The mind...

The mind can have dealings only with kindred objects formed from its own substance, that is, with thoughts, ideas. Therefore when it knows material objects they must really be ideas.


Anthony: In a dream it's easier to recognize. When you wake up you see that what you experienced in the dream was an idea. That is, all you experienced was ideas—when you wake up!—but when you are dreaming you. can't say that. Because that fire that you are warming your hands by in the dream makes you feel warm all over. You feel that the fire is out there and you are warming yourself by it. But when you wake up you realize that they were just ideas. There was no fire there. That was just an idea in your mind, and that you were getting warm was another idea. So when you analyze dreams you can see that you always experience a world of ideas. When you are in the dream you can't say to yourself, "Well this is just an idea," unless you are an adept at yoga. When you're in the dream you actually experience the warmth of the fire.


Now in the same way, you are in the sensible world. You say that tree is an idea. Yes, it is an idea. When you really reflectively under-stand, then you know it is an idea. But for most of us that tree is out there, I am over here, in between there is distance, and to me that tree is just as real as I am. You don't say, "That is just an idea in my mind." You have to be reflectively aware that that is an idea, just like this body is an idea, that the two are ideas. But you don't have that experience in ordinary wakeful consciousness except at certain mo­ments, like for instance if you experience a serious grief or bereave­ment. If someone that you love very much dies, for a few minutes you experience the world, the whole thing, as a dream. It is not real, it has a kind of unreality about it. But that will last for a few minutes, then it goes and then you are back.


Sometimes when you meditate you get a feeling of utter peace, quiet. You open your eyes and gradually you come back. That feeling that the world is a dream is still there, very strong. It takes a little time and then gradually you begin to go back into the world. You can also have an experience that the world is an idea in your wakeful consciousness, while you are awake. But this is not going to come easily, it is going to require effort. It is going to require the ability to keep the mind quiet.

-Anthony Damiani from Looking into Mind