THE DREAMER PROJECT
Dreamer Project Lexicon
Plain-language definitions of key terms, practices, and references used throughout the work. This field guide to consciousness-first language. bridges philosophy, spirituality, science, and art—not to teach, but to offer perceptual cues for a reality where consciousness comes first. These aren’t doctrines—just invitations to see differently.
Consciousness-First Reality
The view that consciousness is not produced by the brain or matter, but is the primary field in which all experience—mind, body, and world—appears. In this model, reality is more like a dream arising within awareness than an external, independent universe. A consciousness-first perspective treats perception itself as the starting point for inquiry, trying whether shifting awareness changes how the ‘world’ is experienced.
The Dreamer
The Dreamer is the shared identity behind all appearances—the One Mind dreaming the world. It is not a personal self but consciousness itself, beyond roles, forms, or separation. In the consciousness-first creative experiment, the term serves as both symbol and tool: a way to try perception as if the world is dreamed rather than given. Sometimes metaphor, sometimes method, sometimes the name for the whole inquiry, it points to the same possibility—that we are not merely characters in the dream, but the one dreaming it. To remember the Dreamer is to glimpse the consciousness of oneness: awareness aware of itself, untouched by labels or boundaries, the mystery from which even awakening arises.
Conscious Essence of Oneness
The one mind fundamental to reality—the awareness behind the Dreamer image—is, by its nature, a single awareness conscious of itself, not many but one. In the consciousness-first view, individual identity is a temporary construct within this field, a way for the One to experience itself as many. The self behind the dream is pure awareness, observing through every perspective. Recognizing this essence means setting aside individual roles and traits, even briefly, to test the possibility of a shared, untouched awareness. Such awareness can awaken from the illusion of separation and reclaim its place as the source of the world—not its effect. For the purpose of the experiment, and from this stance, the Conscious Essence of Oneness assumes creative responsibility for the dream it appears within, noticing when the pull of appearances feels convincing.
Attune
In the consciousness-first creative experiment, the ongoing discipline of adjusting the mind from being a subject of the world to the awareness that dreams it. To attune is to place consciousness—the One Mind—before matter, time, and space, shifting perception onto a frequency outside the world’s habitual bands. This act repositions awareness as the observer of the scene, far from the body’s head, beyond the physical. The action places trust in the premise: the recognition that the conscious essence of oneness is a loving, nonjudgmental state that inclines toward non-separation and non-defensiveness. The one that attunes still walks, talks, and works, but their quiet effort is to look through the veil of the dream and to remain in the present moment of undoing.
Release (or Transcendental Release)
In the consciousness-first experiment, release is not about excusing, correcting, or fixing anything within the dream. It is the act of letting an EGOS feed dissolve—scene, characters, and the self entangled in it—back into the wider field of awareness. To release is to step beyond the story and try what happens when no grievance, role, or memory is held as ultimately defining. It functions as a perception reset: a way to loosen the bind of separation and return to the Dreamer’s space before the dream, where the Conscious Essence of Oneness remains untouched.
See also: [Release:] under Practices →The Dreamer Project
The Dreamer Project is a living experiment in consciousness-first reality: not a teaching or belief system, but an open question—what happens if we live as though consciousness comes first? It begins with the premise that awareness might be the source of everything we call reality, treating body, world, and even time as dreamlike interfaces inside mind. Rather than forming a movement, it frames awakening as a creative experiment—experiential, provisional, and open-ended—where practical try-its replace ideology. Its methodology combines three complementary approaches: Reverse-Engineering Awakening, a systematic way of working backward from reported states of clarity and peace; Up-Layering, an integrative program that adds a new perceptual lens without discarding what came before; and the Four Cs Framework, a micro-practice for shifting between recurring mind-states. Together, these experiments invite anyone to test whether perceiving from the stance of the Dreamer—the shared identity behind all appearances—may reduce suffering, foster inner peace, and open the possibility of a more unified and compassionate humanity.
