Meditation

INTRODUCTION

When we are able to relax and let go of our suffering, worries and fears, peace reveals itself to us. It is available in each moment, whenever we are still and present enough to notice. As you read through this book, we will explore what is meant by the dance of dynamic peace and look at ways to create greater inner peace in your life.

I will introduce the practice of meditation as a foundation for creating inner peace. Becoming aware of what we consume through food, our senses, volition, and consciousness also contributes to our sense of peace, so we will consider ways in which we can avoid causing harm to ourselves and other beings. To provide you with further insights about creating inner peace, we will explore our judgemental mind, as well as our desires, passions, duality and non-duality, kindness, compassion, gratitude and love. Finally, we will consider the ripple effect of creating a more peaceful and joyous life not only for ourselves but for our families, communities and the larger global community.

At the end of each section, I offer you ideas of how you can apply what you have learned. Some of these practical suggestions are easy to implement while others may be more challenging, so I have grouped them into three levels: Take a step (easy), Test the waters (more challenging) and Jump in with both feet (the most challenging).

My intention in writing this book is to share what I have learned and experienced in the hope that it will, in some way, be a benefit to you in creating greater peace in your life and ultimately lead to greater peace in the world. I hope you enjoy reading it and sharing it with others you think would also benefit from reading it.

My wish for you is that these words begin to resonate in your consciousness:

May I have peace in my thoughts, May I have peace in my words, May I have peace in my heart. ~ Unknown

"Where other books on lucid dreaming focus on the dreaming, this book focuses on becoming lucid in both the sleeping and waking state. Dreams can offer an easier path to lucidity because of the contrast between dreaming and lucidity: you think you’re not lucid in normal dreams, so you understand what you’re trying to accomplish. In truth, we don’t know what lucid means, we don’t really know the final goal. That doesn’t matter too much, as it still gives us a path to follow. The process of learning to lucid dream is a heuristic, like this book is a heuristic: it’s a means to an end, a means for exploring consciousness. — from Introduction, page 1.

"Going beyond lucidity is understanding that being lucid is about being aware, not being in control. Awareness is organic; awareness grows. It may germinate in a dream, and lucidity may help shed the seed-coat, but the promise of awareness lies in what it can grow into. Nurturing a new awareness involves recognizing and attending to it, as nurturing any new life requires... To go beyond lucidity is to recognize there are emotional areas in which you are not able to do either. To go beyond lucidity is to maintain awareness as you enter into states where you have never been before." — from Beyond Lucidity, chapter 9.

"Let's do an exercise of going beyond mind. It's a simple matter of putting yourself at the end of things and then going further. We’ll create four situations like situations in lucid dreams where we face the author of our conceptions and ask, 'What’s really here?' ” — from Hypnotic Session 9: Welcome to The End.