Waking And Dream States

Consciousness never enters a state or becomes anything other than itself. It simply seems to contract and relax, or, more accurately, to focus and defocus like a camera lens. The states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and any other states that may be experienced, are varying degrees of this focusing and defocusing. When a camera is fully unfocused nothing is seen through it, but as the lens is progressively focused, objects begin to emerge from the unmodulated image, bringing into focus what was already present but could not be seen. However, there are no clear lines between any of these states. They are a continuum, appearing in consciousness, known by consciousness and made of consciousness. As a result of the narrowing of its focus, consciousness seems to become increasingly obscured from itself as the forms of the finite mind become more distinct with the emergence of the waking state. In the waking state, the separation and otherness of forms, their ‘not-consciouness-ness’, is at its most persuasive, so persuasive in fact, that they seem to be made out of an entirely different substance. ‘Matter’ is the name thought gives to that substance, defining it as everything outside of and other than consciousness. Moving in the other direction, we do not find a clear line between the waking and dream states. The transition from waking to dreaming is a gradual softening or relaxation of the focus of attention. As a result of this softening of focus, the field of possibilities in the dream state is larger than it is in the waking state. Consciousness still needs to localize itself as a body in order to experience the dreamed world, and it is for this reason that we always experience the dreamed world from the perspective of a body in the dream. But in the dream state this self-localization is looser than it is in the waking state. The world that the dreamed subject experiences is correspondingly less clearly defined and hence there are more possibilities of experience.

Rupert Spira is a teacher and writer in the branch of nonduality (Advaita in Sanskrit), exploring the nature of experience in his essays and texts. He has published several books, and a few DVDs with interviews. He holds regular meetings and retreats in the UK, Europe and the US. He continually works to investigate the nature of mind and reality through his philosophy and pottery. The pottery is the result of the artist's wish to make elegant pieces, in harmony with nature and human awareness.

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