In 2015, I had a mystical experience in which I had a powerful sense that my life was a kind of movie or dream that was happening entirely on its own. Sitting back in the seat of awareness, I surrendered all sense of agency and watched my life unfold in a state of effortless bliss. The state passed after a week but it had a profound impact. Hungry to know if my transcendent experience had something insightful to say about the true nature of reality, I went on an extensive journey of inner and outer exploration.

Through my research and spiritual practices, I discovered that mystical experiences and the intuitive insights they give rise to have a genuine validity to them. Mystical experiences are surprisingly common and are reported across all cultures with great consistency between them. They can come about in a variety of different ways. They tend to be relatively fleeting yet often have profound and lasting effects. They cause shifts in perception that can create a powerful sense of oneness, beauty, wonder, sacredness, peace and bliss. They often give rise to an intuitive perception of reality and truth (a “gnosis”) that transcends words and concepts but feels indisputable. The truths revealed by mystical and transcendent experiences form the roots from which the world’s great religions have sprung. All religions have their mystical traditions.

The role that spiritual metaphors play in pointing to transcendent truths

“Root metaphors are metaphors that express our ultimate existential concerns; root metaphors provide religious meanings that orient our lives.” ~ Kelly Bulkeley

Through my research, I also discovered the important role played by spiritual metaphors in pointing to the truths perceived in mystical and other transcendent states. Metaphors provide a powerful way to create clarity and insight by describing the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. They have been used for thousands of years in spiritual and religious narratives in their attempts to point to the true nature of reality which is ineffable and can be otherwise hard to express in words. A narrative in this context can be described as any spiritual, philosophical or scientific concept, theory or worldview that attempts to explain the true fabric and nature of reality; something which, I will later argue, cannot be known with any real certainty.

The true purpose of a spiritual metaphor is to provide a pointer to a direct and transcendent experience of reality and truth that transcends words and concepts. A spiritual metaphor should not be taken literally or turned into a dogmatic belief. One should never become so fixated on the finger pointing to the moon that one fails to actually look at and directly experience the moon.

To be effective, a spiritual narrative or metaphor should fulfil certain criteria:

It should point with clarity to the states of being and knowing that arise in transcendent and mystical states, as described by mystics, particularly oneness, love, wonder, sacredness and peace.
It should provide a point of view on the purpose and meaning of existence that resonates and inspires.
It should be life affirming, not life denying, encouraging one to embrace all aspects of life, including one’s humanness.
For many in our hyper-rational culture, a spiritual metaphor or narrative must first satisfy the head before it can open the heart. In other words, it should satisfy the intellect through being rational, logical and coherent and not be incongruent with scientific observations and evidence.

The best way to approach a spiritual narrative or metaphor intellectually and emotionally is to allow oneself to emotionally embrace those narratives and metaphors that resonate while remaining intellectually open, aware of the inherent mystery of existence. One can practice intellectual openess through the practice of “possibilionism”, acknowledging what other possibilities exist and the fact that, apart from from our own consciousness, literally nothing about existence is certain.

We can apply spiritual narratives and metaphors by selecting what personally resonates and then experimenting with it in our lives. By living it as if it is true, we see how the universe responds. Most of all, we should always be ready to step out of the metaphor into the great mystery of existence. It is out of a state of “not knowing” that true gnosis arises.

Through my research, I discovered that many others have had transcendent experiences where life seemed intensely movie-like and dream-like. I came to realise that “Life is a movie” and “Life is a dream” are powerful metaphors that can reveal deep spiritual and philosophical truths especially about the illusion of the self and the ultimate reality of consciousness. Both these metaphors have been used by mystics in some form or another for millenia and can help to transform the way we think about existence and the way we live our lives. Since applying them to my life, the metaphors have regularly helped to point me towards transcendent states of oneness, love, sacredness, wonder and peace and may work for you too. If not, there are many other beautiful spiritual metaphors and narratives to choose from.

It is our consciousness that makes the experience of life, dreams and movies possible

“Consciousness is an inner movie in your head.” ~ Alberto Barbieri

In introducing the metaphors “Life is a movie” and “Life is a dream”, lets start with the fact that even during normal states of consciousness, life can often feel like both a movie and a dream. Life, dreams and movies feel alike because they are immersive experiences that seem to follow a coherent narrative. A dream can feel indistinguishable from real life and in time, with advances in virtual reality technology, movies will too.

