually I kept stilling my mind to bring my self back to that darkness, ha!  I saw my mind unfolding at the subconscious level. A question, is it normal to understand the experience and your subconscious at the intuitive level, but not be able to put it in words?

I kept coming back to my body, both physically and the dream.  There were a couple times I moved my physical body, other times I was moving but it was not my physical body (I did not realize this at the time).  Throughout this experience I kept hearing high pitched clangs and bangs, like musical instruments.   At one point I was listening with my physical ears and I heard my heart beat, very high pitched and it was lovely.

Being unable to move my physical body did not scare me this time.... I knew if I really needed to move physically I could do it, with some persistence and patience lol.  Some random dreams came up during the process, but I kept stilling my mind back to the infinite darkness.  At one point I 'awoke' in a shallow pool of water, which I was lying and sleeping in.  There was some plant life in the water and I was keeping warm by wrapping myself in burlap.  I was shocked, "this is why I am so cold," I said to myself. 

At one point near the end I had a fright come up, but it was very short and not overwhelming like in the beginning.  I decided to call out for some help with what I was doing. I did not know who I was asking help from and I am naturally cautious.  There was this one spirit woman who always seems to arise in my dreams... she has long black wavy hair, a darker blackish/purplish aura, my height, and always wearing a cloak. Her face is black, I never see it.  I don't distrust her, as she has always been kind and never scared me, but I do not know what to make of her either.  I asked her if she was my 'spirit guide' one time, and she said yes.... but still I distrust.  The mind is a powerful machine.  If this is real, I will still keep a somewhat distance for safety reasons.  I know if someone truly is there to help they will understand my cautious nature and work with compassion.

Now, the reason I ended up writing this is she did not come.  It was Jeffery, or Jhananada.  A guy came outside my window and said to me, "Write this down in twenty minutes".  I was shocked to hear this answer, and I ended up realizing, is that Jeffery?  It was unexpected because I would never expect him to show up in my dreams.

Anyway that's my story. Bye for now, back to bed..

[Jhanananda]

I sometimes record my dreams, but not always.  Tonight was one of those nights I did and now I will share it.

Lately my dreams have been getting clearer. It is amazing how the mind's eye is much more clear than physical vision, but not at the same time!

Yes, I found the more meditation I practiced, and the more I journaled my dreams the more clear they became until they became lucid 24/7.
 

This morning I was having some of the 'classic' experiences for me -- sitting at the infinite darkness as I call it.   I was experiencing it for a couple weeks a few months ago for the first time, but since then have had lots of fear over the experience; been trying to get back there and deal with the fear slowly.

Tonight, I was sitting with the infinite darkness and observing my subconscious. It felt like quite a while in that timeless sense.  It was not as quiet as it had been previous.... actually I kept stilling my mind to bring my self back to that darkness, ha!  I saw my mind unfolding at the subconscious level. A question, is it normal to understand the experience and your subconscious at the intuitive level, but not be able to put it in words?

To clarify, it sounds like you are not speaking of a dream here, but your meditation practice.  Meditating to the depth of the darkness, or the black as some of us have been calling it, is good deep meditation practice.  Most contemplatives and clergy are terrified by it, so they run away and spend the rest of their life warning people not to go there.  However, in my experience it is the threshold into the immaterial domains.  It is the place we will have to traverse when we die.

Yes, not all of us can articulate the workings of the psyche; and arguably, some of that workings for the contemplative who has learned to meditate deeply is pre-verbal psyche.

I kept coming back to my body, both physically and the dream.  There were a couple times I moved my physical body, other times I was moving but it was not my physical body (I did not realize this at the time).  Throughout this experience I kept hearing high pitched clangs and bangs, like musical instruments.   At one point I was listening with my physical ears and I heard my heart beat, very high pitched and it was lovely.

Residing on the fringe of the immaterial domains can be quite confusing, because there are phenomena observed that exist only in one dimension of the other, while the contemplative may not necessarily be aware which dimension he or she is in.

Being unable to move my physical body did not scare me this time.... I knew if I really needed to move physically I could do it, with some persistence and patience lol.  Some random dreams came up during the process, but I kept stilling my mind back to the infinite darkness.  At one point I 'awoke' in a shallow pool of water, which I was lying and sleeping in.  There was some plant life in the water and I was keeping warm by wrapping myself in burlap.  I was shocked, "this is why I am so cold," I said to myself. 

At one point near the end I had a fright come up, but it was very short and not overwhelming like in the beginning.  I decided to call out for some help with what I was doing. I did not know who I was asking help from and I am naturally cautious.  There was this one spirit woman who always seems to arise in my dreams... she has long black wavy hair, a darker blackish/purplish aura, my height, and always wearing a cloak. Her face is black, I never see it.  I don't distrust her, as she has always been kind and never scared me, but I do not know what to make of her either.  I asked her if she was my 'spirit guide' one time, and she said yes.... but still I distrust.  The mind is a powerful machine.  If this is real, I will still keep a somewhat distance for safety reasons.  I know if someone truly is there to help they will understand my cautious nature and work with compassion.

Now, the reason I ended up writing this is she did not come.  It was Jeffery, or Jhananada.  A guy came outside my window and said to me, "Write this down in twenty minutes".  I was shocked to hear this answer, and I ended up realizing, is that Jeffery?  It was unexpected because I would never expect him to show up in my dreams.

Anyway that's my story. Bye for now, back to bed..

First, you can trust your intuition/insight in these dimensions.  If you feel that you can trust a being there, such as this female guide, then you should, and the more that you trust them the more they can help you.

Yes, I come when called.  Most of my night is spent in such help.

I find I was confused about what you were writing about, but now I realize that you were in laying down meditation through the night.  This is very good advanced practice.  Do keep it up.

I started such practice in my first year of meditation in 1973, and it lead to lucidity 24-7.

[jay.validus]

First, you can trust your intuition/insight in these dimensions.  If you feel that you can trust a being there, such as this female guide, then you should, and the more that you trust them the more they can help you.

Okay, thanks for the tip. I will remember this for later.

As always thanks for the help.

I don't know why I want to say this, but I remember reading somewhere Gotama gave his son his inheritance, which was shaving his head.  At the time I did not get it.  One night I was thinking about legacy, what my parents have given me, and what I will pass on.  Nobody will be remembered, but what we give will live on for another to experience. Something like being in connection with spirit, the divine, the dhamma, whatever one calls it, seems like something worthwhile to pass on.   

[Jhanananda]

Well, if you recall, Siddhartha Gautama had been born into privilege and power.  He renounced name, fame, power and wealth, and set out as a mendicant to find liberation from his neuroses.  When he found it, he returned, and there is a sutta in which his family joined him for a rains retreat.  His son was a teenager then, and joined him in retreat.  So, taking his son into the sangha was the only inheritance the boy would receive from his father; however, the boy's grand father might have been able to extend privilege to the boy, if he wanted it.

There is a tendency for people to believe that enlightenment moves in inherited lineages; however, the suttas do not seem to reveal Siddhartha Gautama elevating the status of his son among the sangha.  In fact Siddhartha Gautama's son disappears in the story, so I am not sure if the boy left, or died, or just became invisible.