By Luke Sumpter
Guest Writer for Wake up World
Depending upon the culture we are born and raised in, our mind is programmed to perceive the world in a certain way. Many people seem to meander through this life very unconsciously, abiding by the dictated social conditioning within their consciousness from birth – free from questioning and critical analysis. This may related to how their society operates, political ideologies, religious belief systems, the expectations placed upon them as an individual etc.
However, when the boat is rocked and the water breaks white, we tend to catch a glimpse of the world from an unbiased, raw, baseline outlook. This perspective may be triggered via a traumatic event, a mind expanding travel experience, self study, psychedelic or spiritual experience. Or maybe it is a realization that cultivates over a longer period of time, using the tools and techniques of mindfulness, meditation, dream analysis, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy etc.
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Regardless of how this process occurs, such life events have the tendency to force an individual to start to question reality – what is really “true”, what parts of our belief systems are actually serving and progressing us along our path, and which parts are actually detrimental. It is almost as if we have woken up from an unconscious slumber and become lucid in life. We are able to empower ourselves and others to make better life decisions and really hone in on what we really wish to gain from the human experience.
A lucid person becomes more conscious of what foods from which they choose to construct their body-mind, what relationships they choose to invest energy in, and grow from, and where they choose to receive orders and authoritative demands from – if anywhere at all.
When a person is “asleep” in the waking state, when they are unconscious of their conditioned behaviours, they do not make such quality decisions, but remain passive and docile and ultimately a slave to their circumstances.
The Lucid Reality
During a dream, we are so convinced that it is reality that we will fight to survive; we experience emotions, and in the case of nightmares, we may become fearful and afraid, and even run from what our instincts tell us is a painful, terrifying fate in the form of death.
When we become lucid within a dream, we know nothing can harm us. We realize the end of the dream, the “death” of the dream, will actually be a very peaceful passing from the dream state into a realm even more real – full of people who love us, music that sings to us and food that warms our bellies.
When we become lucid in the waking state, we often lose the fear of death. We start to thoroughly address it as an inevitable happening and question it, instead of fearfully burying it and judging it. We accept that it may well be like the passing from a dream, where one wakes up into a reality far more loving, unified and lucid.
I believe everybody is capable of going through such an awakening at some point in their life. I feel as though everybody is upon their own path and will come to such an awakening experience when the time is right for them to digest and assimilate it. It is easy to judge others who act so unconsciously and often negatively, however know what they are going through is ultimately a series of lessons to direct them to act from their higher self with benevolence.
References:
To learn more, here are two studies that indicate that reality is derived of the mind, and that the mind itself can have profound effects upon our reality:
- Double Split Experiment – http://54.186.177.103/joomla_ds/?view=featured
- The Placebo Effect – http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/01/the-placebo-phenomenon
Previous article by Luke:
About the author:
Luke Sumpter is 21 years old and resides in the UK. He is a writer and poet, and has a burning passion for mind-body medicine and mysticism. Luke is currently developing a community known as ‘The Art of Wellness’ to spread the message of holistic health, healing and philosophy.
To learn more, connect with Luke through ‘The Art of Wellness’ on Facebook.
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