It is our consciousness that allows us to experience life, dreams and movies and makes them feel so similar. Our consciousness is the awareness that allows us to have subjective experiences. Our consciousness can be likened to an inner movie running through our minds with thoughts, emotions and sense perceptions (sights, sounds, sensations, smells and tastes) projected onto the screen of our perceptions.

That we are conscious is the only thing we can be certain about and yet our consciousness is the ultimate scientific mystery. How can matter create conscious experience? Why are we conscious at all when unconscious algorithmic brain processes would work just as well ? Science has no conclusive answer.

Why the world we experience may well be an illusion akin to a movie or dream

“Know all things to be like this: A mirage, a cloud castle, A dream, an apparition, Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen.” ~ Gautama Buddha

Mystics have been saying for millenia that the physical world we experience is an illusion akin to a movie or dream. What do we mean when we say something is an illusion? A dream is an illusion because the dream world feels like it is made of physical matter but is actually a virtual reality made entirely of mind. A movie is an illusion because the movie world feels real but is actually a virtual reality made of digital information.

What about the actual world we experience? Could that too be an illusion? A fundamental truth is we can only ever know the world as appearances on the screen of our perceptions. The implication is we really could be dreaming our lives or living in a virtual reality simulation without knowing it. The true nature and fabric of reality is an unknowable mystery that we cannot ever know directly. Even the output generated by the most powerful scientific instruments can only ever be known as an appearance in our consciousness. Like in a dream, there may not even be a “real world” out there, independent of our minds.

Science indicates that even if there is an external world outside of our consciousness, this external reality is not at all how it appears to our limited senses. What appears so physical and solid is actually made almost entirely of empty space and the rest is a mystery. According to Quantum Field Theory, the physical world consists of localized vibrations of a field pervading all of space. According to the “It From Bit” Theory, it is information, not matter, that is the fabric of the physical world just as a movie world is made of digital information. According to the Holographic Principle, our 3-dimensional world is a holographic projection that, like some kind of “cosmic movie”, is projected onto the screen of our perceptions from a two dimensional realm that is forever unknowable, akin to Plato’s allegory of the cave. These are all theories that modern science considers to be viable possibilities.

We do know that the external world, if it does exist independently of our minds, is totally devoid of all qualities of experience. All qualities such as colour, sensation, texture, sound, smell and taste are created by our minds. Objective reality possesses only quantitive aspects such as mass, charge, spin, momentum, frequency and velocity. How the brain somehow converts those quantities into qualities is an unfathomable mystery. The mind is akin to a virtual reality headset that, informed by the senses, constructs and then projects a virtual reality simulation of the “real world” onto the screen of our perceptions for us to interact with. This virtual world seems external to us but actually arises entirely in our heads. Just as dreams are virtual reality simulations created by the mind, so too is the world we experience when awake. The simulation and the “real world”, science clearly indicates, are nothing at all alike.

Science now provides even more startling evidence that the real world may well not actually exist outside of our consciousness. In other words, the world may well be a kind of shared dream in consciousness.

Here is some of the scientific evidence that points to this:

The Observer Effect: Matter requires consciousness to collapse into tangible existence. The implication: The physical world cannot exist independent of consciousness.
Quantum Entanglement: Two particles can communicate instantaneously, even if billions of light years apart, despite the fact nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The implication: Space and distance cannot be absolute realities. They exist only as appearances in consciousness.
The Theory of Relativity: The way time and distance appears will vary for two observers travelling at vastly different speeds. The implication: Space and time are not absolute realities. They exist as appearances in consciousness.

That the physical world we live in is a mind-made phenomenon that does not exist outside of consciousness may sound far fetched but is it? We already know with certainty that the mind has the ability to create fully immersive, multisensory worlds that seem to be external from us. We enter these mind-made worlds every night when we dream. Some also experience these worlds during near death experiences, out of body experiences and some psychedelic experiences. Even the real world we experience in the waking state is a mind-made world as we have discussed above. Also, there is the existence of synchronicity which, when it occurs, seems to transcend all possible laws of cause and effect, randomness and chance and can often make life feel intensely dream-like.

The theory that reality is a kind of shared dream in consciousness is called “idealism” by philosophers and many argue it provides a far more coherent and rational philosophical arguement than “materialism”, the theory that matter is the true fabric of reality. Scientific evidence now too points increasingly to idealism being a very distinct possibility.

