Dans la lettre d'info du lucidity institutes de ce mois-ci il y a un passage intéressant sur la façon de traiter ces PR. Il s'agit de l'avis du lucidity institute (fondé par Stephen Laberge). Le débat revenant de temps en temps dans le forum, je cite donc leur avis ici:
Why It Matters How We Treat Our Dream Characters
"Considering others to be just the same as yourself helps you to open up your relationships and give them a new and richer meaning. Imagine if societies and nations began to view one another in the same way; at last we would have the beginnings of a solid basis for peace on earth, and the happy coexistence of all peoples." (Sogyal Rinpoche)
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." (Albert Einstein)
If you suppose that the people in your dreams are no more real than the characters in a novel or a video game, what does it matter how you treat them? Why should you be concerned about the feelings of "figments of your imagination?" Since it's your dream, what's wrong with acting like a Roman Emperor or a god?
Setting aside for the moment the question of the reality of dream figures, there are good arguments for not lording over your dreams. Practicing actions makes them come easier in the future; what we make a habit of in dream life will manifest in waking life as well. Where better to begin the practice of compassion than within your own mind, in your own dreams, to your own creations?
The enlightened sages, as in the above quotes, teach us that we are all not simply alike, but one. What we do to others, we do to ourselves. Again, nowhere is this more obvious than in dream worlds, where those we may think of as "others," are reflections of our minds.
Consider what it means to be "you" or "other" in a dream. Remember, the person you are in the dream is just the person the sleeping dreamer is dreaming him- or herself to be! Those other beings, or objects, in the dream are other manifestations of the self. That you identify with one character at one particular moment does not mean that you are not also everything else in the dream. The same likely applies in what we call "waking life" as well.