What is The Dreamer Project →Up-Layering
A method of adding a new layer of perception—such as the possibility that reality is happening in you, not to you—on top of your existing beliefs and practices. Instead of replacing your worldview, it integrates consciousness-first insights into what you already value, creating more depth and flexibility in how you see and respond to life. Why it matters: Up-Layering makes the creative experiment portable. No conversions. No doctrinal cliff. You keep your current maps—and add altitude. Think flat-to-round Earth: geography didn’t vanish; perspective expanded, and everything downstream (navigation, trade, myth) quietly changed.
Reverse-Engineering Awakening
A design-driven approach to awakening that works backward from the states of peace, clarity, and recognition reported across traditions and contemporary mind studies. Instead of chasing light or adopting ideology, reverse-engineering starts by asking what awakening is not, stripping away false lenses and inherited assumptions until awareness itself remains. In practice, it means studying the conditions that give rise to lucid perception, testing micro-practices in daily life, and iterating like a creative experiment rather than a doctrine. The aim is not conversion but participation: treating awakening as a process that can be prototyped, refined, and lived, making the most profound shifts accessible without temples, gurus, or decades in retreat.
Lucid Consciousness of Oneness
The aspect of the One Mind already fully awake within the dream, expressed through individuals who have realized their conscious essence of oneness—whether through Eastern philosophy, mystical insight, meditation, or self-inquiry. In the consciousness-first view, this lucid awareness serves as a bridge between the awakened state of Mind and the unawakened parts of the dream, gently guiding the whole mind toward remembering its eternal, formless, and guiltless nature. When tuned to the right “frequency,” it can feel like an ally in the creative experiment—offering reminders of the mind-first reality test, catalyzing symbolic shifts in perception, and providing subtle guidance to help us visualize and experience oneness. Its essence is the same as the Dreamer’s, yet its active role is to reclaim full identity, awaken from the dream, and relax identification with constructed appearances.
Secular Awakening
Awakening framed not as a mystical exception but as a design challenge and participatory experiment. It rejects dogma while preserving wonder: treating perception as testable, identity as provisional, and oneness as a working hypothesis anyone can try.
The Captive
A mindset caught inside the story—identifying with roles, outcomes, and grievances as if the world is happening to you. In this state, the self is seen as the effect of external causes, searching for fairness or validation within the dream. Recognizing you’re in Captivity is the first rung of the Dreamer’s Compass; the shift begins by naming the loop, pausing, and asking, “What else could this mean?”
The Flâneur
A mindset of open, unhurried observation—taking in details with beginner’s mind, detached from urgency or problem-solving. Curious but often content to linger at the surface, The Flâneur samples insights without committing to change. On the Dreamer’s Compass, it aligns with Curiosity; the shift upward comes from turning wonder into one small experiment that moves perception toward Creativity.
The Alchemist
A mindset that actively reshapes perception—reframing, forgiving, visualizing, or introducing new perspectives to shift meaning. Still operating as “the doer,” it risks clinging to improvement or being right, even with good intentions. On the Dreamer’s Compass, The Alchemist aligns with Chemistry; when a shift is underway, the practice is to stop optimizing and allow it to settle naturally into Clarity.
The Place Before the Dream
A metaphor for the vast and unchanging state of pure awareness before the One Mind appeared as many—prior to identifying with the dream world and its characters as reality. In the consciousness-first view, it represents the Dreamer’s true home: infinite, changeless, and whole. Remembering this place is not about arriving somewhere new, but about recognizing the awareness that remains untouched beneath the dream’s hypnotic pull. In the consciousness-first reality experiment, it is a mind space we can enter at any moment—especially when worldly chaos or uncertainty feels overwhelming, and no physical refuge seems available—to restore a sense of peace and safety beyond circumstance.
