Gnosis in a Hundred PagesPage 54 of 100 · Part IV

Part IV · The other half of life

Are you dreaming now?

In dreams the strangest things seem normal. A question asked often by day will one night be asked in a dream, and you will wake up inside it.

Read to me

0:00 / –:––
Stop, look around, really consider it, then test.

In a dream you can talk with a camel, fly past your old school and meet someone long dead. None of it seems odd. Only on waking does it seem strange. Inside the dream you assume, as you assume now, that this is ordinary life.

The second practice works on that assumption. Several times a day you stop and seriously ask: Am I dreaming? Then you test it. Habits made by day carry into sleep. Ask often enough, and one night you will ask in a dream. The test will fail, and you will know where you are.

The asking matters more than the test. Most people ask lazily, already sure of the answer. That habit carries into the dream too: they jump, expect to fall, and fall. So ask as if you truly might be dreaming. Look around. How did you get here? What happened just before?

A woman on a busy street, looking at her open hands.

Then test, expecting it to work. Pinch your nose shut and try to breathe through it: in a dream you still can. Or give a little jump with the intention of floating. In the body you land. Outside it you float.

This is the door question from page 5, carried into the night.

The question by day · practice eleven

  1. Choose a reminder, such as passing through a door or seeing your hands, and use it at least six times today.
  2. Stop. Breathe once and become present. Ask: Am I dreaming? Look slowly around you for anything strange.
  3. Recall how you got here, and what happened just before.
  4. Consider honestly, for a moment, that you might be dreaming.
  5. Then test: pinch your nose and try to breathe, or give a small jump expecting to float. Do it again on waking and before sleep.

Never test while driving, on stairs or near traffic. A tiny jump is enough.

Words on this page

Reality check
A short test, done often by day, to find out whether you are dreaming.

In the old words

“Stop assuming your experience is always in the physical world!”

Beyond DreamingGene Hart
On the next pageWaking inside a dream is one thing. Leaving the body is another.55. Two ways to wake at night