Freke - Lucid living: a book you can read in one hour that will turn your world inside out

timothy freke

lucid living

a book you can read in one hour that
will turn your world inside out

HAY HOUSE, INC.

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Copyright 2005 by Timothy Freke

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au
Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Amy Gingery
Interior design: Leanne Siu
Cover photo of Timothy Freke: Sanvean

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Originally published in 2005 by Books for Burning, an imprint of Sunwheel Books, United Kingdom

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007943578

ISBN: 978-1-4019-2040-1

11 10 09 08 4 3 2 1
1st edition, July 2008

Printed in the United States of America

Imagine for a moment that youre dreaming. Youre completely engrossed in the dramas of your dreamworld when a mysterious stranger appears in your dream. He sidles up to you and softly whispers something extraordinary in your ear: Pssst! Wake up. Youre dreaming.

Youre disconcerted but keep your cool. You know that the best way to deal with people who are clearly out of the box is to nod politely and hope they will go away. But the stranger is persistent. I know it sounds crazy to you right now, but youre dreaming.

You feel irritated and say, Thats absurd!

The stranger is unperturbed: Is it really absurd? Havent you noticed how full of significant patterns and strange coincidences your experience is? As if theres some hidden meaning? Well, thats because this is a dream.

Youre confused. What do you mean?

The stranger explains, Right now you think youre a person talking to me, but thats just who you temporarily appear to be in this dream. The real you is the dreamer. And this whole dreamworld exists in you.

You feel stunned. Are you asking me to believe that Im imagining talking to you? Surely youre not a product of my imagination?!

The stranger smiles kindly. The person that you seem to be is not imagining this conversation with me, because that person is a part of the dream. But really, you are the dreamer who is imagining everything and everyone in this dream. We appear to be separate people having a conversation, but actually were both the dreamer.

You begin to panic: Now youre freaking me out. Im losing my hold on who I am. The stranger is reassuring: Dont worry. Youre just beginning to wake up. This is a dream of awakening. Its designed to progressively make you more conscious, until youre conscious enough to realize that youre dreaming.

Youre confused. But I dont understand. How do I wake up?

The stranger looks you straight in the eyes. You can wake up anytime you want. You simply have to want to wake up more than you fear it. And theres nothing to fear. Waking up feels good. Knowing that youre dreaming is the secret of enjoying the dream.

Your anxiety becomes excitement. You want to wake up. And the more you want to wake up, the more you become conscious that youre dreaming. And that feels good. Youre no longer frightened of all the terrors that may afflict you in the dream because you know that the real you is safe. Even if the person you seem to be were to die, it would be okay because actually you are the dreamer. How marvelous!

Overwhelmed with gratitude, you begin to thank the stranger, but he has moved on and is now deep in conversation with someone else, who is looking shocked and intrigued. You call after him, What now?

He turns to you briefly and grins. Enjoy the dream. And help everyone else enjoy it as well, because we are all you.

For a moment you just stand there and let this awesome realization sink in. Then you notice a number of anxious-looking people nearby hurrying about their business, fully convinced that they know exactly who they are and what is going on. You smile to yourself, sidle up to one of them, and whisper softly, Pssst! Wake up. Youre dreaming.

Wouldnt that be an amazing dream!

But how would you react if this were to actually happen to you right now? Because I am the stranger, and I want to make an extraordinary suggestion.

Life is not what it seems.

Youre not who you think you are.

Life is like a dream.

And you are the dreamer.

Have you ever been conscious that you were dreaming while you were asleep at night? This is known as lucid dreaming. I want to suggest that its possible to experience an ultra-awake state I call lucid living, in which youre conscious that life is like a dream. But Im not asking you to just believe me. I want to share with you a way of thinking about life that will wake you up so that you experience lucid living for yourself.

Lucid living requires a fundamental shift of perspective, comparable to looking at one of those pictures of colored dots that suddenly turn into a spectacular 3-D image. The first such picture I looked at promised me dolphins, but I could only see dots. I didnt know how to make the image come alive. My friends kept assuring me that if I just stopped concentrating on the dots and focused my eyes on infinity instead, I would definitely see the 3-D image. But the more I was reassured, the more irritated I became at my failure. Then suddenly, for a startling moment, the magic happened: Dots became dolphins, leaping lifelike out of the page toward me. And, just as suddenly, they were gone again. Encouraged by my brief success, I kept looking until I gradually got it. Now I can see these 3-D images quite easily.

Experiencing lucid living can be like this. At first it sounds ludicrous, but keep looking and eventually youll get it. The trick to viewing a 3-D image is to change your visual focus. The trick to experiencing lucid living is to change the way you think. And thats what Im here to help you do. I want to introduce you to a way of thinking about life that will utterly transform your experience of living.

I feel privileged that youve invited me into your mind to share these ideas with you. And I dont want to abuse your hospitality by wasting any of your valuable time. So Ive kept things as concise as possible by distilling down the simple essence of lucid philosophy. But that makes for rich reading, which means this book needs to be savored, not gulped. Speed-reading may lead to mental indigestion. The more consciously you read, the more likely you are to experience lucid living.