‘Lucid’ is another word for ‘mindful’. When we begin on the path of awakening we think we are awake. Gradually the Course leads us to realize we have been dreaming - that we are, in fact, the dreaming mind that is dreaming us, the body-selves we have believed ourselves to be in a world of time and space. We love our dreamed, seemingly separate selves, however miserable they may seem to be, and resist the awakening. Thus the Holy Spirit’s mission is to slowly and gently transform us into lucid dreamers - not to wrench us awake but to remember that we have a choice of what we will dream.
T-27.VII.13. You are the dreamer of the world of dreams. No other cause it has, nor ever will. Nothing more fearful than an idle dream has terrified God's Son, and made him think that he has lost his innocence, denied his Father, and made war upon himself. So fearful is the dream, so seeming real, he could not waken to reality without the sweat of terror and a scream of mortal fear, unless a gentler dream preceded his awaking, and allowed his calmer mind to welcome, not to fear, the Voice that calls with love to waken him; a gentler dream, in which his suffering was healed and where his brother was his friend.
In my lucid dream, I behold a world of seasons, cycles, time and change and nothing that endures. Flowing like a stream, the images appear to act out stories of a life beset with pain and fear.
T-18.II.5. Dreams show you that you have the power to make a world as you would have it be, and that because you want it you see it. And while you see it you do not doubt that it is real. You do not respond to it as though you made it, nor do you realize that the emotions the dream produces must come from you. It is the figures in the dream and what they do that seem to make the dream. You do not realize that you are making them act out for you, for if you did the guilt would not be theirs, and the illusion of satisfaction would be gone. In dreams these features are not obscure. You seem to waken, and the dream is gone. Yet what you fail to recognize is that what caused the dream has not gone with it. Your wish to make another world that is not real remains with you. And what you seem to waken to is but another form of this same world you see in dreams. All your time is spent in dreaming. Your sleeping and your waking dreams have different forms, and that is all. Their content is the same. They are your protest against reality, and your fixed and insane idea that you can change it.
Dreaming, I am dreaming of earth and sun and stars, a universe of forms that say from God I've gone apart. I've left His loving heart.
T-20.VIII.7. What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood you made it up? What if you realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal?
Into my lucid dream, the Spirit comes to guide and teaches me that all I see are thoughts within my mind. On perception's screen are shadows of the past and endlessly I summon them to try to make them last.
T-27.VIII.10. The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. No matter what the form of the attack, this still is true. Whoever takes the role of enemy and of attacker, still is this the truth. Whatever seems to be the cause of any pain and suffering you feel, this is still true. For you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming. Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize it is your dream.
Dreaming, I am dreaming of anger, guilt and death. But Spirit tells me,"Holy child, give Me your dreams to bless. And I will give you rest."
T-28.II.5. If you are the dreamer, you perceive this much at least: that you have caused the dream, and can accept another dream as well. But for this change in content of the dream, it must be realized that it is you who dreamed the dreaming that you do not like. It is but an effect that you have caused, and you would not be cause of this effect. In dreams of murder and attack are you the victim in a dying body slain. But in forgiving dreams is no one asked to be the victim and the sufferer. These are the happy dreams the miracle exchanges for your own.
Within my lucid dream I call the Spirit's Light to wash my mind of fearful dreams and teach me I am Christ. By His Voice redeemed, I share the joyous truth: Because I made the world I see, it's pain I can undo.
T-27.VIII.11. This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering, whatever form it takes. The Holy Spirit will repeat this one inclusive lesson of deliverance until it has been learned, regardless of the form of suffering that brings you pain. Whatever hurt you bring to Him He will make answer with this very simple truth. .And you will understand that miracles reflect the simple statement, "I have done this thing, and it is this I would undo."
Dreaming, I am dreaming of what was never real. And as I laugh the dream away, my mind is gently healed by what the Light reveals.
M-12.6. God's teachers choose to look on dreams a while. It is a conscious choice. For they have learned that all choices are made consciously, with full awareness of their consequences. The dream says otherwise, but who would put his faith in dreams once they are recognized for what they are? Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet they are not deceived by what they see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful. Unity alone is not a thing of dreams. And it is this God's teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeming and yet surely theirs.