''The Art of Dreaming'' is a 1993 book by the anthropologist

Carlos Castaneda Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer. Starting with '' The Teachings of Don Juan'' in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that purport to describe training in shamanism that he received under the ...

.Castaneda, Carlos. ''The Art of Dreaming.'' New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, 1993. It details events and techniques during a period of the author's apprenticeship with the Yaqui Indian sorcerer,

don Juan Matus Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer. Starting with ''The Teachings of Don Juan'' in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that purport to describe training in shamanism that he received under the tu ...

, between 1960 and 1973.

Summary

''The Art of Dreaming'' describes the steps needed to master the control and consciousness of dreams. The

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

s of Don Juan Matus' lineage believed that there are seven barriers to awareness, which they termed The Seven Gates of Dreaming. In ''The Art of Dreaming'' Castaneda describes extensively how a state called ''Total Awareness'' can be achieved by means of dreaming. According to Castaneda there are 7 Gates of Dreaming, or obstacles to

awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some inform ...

, which when overcome yield total awareness. Four of the Gates of Dreaming are discussed in ''The Art of Dreaming''. What follows is not so much a technique in achieving lucidity, but rather the practical application of

lucid dreaming A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is n ...

. By acting a certain way while dreaming, one can cause

psychosomatic A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

surrounding Toltec dreaming as a way of "

Sorcery Sorcery may refer to: * Magic (supernatural), the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces ** Witchcraft, the practice of magical skills and abilities * Magic in fiction, ...

that is a return to

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

". * 1st Gate of Dreaming (stabilization of the dreaming body): Arrived at when one perceives one's hands in a dream. Solved when one is able to shift the focus from the hands to another dream object and return it to the hands, all repeated a few times. Crossed when one is able to induce a state of darkness and a feeling of increased weight while falling asleep. Location in the body – in the area at the base of the V formed by pulling the big and second toes of one foot to the sides. * 2nd Gate of Dreaming (utilizing the dreaming body): Arrived at when one's dream objects start changing into something else. Solved when one is able to isolate a Scout and follow it to the realm of Inorganic Beings. Crossed when one is able to fall asleep without losing consciousness. It is also referred to the activity of dreaming together with other practitioners. Location in the body – in the inside area of the

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

. * 3rd Gate of Dreaming (traveling): This is what is often known as an "Out of body experience". Arrived at when one dreams of looking at oneself. Solved when the dreaming and physical bodies become one. Crossed when one is able to control the dreaming body in the physical realm and move around at ease. Location in the body – at the lowest part of the

spinal column The vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. The vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates ...

. * 4th Gate of Dreaming (sharing): This is the last gate explained in the book as such, and crossing it consists of being able to share the intended dream reality of other people. One has to have gathered enough strength into the dreaming body through the previous gates in order to travel to other people's dreams.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Art of Dreaming, The 1993 non-fiction books Books about dream interpretation HarperCollins books Lucid dreams New Age books Works by Carlos Castaneda

Summary

See also

References