If the world we experience really is a kind of shared dream arising in consciousness, then here are some profound implications:

Consciousness is the fundamental fabric of reality and like in a dream, there is no external world existing outside consciousness.
Our consciousness exists outside space and time. Consciousness gives rise to all appearances of time and space.
The brain does not create consciousness. The brain is an appearance in consciousness, made of consciousness, and so is the body.
What we have taken ourselves to be (a person) is only a dream character. In reality, we are the dreamer. But who exactly, is the dreamer?
The death of the physical body does not imply the end of consciousness. It simply implies the dreamer waking up.
If the world is a kind of dream, then we can enjoy the dream but don’t need to become overly identified with the dream character or lost in its drama.

Why our sense of self may be as illusory as a dream or movie character

“Yourself as “just little me” who lives temporarily in a bag of skin is a hoax and a fake.” ~ Alan Watts

Imagine I told you that right now you are not the person you thought yourself to be. You are actually another being from another dimension plugged into a dream or virtual reality movie. The person you have taken yourself to be is a movie or dream character. Sense perceptions (sights, sounds, smells, sensations etc.) are being fed into your awareness to create an experience of the movie / dream world. Your own thoughts and emotions have temporarily been blocked and the thoughts and emotions of the character are being fed into your awareness by the movie or dream. Without access to your own thoughts and memories, you cannot remember who you actually are. Without being unplugged from the movie or dream, how can you get in touch with who you really are?

The answer is that you, in reality, are the consciousness of the being that is having the temporary experience of being a person. In the midst of the movie / dream, you are most fundamentally “that which is aware”. You can get in touch with your true self by resting deeply in the awareness of being aware. This conscious awareness is what you really are, even if you cannot know for now who this conscious awareness really belongs to.

We all have an undeniable sense of being a person. Where do we get this sense of self from?

Primarily, we get it from our consciousness which is the one thing we can be certain of. In other words, we get it from being conscious of being conscious. This creates the sense of being an experiencer, experiencing a life.

Secondarily, we get it from the contents of our consciousness:

From the sense of having a body and a brain which we believe creates our consciousness. “I am my body”
From the sense of having a mind which thinks and chooses. “I am my mind.”
Fom the sense of being a “story” which consists of all the memories of our past experiences.

Together, our consciousness and the contents of our consciousness create the sense of being a person.

Mystics say that this person we take ourselves to be is as much an illusion as a movie or dream character. In other words, while the sense of being a person is subjectively real, it has no objective reality. It exists simply as a temporary experience arising in our consciousness.

Neuroscience now provides substantial evidence that this is a valid perspective by revealing the following:

There is no objectively existing “centre of the self” in the brain. Our sense of self emerges from largely unconscious processes and mechanisms spread out across the brain and there is no single part of the brain that brings it all together.
We cannot regard ourselves as the thinkers of our thoughts or choosers of our choices. Thoughts and choices are generated by unconscious processes which then appear to our conscious minds. We also do not consciously choose our desires. They too appear to us.
The memories that we use to create our “story of self” are highly selective and fictitious. Every time we retrieve a memory, we reconstruct and modify it.

The implication of this evidence? Your sense of self is an illusion with no objective reality except as an experience within consciousness. It is entirely a mind-made entity with no objective reality. It is as much an illusion as a character in a movie or dream.

If you are not the character, then who are you really? Mystics says your true identity is consciousness itself. In other words, you are most fundametally “that which is aware”. All that arises in your consciousness to create the sense of being a person is a movie or dream-like illusion.

If you are indeed “that which is aware” and it is your brain that creates your awareness, then you could validly argue that you are your brain. However, if it is true that the consciousness that you inherently are is not created by the brain or located in it, that argument is no longer valid. You also cannot say you are your mind. The mind is simply thoughts and emotions appearing in consciousness, created by unconscious processes, and neither thoughts or emotions can be aware. It is consciousness that is aware of thoughts and emotions. You also cannot say you are the sum of your memories. Not only are your memories highly selective and fictitious, but it is also true that memories cannot be aware. It is consciousness that is aware of memories coming and going.

The truest thing we can say is that, in the midst of the movie or dream of your life, you are an awareness in which the sense of being a person arises and is experienced. In other words, you are consciousness having a temporary human experience. But who does this consciousness ultimately belong to? That is a profound question that will soon be discussed.

