How often have you woken in the night, looked at a digital clock, but it has appeared blurred or doesn't make sense? Have you ever reached out to turn on the light - or any electrical appliance - to discover that it doesn't function properly, or not at all? Have you got vague memories of getting up in the middle of the night, trying to open the door, finding that it won't open and going back to bed? Would you believe it, if you were told that you were probably dreaming? A false awakening is a convincing illusion of having woken when, in fact, you are still in dreaming sleep, so the imagery - although seemingly real - is artificial.

Read more here: » Lucid Dreaming: False awakening and lucidity

Dream FAQ Dictionary: What is False Awakening?

False Awakening

While the basic definition of lucid dreaming is merely the ability to be aware that one is dreaming, this definition can be broken down into two types of lucid dreaming. These two types are "high level lucidity" and "low level lucidity." A lucid dreamer that is dreaming with a high level of lucidity knows that everything being experienced is the creation of the mind. This dreamer is aware that he or she is actually in bed and asleep and can suffer no physical damage as a result of the dream.

Dreaming at the lower level of lucidity, the dreamer is not fully aware that his or her environment is a sole creation of the mind. This would then allow for the dreamer to do activities such as flying, or participating in what is most interesting to him or her at the time. However, the dreamer may still see physical threats and other dream characters as being completely real. While dreaming at this lower level, the dreamer is usually unaware that his or her physical body is actually asleep and in bed.

Being able to control a dream and being lucid in a dream do not always go hand in hand. You can have great control over a dream without the full knowledge that you are dreaming. It is also possible for to be completely aware that you are dreaming with very little control of the dream it self. However, a higher level lucid dreamer has the choice to be the participant or creator of the dream.

Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/dream/lucid.htm

(See also: False Awakening , Dream Interpretation FAQ, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams)

For more dictionary entries, see » False Awakening Dictionary

False Awakening:

An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming.

(See also: False Awakening , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » False Awakening Dictionary

Practicing this method for many years, I have gotten the impression that "stepping out of the body by will" can be performed in three related states of consciousness:

¥  in trance

¥  in the "half sleep state" (the hypnagogic state before falling asleep)

¥   in lucidity or the state of false awakening

Read more here: » Out of Body Experience: Methods Based On Movement Imagination for Out of Body Experiences

Could Charles Dickens have been a sufferer of a REM sleep phenomenon known as sleep paralysis? It seems likely that he was.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams: Sleep paralysis - A Dickens of a dream!

The underlying reason the big questions are so difficult to answer is ultimately personal - we are swamped in a plethora of identities, most of them false. These false personas were imposed upon us from the outside by society and from the inside by our own muddled thinking. For most of us, there is no single unified self, no uniform field of continuous consciousness. Our "common sense" notion to the contrary, that we are one person with a singular identity, is based on a false assumption.

Read more here: » Personality dissociation: The Problem Of the Subtle Sybil Effect

Amazingly, as we approach the 21st century, there is still very little known about the inner universe of sleep and dreams. In fact, numerous common misconceptions still exist, many of which are perpetuated by so-called professionals. The author, David F Melbourne, has been studying dreams for 25 years and is known all over the world for his accurate dream interpretations.

Read more here: » Meaning of dreams: Common misconceptions about sleep and dreams

'Lucid dreams have changed my life.' These are the words of former sceptic, Mark Creed. As an industrial chemist, 37-year-old Mark specialised in polymers, and like so many scientists, was schooled in the concept of behaviourism and thought that if anecdotal phenomena could not be physically measured, they probably did not exist.

Read more here: » Lucid Dreams: To be able to control your dream

There is much evidence in existence to support the notion that we all possess the potential to incubate dreams - in other words, conjure up dreams to order. Whether they are romantic encounters, dreams that furnish solutions to problems, or even lucid dreams, with time and effort, they can be evoked. Ancient civilizations were well aware of the potential of dream incubation. The Egyptians, for example, built temples called Serapeums, named after Serapis, the god of dreams. It wasn't unusual for the expectant dreamer to undergo various procedures including cleansing, purging, offering up prayer and so forth, in order to experience the desired dream.

