INTRODUCTION

I was looking for info on nested dreams [falling asleep or waking up in a dream; dreams within dreams]. They are not always pleasant--and often seem to bear some relation to lucid dreaming, or perhaps pseudo lucid dreaming...

As mundane dreams are excluded from your site, quite understandably, I wondered if you had any info/links/comment on the fact that the majority of my very frequent nested dreams are a direct continuation of going to sleep, to the extent that it isn't possible to ascertain when the dream began. Often these dreams include memories/lucidity of previous nested dreams, such as recognition that when I find it really difficult to 'wake' up, I'm actually still asleep...

Falsely waking up like this can happen multiple times, as you say--and can be quite disconcerting!

Anyway, last night I had a more interesting single nested dream I wanted to share:

THE DREAM(S)

Lying in bed, one arm overhead with the curtains open as usual, I was enjoying relaxed contemplation of the Self [non-dual enquiry/advaita vedanta]. Waking slid imperceptibly into dreaming.

Quite unexpectedly it occured to me that the Key to the Self was not 'Now' but 'Here'. Very briefly there was a moment of excitement and clarity, before my body started shaking and convulsing violently. It felt like a battle with something, and a choice needed to be made whether to fight or submit. As happens in moments of fear, time moved quite slowly and I knew I had either been possessed by the devil, or God, but had no way of knowing which. (And believing in neither, it was terrifying either way.)

I was clearly aware of my ego's fear, and this led me to trust and surrender to the experience, to disappear as an individual [vedanta practice again].

Further waves of painful convulsions passed through my body, but the fear gradually subsided. Then, when I tried saying 'Here' out loud, I could hear how strange... And devil-like my voice sounded; very low, slow and phlegmy--like a synthesised impression of a whale. My face contorted into a hideous sneer, and I only knew myself as a demon, shivering and cold, as well as sweating.

The phone rang--just one ring--and I woke up... Phew!

My arm was still overhead, and I was very cold and shivering. I quickly realised that my shivering cold, and perhaps the whole dream was due to my quilt only partially covering my body. It was billowing up and down, and my bedroom was freezing! In the fuzziness of being woken in the middle of the night, I felt disoriented, wondering whether the phone really had rung, and why my quilt was billowing. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, I turned my head, and could see that my window was wide open, although I hadn't opened it since last summer.

And hanging down outside the window was the phone, ominously suspended on a piece of string. I was frozen with terror at the realisation of the trap before me... Someone wanted to murder me, and was in or around my house!

NOTES

• Symbolism: None, this all quite literally happened in my bedroom
• Interpretation: I think the fear in my dream is fear of losing my identity rather than fear of intruders. The first dream illustrates fear of disappearance of my individual self, the second, fears from the perspective of an individual. 'Waking' to a familiar sense of identity enabled the fear of bodily death. This fits with the nature of non-dual enquiry.
• The key word: not ultimately significant in itself, rather I think it represents a 'final insight' leading to permanent dissolution of myself as an individual.
• Reality vs. dream: Until a few years ago, I'd only ever had one nested dream, whereas now about 75% are nested. The transition between lying in bed awake to dreaming can be so seamless that an actual point of entering the dream state can't be identified. All events seem real at the time--in any dream (including thoughts, memories, emotions etc.) It is only the experience of waking up that renders them false, a dream. In nested dreams this 'waking up' seems real, but isn't... But only because it is superceded by another 'OK, this time I'm REALLY awake' thought... which can be repeated over and over! So is it just a matter of duration, or continuity?? Hmmm, sounds a bit 'Matrix'! The 'real' insight from the dream has been that I am no longer clear about the difference between waking and dreaming! It seems that both have equal reality, or none, and both are the product of consciousness.

