“We’re In Some Sort Of Shared Hallucination” – Part Two

A few days ago, I wrote about the Arrow crossover episode titled “Invasion!” Shortly after this, it occurred to me that there was something that I had missed that I had to write about it.

So, if you haven’t read the first part, it will be a good idea for you to read this article first, and this is titled ‘“We’re In Some Sort Of Shared Hallucination”- Part One.’ If you do this, what I’m about to say will make far more sense.

An Important Conversation

Anyway, when Oliver and Diggle meet in the garden and talk about what is going on, Oliver says, “these head games aren’t over. They are going to push back against whatever we do”. This is said after both of them have started to see that they in a dream and that the “memory flashes” that they are having are “dreams but not dreams.”

Straight after this, one of Oliver’s old enemies, Deathstroke, appears out of nowhere. It is as though this person, along with everyone else from their past that appears, is there to stop them from waking up in the dream and from completely getting out of the dream that they are in.

Back To the real world

In the same way that there are all these traps to try to keep these characters from waking up and realising what is going on, the same thing takes place in the real world. Due to how real what is going externally will appear to be, it can be just as a challenging for someone to see what is going on.

Instead of being able to take a step back and to realise that what they see is a reflection of their own consciousness, they can be consumed by ‘the matrix’. Said another way, they can be caught up in what is going on externally; giving their power away in the process.

Being the Observer

Their eyes will tell them that what they see is real, and what they see will be brought to life by their thoughts, their feelings, and their bodily sensations. Ergo, as their experience will seem so real, it is not going to be a surprise if they are totally absorbed by it.

For this to change, it will be essential for them to develop the ability to just observe what is going on externally and what is going on internally – to just be with it. This will give them the ability to not be caught up in the dream that they are creating, both consciously and unconsciously, and to see how their external world is reflecting back their inner world.

Part of the Experience

If the dream that they are in didn’t seem completely real, it could be said that it wouldn’t be possible for them to fully embrace the human experience and to perhaps ‘learn what they need to learn.’ When one can embrace the dream and also realises that it is a dream, they will be "in the world, but not of it."

Coming back the Arrow, in this episode aliens are placing people from their past into their dream to distract them. However, when it comes to the real world, the challenges that one faces externally that can prevent them from waking up are not being placed there by ‘aliens’, or something or something else.

Two Levels

As I’ve said above, one’s life is not purely a mirror of what is taking place in their conscious mind; their unconscious mind also plays a part. In fact, this part of their being has a far greater influence on their life.  

Nonetheless, if the effect that this part of their being has is overlooked, it will be a lot harder for them to wake up. Even if they were to play around with what is taking place up top, and to change their thoughts, their life might not really change, which will reinforce the view that their experience on this earth real and is not a dream.

Final Thoughts

Another way of looking at all this would be to say that one will have an ego-mind that will cause them to see themselves as just observers of their reality. What is going on externally will then be solid and what is going on within them won’t have an impact on what is going on ‘out there’.

This part of them will also push the parts of themselves that are too painful, into their unconscious mind. Their conscious mind will forget all about these parts but these parts will influence their outer reality and have an impact on their physical body.
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What this emphasises is how important it is for someone to understand how their own mind works. This is something that should be taught by the education system and if it was, the world would probably be a very different place.

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Oliver JR Cooper