ThirdGate - The Map is Not the Territory

Mapping of any kind is, naturally, not a goal, but a method. When creating a map, you orient yourself in space by becoming familiar with the environment. Let's imagine a computer quest where the game space is covered by a "fog of war". The analogy with the world of dreams is stretched, but quite acceptable. Has anyone encountered computer games whose mission was to reveal the map? No. But there are many games in which, by clearing the "fog of war" and revealing the map, we find solutions to quest missions. A true gamer knows that in complex games, a map is indispensable. Orientation in space saves time and effort, whereas the absence of a map turns an interesting game into a tedious wandering in circles. Dream mapping is a method, not a goal. Moreover, a dream map is not the dream world, just as a globe is not the Earth. A map of dreams is an artificially created space that, to some extent, reflects our description of a certain set of dreams. A map cannot describe all your dreams. It is limited by a fundamental choice of elements – that is, someone might map the dream landscape, someone else might map collections of sensations, and someone else might focus on other components of the dream. Dream Hackers chose to map the landscape. Why? They decided it would be a method of non-doing the dream description. With this choice, the dreamer excludes part of the internal dialogue associated with dream Sprites. The Hackers named the characters of our dreams 'Sprites'. According to the Hackers, Dreaming is a Perception Bubble that includes a small space, whose attributes can be Sprites and environmental background. Some dreams have neither Sprites nor background.

Let's digress a bit and talk about dream classifications. And there are thousands of these classifications. For example, Patricia Garfield offers a classification of universal dreams that emphasizes the emotional component and divides dream types into pairs of opposites: dreams of falling and dreams of flying; dreams of loss and dreams of gain, etc. This is one of the most elegant classifications, but it includes about 36 types of dreams. The Hackers devised their own classification and reduced it to 4 types:

Delusional Loops (these are usually extremely schematic dreams, with monotonously repeating plots; as a rule, they are dreamt by people during illnesses, in days of decline in strength and mental confusion; they are well remembered; in many cases, these "loops" repeat through all 5-6 REM sleep periods; for beginning dreamers they are practically useless; for experienced users they are an excellent opportunity to transition into Lucid Dreams; and interestingly, "loops" often have a minimized environmental background with an almost complete absence of Sprites; the Hackers consider this type of dream an equivalent to a debugging program).
Chat Dreams (dreams whose content consists of 80-90% chatter, monologues, and dialogues; usually poorly remembered; more common in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th REM sleep periods; with active practice by dreamers, they transform into types 3 and 4).
Vivid Dreams (dreams with a rich environmental background, a complex plot, and colorful Sprites; more common in the 1st, 5th, and 6th REM sleep periods; they provide dreamers with the main material for creating maps).
Transparent Dreams (rare in the initial stages of practice; well remembered; often misinterpreted as Lucid Dreams; they involve moments of realizing that you are asleep and knowing that you are asleep).

The Hackers believe that Lucid Dreams are not dreams at all. I repeat, this is just one of many classifications. By and large, it is no different from others, and I offered it to your attention only to show the limitations of dream mapping (which, as you have already understood, primarily exploits types 3 and 4 of dreams). Why is such a "beta version" (i.e., a stripped-down model) needed? And why not create something more global? For example, a description similar to the periodic table, where the valence of feelings, columns of visualized images, and concentration on certain energy centers of the body could define the paradigm and orientation of sensations? (What a mouthful!) All these challenges are within your reach. You have lived a third of your life in dreams and are experts in this field. Create your own models and classifications. There is a Chinese proverb by Yu – first you plow the field, and then the field feeds you. "Sweat" over your model, then the model will work for you. But the Hackers are lazy. That's why they cobbled together a "beta version." Their method is not a gateway to dreams. It's an ordinary tunnel under the wall of the unknown.

I have met many good people who, with varying degrees of persistence, tried the method of "searching for hands in Dreaming." And you know, few of them succeeded. Two or three successful dreams a year are typical. There were lucky ones who managed it effortlessly (or with difficulty, but succeeded). But thousands of people "fell away" from Toltec practices, considering themselves incapable, weak, or having misunderstood something. They later sought "explanations" for their failures, but in their hearts, a longing remained for the amazing possibilities that Castaneda wrote about. The Hackers offer them a new opportunity – entry into the world of Lucid Dreams through a narrow passage of an artificially created substitute. If the Eagle is satisfied with a substitute created by life review, why shouldn't it swallow a surrogate of reviewed dreams?

So, shall we crawl into the tunnel? Let's begin our quest and disperse the "fog of war" a little. So to speak, let's look around.

Practical Advice for Dream Mapping

What does a dreamer need who wishes to practice mapping? First of all, a dream journal. Keep it close to your bed. And a pencil with an eraser. As soon as you recall a dream, write it down immediately. Draw a sketch of the area – a mountain range, a lake, a clearing with a road. Did you see yourself in some house? Don't bother drawing rooms in detail – just mark the house and everything around it. Did you see a hollow that transforms into a mountain before your eyes? Name it exactly that – hollow/mountain. Specificity is not especially necessary. But the more effort you put in at the beginning, the faster your progress will be. On the diagram, add labels explaining landscape details. A month later, you will look at this drawing as if you are seeing it for the first time. And the labels will bring back your memories. Next to the diagram, briefly describe the dream's plot. For example, "Encounter with Olli. It looked at me, and I wet myself. Fear carried my attention into another Perception Bubble (that is, a new dream plot)." Number each dream you describe. When describing an individual dream, orientation by cardinal directions is not needed. After some time, interesting transformations will begin to occur in your collected dreams. Some dream bubbles will merge. For instance, you dreamt of an institute, then your childhood home, then a third dream that connected all three dreams into a chain of unified space. The last dream is best remembered, so learn to wake up "gently." Cultivate the intention to "remember your dreams" every time you awaken. Clinging to the fragile memory of some scene, bring the entire dream back into consciousness. A little practice, and you will develop your own method of recall. The main thing is to make entries daily. If you didn't catch a dream from this night, describe another dream you remembered. But every day! (Or at least strive for it).

