Dreams? Yes, dreams are important! They are one of the most creative expressions of our mental and emotional life, an activity whose contents reveal complexity, depth, and potential for future growth. In this work dreams are given attention as a resource for philosophical reflection and a prompt for explorations of possible change and future transformation. My approach is to recognize dreams as a primary medium for mythic, paranormal, and transpersonal encounters that can encourage spiritual development and a deeper, richer understanding of the psychic life as linked to cosmological processes. Beyond "ordinary" dreams there are many extraordinary, lucid dream states that can lead us to a better understanding of our innate potential for discovery and creative insight.
- Dreams have many different forms and not all dreams are "ordinary" as some dreams induce exceptional encounters gained through spontaneous, altered states in sleep.
- Dreams are not one-dimensional but break through the structures of ordinary perceptions and reveal a multidimensional cosmos in which dreaming plays a creative role of discovery.
- Dreams do not have fixed or subconscious meanings, they are a form of creative play and synthetic assimilation meant to stimulate creative thought and reflection.
- Dreaming is a conditional state, not strictly functional or neurological, dreams can induce receptive states to transmissive meanings beyond the brain, open to cosmological influences, to the Infinite.
- Dreaming is a means of contact with the sacred, in many different forms, images, symbols, and states, directing the dreamer to deeper self-awareness through dream recording and analysis.
Dreams are linked by themes, shared aspects of psychic life, that induce meditative reflections on the theme as providing experiential encounters revealing unsuspected depths and possibilities. Dreams in this model do not simply reflect subconscious influences but also hyperconscious intuitions directed toward spiritual awakening and new thoughts about the emerging metaverse in which consciousness is a shared network phenomenon. Dreams can link us with other dreamers whose mutual awakening supports dreaming as a shared matrix of co-discovery. Dreams also place emphasis on the transtemporal nature of dreaming and imagination, in what I call the Ever Now, a timeless state revealing a variety of insights into the sacred nature of dreaming beyond normal linear time. Dreaming is an induction into altered states that reveal cosmological dimensions and new ways of thinking about the past, present, and future. To understand this, we need to record, study, reflect, and think creatively about our dreams. Dreaming is a form of creative art, and this book seeks to illustrate how dreaming and waking are interactive in forming a positive spiritual worldview.
Review :
As I dived deeper into Ever Now: Non-Ordinary Dreams and the Enduring Present, I began to think of all my friends who should read this book! It's both thoughtful and profound, while being personal and relatable - an amazing achievement from a dream scholar and detailed explorer of inner realities. Highly recommended to everyone on the dreaming and lucid dreaming path!
Robert Waggoner, public speaker, teacher, and author of Lucid Dreaming - Gateway to the Inner Self; Executive Committee member International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), and co-editor of Lucid Dream Experience Magazine.
Ever Now is a creative fusion of cosmology, transpersonal philosophy and mystical self-inquiry. The author reveals the timeless boundaries of inner life in intricate renderings and with refined spiritual perception, both in dreaming and waking. A bold vision for an inclusive wisdom, shimmering within the expansive core of consciousness.
Daniel Deslauriers, PhD. California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco; co-author of Integral Dreaming: A Holistic Approach to Dreams.
***In Ever Now, Dr. Lee Irwin expands our sense of the world, drawing on five decades of non-ordinary dreams and the reflections they inspire. He reveals the profound interface between waking and dreaming, inviting us to plunge into our nighttime creations as gateways to deeper consciousness and a more compassionate understanding of the shared mystery of being human. Highly recommended for anyone curious to explore the wisdom and spiritual depths revealed through our dreams.
Justina Lasley, Founder of the Institute for Dream Studies and author of Wake Up to Your Dreams
This exquisitely written book redefines contemporary attitudes toward the nocturnal world of our dreams. Lee Irwin suggests that dreams are far more magical and mysterious than we typically allow. At their core, he treats dreams as a Mystery - without fixed content, endlessly generative, and resistant to final definition, not something possessed or measured. Aligning the book with older esoteric traditions that valued visions as sources of insight, he demonstrates how his dreams unfold in an imaginal, elastic space where time loosens and meaning is co-created in an "Ever Now." Dream interpretation is treated not as a fixed analysis but as a guiding precept, remaining fluid, shaped by higher-order intelligences beyond conscious awareness. This is a deeply soulful text, emerging from inner experience rather than analytical distance. This book offers an invitation to inhabit our dreams as active participants in a cosmos that is far deeper, stranger, and more alive than we have been taught to believe.
Victoria Rabinowe, Executive Director of the DreamingArts Studio in Santa Fe; Multi-award-winning author, illustrator, and dream workshop facilitator, author of Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer's Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity.
