Caustic Ramblings

I very seldom remember my dreams. And if I do, it's usually only fragments of them. I very rarely feel like I have much of any control over my dreams and the ones I can remember seem rather random to the point where I don't bother trying to decipher whatever symbolism might be contained within. Recently though I've had flashbacks of dreams that seem to occur on repeat, yet I never really remember them. The one thing I do remember is "flying" in them. The precise motion would be me pushing downward on the air with my hands and a levitation effect results from those movements. Really, the motions are very similar to what I would do if I was swimming underwater and wanted to ascend to the surface. But anyway, this "flying" conjures up a thought of deep familiarity, though I can really make sense of it beyond that.

Last night though I had what I'm very sure was a lucid dream. I was suddenly in my old house and it was vivid and extremely detailed. And right I was I was fully cognizant of the fact I was in a dream. As I was walking down the stairs I was touching and feeling the wooden hand-railing and the spindles. It felt so real! I could feel the pressure and fiction of grasping material objects. This place felt as real as any other place, despite my full awareness I was in a dream. Now, this lucid dream was not one that I willed myself into (I'm not sure I even know how to do that); rather, I just happened to end up there, for whatever reason. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I suddenly remembered my old levitation maneuver. "Hmm, let me try this out," I thought to myself. Then I was slowly floating my way back up the stairs. When I got to the top the scenery changed and there was a wall in front of me that was definitely not part of my old house. Then the lucid dream suddenly ended and I was no longer there.

Was this a brief lesson of sorts? I have no idea. But I did come out of this with an immediate intuitive grasp of how the astral plane is just as real the material. Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to make an effort to go astral travelling; such an endeavor seems entirely foolish unless there is a very specific, spiritually-affirming reason to do so. I also realize it's a big wilderness of unknowns and the sort of dangers and pitfalls that comes along with that sort of territory. But overall I think this topic might be something very safe to explore in meditation.