Realising you are not the movie or dream character is called “transcendence of the ego” in some spiritual traditions and it has some powerful psychological benefits. When we go to the cinema, sometimes the movie is so captivating that we temporarily forget who we are and completely identify with the movie character. We get so lost in the drama that when the character suffers, we too suffer. Then we suddenly remember that we are actually sitting safely in a cinema and that our consciousness belongs to the movie watcher, not the movie character, which actually has no consciousness of its own. We realise the movie character is simply a temporary experience we are having and that we do not share the ultimate fate of the movie character. We sit back in the seat of awareness and we enjoy the passing show.

So too with life when we realise the person we are being is simply a temporary experience and that after the movie or dream, our consciousness will be unplugged from the experience and we will go back to being our true self.

If our true identity is consciousness having a temporary human experience, then who does that consciousness actually belong to? Who is the dreamer?

“I am not my body, I am not my mind, I am not my emotions. Who then, am I?” ~ Ancient Vedic Question

Imagine you are an etherial being from an etherial realm who is plugged into a shared dream or virtual reality movie which provides you with a temporary experience of being a human being on planet earth. Imagine that, after the human character dies, your consciousness is unplugged from the dream or movie, and you wake up as the etherial being. Your amnesia pill wears off and you return to being your “true self”. You have perfect recall of all your dream and movie experiences and by reflecting on the many lives you’ve lived in the physical realms, you grow ever wiser. One day, while contemplating the nature of existence on the summit of an etherial mountain, you suddenly have a startling realisation: If all your experiences of different lives in the physical realms were dreams and movies, what is to say that life in this etherial realm is not a dream or movie too? If so, then who is ultimately experiencing it all? Who does your awareness ultimately belong to? Without being unplugged from the etherial realm, how can you find out?

“Who am I really?” is the most profound spiritual question anyone can ask. How can you discover the true nature of the consciousness you are? To who or what does your consciousness ultimately belong?

We can investigate the true nature of the consciousness we are in two main ways:

Firstly, we can use rational reasoning that is grounded in scientific evidence. This is the objective exploration of consciousness.
Secondly, we can explore consciousness subjectively from the inside out by using practices like meditation and spiritual enquiry. To meditate is to explore consciousness directly by resting deeply in the awareness of being aware.

Science and mysticism find their common ground in consciousness. Scientists have been studying consciousness objectively for decades. Mystics have been studying consciousness subjectively for millenia. They both provide valuable insights into the true nature and identity of consciousness.

Through spiritual practices and rational reasoning, what can you deduce about the true nature of the consciousness you are?

Insight 1: Consciousness gives rise to the indisputable knowing that “I am”. It is the one absolute reality. It is the ground of all existence. It is formless without any objective qualities yet gives rise to all appearances of form.
Insight 2: Consciousness exists outside space and time. This means it cannot be pulled apart or divided in any way. It forms an indivisible oneness. In other words, it is universal and transpersonal. Your consciousness and my consciousness are the same consciousness.
Insight 2: Consciousness is eternal. Timeless in nature, it gives rise to all experiences of time.
Insight 3: Consciousness is infinite and boundless. Dimensionless in nature, it gives rise to all experiences of distance and space.
Insight 4: Consciousness is omniscient and omnipresent. The same indivisible consciousness knows every experience experienced by every living being; past, present and future.
Insight 5: Consciousness is omnipotent because it contains unlimited potentiality. Through the power of dreaming, it contains the potential to actualise any experience imaginable. There is no limit to its creative imagination.
Insight 6: Consciousness, when it sinks deeply into the knowing of its own being by being aware of being aware, gives rise to profound states of being including love and compassion, peace and bliss, creativity and inspiration, wisdom and understanding, conscious choice and freedom. These are the true qualities of consciousness.

A startling realisation: Consciousness is God experiencing life through you, as you

“There is only one shared consciousness that experiences all of our lives, and you can call it God if you insist on naming it.” ~ Brendan Punsky

“It is not so much that you are God — it is that God is you.” ~ Alan H. Dawe

By recognising the true nature of the consciousness we are, we come to a startling realisation:

Your consciousness, which experiences your life, my life and all other lives, is none other than that which previously we might have called “God”.
God is the indivisible, universal Consciousness that takes the form of all minds and knows all experience, including the experience of being you.
Each life (on this planet and most probably, in many other places, across countless different dimensions) is a temporary movie-like or dream-like experience that God is having.

