Lucid Waking by Kurt Wimberger

Without a doubt the practice of neutrality has been the asphalt under my feet on this road to growth. Like many things I have learned I struggle in trying to explain it to others. I suppose that makes sense in that we all process the world through our own filters, and no one else will ever filter on the exact same colors and frequencies as us.

But I also happen to believe that you “know” something – as much as we can actually know anything – when you can communicate or teach it to someone else. With that in mind I continue to search for a metaphor that describes how I see neutrality.

I reposted an article recently about lucid dreaming, a topic I love. I have rarely, if ever, had a true lucid dreaming episode. Sure, I’ve taken full advantage of the laws of dream-physics and have flown when possible, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that was a full-on lucid dream. To my understanding, a lucid dream is when you are fully aware that you are dreaming. In a lucid dream state your mind is separate from the dream, running parallel to it. You are aware that all around you is dream material, and you make a conscious choice to interact with, or take control, of it.

And that’s when it hit me – neutrality can be described as lucid waking! When I am in a place of neutrality my mind is separate from, and running parallel to, life around me. I am aware that everything I feel and think is part of me, but not the sum total of me. I am not the anger I experience when someone cuts me off. I am not the joy I feel when laughing at a great joke. I am not the awe that washes over me when I see natural beauty. I DO experience those things, but I am not them.

In lucid waking I am aware that all around me is, to at least some degree, a construct of my own filtering. And as such I can choose how I want to interact with the world. I can believe that my momentary anger at a perceived slight is who I am, or I can acknowledge that the anger is a transient thing the gestalt me is experiencing – just one of hundreds of things that I am experiencing right now. I AM angry (being the anger) only if I decide I AM angry. If am in a place of neutrality – the lucid waking – then I am not angry, but I may be experiencing anger. I am not happy, but I may be experiencing happiness. And if I am experiencing anger, then neutrality reminds me that I also often experience joy, so why not make the lucid waking decision to experience that joy NOW, instead of anger?

If I were to pass the light of neutrality through a prism it would break down into component hues, one of which is non-attachment. When I am in a state of lucid waking I still feel my attachments, but I can also see them from just off to the side. I can trace the lines of energy as they move from me towards the thing or situation to which I feel attached. And once the lines of attachment are visible, I can manipulate them in my lucid waking.

Maybe this is the analogy I have been searching for, maybe not. Either way it certainly helps me to try and convey in words what I normally only feel.

Kurt Wimberger

Kurt Wimberger started life as a film maker and scriptwriter but somehow stumbled into software development. His spiritual journey was jumpstarted back in 1993 when a friend suggested Shamanic Drum journeying. Though Kurt’s initial interest in the journeying was as grist for a potential screenplay character, the journeys proved so powerful and revelatory that they launched over twenty years of seeking , and that seeking has culminated in Neurosculpting® .
Kurt teaches core Neurosculpting® classes and is available for private consultation.