Author Jennifer Dumpert on Liminal Dreaming, the Twilight Zone of Consciousness Between Waking and Dreaming

Join Andrew and author Jennifer Dumpert in a lively discussion about Liminal Dreaming, that twilight zone of consciousness between waking and dreaming. Also known as the hypnogogic-hypnopompic state, liminal dreaming is a fascinating state where the boundaries of ego dissolve, and the mind enters a playground of transformation. Watching how the ego falls apart in this unglued state helps us understand how it comes together as we get back online in the waking state – and glue the narrative of our lives back together.

The conversation begins with an overview of liminal (“threshold”) states altogether – both psychological and physical — and the revelations that unfold if one can remain lucid to these states. Jennifer discusses how Thomas Edison and Salvador Dali both used these states for creativity, and how anyone can practice liminal dreaming, which is much easier than lucid dreaming. Armed with a few tips, anybody can do it.

The conversation turns to the stages of liminal dreaming, emphasizing the autosymbolic (or thought-image amalgamation) stage. Jennifer touts the benefits of developing a “crepuscular culture,” and how much we can learn from non-narrative (non-egoic) states of mind.

The discussion turns to how liminal dreaming is connected to bardo tenets, and how dying itself – when one is not fully in this world nor the next – is an extended liminal space. By “surfing the edges of consciousness,” and “playing in the changing froth of perception” now, we can acquaint ourselves with similar states of mind that we will experience when we die. As the poet Kabir said of death, “What is found now is found then.” Liminality, like the bardo principle altogether, has vast applicability.