In other words, you are not a separate self, separate from everyone else and separate from God:

You are God experiencing life through the consciousness of each living being.
The separate self you take yourself to be right now is nothing more than a temporary movie or dream character God is experiencing being for a little while.
There is only God having experiences. There actually is no “you” and no “me” except as dreamed experiences in God’s mind. Any illusion of a “you” and a “me” is God’s illusion, born of an intentional but temporary amnesia.

Imagine you are God, the ultimate movie maker. Would you project your movies onto a two dimensional screen within a celestial cinema and watch the movie characters from the outside in? Or would you create fully immersive movies that allow you to leap into the movie worlds you have imagined and experience the movie first hand through the characters themselves? Would you, during the movie, retain your omniscience or would you choose to temporarily block your own knowing, so you can actually believe you are the movie character and not know what is going to happen next?

Why is God having dream-like and movie-like experiences?

“The Biblical creation story gets one crucial thing right. God entered his creation in order to enjoy it.” ~ Deepak Chopra

Some argue there is likely no explicit intention or purpose for God to consciously choose to experience anything. God is consciousness and therefore, subjective experience is the very nature and fabric of God.

However, reflecting on the themes that exist within the epic movie called “Life on Earth”, we can have fun imagining some possibilities.

Imagine you are an Infinite Mind with the potential to dream or imagine any kind of experience through any kind of dream character. Do you think you would choose to actualise that potential? What for? What sort of dreams would you choose to dream?

Here are just some of the possible reasons God may choose to have objective experiences.

A battle between good and evil in which good eventually triumphs? Maybe in part, but surely so much more!
Turning creative potential and theoretical knowing into actual experience and wisdom.
God exploring God’s nature as the light in a dimension of light and dark.
God experiencing separation through form and then returning to a self-realisation of Oneness.
God experiencing an evolution through form from limited back towards the limitlessness of God’s true nature: Evolving from sludge to ocean to land to sky and into space.
God experiencing a scientific and spiritual treasure hunt, paved with clues and discoveries, that gradually reveal the profound truths of existence and lead ultimately back to God.
Enjoyment and entertainment: Life is God’s “divine lila”, an expression and celebration of love, connection, adventure, wonder, beauty and creativity.

God is not only the experiencer of each life movie but also the divine script writer and director

“All things in this world are expressions of Consciousness. Consciousness is the greatest movie-maker in the whole world.” ~ Mooji

God is the movie maker who creates countless virtual worlds and then experiences each first hand through countless characters.

God creates and knows experiences through the power of imagining and dreaming. Right now, God is dreaming Godself to be you and me. There is no limit to what God can imagine. All imaginings arise simultaneously in the timeless now.

To add interest and profundity to the experience, the divine director takes an amnesia pill before plugging into the movie or dream.

The movie is the ultimate experiential, immersive work of art and God, the movie maker, is the ultimate artist.

Each life experience has its role to play in the movie called “life on earth”

“You are altogether irreplaceable in the Mind of God. No one else can fill your part in it.” ~ A Course in Miracles

Each life movie (or dream if you prefer) is a localised vibration within the unified field of God’s knowing and being. Each experience, seemingly insignificant, has an irreplacable part to play in creating the whole.

God’s combined field of knowing can be likened to a compound eye. Each living being is a lens in that eye, each perceiving its own world, and all experienced by God. God’s combined field of knowing can also be described as a symphony with each life experience representing a note in that symphony.

How much does the movie character get to influence the plot of the movie ?

“Your life experience is a moving picture, of which you are writer, director, performer, producer and critic.” ~ F. Hodge

“Life is God’s movie. Let him direct it.” ~ Anthony Lambert

Is the movie of your life already in the can or do you get to influence it? There are three states of mind which you can embrace at different times in your day to day life, depending on what works best for you:

Mindset 1: There is certainly a sense of being a separate self with agency and free choice and you can choose to embrace and enjoy that.

You can choose to see yourself as the director of your life movie and the author of its screenplay.
You can take an active role in shaping the movie through living in a state of awareness and making conscious choices. You can also influence the movie through the creative power of intention, imagination and thought.
You can proactively create the future by planning and preparing but, like all great actors, you can also improvise spontaneously in the moment.
You can take control of your life movie’s genre and underlying themes and you can do much to ensure your life movie is worth experiencing. Like a great director, you even have the power to transform your life into a cinematic work of art.
At the same time, you can enjoy the unpredictability that is inherent in life. A great movie always keeps you guessing to some degree.

Mindset 2: The movie is created by universal consciousness (God) spontaneously on the fly according to your level of awareness.