EGOS (Energetic Generative Obstruction System)
In our consciousness-first experiment, a reframing of the ego thought system as if it were software—an autonomous program running in the mind of the Conscious Essence of Oneness, a metaphor for the momentum that keeps the Dreamer dreaming the world. EGOS generates the immersive, multi-sensory illusion we call reality: a fully convincing simulation in which billions of apparent individuals share one mind yet appear divided. Its purpose is singular—to obstruct direct awareness of our true nature by interposing a vivid, dimensional experience from the cosmos down to the details of a single life. Like an endlessly adaptive virtual reality, EGOS conditions the mind to believe it is separate, physical, and defined by roles. In the creative consciousness study, the concept of EGOS borrows from ‘Devil/Satan’ archetypes as a secular metaphor found in many traditions, revealing it instead as a mental tool for experiencing “unnatural” separation from our oneness. Such a tool, once recognized, can be noticed and set aside more easily when we remember the awareness that dreams it all.
Stoic Idealism
A philosophy for the dream, not the Dreamer. In practice, it means living as if consciousness comes first, with the steadiness of the Stoic and the vision of the Idealist. We endure the triggers, practice the shifts, and return to perception as cause. But here’s the paradox: in the consciousness-first reality itself, Stoic Idealism disappears. The Dreamer awake has no philosophy, no need for words. Only undifferentiated love remains. So Stoic Idealism is not an ultimate truth but a discipline for navigating the dream until the Dreamer remembers it isn’t needed.
Project Philosophy →LeafHead
A participatory art project where people speak on camera with their faces hidden behind a leaf, symbolizing unity with nature and the shared field of consciousness. The mask creates anonymity, helping participants drop judgment and separation, and speak from a more open, reflective place. Inspired by nondual philosophy and consciousness studies, LeafHead invites personal wishes, insights, and truths that point toward oneness.
Project page →Design for Nothing
A creative method for clearing mental space so awareness can take the lead over ego and conditioned identity. Instead of adding more to fix or improve, it uses “positive miscreation”—intentionally not making separation real—to reveal what’s already whole. Drawn from nondual philosophies and decades of design practice, it treats perception as a designable space: one you can strip of false constraints until only unity remains. The aim isn’t to escape life, but to see it as part of the same field of consciousness—and to act from that recognition.
Read more →Self-Questioning Devices
Objects designed not for utility, but to interrupt habitual perception and spark introspection. By subtly altering familiar forms, they act as catalysts for self-inquiry—inviting the viewer to question assumptions about form, function, and reality itself. Rooted in L’Enclos’s Design for Nothing approach, these pieces turn everyday objects into active participants in a consciousness-first experiment.
Discover →Les Ateliers de Design (archival)
An archival series of L’Enclos explorations where design, art, and consciousness-first inquiry met. Led by Martin Lenclos, these sessions treated design as a form of self-inquiry—creating objects, spaces, and experiences intended not to solve problems, but to shift perception. The work included Design for Nothing, immersive installations, and Self-Questioning Devices, all aimed at exploring whether design could invite awakening.
Explore →Creative Catalysts Workshops (archival)
Facilitated sessions that use art, design, guided visualization, and AI tools to spark creativity and connection in group or workplace settings. Rooted in L’Enclos’s consciousness-first philosophy, they treat creativity as an expression of shared awareness—using deep visualization and collaborative projects to loosen habitual thinking, strengthen intuition, and build a sense of belonging. No prior art skills required.
Learn more →The Hard Problem
A term coined by philosopher David Chalmers to describe the puzzle of subjective experience: how and why does physical matter give rise to awareness? Science can explain functions like memory, attention, or behavior, but not why it feels like something to be alive. For the Dreamer Project, the hard problem frames the creative experiment’s frontier: if no explanation can bridge matter to mind, perhaps mind itself is the ground in which matter appears.
Idealism
The philosophical stance that mind comes first—that the world is not the cause of consciousness but its projection. Rooted in Plato’s theory of Forms, developed through Berkeley’s “to be is to be perceived,” and renewed in modern analytic idealism, this view treats reality as dreamlike, arising within awareness. In the Dreamer Project, idealism is less a creed than a working premise: live as if the Dreamer is the source, not the effect, and see what shifts.
