I had a dream last night where I dreamed I was aware that I was dreaming. I remember picking something up, something semi-fragile like a bottle, and thinking that this was just a dream, and to prove it, I could throw it and not be concerned that it would break. And I remember flinging it away, and then *doink* it just disappeared, along with the background scenery where I was flinging it. Proof positive. (what is the sound of something disappearing? I don't think it's "doink".)

Now I can't remember if I was dreaming I was conscious that it was a dream, or if I was in the dream and really conscious. Yo'm say'n? Occasionally I try to condition myself to be conscious in my dreams. I think the latest trick was to concentrate on a keyword while falling asleep that would act as a trigger. If I could remember the keyword in the dream, that was a positive step or a link between consciousness and dream. It hasn't worked yet, but I'm hopeful.

On the fringes of my belief system is the possibility of maintaining some sort of consciousness through the betweens, the bardos between death and re-birth. I have no pretention that I could navigate them consciously, which is why the belief is way out on the fringes, but I don't disbelieve there have been Tibetan monks who have mastered it. I think they developed and mastered dream consciousness as an exercise to get to that point. Now that's concentration! I'm fascinated enough by it to see if I could elicit that keyword during a dream.

I remembered all this because during a Dharma talk this morning, the speaker jokingly referred to the "bardo of getting into a car". Yesterday I thought of a t-shirt for cyclists that says, "Drivers are morons, ride safe!" So I liked the suggestion of driving a car being a death state.