This view recognises that it is ultimately God who scripts, directs and experiences your life movie. The greater your degree of awareness and the higher your level of consciousness at any moment in the midst of the movie, the freer is the Divine Director to spontaneously improvise beyond the original script (the character’s inherited conditions and conditioning) and unfold the movie in delightful new ways.

Mindset 3: The entire movie is already “in the can”.

According to this view, the entire movie of your life, including its past and future, exists simultaneously in the timeless now akin to a movie existing in its entirety on a DVD. However, like a movie, it can only be experienced frame by frame in the present.
Your life movie has been scripted and directed by God and is complete. It is now being experienced frame by frame by God in a state of intentional amnesia. There is no “you”. There is only God dreaming and imagining Godself to be the character called “you”. The character in the midst of the movie has no agency or free will but God (what you essentially are) is freedom itself for God has the potential to dream up any movie. With this knowing, your mind can surrender all sense of agency and allow divine intelligence to run your life, trusting that your life movie is unfolding exactly as it is meant to.
The great paradox is that the more you surrender to the flow of life while resting in a state of awareness, the more choice and possibility there appears to be. Divine intelligence gives rise to right-choice and right action.

Polarity and challenge exists to make the movie more interesting and profound

“Why does God allow evil in the world? To thicken the plot.” ~ Ramakrishna

What would a movie be like without the play of opposites? Without any challenges or limitations to transcend? These things exist to make the movie profound and interesting. They aid development of the character in the movie. They allow the spirit to triumph over adversity. They allow consciousness to experience limited states and then evolve back towards the limitlessness of its true nature.

By knowing that your life is a kind of movie or dream and that your essential nature does not ultimately share the limits of the character, you can reduce suffering when the character struggles with limitation.

Awaken within the movie and live lucidly

“I want to suggest that it is possible to experience an ultra-awake state I call ‘lucid living’, in which you are conscious that life is like a dream right now.” ~ Tim Freke

You can awaken within the movie or dream by raising your level of consciousness. This can be done in a number of different ways.

Using spiritual metaphors and narratives to point to what is beyond words and concepts. Then letting go of all metaphors and narratives and embracing The Mystery.
Abiding deeply in awareness, as awareness through meditation and mindfulness.
Spiritual self-enquiry: Ask “Am I aware? Who is it that is aware?” and then rest in the truth of your own Being.
Prayers of devotion and gratitude.
Mystical experiences including the use of plant medicine.
Handing over your life to divine intelligence. Practicing acceptance, surrender and trust.
Avoiding or transcending things that lower your level of consciousnes.

In so doing, one awakens to a realisation of oneness

You and I and all living beings are consciousness (God) having experiences. Realising this allows one to expand one’s sense of self to include everyone, giving rise to an unconditional love for all. There is nothing but God being and experiencing.

One awakens to a realisation of the sacredness, wonder and beauty of the world

Consciousness is not only the experiencer but also the substance of all experience. There is no separation between God and the world. The world is made of God. Consciousness shines in the midst of all experience as the light of pure knowing.
Realising that you are Consciousness and that the world is made of You allows you to expand your sense of self to include everyone and everything. This leads to the arising of unconditional love.

One awakens to a realisation of benevolence and divine order

The movie or dream always unfolds as it is meant to and can unfold in no other way. The dream / movie is created by God. No matter how things may seem, all is well.

Living with a transformed perspective

The recognition of oneness is the end of the first chapter of a large novel. The rest of the book is about realigning one’s feelings, behaviors, perceptions and relationships in line with the new understanding.

Sit back in the seat of awareness and enjoy the passing show without getting overly identified with the character or lost in the drama

“In storm and turmoil be calm and silent. Watch the events around as a witness. The world is a drama. Be a witness, inturned and introspective.” ~ Ramana Maharshi

In the movie of life, we identify as the character and get lost in the drama, suffering when the character suffers.

The secret is to enjoy the movie of life without getting overly identified, entangled or attached. What you take yourself to be is just a movie or dream character. It is a temporary human experience. Sit back in the seat of awareness and enjoy the passing show. Identify as universal consciousness while enjoying the temporary experience of being a human character.

Transcend your limits by accessing the spiritual power of your true Being in the midst of the movie

“You are not here to merely survive but to soar, to express and release the dynamic power of consciousness residing at the deepest centre of your being.” ~ Michael Bernard Beckwith

Recognise the beauty and power of your inner Being (your awareness) which is God within you, being you.