EDITOR'S NOTES

• Symbols and Puns: No symbols? Hmm. The bizarre treatment of your phone doesn't say "psychopath" to me; it says "weird dream message!" If your intruder was murderous he'd just cut the line to isolate you. Hanging it on a string means something else. But what?
  1. A pun on "hang up the phone"? Perhaps this means now that you've gotten your spiritual answer, you must move on (and what does one do after a spiritual quest is over?)
  2. Perhaps it's the suspending that's central; by suspending mundane input, meditation can let deep issues rise to awareness--they may manifest as fears, yet propose legitimate corrections to your present course. He may be demanding you "suspend communication" with someone; it could mean "suspend communing with the infinite, and pay the utility bill or you'll freeze!")
  3. The intruder's pointing out a "hangup" in the slang sense of an inhibition or obsession--likely around communication, since it's a phone. In fact there's even a hint of that in the first dream: what if "Here" is at least partly punning on "Hear"?
  I could be wrong on all these details, but my gut sense is that this bizarre image means some emotional or psychological issue is surfacing and demanding resolution before you can stabilise your spiritual leap forward.

• Interpretation: You contrast the two nightmares well, but I'm also struck by their commonalities. Both involve invasion, though different kinds. (I'd expect the Key to the Self to foster confident serenity. What can bother you if your ego's just an illusion? A lot, it seems.) Even if the nightmares are just illustrations meant to teach you, I wonder why a keyword expanding your mind triggered that particular fear.

  Does the dream hint you're worried that the flash of enlightenment will lure dark counterforces trying to snuff out a new source of light? Is it a broader fear that success in anything causes envy? Not to trivialise this to "women fear success" as in pop psychology, but I do wonder; if the price of enlightenment is facing such nightmares, will you pay it? An ordeal of passage is a theme far older than psychology! Jesus, Buddha and mystics worldwide report attempts to distract them with either worldly temptations or with fear, as here. I agree that it's your very success in reaching this high a plane that caused the nightmares, but I'd argue the dreams warn you what your very individual weak point is, and that you need to know you tend to demonise invaders. Signal, not noise.

• Jungian Shadows: I think you jumped to conclusions about your intruder. Crazed killer, or bad performance artist? A figure able to inspire such horror before you've even met may be a Jungian Shadow--embodying all you reject and loathe in yourself (and project on others). Take this bit on faith, okay? After thirty thousand dreams I recognise a certain scent in the air.

  So if you have more dreams of invasion or stalking where the intruder doesn't actually hurt you, grit your teeth and ask what it wants. If it is a Shadow, it may bargain (after some angry venting.) I admit facing this takes courage if you think you're awake and in real danger, but if you even suspect you're dreaming, it may be possible. And the payoff can be life-transforming. Ann Faraday's The Dream Game showed that whether you label such figures as Jungian Shadows or Gestalt Underdogs, they can sabotage spiritual growth--or, if you meet their needs, become your greatest strength.

• Nested and Lucid Dreams: False waking, the common term for these dreams, is a bit misleading. As you point out, these shifts often happen when falling asleep, not just waking; you can cycle between several states all night. And are they false? The dreamer may jump to conclusions, but does that mean the dream meant to deceive? Or that the experience was false?

  Whatever you call them, nested dreams DO associate with lucid dreams; Ann Faraday first noted that back in the mid 1970s. She thought they might be preparing you somehow for full lucidity. She wasn't sure how, and neither am I. But they do flock together.

  My best guess is: these nested nightmares are preparing you for a dream (or set of dreams) in which you lucidly recognise this recurring invader as a very estranged part of you... and deal with your personal devil.

• Reality? "So is it just a matter of duration, or continuity?" Well... the worldwide shamanic tradition treats dreams as real, just experiences in realms with more fluid physics; so figures you meet can be aspects of yourself a la Jung, but can be other dreamers, or natives of dream realms--and in all cases are aware beings with their own agendas meriting respect. I've found this to be true.

  So if you meet any more mystery intruders, I'd urge you to treat them not as personifications of abstract ideas or forces (I know a broad range of thinkers from Buddha to Freud say so; I still think it's wrong) and instead acknowledge such figures (even the scary ones) as friends met on the path, and not by chance.

  And friends help friends.

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