What happens when consciousness relaxes its grip on the waking world? As the boundaries soften, something unexpected is revealed. The tight focus that generates the appearance of separation loosens, and with it, the forms of experience become less rigidly defined. In this relaxation, the inherent peace of our nature – veiled by the intensity of focused attention – filters through. This is not a new peace acquired from elsewhere, but the revelation of what was always present, obscured only by the activity of the mind itself.
This week, we conclude Chapter 13, ‘There Are No States of Consciousness’, exploring pages 125–128.*
*(The page numbers indicated here each week refer to the original publication of the physical book – they may vary slightly from more recent versions, owing to the publisher’s design modifications.)
The Loosening of Form
The transition from waking to dreaming is not a sharp line but a gradual softening. As the focus of attention relaxes, the field of possibilities expands. Consciousness no longer confines itself so tightly to a single point of view; its self-localisation loosens; the world it generates becomes correspondingly more fluid.
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.
In the dream state, you still experience from the perspective of a body – you are still someone – but this localisation is looser than in waking life. The world you encounter is less clearly defined. Time behaves strangely. You can fly, meet the dead, find yourself in two places at once. These are expressions of a wider field of possibility, a looser degree of focusing.
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