November/December 2002 Spirituality
Fear, The Known, And The Dreaming Body
by Matt Guest
Fear is, without a doubt, the greatest obstacle to life. But what is
fear, really? And how exactly does fear limit our quest for self-fulfillment
and freedom?
When you were conceived and your physical life began, a portion of
the Spirit or the Unknown was encapsulated and placed within your physical
body. That portion of the Unknown is called a dreaming body. The dreaming
body is similar to the concept of a soul, but without all of the religious
implications. Your dreaming body has its own destiny and its own agenda,
and can act under its own volition if it is allowed to. This is the
basis for the phenomena of Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, Remote
Viewing, and Out-of-Body Experiences. However, from the beginning of
your existence, fear entered into your life and began to affect and
restrict the natural movement of your dreaming body.
In order to understand the nature of fear, you must first understand
the difference between the known and the Unknown. The Unknown is the
Spirit. It is life. It is every dream of happiness and freedom that
you’ve ever had. The Unknown is a vastness that can never be contained
or fully understood by your limited physical brain. The only way to
ever fully understand the Unknown is by feeling it. Your dreaming body,
since it is a piece of the Unknown, is the only instrument capable of
relating to this infinite vastness. This is your intuition, your gut
feeling - your true awareness.
The known, on the other hand, is simply an interpretation of the Unknown
made by your brain or your rational logic. Your thoughts and beliefs
are what make up this interpretation. All that your brain and its rationality
are capable of doing is breaking down the Unknown into smaller and more
easily understood pieces. This interpretation is the way that you have
chosen to relate to the world around you. This interpretation helps
you to make sense out of the universe. But it also limits your true
understanding. Since the moment of your conception, various people and
influences have pounded these interpretations into you, whether through
religion, philosophy, science, psychology or any other system of belief.
All of these are simply interpretations of the Unknown. How can we ever
hope to understand the Unknown through static mental structures? The
Unknown is a fluid infinity. It will never conform to our beliefs about
it. Your self-imposed limitations and restrictions - the known - have
determined your reality, or lack thereof.
So what is fear? Fear is the known failing to make sense out of the
Unknown! Do you see this? Fear is a feeling that you get when something
doesn’t fit into the little world that you have created for yourself.
We like to say that we are afraid of the Unknown, but in truth what
we are very afraid of is the loss of the known - the loss of control
over the little world that we have become accustomed to. Fear is the
known trying to wrap its puny little arms around the vastness of the
Unknown. It can never be done. If you desire to embody the Unknown in
your life then you must let go of the known. This is very uncomfortable,
to say the least. If you hold on too tightly to the known while trying
to embody the Unknown, your mind will crumble and you will lose your
sanity.
In order for your dreaming body to fulfill itself and manifest its
essence, it must be allowed to function in its own way and under its
own volition, without restriction. If you impose your version of the
world - the known - on your dreaming body then you have restricted it
and blocked its flow, and various diseases will follow. Ultimately,
your dreaming body and your physical body should exist in a unified
and harmonious state, with your dreaming body guiding your physical
body - not the other way around. Your physical body should serve as
a vehicle for your dreaming body. This means that your version of the
known should always defer to the awareness and fluid nature of your
dreaming body. Very often, your dreaming body wants to move or act in
ways that don’t make sense to your version of the known, and this
is how it should be! Look carefully at this: If your current life is
not satisfying and is not everything that you want it to be, then your
version of the known has failed you. In order for you to discover something
new - something that will help you change and find your true happiness
- you must allow the Unknown to function without the interference of
the known. This means that you will be treading new ground - that you
will be sailing without an anchor. You must allow your dreaming body
to lead your physical body and its limited awareness even though it
makes absolutely no sense to your rational mind. This may completely
disrupt your life. But if you truly want to find self-fulfillment and
the Unknown, then you have no choice. Science and rationality do not
create human miracles - they can only observe them. May you find your
highest fulfillment.
Matt Guest is the author of The Face of Power (www.thefaceofpower.com).
He lives in Oregon.