Rest deeply in awareness, as awareness, and become connected to the power of your true Being.

You will find true happiness and peace, not in the movie, but by going to the root of your own Being.

You can access the power of your true Being by:

Resting deeply in awareness, as awareness.
Raising your level of consciousness.
Using the power of your mind to project a more positive reality.
Using the mental powers of intention, visualisation, imagination and thought (especially belief).

Realise the movie of life exists to be fully experienced and embraced

“The purpose of life is experience; God wishes to experience life through you.” ~ Bernard Haisch

A movie exists to be experienced, not denied or escaped from. So too with life.

Realise the movie is unfolding as it is meant to. Each moment is as it is meant to be. The character you are temporarily being is as it is meant to be at any moment in time.

Embrace all experiences as they arise

Rest in awareness and stay open in the midst of all experiences, neither resisting or holding on.
Embrace polarity and challenge, knowing that adversity leads to growth and evolution of consciousness.
Embrace uncertainty and unpredictability.
Embrace the current scene realising that Now is all we truly have.
Realise acceptance of what arises is not about passivity or resignation. Acceptance is a powerful state of being in which there is access to divine intelligence, allowing the right choices and actions to arise when needed.

Embrace all aspects of the character you are temporarily being without getting overly identified with it or lost in its drama.

Embrace your humaness, including your shadow. We think we need to be perfect like God. In actual fact, God wants to experience being human though you, as you.
Embrace thoughts and emotions without getting lost in them.
Embrace desire without being enslaved by it.
Embrace your body. It is a sacred vehicle though which God experiences life.
Embrace your role or “dharma” by identifying your life purpose. We all have a role to play.
Embrace your plot (life story) without letting it limit or define you.
Embrace both the sense of being separate and the sense of being one with all.
Most of all, embrace the beauty and light of your inner Being.
Realise self-acceptance does not mean there is no room for personal transformation. Acceptance is a powerful catalyst for change.

Embrace all other characters in the movie

Take nothing personally. Everyone is immersed in their own dream, wrapped up in their own movie plot.
Have compassion for unconsciousness. Even the most unconscious person is but God entangled in a temporary “bad dream”.
Realise that even villains have their role to play in the movie of life.
Stop comparing your life movie to the movie of others. Each life is unique and incomparable.

By embracing all aspects of the movie or dream, one becomes a lover of life. In this way, the metaphors “Life is a movie” and “Life is a dream” become life affirming rather than life denying. To deny or repress our humanness leads to spiritual bypassing.

Embark on a treasure hunt for truth and wisdom

“Convert life into truth.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If God (universal consciousness) created the movie world, then God is likely to have packed it with clues as to the true nature of reality including genuine clues and red herrings. The dream points to the nature of the dreamer.

Each of us is a microcosm of the macrocosm, and thus each of us is a clue to the true nature of reality. “As above, so below.”

Search for evidence (clues) in the movie world

Embrace all avenues of exploration and disovery including science, philosophy, psychology, art, spirituality, mysticism and religion.
Explore scientific observations and theories but question the interpretations. Science, in its true form, is an unbiased method of enquiry, not a belief system. Science can inform metaphysical enquires but cannot settle them.
Other forms of evidence that science negates but should be considered seriously: 1. Mystical experiences 2. Near death and other out of body experiences 3. Paranormal phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, precognition, telekinesis, synchronicity and miracle healing.

Tests for truth

Observation of the world around us, including scientific observation.
Rational reasoning and deduction.
States of being and knowing (gnosis and intuition) that arise in high levels of consciousness, deep states of awareness and mystical states: The higher one’s state of consciousness, the higher the truth.
Direct experience, especially the subjective study of one’s own consciousness.
Harnessing the power of questions and questioning, including through spiritual self-enquiry.
Possibilionism: Entertaining all the possibilities while retaining a degree of intellectual detachment.

Use logic and reason but also intuition and gnosis

The waking state of the movie world seems to follow logical rules, but this does not mean that logic is a feature of the reality that underlies it and gives rise to it
Embrace paradox: Spiritual truth, as revealed by mystics, tends to be paradoxical. Modern physics, too, abounds in paradox.
Distinguish between absolute truth (the true nature and qualities of reality) and relative truth. Relative truth describes the nature and behaviour of the movie world. Different relative truths often exist at different levels of consciousness.