Read more here: » Dream incubation: To evoke a specific dream

One should become perfectly desireless and should be full of Vairagya before attempting to awaken Kundalini. It can be awakened only when a man rises above Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and other impurities. Kundalini can be awakened through rising above desires of the senses. The Yogi, who has got a pure heart and a mind free from passions and desires will be benefited by awakening Kundalini. If a man with a lot of impurities in the mind awakens the Sakti by sheer force through Asanas, Pranayamas and Mudras, he will break his legs and stumble down.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga Sadhana: Yoga Sadhanas for Kundalini Awakening

In the stillness of the night, when not a sound breaks the hushed silence, they timorously creep into your mind. Fragile, flittering forms—often more real than reality—seek you out from the deepest abyss of your soul and open for you a vista of visions—nonsensical, terrifying, fantastic—and sometimes, just sometimes, hauntingly beautiful. You wake up with a lump in your throat that threatens to cascade down your eyes, a lingering nostalgia for something near, yet eternity away. But weren't you closer to believing, even then, that somewhere, all that you saw was real; that, beyond the tangible truth of ticking time, you had lived one moment of timeless infinity? Perhaps that's the secret. The chance to glimpse beyond. Why else should we take a dream, those phantasms of the chaotic unconscious, so seriously?

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams: Dream Works

The first usually spontaneous out of body experiences are impressive, verifying from a practical point of view the existence of a soul. Such experience provides the feeling of being independent of the physical body, of existing without and outside the physical body. In the esoteric field, these stages are declared spiritual evolution and are described in the frame of basic chakra theories.

Read more here: » Out of Body Experience: Chakras, Out of Body Experience and Inner Development

About dreams and how we can improve our dream recalling abilities.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams: Remembering Your Dreams

Dark night of the soul, spiritual crisis, spiritual madness, spiritual emergency, divine madness, holy madness... these are various phrases that have been used to describe a unique experience - a profound test of faith and spiritual endurance - that seems to be a necessary part of walking the path home to God. You cannot find the Light unless you enter the darkness.

Read more here: » Dark Night Of The Soul: Spiritual Crisis - The Dark Night Of The Soul

The Nyaya or Hindu logic was founded by Gautama Rishi, who is also known by the names Akshapada and Dirghatapas. The Nyaya and the Vaiseshika are analytic types of philosophy. The word Nyaya signifies going into a subject, i.e., investigating it analytically. In this sense of analysis, the word Nyaya is exactly opposed to Sankhya, synthesis. The Nyaya is sometimes called Tarka-Vidya or the Science of Debate, Vada-Vidya or the Science of Discussion. Tarka is the special feature of the Nyaya.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Nyaya: Hindu Philosophy - The Nyaya

Chakra - Chakras: The chakras and channels of energy

Inside every human being there is a network of nerves and sensory organs that interprets the outside physical world. At the same time, within us resides a subtle system of channels (nadis) and centers of energy (chakras) which look after our physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual being.

Each of the seven chakras has several spiritual qualities. These qualities are intact within us, and even though they might not always be manifest, they can never be destroyed. When the Kundalini is awakened, these qualities start manifesting spontaneously and express themselves in our life.

Read more here: » Chakra - Chakras: The chakras and channels of energy

I was under the false impression for years that philosophers were old men who sat around in draped sheets talking about issues that had nothing to do with everyday life. Even though I had read many books on philosophy and had taught philosophy for years on the college level, I still had a false notion about being a philosopher and doing philosophy.

What is the good life? How should we live? What does it mean to be human? What is happiness? When is work good? Why am I here?

Good philosophy is wisdom applied to everyday life.

Read more here: » Philosophy: Applying Wisdom Through The Ages To Everyday Life

Suffering seems to be one of those fundamental human experiences that we all have in common, and is perhaps the one we would all gladly give up. We often feel oppressed and frustrated by suffering because we do not understand it. It can pierce the heart of our being and our identity, and shake every assumption we hold about ourselves and the world. It often seems to destroy our will-power and overthrow our commitments, to our dismay.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Understanding Suffering

Something beautiful and wonderful and significant has happened. A step was taken and it feels like the child is now running up the stairs. A door was opened, so to speak, and now more sunlight is beginning to pour into the room of this earth.
Humanity on the New Earth will realize that all is connected and that the Earth is a living planet that currently undergoes a process of Spiritul Awakening.

Read more here: » Planetary Ascension: The Aura of the New Earth

Is the memorization of slokas and mantras essential to being a good Hindu?

Most mantras and slokas are in the Sanskrit language, and your knowledge of Sanskrit is probably like my own. Nil! We must realize that slokas are like affirmations and are spoken in the language the speaker understands. Though Sanskrit has a tremendous value because it is a spiritually powerful language, we should combine two languages, English and Sanskrit, when we are learning slokas.

Read more here: » Hinduism: Is the memorization of slokas and mantras essential to being a good Hindu?