SO I’m thrilled to say I saw INCEPTION tonight for my 30th birthday at IMAX.

Verdict?

It was pretty awesome.

In fact, I’d say this is the best film that’s come along that is specifically about dreams and the architecture of the dreaming mind since Vanilla Sky was released in 2001.

Instead of a movie review, I just want to bring up some points of the film that intrigue me. If you’ve not seen the movie, I don’t know if you will want to read any further!

…still with me?

OK, here we go!

1) The use of dreams signs.

Sort of.

But if you’ve seen the film and you’re . . . → Read More: The Inception Movie & Dreams: 5 Things I Really Liked About This Film

Photo by Ben | Copyright 2009 Dreaming Life

Last night I went to an introductory Buddhist class here in my town.

I had a great time!

And as can be expected, the experience got my brain cells moving around and you know I love it when that happens…

I have been having a slow yet steady love affair with Buddhism for quite some time now. I feel that the theories laid out in the Buddhist philosophy, or religion, if you prefer, mostly make sense.

To cut to the chase, I think that the Buddhist framework for identifying the causes of suffering and removing those causes . . . → Read More: So I Went To This Buddhist Class Last Night … Part I

Photo by Ben

I’ve noticed before how my intentions with my own dreams often strike back in clever ways.

For instance, when I was readily working with Calea Zacatechichi, it’s powers alluded me, even mocked me. I would have dreams about taking dream herbs instead of having lucid dreams or crazy vivid dreams! Ha! Oh Calea Z…

Anyhow – I wanted to share a dream today that’s about having a hole in my palm.

This comes from the fact that one of my favorite means of reality testing, and by extension, testing the reality (or lack thereof) in the dream world, is putting my . . . → Read More: Dream #9: Dreamsigns & The Hilarity of How Dreams Mock Us

Art by Ben | Copyright 2010 | Dreaming Life

Lots of people have their personal nightmare; you know, the one that re-occurs overs the years, the one that horrifies them to the core, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem very scary when talking about it.

Mine is something most people are familiar with: the 1970′s horror film, The Exorcist.

When I was 10 years old I saw The Exorcist. It was on TV and I watched it with my brothers. Not wanting to look weak in front of them, I acted brave; oh no, this movie doesn’t scare me!

The truth is, it scared . . . → Read More: Dream #8: The Exorcist

Photo By Colleen | Copyright 2010

False awakenings are one of those gifts from the dream gods.

Ever so strange, even eerie, and somewhat rare in the grand scheme of dreaming – although I think everybody has one at one point or another.

A couple years ago, in an attempt to induce a lucid dream, I had a series of repeated false awakenings. It’s crazy how many I had – 4 in total – one right after another!

Here’s what I wrote in my dream journal that morning.

Dream Journal: April 23 2007

Slept in about 2 hours longer than I need to try and . . . → Read More: Dream #7: Four False Awakenings in a Row, Down the Rabbit Hole We Go…

Untitled Art by Ben | Copyright 2010 | Dreaming Life

Having a dream where you are simultaneous you but also someone else is such a strange yet common occurrence.

Here is a short dream I had where I was someone else not just once but twice, in the same dream. The first person I barely knew, he was  someone who helped spearhead some events I was a part of and the second one is a person nearly everyone on the planet knows – Homer Simpson. What a strange thing to merge the two.

Dream Journal: 7:32 PM 10/11/99

I’m R, the PFT organizer. I’ve . . . → Read More: Dream #6: Dreams of Being Other People

Art by Ben | Copyright 2010 | Dreaming Life

This is another dream from the vaults, the experience of which has always stood out in my mind. Only 1 person has ever read this dream – he told me his Mom did dream interpretation, so I sent him this dream, to which he was sheepishly responded it was really long and maybe another time she could interpret it. Ha! Anyhow, here’s a condensed version of it.

Dream Journal: 1:12 PM 9/19/99

I’m flying over the United States we a group of people. We see a small little town in the country and immediately . . . → Read More: Dream #5: Flying Vampires, Locusts, Violence & Biblical Imagery

Photo by Marisa

It’s rare that I have a dream whose meaning is so easily and obviously symbolic to what’s going on in my life in such blunt terms. This is one of the most literal dreams of that sort that I’ve had.  This dream is about problems my girlfriend (at the time) and I were having in our relationship.

Dream Journal: 6:56 am May 24, 1999

We’re outside of  a business. I’m arguing with an employee who then turns into A. I’m shouting and ranting and raving because of the bad service. Then A and I start throwing things at one another . . . → Read More: Dream #4: A Very Symbolic Dream of Fighting & Reconciliation

Photo by Ben

Whenever I have a dream where I experience a small level of conscious awareness (or lucidity, if you will), and am able to think about the fact that I’m dreaming and do a few interesting things – often consisting of marveling at my hands and putting them through objects – when I wake up, I typically question the experience.

Was it a lucid dream?

Or what it a dream about a lucid dream?

This thought haunts me to be honest, because there are many “lucid dreams” where I question if they’re really true lucid dreams or just dreams of having lucid . . . → Read More: Dream #3: A Dream of Astral Traveling

Untitled By Ben. Copyright 2010 Dreaming Life

There is a woman who has appeared in my dreams for many, many years. A little while back, I realized she ceased to represent the person who she appears to be and had become a kind of archetype in my brain; a woman that represents some sort of ideal woman, a highly sexualized archetype, a kind of goddess almost.

In fact, in real life she had a very big “energy” or presence to her personality, style, and image, so this archetypal concept is not too far off to be honest.

So yes – . . . → Read More: Dream #2: Dream Archetypes & Sexual Dreams