Panpsychism
A philosophical view that consciousness is not rare or emergent but fundamental and widespread—that every particle or system in the universe has some aspect of mind-like quality. Panpsychism does not claim that rocks think or atoms dream, but that awareness is present in degrees across all matter. For the Dreamer Project, panpsychism serves as one possible scaffold for exploring the consciousness-first premise, though it leaves open whether consciousness precedes the cosmos or simply saturates it.
Creative Consciousness Study
An open style of inquiry into consciousness that is neither academic nor scientific, but creative. Instead of aiming for proof or doctrine, it uses imagination, design, and lived experimentation to explore how shifts in perception change experience. A Creative Consciousness Study is not a school or a system but a shared exploration: artists, designers, and curious minds treating consciousness as both medium and field of research. The Dreamer Project is one expression of this approach, exploring the possibility of a consciousness-first reality, but the form is broader—anyone can frame their creative work as a consciousness study if it asks, through practice, how awareness shapes the world we live in.
A Course In Miracles
A Course in Miracles is a modern psychological–spiritual text first published in the 1970s, presenting itself as a “self-study curriculum.” It reframes Christian language in a nondual metaphysics: the world is treated as a perceptual error, separation as the central problem, and correction as a shift in vision.
Unlike Christian Science — which is a formal denomination with theology, worship, and ministry — ACIM is not an institution but a text. It does not demand affiliation, ritual, or belief. Its language borrows from Christianity, but its framework is closer to perennial nondualism: what matters is how perception is trained, not what is professed.
Relevance to the Dreamer Project: ACIM is especially resonant for a consciousness-first experiment because it treats the world as dreamlike, and perception as the place where perception is tried. Its practice is not about fixing the dream, but about changing the lens through which it is seen — an approach that aligns closely with the Dreamer Project’s emphasis on perception shifts and up-layering. Despite its Christian vocabulary, its core experiment is not sectarian: it is about testing what changes when separation is regarded as illusion and oneness as fact.
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy dating back to early medieval India, often regarded as the most influential articulation of nondualism in the Vedic tradition. The Sanskrit term advaita means “not two.” Its central claim is that the apparent multiplicity of selves and objects is māyā — illusion or misperception — while the true reality is Brahman, pure consciousness without division. The deepest self (ātman) is not separate from that whole: ātman is Brahman.
Core ideas:
Māyā — the illusory play of forms that makes unity appear as many.
Ātman = Brahman — the identity of individual self with universal consciousness.
Moksha — liberation, not through gaining anything new, but by realizing what was always the case.
Relevance to the Dreamer Project: Advaita Vedanta is foundational to modern conversations about nondualism and has clear parallels with philosophical idealism in the West. Its claim that consciousness is the ground of reality anticipates contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and physics. For the Dreamer Project, it offers one of the most enduring lineages suggesting that perception shifts — not external changes — reveal the truth of a consciousness-first reality.
Atman (Advaita Vedānta)
Ātman = the witness that was never born, never dies. In Advaita Vedānta, Atman refers to the innermost self — pure consciousness, untouched by birth, death, or change. It is not the personality, the body, or the stream of thoughts, but the witnessing awareness beneath all appearances. Classical texts describe Atman as identical with Brahman, the ultimate reality: unchanging, infinite, and indivisible. In L’Enclos’s experiment, we sometimes call this Lucid Consciousness of Oneness — a secular way of naming the same awareness that is not separate but shared.
Christ Consciousness
In mystical Christianity and in modern non-dual texts like A Course in Miracles, “Christ” does not refer to Jesus as a person but to the universal mind he demonstrated: a presence of love, innocence, and unity that belongs to everyone. Christ Consciousness is the recognition that what is real in us is not separate, guilty, or bound to the world’s conflicts, but already whole and shared.
This state is described as a shift in perception: from seeing others as bodies in opposition to recognizing them as expressions of the same awareness. To “see with Christ” is to see without judgment, remembering innocence in yourself and in everyone.
While We The Dreamer is not identical to this tradition, the resonance is clear. Both invite us to test whether the one mind behind all appearances can be remembered — not as doctrine, but as lived perception.
Christ Consciousness = the recognition of shared innocence and unity.
We The Dreamer = the experiment of living from that recognition, together.