Cattāri Brahmavihārā

In the past I have mentioned the assertion that unenlightened perception is like unto a dream but when I have done so previously I believe it was in reference to lojong. As I continue pursuing the practice of lucid dreaming in order to devote more time to bhavana and familiar myself with what I imagine are facsimiles of after-death consciousness (if not the self-same states) this statement has taken on renewed importance.

In the past I was averse to repeating this recollection as I was afraid that I would begin to take my actions less seriously or I would be reducing my capacity to see clearly but upon further consideration it seems clear that the opposite is the case. It is a fact that the phenomena we perceive are conditioned wholly by our sensory apparatus meaning that we never have access to the noumenal being of anything. Further, even if we suspense with the Kantian dilemma we find that an observer act of observation itself changes and conditions the phenomena being studied. Paticca samuppada at its best; -in other words, all of mundane reality is linked in a chain of interdependence and what we perceive is never more than a phantasm.

So why have I had reservations about picking up and using this view? Why the fear of testing it out? Simple prejudice I suppose but as I have come to see it in a different light I will use it and judge it by its results.