Orientation in Dream Mapping

Let's digress a bit and talk about orientation. Suppose you have accumulated a hundred described dreams, and you still don't know how to arrange them on a map. Well, maybe a couple of dreams merged into one piece, while the others are still floating in the air. OK! You have two options – personally continue assembling the map from a thousand puzzles. Or use the Hackers' experience and thereby save three or four years of your life. For those who prefer "experimental purity," I advise choosing the first option. For the rest, guidelines will be offered around which you can group your described dreams.

At the beginning of our research, we hired several psychologists to solve the problem of orientation. They conducted a lot of training sessions involving our guys and volunteers who knew nothing about the project. For example, they gathered a group of ten Muscovites and asked them to describe a monument. Like, how do you see it? From which side? From where do you approach it? And here's another monument. From which side do you see it? And so on. A waste of money. The final conclusion of the experts is this: every person, at a certain period of time, learns to orient themselves by cardinal directions. For this, they choose two points – their position and some object to which they assign the value "north" or "south," or "west," or "east" relative to their location. All further orientation is built upon this object, meaning a certain direction becomes dominant for them. And supposedly, experiments in groups somehow confirmed this hypothesis. But it made no difference to us.

The Hackers split into two groups. One practiced the already indicated method of gradual merging of dreams. The other placed dream numbers on the map, relying on intuition (freeloaders – that's what freeloaders are). The first method brought many interesting discoveries. The second, although it introduced a lot of confusion, ultimately proved to be no worse than the first.

Discoveries from Dream Mapping

And what were these discoveries?

First of all, the dream world (or rather, the model describing it) turned out to be a rather small space. For example, there is only one city. I have lived in many countries. In Russia, I have only not been to the Far North and the Far East. But on the dream map, there is only one City – the embodiment of all the cities I have seen – with elements of St. Petersburg, Minsk, Kuzbass, Tashkent. The transitions and mergers of these places are amazingly harmonious and natural. And around the City, there are thousands of dead-end bubbles (dreams) – dachas, friends' houses, directions to spaces I've heard of but never visited.
The center of the dream world is the dreamer's home. The ends of the world are the "boundary limits" (personally, I don't like this term, but what else can one expect from Hackers? It's good that it's not some "map's ultimate end"). Boundary limits are the edges of the dream world (usually mountain ranges, seas, rivers, dunes, deserts). It is impossible to pass (fly over, swim through) beyond these limits. Currently, it has been noted that the southern and western limits are unchangeable. The northern one moves further away as practice progresses. On the eastern edge of the map, there are several "white spots" (a very forbidden zone!).
On the map of the dream world, there are many places that do not exist in everyday reality. For example, the Lower Worlds, zones of cataclysms, labyrinths, etc. I have already talked about labyrinths.
(Most importantly, and I almost forgot!) We nearly went insane when we suddenly realized that our maps were similar in essential details. Certain special places exist on the maps of all dreamers. For example, K. writes about a gigantic structure connected to a stadium. And I have such a formation too. And since I know where it is on the map, I can tell K. its location and thereby help in creating a layout. And if I also tell her about other nearby landmarks, she might have a very amusing insight – she will suddenly remember that she has been there hundreds of times, and for a moment she will be enveloped by an inexpressible feeling – the feeling of recollecting dreams. Another discovery came with the finding of two places – a sanctuary and a prison (for some, there were variations: "police computer" – intelligent, evil, destructive; a concentration camp with weeping tormentors; army training ground, etc.). In the first place, you will find many things. In the second place, you have been many times and lost many things. So the Hackers noticed that with correct practice (with persistent searching for desired places and careful "slipping away" from undesirable places), the dreamer begins to get involved in an amazing process. Each new memory and dream description will suddenly draw you into a series of other memories (ten, twenty years old). Hundreds of places where you have been hundreds of times – and all in one bright flash. At such moments, a person experiences a very powerful state. There is little euphoria in it; it's more like a certain thirst – faster! more! Reality, your loved ones, work, the entire surrounding world somehow leave you in peace. You are here and not here. On some edge. Dreams become transparent. You become aware of yourself in a dream almost every night. Achievements are intoxicating. The words of Castaneda and don Juan acquire new meaning. You see in them what you did not understand before. And then suddenly, bang! A fall, a complete power drain, and in unbearable depression, you want to jump off the roof. And again, bit by bit, you have to gather strength, continuing the practice. To new peaks and new falls... Thus, breaking through some internal barriers... And then you take your dream map, stretch it out, and use it as intended. You no longer need it. But by then, as a rule, there is no "fog of war" left on it. And then you turn your gaze to several strange "white spots" and to the limits of the Tonal. But, as Lolita from "Morning Post" says, that's another story entirely.