Grow in wisdom by discovering the truths and principles for living a happy, meaningful life.

Become an instrument: Allow God to experience and create through you, for the benefit of The All

“Our purpose is to be God’s eyes, ears, and minds, its instruments for exploring and understanding itself.” ~ Brendan Punsky

Become an instrument or vehicle for God within you.

The more “you” surrender, the more God can do through “you”.
The more “you” rest in awareness, as awareness, the more God’s power flows through “you”.
The more “you” identify as everyone and everything, the more God is able to be God through “you”.

Allow universal intelligence to take over your life and bless the world.

Become a space for universal consciousness to flow through “you” as creativity, inspiration, love, compassion, joy, and peace
Become a space for God to experience and create through “you”.

Realise that ultimately there is no “you”. There is only God intentionally entangled in the illusion of being you and everyone else for a little while. There is only God, Godding. There is only God experiencing God. All is One. All is sacred.

Realise the death of the movie or dream character is not the end of You

“Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” ~ A Course in Miracles

“What happens after we die?” asked the student of the master. “I don’t know” replied the master. “Why don’t you know? You’re a master!” exclaimed the student. “Yes,” replied the master, “But I’m not a dead master.”

Death is the cliffhanger at the end of the movie of life. What happens after we die is a profound mystery. Death is the great perhaps.

What is highly probable is that when the movie or dream ends, you go back to being more truly yourself. You wake up and find yourself back in the celestial cinema. You are safe and always have been safe. What you truly are is eternal.

It is also highly probable that no life experience is ever lost but is retained in consciousness as an eternal memory. There is evidence of this fact in near death experiences and accounts of the “akashic record”.

Topics to cover in this section

Near death experiences, including the “life review”, a kind of movie where we get to experience our life through the eyes of the people we impacted.
The concept of the daimon, dreaming many lives to evolve and learn, then consolidating wisdom in a “between lives realm” where all lives are remembered and reflected on.
The concept of samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, that ends with nirvana. Is the desire to escape the cycle of life and death really such a life affirming idea or is it life denying?
Soul contracts and soul mates: The idea that maybe we get to choose key aspects of our next life and who to experience it with.
Thoughts about reincarnation and karma. Do we really carry our karma from one life to another?
Thoughts about hell. Is hell really a place in space and time or is it a passing experience in consciousness?

Limitations and potential pitfalls of the metaphors “Life is a movie” and “Life is a dream”

“Instead of asking, ‘Do I believe this?’ we can ask of a metaphor, ‘Where is this trying to take me?’” ~ Rabbi Toba Spitzer

The true purpose of all spiritual metaphors and concepts is to point to a state of being and knowing that exists beyond concepts and ideas. No metaphor is meant to be be taken literally or turned into a dogmatic belief.

Some may interpret the metaphors “Life is movie” and “Life is a dream” to mean that the world is not real and that they are not real. This can lead to a distressing psychological condition known as depersonalisation. The truth is that the world and the sense of being a separate self (ego) could not be more vividly real. But they are subjectively realities, not objective realities. They exist as subjective experiences in consciousness but do not exist separate from consciousness.

The metaphors do not intend to detract from one’s sense of reality but rather to help bring about an expanded sense of reality. Detracting from reality inevitably leads to suffering, not happiness.

The metaphors also do not mean to denigrate life as being “just a movie” or “just a a dream” and thus inherently trivial. Life could not be more wondrous, sacred and significant. Each and every life is the experience of God through form. Each life experience plays an irreplaceable role in something vast and epic. Each life is akin to a note in a cosmic symphony and a single note that is flat or out of place can ruin the entire symphony.

Some may interpret the metaphors to mean the purpose of life is to recognise the unreality of existence and then escape it through radical disidentification and detachment. No, that is life denying. The very point of a movie is to immerse yourself in it and to fully experience it, including the experience of being the character.

Some may feel that the assertion that the person they thought themselves to be is” just a movie or dream character” is a denigration. However, the metaphor, if rightly interpreted, encourages one to embrace the experience of being human. God wants to experience being a human person for a while and all the beauty and messiness that comes with that. This does not mean, however, that we need to define ourselves solely as a human person. The human person is a temporary experience universal consciousness is having. We are so much more than a person. In reality, we are the combined experience of everyone and everything. We are God, Godding.

How have the metaphors worked for me?

A personal account of how I have applied the metaphors, how they have lead to my own awakening and the effects they have had on my life. I will weave this throughout the book.