Harmonious Living - A Simple Thought Experiment That Could Change Your Life For Good

A Simple Thought Experiment That Could Change Your Life For Good

Timothy Freke

Monday, 21 August 2006

Simple Thought

I'd like to invite you to join me in a thought experiment. Imagine for a moment you are dreaming. The dream is so vivid that you are completely engrossed with the dramas in your dream. You are utterly convinced you are the person you appear to be, when in reality you are much more than this. You are the dreamer. You are the awareness within which the whole dream is arising.

Now imagine that, in your dream, you start to wake up. You begin to have suspicions that things are not what they seem. You feel a profound sense that you are more than you appear to be. You become open to the intuition that there is some sort of hidden meaning to your experience. You can see that most people in the dream are just unconsciously going about their business, but you are different. You find yourself questioning the assumptions made by others. You are sure that there is something you are missing and you want to know what it is.

You start looking for clues and this changes the dream. You begin to experience strange coincidences that seem to be leading you in some incomprehensible way to an awesome truth you can't quite fathom. You seek out others who have also realised how mysterious things really are, to see if they can help you. You read books that excite you, because they speak of a deep esoteric wisdom that feels almost within reach.

It is at this point in your dream that you happen to pick up a copy of Watkins Review and your eyes settle on an article by some guy called 'Freke', who invites you to take part in a thought experiment, which he claims could change your life for good. This sounds like just another marketing scam, but it's intriguing enough for you to read on. Until eventually you reach this line in the article, in which the author speaks to you directly to say something shockingly simple.

Wake up, my friend, because you are dreaming right now. In this dream we call 'life' you appear to be a person reading this article. But, in reality, you are the presence of awareness within which the whole life-dream is arising. Have you ever been conscious that you were dreaming whilst asleep at night? This is known as 'lucid dreaming'. I want to offer you the opportunity to experience an ultra-awake state I call 'lucid living', in which you are conscious that this moment is like a dream and you are the dreamer.

Over many decades I have made an in-depth exploration of the philosophical traditions of the world that teach the art of waking up, and written over twenty books on the subject. Now I have condensed the essence of the wisdom of awakening into a slim paperback called Lucid Living: a book you can read in an hour that will turn your world inside out. Although this book is brief, it was the most demanding to write, because it presents the perennial philosophy in a fun and funky new way, free from worn-out spiritual jargon.

In my experience waking up is the simple secret of loving this exquisite dream we call 'life'. But I'm not asking you to just believe me. I want to share with you a way of thinking that will help you experience lucid living for yourself. I can't promise reading my little book will wake you up. Lucid Living is like falling in love. It happens when it happens. You can't force it and you can't prevent it. But I can invite you on a blind date with some extremely bold and beautiful ideas. And - you never know - it might be the beginning of something big?

TIMOTHY FREKE is a bestselling author, stand-up philosopher and ambassador for oneness. His previous books include The Jesus Mysteries, which was a 'Book of the Year' in The Daily Telegraph, and Jesus and the Goddess, which was cited by Dan Brown as an inspiration for The Da Vinci Code. His latest book The Laughing Jesus (May 2006) has already been hailed by Larry Dossey as one of the most important books that has emerged in this infant millennium. Tim is often featured in the media internationally. He has recently been interviewed for documentaries on Channel 5, the History Channel, Radio 4, the BBC World Service and Ken Wilber's Integral Naked website. His books, CDs, talks and seminars have inspired many thousands of people throughout the world.

Timothy Freke will be in South Africa to give a series of workshops and talks during September 2006. Tim Freke's full tour schedule, with booking information, can be found at: www.soulcircle.co.za/diary.

For more information or to make a booking go to www.soulcircle.co.za or email Cath Silver on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.

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