Dream Figures That Seem Real? A Question from a Reader
I recently received this interesting question from Juliet at my website, regarding a re-occurring dream figure. Check it out:
Hi
I’ve been a lucid dreamer for a long time (with my up and downs) and I have always been fascinated by dream figures.
In the last two years and a half, I created a dream figure (highly detailed both psychologically and physically, I have stories and realistic portraits of him) which I’ve always seen as a friend that lives within me, in my inner world, like my personal dream guide.
Anyway, unfortunately, although I’ve had a couple of beautiful dreams in which I had a short but nice time with him (he protected and saved me from some aggressive men, and also hugged me, in two different dreams), there are plenty of times in which he’s hostile, angry, harsh, bad, stern towards me, or he makes bad comments, insults me or he assumes the physical and psychological traits of past negative people of my life, like ex boyfriends or bullies that affected me badly.
Why?
Today I met him twice, in two different lucid dreams: the first time, while I was talking to him, he slowly became my ex boyfriend and when I became nervous he said that he was a projection of him; the second time, when I called him while riding a horse, he appeared on another horse and said, in a stern way, ‘You have to wait’.
Most of the time he doesn’t even show up when I call him, and once, when I did it, he became really angry, furious, from the sky, and broke the ground like a furious earthquake. I woke up immediately, deeply sad, because to me, he means love, happiness, protection and nothing more.
I have significant difficulty communicating with him and doing it in a meaningful way. I created him to be a positive presence (to make a comparison, like a guardian angel, and I created him from scratch, from my drawings) but I am having a really hard time communicating with him.
For a long time I’ve also been obsessed in understanding his nature (is he a projection of something inside me? is he a part of my unconscious mind? what is his nature?) and I fear that I did something wrong that ruined everything.
My inner world is very important to me, and this makes me really sad. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you for your help,
Juliet
My reply:
Juliet,
In lucid dreams, we can apparently ‘create’ things and also ‘create’ dream figures. For example, if we actively expect, “When I open up that door, I will find an extremely glamorous and attractive partner”, then when we open the door, there seems a high probability of finding a glamorous and attractive partner. We may note that even though we did not specify the clothing, hair color and other features, the new ‘figure’ managed to possess all of that (possibly from some subconscious or unconscious process, underlying our lucid dream expectation).
In your first paragraph, you mention that you ‘created’ this figure, knowingly and consciously, right?
Now, as I see it, many dream figures exist as a ‘projection’ of mental and emotional energy from the lucid dreamer. In my books, I write about this in detail. Most lucid dreamers can see that when they send love and compassion to an angry dream figure, then it begins to change, grows smaller, less angry and become more neutral or positive (e.g., becomes a child who wants a hug).
When you see this, then you can assume that the energetic basis for the dream figure exists within you because as you change your thinking about it, then it changes accordingly.
In your case (assuming it was my set of lucid dreams), I would think that I had created something with a basically simple intent. However, as I interacted with it more, it elicited new thoughts, feelings, intents and beliefs – and these new mental energies have begun to get reflected and expressed within the figure’s acting, speaking and behaving.
As a result, the figure now reflects back to me the complexity of my beliefs, feelings, thoughts and intents. Anyway, if it was my set of lucid dreams, then that would be my explanation of the ‘new’ activity.
Here, if it was me, I would have two paths. Either I can use this ‘reflection’ as a means to explore and change beliefs, expectations and my mindset about waking world relationships. Or I can ignore all of that, and let go of this relationship I have created (knowing that a chance remains that the inner energy will cause it to re- appear).
If me, I would begin to examine my beliefs and expectations regarding relationships. In the lucid dreams, I believe that if you pay attention, you will find yourself thinking, “Oh, and this is where I will be disappointed” or “Oh, and this is just like my previous relationship, and now he will also turn on me and criticize me” or something like that.
The figure often reflects our thinking. This means that to understand the dream figure's action requires a deep understanding of the person's beliefs and expectations (which can even be somewhat contradictory -- such as we all want love, but we do not want to be hurt, so there are natural contradictions). As the beliefs and expectations become improved, then the inner relationship will improve.
In fact you may wish to ask the dream figure, "How can our relationship be healed?" and so on. Have you done anything like that?
Finally, I want to thank you for being such a good lucid dreamer. You have done something which takes focus, energy and creativity. If you allow it, then I think you will learn a great deal in working with this.
But we don’t have to be lucid dreamers in order to work with our unconscious imagery in healing ways.
Robert
Later, I heard back from Juliet and learned more about the complex nature of this lucid dream creation. Have you ever experienced something like this reoccurring dream figure? If so, submit it to the LDE at www.luciddreamingmagazine.com
About The Author
Robert Waggoner has served as a guide to explore lucid dreaming and has become something of a legend in the community. A former president and now active member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (ISAD), he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology from Drake University. A lucid dreamer since 1975, he has logged more than a thousand lucid dreams over the past forty years.
Waggoner wrote the acclaimed book, Lucid Dreaming - Gateway to the Inner Self (now in its tenth printing), and co-authored Lucid Dreaming Plain and Simple with Caroline McCready. His books have been translated into French, German, Chinese, Korean, Czech, Finnish and other languages. Waggoner frequently speaks on the science and practice of lucid dreaming at international dream conferences, workshops and college classrooms.
About The Author
Rebecca Casale is a lucid dreamer and a science writer with a special interest in biology and the brain. She is the founder of World of Lucid Dreaming and Science Me.
